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Problems from Another Time

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

Now there are six-headed four-legged animals and four-headed two-legged birds. Find the total number of animals and birds.
A castle has n rooms each of which has 7 samurai in it.
Having been given the sum of two numbers, a, and the difference of their squares, b, find the numbers.
There is a tree with 100 branches. How many nests, eggs and birds are there?
An erect pole of 10 cubits has its base moved 6 cubits. Determine the new height and the distance the top of the pole is lowered.
In order to encourage his son in the study of arithmetic, a father agrees to pay him 8 pennies for every problem solved correctly and to charge him 5 pennies for each incorrect solution.
A square walled city of unknown dimensions has four gates, one at the center of each side.
The cost per hour of running a certain steamboat is proportional to the cube of its velocity in still water. At what speed should it be run to make a trip up stream against a four-mile current most economically?
Given two circles tangent to each other and to a common line, determine a relationship between the radii and the distance between the tangent points.
How a translation of Peano's counterexample to the 'theorem' that a zero Wronskian implies linear dependence can help your differential equations students

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