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Problems from Another Time

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

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.
Indian Numbers Game
Find a number having remainder 29 when divided by 30 and remainder 3 when divided by 4.
The Chinese General and the River
An old Chinese general led his army to a river with a steep bank. Standing atop the bank, he held a stick 6 feet long perpendicular to himself.
Stone Weight
I found a stone but did not weigh it; after I added to it 1/7 of its weight and then 1/11 of this new weight, I weighed the total at 1 mana. What was the weight of the stone?
Peano on Wronskians: A Translation - Appendix 2: Translations
How a translation of Peano's counterexample to the 'theorem' that a zero Wronskian implies linear dependence can help your differential equations students
Making Arrows
In one day, a person can make 30 arrows or fletch [put the feathers on] 20 arrows.
Four Companies
There are four companies, in one of which there are 6 men, in another 8, and in each of the remaining two, 9 men. How many ways can a committee of 4 men be composed by choosing one man from each company?
IOU
I owe a man the following notes: one of $800 due May 16; one of $660 due on July 1; one of $940 due September 29. He wishes to exchange them for two notes of $1200 each and wants one to fall due June 1. When should the other be due?

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