Creating and manipulating expressions and formulae

  • There and back
    problem

    There and back

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
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    Brian swims at twice the speed that a river is flowing, downstream from one moored boat to another and back again, taking 12 minutes altogether. How long would it have taken him in still water?
  • Quadratic Harmony
    problem

    Quadratic harmony

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    Find all positive integers a and b for which the two equations: x^2-ax+b = 0 and x^2-bx+a = 0 both have positive integer solutions.
  • Mechanical Integration
    problem

    Mechanical integration

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    To find the integral of a polynomial, evaluate it at some special points and add multiples of these values.
  • W Mates
    problem

    W mates

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    Show there are exactly 12 magic labellings of the Magic W using the numbers 1 to 9. Prove that for every labelling with a magic total T there is a corresponding labelling with a magic total 30-T.
  • Magic W
    problem

    Magic W

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
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    Find all the ways of placing the numbers 1 to 9 on a W shape, with 3 numbers on each leg, so that each set of 3 numbers has the same total.

  • Plum Tree
    problem

    Plum tree

    Age
    14 to 18
    Challenge level
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    Label this plum tree graph to make it totally magic!
  • Diverging
    problem

    Diverging

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    Show that for natural numbers x and y if x/y > 1 then x/y>(x+1)/(y+1}>1. Hence prove that the product for i=1 to n of [(2i)/(2i-1)] tends to infinity as n tends to infinity.
  • Pair Squares
    problem

    Pair squares

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    The sum of any two of the numbers 2, 34 and 47 is a perfect square. Choose three square numbers and find sets of three integers with this property. Generalise to four integers.
  • Reciprocals
    problem

    Reciprocals

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
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    Prove that the product of the sum of n positive numbers with the sum of their reciprocals is not less than n^2.
  • Sixational
    problem

    Sixational

    Age
    14 to 18
    Challenge level
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    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. Prove that all terms of the sequence are divisible by 6.