TOBER

\\'hat is the product of the greatest The circular target below is divided
common divisor and the least common
multiple of 111 and 18?
In quadrilateral YEAR, the measures
into four congruent quadrants with of the sides are YE =1, EA =8, AR =
point values 1, 9, 9, and 8, as shown. 9, and RY =9. Why could the mLR not
Four darts are thrown that hit the be 60 degrees?
target randomly. What is the
probability that the
digits obtained could •
be arranged to . .
fo rm 1998? ·
A

If the sum of n consecutive positive
integers is 1998 and n is an odd
number, what is the largest possible
value for ni
On a square lattice, points are joined
as shown. If the distance between con-
secutive horizontal or vertical points is
one unit, what is the area of square
ABCD?
The unusual word CADAEIBFEC, Divide a unit circle into eight regions
pronounced ca • da' • ib • fee, is a of equal area by using two chords and
mnemonic for an important piece of another circle.
mathematical information. What is it?

rf: 0

Divide a unit circle into eight regions For positive x andy, defi ne a binary If this triangle was continued, what How many digits does the number
of equal area by using two chords and operation • by x • y =x2 - 2xy +i. number would lie directly below 144? 25 16 x 238 have?
two other circles. Find the values ofx andy if x • y =
1
100 when y =3x.
2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Prove that 55 100 + 55 101 + 55 102 is
divisible by 13.
On a flat surface, arrange four unit Place one of the arithmetic operations ~· .
CE bisects LACB, BE bisects LABD,
spheres into two layers, with three +, -, x, or+ between each pair of
and mLA =80°. Find mLE.
spheres on the lower layer and one successive numbers on the left side of
sphere on the top layer. Find the this equation to make it true. Any
distance between the highest point of operation may be used more than once E A
the top sphere and the flat surface. or not at all.
D ~
B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 100
Tina and Lena circle a track. Tina
runs half the distance and walks half
of it. Lena runs half the time and
walks half the time. Their walking
speeds are identical, and their running
speeds are identical. Who wins the
race?
ln how many ways can you place a
border of blue poker chips around a
rectangular array of white poker chips
so that the number of blue chips is
equal to the number of white chips?
tm
Two missiles speed directly toward
each other, one at 9 000 MPH and one
at 21 000 MPH. If they start at
1317 miles apart, how far apart are
they one minute before they collide?
By drawing two straight lines, divide
the face of a clock into three regions
such that the numbers in the regions
have the same total.
Point B is a mutual vertex of a regular
hexagon, a square, and a third regular
polygon. If two of the sides of this
third polygon are AB and BC, what is
this polygon?
·co
c areas of the octagon and the circle
In a chess tournament with eighty
contestants, a player is eliminated
after one loss. Ignoring draws, how
many games \vill be played?
On a two-mile race track, you bike the
first mile at 10 ~!PH. At what rate must
you bike the second mile to average
20 MPH for the entire track?
A nine-term sequence of dates has its
first three terms and last term as
shown. What are a 4, a5 , a6 , a1, and as?
a 1 =July 13, 1991
a 2 = April 23, 1992
a3 =March 31, 1993
a9 =July 14, 1998
© National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 1906 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191-1593
Connect successive trisection points on
the sides of a square to form an octa-
gon. The area of the octagon could be
used to approximate the area of the
circle inscribed in the square. If the
were equal, what value of Tr would be
implied?
Find all pairs of positive integers
whose squares differ by 400.
A shortcut for obtaining 74 x 76 =
5624 is to append 4 x 6 to the product
of 7 and 8. Devise a general shortcut
rule for multiplying two 2-digit
numbers if they have the same tens
digit and units digits that sum to 10.
Prove that your rule is valid.
The four numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10 have
the property that the sum of the
smallest and the largest is equal to the
difference between the squares of the
middle two. Is this property true of
any four consecutive numbers?
Find lhe sum of the firsllOO terms of
the following infinite series:
1 1 1 1
-+ + +· ·+ - - - ·+
l x3 3 x5 5 x 7 {2n-1){21z + 1)
In a three-game playoff series, the
probability that team A \viii win each
game is twice the probability that
team B \viii win. What is the probability
that team B \viii win the series?
John and Rachel are playing a coin-
toss game. John gets a point if the coin
lands heads up, and Rachel gets a
point if it lands tails up. If the game is
now 9-8 in Rachel's favor and the first
one to reach ten points is the \vinner,
what is the probability that Rachel
\viii win?
The eight numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
and 10 have the property that the
sum of the squares of the first, fourth,
sixth, and seventh is equal to the sum
of the squares of the second, third,
fifth, and eighth. Is this property true
of any eight consecutive numbers?
 Edited by Monte Zerger, Adams State College, Alamosa, CO 81102; mjzerger@adams.edu

Problems 1-6 were furnished by Peter Scheetz, Seton School, 9314 Maple Street, Manassas, VA 20110-5118.
Problems 7-15 were contributed by Vik Hovsepian and Michael M. Hattar, Rio Hondo College, 3600 Workman
Mill Road, Whittier, CA 90601. Problems 16-23 and 25 were submitted by Walter Szetela, P.O. Box 853, Point
Roberts, WA 98281. Problem 26 was contributed by James E. Beamer and Bikkar S. Randhawa, University of
Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N OWO, along with Cheuk Ng, Athabaska University, Athabaska, Alberta
T9S 3A3. Problem 27 was supplied by Marian Small, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB E3B 6E3.

1 1998. The GCD of these The last three factorizations

numbers is 3 and their LCM is
666, so the product is 1998.
Alternatively, the product of the
GCD and LCM of two numbers is
the product of the numbers
themselves, and 111 x 18 = 1998.
2 3/16. The probability of
obtaining a 1 or an 8 is 114, and
the probability of obtaining a 9 is
112. Since
4!
1!2!1!
distinguishable permutations of
the digits in 1998 exist, the prob-
ability of obtaining 1998 is
2
4! ( 1)(1) ( 1) 3
1!2!1!42 4 = 16.
3 If mLR = 60°, then YA = 9
and YEAR is not a quadrilateral.
4 37. Note that this sum will be
nx, where xis the mean of the
consecutive integers. Since n is
odd and nx = 1998, x must be
even. The factorizations of 1998
as a product of an odd and an
even are as follows:
3x666
9x222
27 X 74
37 X 54
111 X 18
333 X 6
999 X 2
lead to these ways of expressing
1998 as the sum of consecutive
integers:
1998 = ( - 37) + ... + 18 + ... + 73
1998 = (- 160) + ... + 6 + ... + 172
1998= (- 497)+··· + 2+ ··· +501
These sums all violate the
condition that the integers be
positive, and the desired
representation must be
1998 = 36 + 37 + ... + 54 + . ..
+ 71 + 72.
5 9/10 square units
E F
H G
By applying the Pythagorean
theorem to 6 EGH, we obtain
EH = ~ = VIO. Considering
parallelogram EFGH to have
base HG and altitude EG, we
obtain its area of 3. Considering
the same parallelogram to have
base EH and altitude AB, we
have (VlOXAB>= 3. Thus AB =
3/VIO and area ABCD = 9/10.
6 It is a mnemonic for the first
ten digits of R.
7 Construct two perpendicular
diameters of the unit circle and a
smaller concentric circle of radius
r as shown.
Since the area of the unit circle
is R(l)2 = 1r, for the eight regions
to be equal in area, the area of
the smaller circle must be ~r/2.
Thus
1 directly below n 2 is (n + 1)2 - 1,
r=-;=;
,2
and by symmetry, all regions
have the same area of T£18.
8 Construct two perpendicular
diameters and two circles tangent
to each other at the center of the
original unit circle and tangent to
the original unit circle at the
endpoints of one of its diameters.
The area of the large circle is
1r(1)2, and the combined area of
the two small circles is
Thus, the area of that portion of
the large circle that lies outside
the small circles is also ~r/2, and
by symmetry, all eight regions
have the same area of R/8.
9 x=5,y =15.
x • y = x2 - 2xy +l
100 = x2 - 2x(3x) + (3d
100 = 4x 2
X = 5,y = 15
1 0 168. The number lying
so the number below 122 would
be 132 - 1 = 168.
11 34
2516 x238 = 2516 x(22)19
=25 16 x(4 16 x4 3 )
=100 16 x4 3
=64 x 1032
Alternatively, one could use a
calculator to obtain the product
of 6.4 x 1033.
(Continued on page 593)

The Editorial Panel of the Mathematics Teacher is considering sets of problems submitted by individuals, classes of prospective teachers.
and mathematics clubs for publication in the calendar during the 1999-2000 academic year. Please write to the senior journal editor,
1906 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191-1593, for guidelines, or send your request through e-mail to infocentral@nctm.org, or obtain
guidelines as document 803 from NCTM's Fax·on·Demand Service Center, (800) 220-8483.
Two other sources of problems in calendar form are available from NCTM: "Calendars for the Calculating" (a set of nine monthly calendars
that originally appeared from September 1983 to May 1984, order number 344, $7.00) and "A Year of Mathematics" (one annual calendar
that originally appeared in September 1982, order number 311, $3.50; set of five, order number 312, $7. 00). Individual members receive a
20 percent discount off these prices. Write to NCTM, Department P, or send e-mail to infocentral@nctm.org, for the catalog of educational
materials, which includes a listing for the publication Exploratory Problems in Mathematics.-Ed.

596 THE MATHEMATICS TEACHER

 SOLUTIONS TO CALENDAR-Continued from page 596

12 to discover that the polygon must Let the width be x chips and the
be a dodecagon. height be y chips. Then the num-
55100 + 55101 +55102 ber of chips in the border is 2x +
= 55
100 2
(1 + 55+ 55 ) 14 One solution is 1 + 2 + 3 + 18 3l 2(y - 2) = 2x + 2y - 4, and the
9 number of chips inside the border
4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + (8 X 9) =100. is (x- 2)(y - 2) = xy- 2x- 2y + 4.
=55 100 (3081) We wish that

100 x3 x 13 x 79
= 55
13 6 + 2!6
3 D
Joining the centers of the four
spheres \vill produce a regular
tetrahedron of edge length 2, as
shown.
The base of this tetrahedron
will be one unit above the floor,
and the highest point of the top
1 5 40 degrees
Applying the exterior-angle
theorem to 6 ABC, we have
mLDBA =mL.BCA + mL.A,
2y =2x+80°,
y = x +40°.
Applying it to 6 EBC yields
mL.DBE = mLBCE + mL.E,
y=x+z.
D
Let the side of the square be 3s.
Then the area of the square is
9s 2, and the area of the octagon
can be obtained by subtracting
the areas of the four right trian-
gles at the corners, which gives
2 2
9s - { : ) = 7s
The area of the circle is
J
rr(3; = 97
2
.
xy - 2x - 2y + 4 = 2x + 2y - 4
or
xy- 4x- 4y + 8 = 0.
The left side factors over the
integers if we add 8 to both sides.
xy -4x-4y +16 = 8
(x -4)(y -4)=8
Since x andy must be positive
integers and 1, 2, 4, and 8 are the
only positive integral factors of 8,
we arrive at the only possible
solutions of (8, 6), (6, 8), (12, 5),
and (5, 12). The rectangle must
be 6 x 8 or 5 x 12.

21 79. As many games will be

sphere will be one unit above the These two results together imply
top of the tetrahedron. Thus, the
that mLE = 40°.
distance is 2 + h, where h is the
height of the tetrahedron. 16 Lena. Assume that they
D both start by running. Tina will
run halfway around the track
before beginning to walk. Since
running takes less time than
walking, Lena will run more than
halfway around the track before
A starting to walk. Lena will run
more of the time than Tina and
B hence is the winner.
From 6 ABE, we obtain 17 A dodecagon
c 3'5'7'9' ' ..
BE= ~2 2 - 12 =..f3.
played as the number of
If these areas were equal, we could contestants that lose a game.
obtain the value of rc by solving
Since the tournament will have
7s2 =9m2
only one winner, it will have
seventy-nine losers.
4
to obtain 22 (101, 99), (52, 48), (29, 21),
(25, 15). Let m and n be two such
28 =3l. integers. We have
9 9 400 = m2 - n 2 = (m + n)(m- n).
19 100/201. Examining the Let ab be a factorization of 400
into the product of two positive
sequence of partial sums
integers. It is easy to see that a
1 234 and b must both be even, and so
the only factorizations to consid-
er are 200 x 2, 100 x 4, 50 x 8,

tt)
suggests a sum of 100/201. This 40 x 10, and 20 x 20. By using
Since F is located at the center of solution can be confirmed by m = (a+ b}/2 and n = (a- b)/2
6 ABC, rewriting the sum as one that and by discarding the last factor-
telescopes: ization because it yields n =0, we
BF =~ BE obtain the solutions.
3 The angles of a regular polygon
2..f3 of n sides are given by 23 7/27. The probability that
3 B wins any game is 113. Team B
can win the series in any of the
Finally, from !:,DBF, following ways: BB, ABB, or BAB.
These probabilities are, respec-

2'-(2:)'
Since the angles of a square mea- tively, (113)(113) = 119,
sure 90 degrees and the angles of (2/3){1/3)(113) =2/27, and
h= a hexagon measure 120 degrees, (1/3)(213){1/3) = 2/27.The sum of
mL.ABC =150°. To find n, we =- these probabilities is 7/27.
=~ solve 201
24 500 miles. In one minute,
2.J6 (n: 2
}8oo = 150°, the first missile will travel

•
(9,000)(1160) = 150 miles and the
=3, 30°n = 360°, second will travel (21,000){1160) =
n=12 (Continued on page 597)
and the desired distance is

593
Vol. 91, No.7 • October 1998
 SOLUTIONS TO CALENDAR -Continued from page 593

350 miles. Thus, one minute

before they collide, they are 150 +
30 Yes. Let the numbers ben, =4n2 +28n+70
350, or 500, miles apart.

2 5 Impossible. The first mile

n + 1, n + 2, and n + 3. Then n +
(n + 3) = (n + 2)2 - (n + 1)2• =(n+ 1)
2
+(n+2) +(n+4
2
t
will take 6 minutes to bike, but
31 Yes. Let the numbers ben, +(n+7t
n + 1, ... , n + 7. Then
to average 20 MPH for 2 miles
would take 6 minutes, leaving no n2 + (n + 3)2 + (n + 5)2 + (n + 6)2
time remaining for the second mile.
2 6 lf the numbers are lOa + b
and lOa + c, where b + c = 10,
append be to the product of a and
a+ 1.
(loa +b)(lOa +c) Calculators for the Classroom
= 100a2 +10ab+l0ac+bc We stock calculators from the basic to math labs,
2 plus overhead systems, batteries, workbooks, etc.
=100a +lOa(b+e)+be
Since Call us for information or quotations!
b + e = 10, 1-800-526-9060
100a2 +lOa(10) +be
1·888·526·9060 - West

= 100a2 + 100a +be

E EDUCATIONAL ELECTRONICS
70 Finnell Drive 'ii.!!.£1: 4289 Barbara Way N.E.
=100[a(a + 1)] +be.
E Weymouth , MA 02188
Fax: 781-340-6742
Sal em. OR 97305
Fax: 503·304·1114

27 3/4. John wins only if the

next two tosses both land heads
up. Therefore, the probability
that John wins is
LEARNING MATHEMATICS
and the probability that Rachel
AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
wins is Word Problem Interpretation Kit
TEACHER DEMO WHEELER A VAILABLE U PON REQUEST
1 3
1- -=-.
4 4

28 Draw one line that passes

between 10 and 11 and also be-
tween 2 and 3. Draw the second
line to pass between 8 and 9 and
also between 4 and 5. Then the
numbers in the regions have totals
of 11 + 12 + 1 + 2 = 26, 9 + 10 + 3 + The student will immediately perceive relationship
4 =26, and 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 =26. between the mothemoticol ond English sentence structure;
ond... The student will be able to Irons/ole English r---- - ---------- - -- - ----- -~

0
Tllls..I• _CAT leomtng Ktl1
sentences mto mothemoticol expressions.
) ca .)
u.t a.& ) Mootr f)dor
CONTENTS )I'"' ? II( ) lmb
Nome _ __ _ __ _ _ __
• Teacher resourte booklet • Student worksheets Addltll _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __
• Pre/post assessments • Assessment Analysis Chart Ory SIGle _ __

29 May 19, 1995; April24, 1996; • Problem Analysis chart• 75 wheelers • Flash Cards lil> tillO~------
June 16, 1996; August 12, 1996; Finally!...An easy to follow approach to the age old problem with "-phone
O..geA<n " - - - : - - - - : - - - -
losioess phooo
December 8, 1996. Write the dates
in the form mld/yy where m is the
solving word problems. • An educational tool, for grades 4 to adult ro,.
• Over I,000 fun·filled practice exercises • Builds critical word ._,________ _
o. _ __ __ _ __
u,...
---

month, d is the day of the month,
and yy is the last two digits of the
year. These nine dates are suc-
cessive dates for which m x d = yy.
problem solving skills • Excellent for group or individualized
instruction • Great for students with identifiable learning .)fltaltltAd ..... iAI..... )feochor0omo ......
Mclo doeds"""" It CAl Millon. Plooso alow U ..tkslor doky
disabilities • Developed by an educational expert ~---- - - - --------- - --------4
CAT PUIIIIHUI, WAIHINGIOH D.C. ftllDOffiCI: 7336 141MSam, N.W., WAIHINGIOND.C. • 20012 1-877-328·5267 • fu: 202-722-7336

Vol. 91, No.7 • October 1998 597