Other tags that relate to Mind Your Ps and Qs
Integration. Networks/Graph Theory. Generalising. Creating and manipulating expressions and formulae. Making and proving conjectures. Number theory. Logic. Inequalities. Mathematical reasoning & proof. Quadratic equations.There are 22 results
Broad Topics > Numbers and the Number System > Number theory
An Introduction to Number Theory
Age 16 to 18
An introduction to some beautiful results of Number Theory (a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and integer-valued functions)
There's a Limit
Age 14 to 18 Challenge Level:
Explore the continued fraction: 2+3/(2+3/(2+3/2+...)) What do you notice when successive terms are taken? What happens to the terms if the fraction goes on indefinitely?
Pythagorean Golden Means
Age 16 to 18 Challenge Level:
Show that the arithmetic mean, geometric mean and harmonic mean of a and b can be the lengths of the sides of a right-angles triangle if and only if a = bx^3, where x is the Golden Ratio.
A Little Light Thinking
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Here is a machine with four coloured lights. Can you make two lights switch on at once? Three lights? All four lights?
Ordered Sums
Age 14 to 16 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. . . .
Modulus Arithmetic and a Solution to Differences
Age 16 to 18
Peter Zimmerman, a Year 13 student at Mill Hill County High School in Barnet, London wrote this account of modulus arithmetic.
Sums of Squares and Sums of Cubes
Age 16 to 18
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.
Euler's Squares
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Euler found four whole numbers such that the sum of any two of the numbers is a perfect square...
Number Rules - OK
Age 14 to 16 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...
Diophantine N-tuples
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Can you explain why a sequence of operations always gives you perfect squares?
Never Prime
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
If a two digit number has its digits reversed and the smaller of the two numbers is subtracted from the larger, prove the difference can never be prime.
Really Mr. Bond
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
115^2 = (110 x 120) + 25, that is 13225 895^2 = (890 x 900) + 25, that is 801025 Can you explain what is happening and generalise?
2^n -n Numbers
Age 16 to 18
Yatir from Israel wrote this article on numbers that can be written as $ 2^n-n $ where n is a positive integer.
An Introduction to Modular Arithmetic
Age 14 to 16
An introduction to the notation and uses of modular arithmetic
Always Perfect
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Show that if you add 1 to the product of four consecutive numbers the answer is ALWAYS a perfect square.
Data Chunks
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
Data is sent in chunks of two different sizes - a yellow chunk has 5 characters and a blue chunk has 9 characters. A data slot of size 31 cannot be exactly filled with a combination of yellow and. . . .
The Public Key
Age 16 to 18 Challenge Level:
Find 180 to the power 59 (mod 391) to crack the code. To find the secret number with a calculator we work with small numbers like 59 and 391 but very big numbers are used in the real world for this.
About Pythagorean Golden Means
Age 16 to 18
What is the relationship between the arithmetic, geometric and harmonic means of two numbers, the sides of a right angled triangle and the Golden Ratio?
Novemberish
Age 14 to 16 Challenge Level:
a) A four digit number (in base 10) aabb is a perfect square. Discuss ways of systematically finding this number. (b) Prove that 11^{10}-1 is divisible by 100.
Binomial Coefficients
Age 14 to 18
An introduction to the binomial coefficient, and exploration of some of the formulae it satisfies.
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.