Explaining, convincing and proving
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problemCalculating With Cosines
If I tell you two sides of a right-angled triangle, you can easily work out the third. But what if the angle between the two sides is not a right angle?
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problemImpossible Sums
Which numbers cannot be written as the sum of two or more consecutive numbers?
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problemDifference of Odd Squares
$40$ can be written as $7^2 - 3^2.$ Which other numbers can be written as the difference of squares of odd numbers?
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problemThe Converse of Pythagoras
Can you prove that triangles are right-angled when $a^2+b^2=c^2$?
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problemA Long Time at the Till
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?
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problemNapoleon's Hat
Three equilateral triangles ABC, AYX and XZB are drawn with the point X a moveable point on AB. The points P, Q and R are the centres of the three triangles. What can you say about triangle PQR?
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problemPythagorean Golden Means
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.
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problemBig, Bigger, Biggest
Which is the biggest and which the smallest of $2000^{2002}, 2001^{2001} \text{and } 2002^{2000}$?
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problemTetra Inequalities
Can you prove that in every tetrahedron there is a vertex where the three edges meeting at that vertex have lengths which could be the sides of a triangle?