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Problems from Another Time

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

A Clothes Call
A man went to a draper and bought a length of cloth 35 braccia long to make a suit of clothes.
10 Into 3 Parts
Make of 10 three parts such that one part multiplied by 3 makes as much as the other multiplied by 4 and as the other multiplied by 5.
Long Time to Fill the Tub
A water tub holds 73 gallons; the pipe which fills it usually admits 7 gallons in 5 minutes; and the tap discharges 20 gallons in 17 minutes.
Horsing Around
One military horse cannot pull a load of 40 dan; neither can 2 ordinary horses, nor can three inferior horses...
Ladder Day Question
A ladder is placed perpendicular to the plane of the horizon, and in coincidence with the plane of an upright wall.
Walk Around the World
Suppose a person whose height is 5 feet 7 inches travels 10000 miles in the arc of a great circle. How much further will the person's head have gone compared to their feet, the circumference of the Earth being 21600 miles?
Faster Than a Speeding Horse
A horse, halving its speed each day, travels 700 miles in 7 days. How far does it travel each day?
Logarithms: The Early History of a Familiar Function - Before Logarithms: The Computational Demands of the Late Sixteenth Century
The authors recount the 'great tale' of Napier's and Burgi's parallel development of logarithms and urge you to use it in class.
Another Numbers Game
Determine a number having remainders 2, 3, and 2 when divided by 3, 5, and 7 respectively.
A Horse in London
A man hired a horse in London at 3 pence a mile. He rode 94 miles due west to Bristol then due north to Chester, whence he returned toward London for 66 miles, which put him in Coventry.

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