You are here

Home » MAA Publications » Periodicals » Convergence » Problems from Another Time

Problems from Another Time

Individual problems from throughout mathematics history, as well as articles that include problem sets for students.

Numbers Game #1
The sum of two numbers is 10 and their product is 40. What are the numbers?
Logarithms: The Early History of a Familiar Function - Bibliography
The authors recount the 'great tale' of Napier's and Burgi's parallel development of logarithms and urge you to use it in class.
Asking a Woman Her Age
A lady being asked how old she was at the time of her marriage replied that the age of her oldest son was 13; that he was born 2 years after her marriage...
Circle and Equilateral Triangle
A circle ABDC is circumscribed around an equilateral triangle ABC.  Prove that the straight line AD is equal to the sum of the two straight lines BD and DC.
If You Build It...
Given a triangular piece of land having two sides 10 yards in length and its base 12 yards, what is the largest square that can be constructed within this piece of land so that one of its sides lies along the base of the triangle?
'He Advanced Him 200 Lambs of Gold': The Pamiers Manuscript - A Synthesis of Mediterranean Methods
Discussion of 15th century French manuscript, with translation of its problems, including one with negative solutions
'He Advanced Him 200 Lambs of Gold': The Pamiers Manuscript - Proportionality Techniques
Discussion of 15th century French manuscript, with translation of its problems, including one with negative solutions
Log Stuck in a Wall
Now given a cylindrical log of unknown size buried in a wall...
Harvest Time
A man plants 4 kernels of corn, which at harvest produce 32 kernels: these he plants the second year; now, supposing the annual increase to continue 8 fold, what would be the produce of the 15th year, allowing 1000 kernels to a pint?
Free Fertilizer
If 12 oxen eat up 3 1/3 acres of meadow in 4 weeks and 21 oxen eat up 10 acres of exactly similar meadow in 9 weeks, how many oxen shall eat up 36 acres in 18 weeks? (Hint: The grass continues to grow.)

Pages