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#### Resources tagged with Mathematical reasoning & proof similar to Em'power'ed:

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### There are 185 results

Broad Topics > Using, Applying and Reasoning about Mathematics > Mathematical reasoning & proof

### Plus or Minus

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

Make and prove a conjecture about the value of the product of the Fibonacci numbers $F_{n+1}F_{n-1}$.

### A Biggy

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Find the smallest positive integer N such that N/2 is a perfect cube, N/3 is a perfect fifth power and N/5 is a perfect seventh power.

### Ordered Sums

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Let a(n) be the number of ways of expressing the integer n as an ordered sum of 1's and 2's. Let b(n) be the number of ways of expressing n as an ordered sum of integers greater than 1. (i) Calculate. . . .

### Sums of Squares and Sums of Cubes

##### Stage: 5

An account of methods for finding whether or not a number can be written as the sum of two or more squares or as the sum of two or more cubes.

### How Many Solutions?

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

Find all the solutions to the this equation.

### Sixational

##### Stage: 4 and 5 Challenge Level:

The nth term of a sequence is given by the formula n^3 + 11n . Find the first four terms of the sequence given by this formula and the first term of the sequence which is bigger than one million. . . .

### Modulus Arithmetic and a Solution to Dirisibly Yours

##### Stage: 5

Peter Zimmerman from Mill Hill County High School in Barnet, London gives a neat proof that: 5^(2n+1) + 11^(2n+1) + 17^(2n+1) is divisible by 33 for every non negative integer n.

### Three Frogs

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Three frogs hopped onto the table. A red frog on the left a green in the middle and a blue frog on the right. Then frogs started jumping randomly over any adjacent frog. Is it possible for them to. . . .

### Perfectly Square

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

The sums of the squares of three related numbers is also a perfect square - can you explain why?

### Number Rules - OK

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Can you convince me of each of the following: If a square number is multiplied by a square number the product is ALWAYS a square number...

### More Sums of Squares

##### Stage: 5

Tom writes about expressing numbers as the sums of three squares.

### Dalmatians

##### Stage: 4 and 5 Challenge Level:

Investigate the sequences obtained by starting with any positive 2 digit number (10a+b) and repeatedly using the rule 10a+b maps to 10b-a to get the next number in the sequence.

### For What?

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Prove that if the integer n is divisible by 4 then it can be written as the difference of two squares.

### DOTS Division

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Take any pair of two digit numbers x=ab and y=cd where, without loss of generality, ab > cd . Form two 4 digit numbers r=abcd and s=cdab and calculate: {r^2 - s^2} /{x^2 - y^2}.

### Can it Be

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

Find all real solutions of the equation (x^2-7x+11)^(x^2-11x+30) = 1.

### Polite Numbers

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

A polite number can be written as the sum of two or more consecutive positive integers. Find the consecutive sums giving the polite numbers 544 and 424. What characterizes impolite numbers?

### Big, Bigger, Biggest

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

Which is the biggest and which the smallest of $2000^{2002}, 2001^{2001} \text{and } 2002^{2000}$?

### Mod 3

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Prove that if a^2+b^2 is a multiple of 3 then both a and b are multiples of 3.

### Common Divisor

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Find the largest integer which divides every member of the following sequence: 1^5-1, 2^5-2, 3^5-3, ... n^5-n.

### Telescoping Functions

##### Stage: 5

Take a complicated fraction with the product of five quartics top and bottom and reduce this to a whole number. This is a numerical example involving some clever algebra.

### Square Pair Circles

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

Investigate the number of points with integer coordinates on circles with centres at the origin for which the square of the radius is a power of 5.

### On the Importance of Pedantry

##### Stage: 3, 4 and 5

A introduction to how patterns can be deceiving, and what is and is not a proof.

### Rational Roots

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

Given that a, b and c are natural numbers show that if sqrt a+sqrt b is rational then it is a natural number. Extend this to 3 variables.

##### Stage: 3 and 4 Challenge Level:

Powers of numbers behave in surprising ways. Take a look at some of these and try to explain why they are true.

### Where Do We Get Our Feet Wet?

##### Stage: 5

Professor Korner has generously supported school mathematics for more than 30 years and has been a good friend to NRICH since it started.

### Try to Win

##### Stage: 5

Solve this famous unsolved problem and win a prize. Take a positive integer N. If even, divide by 2; if odd, multiply by 3 and add 1. Iterate. Prove that the sequence always goes to 4,2,1,4,2,1...

### L-triominoes

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

L triominoes can fit together to make larger versions of themselves. Is every size possible to make in this way?

### Whole Number Dynamics V

##### Stage: 4 and 5

The final of five articles which containe the proof of why the sequence introduced in article IV either reaches the fixed point 0 or the sequence enters a repeating cycle of four values.

### Yih or Luk Tsut K'i or Three Men's Morris

##### Stage: 3, 4 and 5 Challenge Level:

Some puzzles requiring no knowledge of knot theory, just a careful inspection of the patterns. A glimpse of the classification of knots and a little about prime knots, crossing numbers and. . . .

### A Long Time at the Till

##### Stage: 4 and 5 Challenge Level:

Try to solve this very difficult problem and then study our two suggested solutions. How would you use your knowledge to try to solve variants on the original problem?

### More Dicey Decisions

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

The twelve edge totals of a standard six-sided die are distributed symmetrically. Will the same symmetry emerge with a dodecahedral die?

### Picturing Pythagorean Triples

##### Stage: 4 and 5

This article discusses how every Pythagorean triple (a, b, c) can be illustrated by a square and an L shape within another square. You are invited to find some triples for yourself.

### Transitivity

##### Stage: 5

Suppose A always beats B and B always beats C, then would you expect A to beat C? Not always! What seems obvious is not always true. Results always need to be proved in mathematics.

### The Clue Is in the Question

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

This problem is a sequence of linked mini-challenges leading up to the proof of a difficult final challenge, encouraging you to think mathematically. Starting with one of the mini-challenges, how. . . .

### Breaking the Equation ' Empirical Argument = Proof '

##### Stage: 2, 3, 4 and 5

This article stems from research on the teaching of proof and offers guidance on how to move learners from focussing on experimental arguments to mathematical arguments and deductive reasoning.

### Geometric Parabola

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Explore what happens when you draw graphs of quadratic equations with coefficients based on a geometric sequence.

### Modulus Arithmetic and a Solution to Differences

##### Stage: 5

Peter Zimmerman, a Year 13 student at Mill Hill County High School in Barnet, London wrote this account of modulus arithmetic.

### Magic Squares II

##### Stage: 4 and 5

An article which gives an account of some properties of magic squares.

### Recent Developments on S.P. Numbers

##### Stage: 5

Take a number, add its digits then multiply the digits together, then multiply these two results. If you get the same number it is an SP number.

### Advent Calendar 2011 - Secondary

##### Stage: 3, 4 and 5 Challenge Level:

Advent Calendar 2011 - a mathematical activity for each day during the run-up to Christmas.

### A Knight's Journey

##### Stage: 4 and 5

This article looks at knight's moves on a chess board and introduces you to the idea of vectors and vector addition.

### Pythagorean Triples I

##### Stage: 3 and 4

The first of two articles on Pythagorean Triples which asks how many right angled triangles can you find with the lengths of each side exactly a whole number measurement. Try it!

### Proof of Pick's Theorem

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

Follow the hints and prove Pick's Theorem.

### Little and Large

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

A point moves around inside a rectangle. What are the least and the greatest values of the sum of the squares of the distances from the vertices?

### Why 24?

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Take any prime number greater than 3 , square it and subtract one. Working on the building blocks will help you to explain what is special about your results.

### What Numbers Can We Make Now?

##### Stage: 3 and 4 Challenge Level:

Imagine we have four bags containing numbers from a sequence. What numbers can we make now?

### Take Three from Five

##### Stage: 4 Challenge Level:

Caroline and James pick sets of five numbers. Charlie chooses three of them that add together to make a multiple of three. Can they stop him?

### Pythagorean Triples II

##### Stage: 3 and 4

This is the second article on right-angled triangles whose edge lengths are whole numbers.

### Particularly General

##### Stage: 5 Challenge Level:

By proving these particular identities, prove the existence of general cases.