NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE FACULTY OF SCIENCE SEMESTER 1 EXAMINATION 2007-2008 GEK1517 Mathematical Thinking November 2007 — Time allowed : 2 hours INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES 1. This examination paper contains a total of FOUR (4) questions and comprises FIVE (5) printed pages (including this page) 2. Answer ALL questions. 3. Candidates are each allowed to help-sheet no larger than A-4 size. if in ONE (1) hand-written, double-sided 4, Candidates may use calculators. However, they should lay out systematically the various steps in the caleulations.GEK1517 PAGE 2 Answer ALL the four questions. Question 1 [25 marks} In this question we DO NOT acknowledge Euclid’s Fifth Axiom. As a result, we also CANNOT take equivalent statements (e.g., Playfair Axiom, or the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is 180°) for granted. Consequences of these statements may not. be valid. (i) Consider a triangle ABC on the plane. Let M; be the mid-point of BC. Construct the triangle ABC, with “the length of AM, = the length of M,C,". See the figure below. It is known that (you are NOT required to prove it) “sumn of three interior angles of AABC = sum of three interior angles of ABC; ”. Show that 4 BAC = 4 BAC; + 4 AC;B. In your explanation, you may use the known facts on congruent, triangles G: i) c cq a Ca A BR A 8 CBAC or LAC B < 0 is a fixed number (which can be as small as you like). Hence conelude that. “sum of three interior angles of AABC < 180°”. Remember, you are NOT allowed to use the parallel axiom, or equivalent statements. or some of their consequences. Explain how to modify the argument to work for the LBAC case ACB < Question 2 [20 marks] A rectangle of size € x 1 lies on the plane. Here ¢ is a fixed small positive number, say ¢ < 0.01. Drawing insight from the Kakeya rotating needle problem, formulate conjectures on how small an area of a region on the plane should be in order that the rectangle can be rotated 180° within the region. Justify your answers Question 3 [30 marks} (A) _ In the proof that there are infinite prime numbers, we suppose that 2= p< pecs: < Patt are all the prime numbers (> 1), then we obtain a contradiction by showing that the integer defined by Nis pi Xp X00 pow = 1 also a prime number. Explain why N > pat and N cannot be divided by any of the prime numbers pi, pau. Show that V is also a prime number. (Hence a contradiction.)GEK1517 PAGE 4 (B) Let 2=m 1 is a prime number and a an integer with 0 E, then the second player will say no, so that both players get 0. If D < E, then the second player will say yes so that the payoff for the first player is D, and for the second player T — D. Find all the Nash equilibria. Explain your answers. ~ End of Paper. ~