Working systematically

  • Towards Maclaurin
    problem

    Towards Maclaurin

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
    filled star filled star filled star

    Build series for the sine and cosine functions by adding one term at a time, alternately making the approximation too big then too small but getting ever closer.

  • Over-booking
    problem
    Favourite

    Over-Booking

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
    filled star filled star filled star

    The probability that a passenger books a flight and does not turn up is 0.05. For an aeroplane with 400 seats how many tickets can be sold so that only 2% of flights are over-booked?

  • Interpolating polynomials
    problem

    Interpolating Polynomials

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
    filled star filled star filled star
    Given a set of points (x,y) with distinct x values, find a polynomial that goes through all of them, then prove some results about the existence and uniqueness of these polynomials.