(New Question of the Week) This recent question involves an ordinary differential equation (ODE) and the relation between different solutions. It illustrates common difficulties in interpreting what a problem is asking for, as well as some communication problems involving language and notation.
(An archive question of the week) Last time, we looked at a method of integration, namely partial fractions, so it seems appropriate to find something about another method of integration (this one more specifically part of calculus rather than algebra). We will look at a question about integration by substitution; as a bonus, I will …
I have often noted that calculus class is where you really learn algebra. Certain techniques in calculus demand algebraic skills that either were not taught in algebra classes (because they are not needed until you get to calculus), or have been forgotten. Chief among these is the method of partial fractions. I have here put …
(New Question of the Week) We recently had a long discussion about a very common question from a somewhat different perspective: What do exponents (zero, negative, fractional, …) actually mean? The hard part, in the end, was to decide what “mean” means. What does it mean to define something in math? I will pick out the main thread of the …
(Archive Question of the Week) Logic puzzles can exercise our ability to reason carefully. Interestingly, the use of formal logic in doing so can actually get in our way, because such puzzles often have subtleties in their wording that are hard to capture in formal logic. Examining our thinking carefully can help us see wrong …
Sometimes in math, we trip over words, especially when they are used in ways that differ from everyday usage, or when the associated grammar is complicated. This set of three answers from our archive, each of which is referred to by the next one, look at relationships among the ideas of “necessary and sufficient conditions”, …
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions: If, or Only If? Read More »
(New question of the week) A conversation last week went through a number of interesting questions, starting with a couple on percentages, and moving into some that I would call rate questions. I will extract these, which I think will be useful for others. (The rest could, too, but there was just too much there …
(Archive problem of the week) Having just written about sequence puzzles, which sometimes can be solved mathematically, and sometimes are just psychological tests, I want to show a different kind of puzzle that I ran across while searching for those. At first, it looks like mere guess-and-check; then we find it can be solved easily …
Mathematical Thinking Solves an Operation Puzzle (Or Not) Read More »
One of the harder types of question to answer effectively is a puzzle, which as I define it means that there is no routine way to solve it, so any hint would likely give away the answer. But sometimes these are only “puzzles” to us, because we don’t know the context that would have told …
(New Question of the Week) Many of the questions we answer are primarily about “how do you solve this problem?”, but at the same time ask deeper, more general questions: “How do you solve problems like this, and are there alternatives?” Today’s question is a good example of this, and raises an interesting point or …