Math Is Fun Forum

  Discussion about math, puzzles, games and fun.   Useful symbols: ÷ × ½ √ ∞ ≠ ≤ ≥ ≈ ⇒ ± ∈ Δ θ ∴ ∑ ∫ • π ƒ -¹ ² ³ °

You are not logged in.

#1 2013-08-02 16:13:52

Nehushtan
Member
Registered: 2013-03-09
Posts: 957

Easy puzzle challenge




240 books currently added on Goodreads

Offline

#2 2013-08-02 21:01:09

ElainaVW
Member
Registered: 2013-04-29
Posts: 580

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Hello;

Offline

#3 2013-08-02 23:24:13

anonimnystefy
Real Member
From: Harlan's World
Registered: 2011-05-23
Posts: 16,049

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Hi Nehushtan


“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

Offline

#4 2013-08-10 01:36:14

Nehushtan
Member
Registered: 2013-03-09
Posts: 957

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Proof?


240 books currently added on Goodreads

Offline

#5 2013-08-10 05:23:11

Bob
Administrator
Registered: 2010-06-20
Posts: 10,623

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

hi Nehushtan,

Using standard calculus:

Bob


Children are not defined by school ...........The Fonz
You cannot teach a man anything;  you can only help him find it within himself..........Galileo Galilei
Sometimes I deliberately make mistakes, just to test you!  …………….Bob smile

Offline

#6 2013-08-25 19:30:26

Nehushtan
Member
Registered: 2013-03-09
Posts: 957

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

The problem was meant to be easy – in other words, use AM–GM rather than calculus:


Next problem (more challenging this time):

Last edited by Nehushtan (2013-08-25 19:31:01)


240 books currently added on Goodreads

Offline

#7 2013-08-31 19:48:24

gAr
Member
Registered: 2011-01-09
Posts: 3,482

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Hi Nehushtan,

Last edited by gAr (2013-08-31 19:48:40)


"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense"  - Buddha?

"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."

Offline

#8 2013-10-16 16:48:19

Nehushtan
Member
Registered: 2013-03-09
Posts: 957

Re: Easy puzzle challenge


240 books currently added on Goodreads

Offline

#9 2013-10-17 00:24:14

anonimnystefy
Real Member
From: Harlan's World
Registered: 2011-05-23
Posts: 16,049

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Hi Nehushtan


“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

Offline

#10 2013-10-17 00:36:09

Nehushtan
Member
Registered: 2013-03-09
Posts: 957

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Good. smile It can also be proved by induction.

In general:

Last edited by Nehushtan (2013-10-17 00:43:59)


240 books currently added on Goodreads

Offline

#11 2013-10-17 00:59:16

anonimnystefy
Real Member
From: Harlan's World
Registered: 2011-05-23
Posts: 16,049

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Yes, but I liked this method, so I posted that. And besides, induction would require a bit of latexing, and I'm on my phone. smile


“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

Offline

#12 2013-10-17 01:32:34

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Hi;

We can do the problem directly using the summation calculus.

The first 2 falling factorials of k are

So obviously

The summation calculus can now sum that using the rule

where (r+1) and (r) are the falling factorial operator. Notice the above rule is the discrete counterpart to the integral operator.

Now we finish up with


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#13 2013-10-17 02:29:40

ElainaVW
Member
Registered: 2013-04-29
Posts: 580

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Hello:

The best way is to work like the M would, experimentally! smile Although he does seem to have borrowed the idea from Doctor Z as he calls him.

Form a difference table:

{3,6,10,15,21,28,36,45,55}

{3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}

{1,1,1,1,1,1,1}

The third row is constant so it is a cubic smile

Using bobbym's idea in

http://www.mathisfunforum.com/viewtopic … 18#p285718

which is the binomial in the question. You should use induction to show that the formula is correct.

Offline

#14 2013-10-17 02:34:40

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Easy puzzle challenge


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#15 2013-10-17 17:37:13

gAr
Member
Registered: 2011-01-09
Posts: 3,482

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

By generating functions, start with the g.f of the triangular numbers:



"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense"  - Buddha?

"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."

Offline

#16 2013-10-18 01:37:23

anonimnystefy
Real Member
From: Harlan's World
Registered: 2011-05-23
Posts: 16,049

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

gAr wrote:

By generating functions, start with the g.f of the triangular numbers:


That also proves the equality from #10.


“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

Offline

#17 2013-10-18 21:58:14

gAr
Member
Registered: 2011-01-09
Posts: 3,482

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

That's right.


"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense"  - Buddha?

"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."

Offline

#18 2013-12-25 16:45:43

Nehushtan
Member
Registered: 2013-03-09
Posts: 957

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Jim loves to play online games. On the online games site he has just joined, he needs a four-digit secret combination code for access. Being very bad at memorizing combinations, even four-digit ones, he writes down his combination code and proceeds to memorize it.

Along comes Jim’s nosy little brother. As Jim’s attention is momentarily engaged elsewhere, his little brother sees the piece of paper on which the combination code, picks it up, and looks at it. But Jim, immediately noticing what his little brother is doing, snatches the piece of paper away from him. “Go away!” he shouts at his little brother. “This is private.”

Jim’s little brother meekly trudges away, thinking to himself: “I don’t remember the four-digit number I just saw, but I’ve noticed something. All the digits are different, and the first digit on the left is an odd number.”

Meanwhile Jim is worried that his little brother has seen his combination code and might use it to access his account on the online games site. He decides to change the code. Being a bad memorizer of numbers, he simply swaps two of the digits of his existing code to make a new four-digit code. To help him remember which two digits he has swapped, he makes the following notes: (a) subtracting his new code from his old code gives 891, and (b) the sum of the two digits he did not swap is 15.

“Good,” says Jim, crumpling up the paper on which his code has been written. “Now I shall be able to remember my new code from my old one.”

What was Jim’s old four-digit code, and what is his new one?


240 books currently added on Goodreads

Offline

#19 2013-12-25 23:13:10

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Easy puzzle challenge


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#20 2014-01-12 22:56:41

Nehushtan
Member
Registered: 2013-03-09
Posts: 957

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Bobbym: That’s correct. smile



240 books currently added on Goodreads

Offline

#21 2014-01-12 23:32:48

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Hi;


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#22 2014-01-13 00:46:20

Nehushtan
Member
Registered: 2013-03-09
Posts: 957

Re: Easy puzzle challenge


240 books currently added on Goodreads

Offline

#23 2014-01-13 01:06:02

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Hi;


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#24 2014-01-13 01:17:59

Nehushtan
Member
Registered: 2013-03-09
Posts: 957

Re: Easy puzzle challenge


240 books currently added on Goodreads

Offline

#25 2014-01-13 01:29:30

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Easy puzzle challenge

Hi;


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB