Al-Khwarizmi's routine for quadratic equations. Imagine you have a single piece of carpet of unknown width, and of 10 units length. Suppose if you cut a strip of ...
Imagine you have a single piece of carpet of unknown width, and of 10 units length. Suppose if you cut a strip of area 21 square units from the carpet, you will be left with a square. It is then possible to gure out the width of the carpet. You begin by making a drawing of the carpet showing the various sizes. The unknown quantity is the width. Al-Khwarizmi calls this the `root'. When we square it, that is, multiply it by itself, the answer will be an area. This is the unknown raised to the second power and is called the `square'. Using symbols, not words, the equation can be written as follows
Mersenne primes. In mathematics, a Mersenne prime is a prime number that is one less than a prime ... primes. Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
I presume our puzzlists will find no great difficulty in determining the width of a border strip, to be cut all ... Show that x is a solution of the quadratic equation. 2. 4.
We will first show that x is an integer, then show that x is less than 1 and positive. The contradiction will establish the irrationality of e. ⢠To see that x is an integer, ...
A weather forecaster observing the atmospheric pressure p at time t may not be too concerned if pâ² is negative : pressure goes up and down all the time !
2S = (a + b)(b â a + 1). Calling a+b = x and bâa+1= y, we can note that x and y are both integers and that since their sum, x + y = 2b + 1, is odd, one of x, y is odd ...
Let's consider the statement âif P then Qâ. It's important not to confuse the converse âif Q then Pâ and the contrapositive âif not Q then not Pâ ! For instance, if the ...
Pythagorean saying is true : All is number. Considering for a moment the ... exceptions, is using the same kind of system and symbols. Though we speak many.
Suppose that $2,800 have been placed in bets on horses finishing in the top two, and $1,000 from this sum have been placed on 'What a Palaver'. Should you ...
Adapted from Alex's adventures in numberland by Alex Bellos. Questions. 1. What is a series? Give an example. 2. What is a divergent series? 3. What is the ...
Have you ever had that anxiety dream where you suddenly realize you have to take the final exam in some course you've never attended? For professors, it ...
hypothesis. Assume that in the beginning there is one pair of immature rabbits. These mature for a season. Every season after, they beget one immature pair, ...
Explain with a drawing the ârectangleâ method described in this textto find the area under a curve. 3. What is the mathematical notation for the area under the ...
repeat until you get the same number for every iteration. You'll always end up with 6174 within seven or fewer iterations. After you get that number, you can.
Brief history of the quadratic equation. It is often claimed that the Babylonians (about 1600 BC) were the first to solve quadratic equations. This is an ...
get a figure divisible by 60 and, incidentally, a round number of ... 3. By taking the value given by Theon of Smyrna, calculate the round number of stades per.
drawn each side a quantity mean 'the positive numerical value of', e.g. |a â b| means 'the positive numerical value of the difference between a and b'. Using this ...
âIs the square root of two a ratio of two whole numbers? ... Could there be two squares with side equal to a whole number n whose total area is identical to that of.
Proof: Choose an arbitrary element ar,k. Consider the n-th row, where n>r. Then, ar,k will appear in the formula for finding an,k because it is in the same column.
4. Give the 2 approximate values of p mentioned in the text. 5. Use a calculator to find an approximate value of p to 3 decimal places. Check that it is almost a.
what it means for an object x to be an element of each side, and the second is to use Venn diagrams. For example consider the first of De Morgan's laws : (A ...
... Ferdinand's position is given as a function of the time t elapsed from the start of ... (the altitude is in hundred metres and the time in hours, in the interval [0; 5]).
There are lots of âproofsâ that claim to prove something that is obviously not true, like ... To do this, we just need to show that, if m1 and m2 are any members of G,.
You have just arrived in town at the central railroad station and you are hoping to be ... dot would then have the coordinates (4,4), The distance in this situation, ...
