Mathematical Expeditions 2

This is part of an expedition throught the history of word problems. It is adapted from the book Mathematical Expeditions by Frank J. Swetz.

This is a word problem from Renaissance Europe related to shares. Do you dare solving it?

A man had four creditors. To the first he owed 624 ducats; to the second, 546; to the third 492; and to the fourth, 368. It happened that the man defaulted and escaped, and the creditors found that his goods amounted to 830 ducats in all. What will be the share of it?

Explain the procces and the answer using comments. Write your name and course.

END DATE: FEB 22nd

Mathematical Expeditions 1

This is part of an expedition throught the history of word problems. It is adapted from the book Mathematical Expeditions by Frank J. Swetz.

This is a word problem from old India related to love and fractions. Do you dare solving it?

The third part of a necklace of pearls, broken in a lover's quarrel, fell to the ground; its fifth part rested on the couch; the sixth part was saved by the lady; and the tenth part was taken by her lover. Six pearls remained. How many pearls composed the necklace?

Explain the procces and the answer using comments. Write your name and course.

END DATE: FEB 22nd

The waiter.

Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of which is $15. They each contribute $5. The waiter takes the money to the chef who recognizes the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the men.

The waiter is not only poor at mathematics but dishonest and instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between the three he simply gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself.

Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12. Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14.....

Where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?

Make your own guess on comments (remember to write your name)

Time Goal: January 16th

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

As you now we have just started a new year, the year 2015. I have a very simple question for you, write everything you now about this number (is it even or odd, prime or composite, if composite which are its factors and which are its divisors, do some calculations with it, ...).

Use comments to answer, writing your name.

Time Goal: january 16th

Eratosthenes

In this post you will see a presentation about Eratosthenes, and then you will have to answer a test.

Read everything slowly. If you don't understand a word you can look it up in the dictionary.

Let see what you can learn about Eratosthenes

Date limit: november 19th

If you want you can make some comments to this post.

Click on "Read more"

Interpolation

Did you know?

You can use polinomials to interpolate unknown values. Try to discover a little more:

• What is interpolation used for?
• Which is the simplest interpolation that can be made?
• Here you have an image of the first time that the word "interpolation" was used in a mathematical sense. Who used this word for the first time?

Time Goal: November 20th.

Summer Goals

From: Spiked Math