PROBLEMS           Vol. 100(2), February 2000

Problems From the Previous Century

        Unfortunately, the Problems Section did not arrive in time for this issue. So the editors have found some problems printed in

previous century (sometime in the 1990s). Try these problems with your students? When do you think these problems were printed? Have we changed much in what we expect of students. In the next issue, we will print solutions submitted when the problems were originally printed.

Maggie Niess and Norm Lederman

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    These problems came from the Problems Department published in the previous century. They are all mathematical in nature.

1.    A man and a boy agree to dig a patch of potatoes for ten dollars. The man can dig as fast as the boy can pull tops, and     he can pull tops twice as fast as the boy can dig. How should the money be divided?

2.    Show that

3.    Find the sum of n terms of the series

                    1 + 8 + 19 + 34 + 53 + 76 +  ------

4.    Given the line of base, mid-point of base, vertex, and vertex angle, construct the triangle. A geometrical solution is desired.

    There were a section called "Science Questions" during the previous century. Here are some problems for you to consider from that section.
 

1.    The average family uses 20 tons of water in a year, one tenth of which is used with soap. If the water is hard and contains .01 percent of calcium sulphate, what is the approximate value of soap wasted each year, supposing soap to be

(A 5 - cent cake of soap weighs about 10 ounces and often contains 20 percent of water.)

2.    May the same bolt of lightning strike a building and a the same time kill stock in a field one-half mile distant?