Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Chapter 1: The Art of Problem Solving

Similar presentations


Presentation on theme: "Chapter 1: The Art of Problem Solving"— Presentation transcript:

1 Chapter 1: The Art of Problem Solving

2 Letters Game ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Where could C, M, R and X belong?

3 Letters Game Possible solution: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

4 Chapter Opener Problem
Riddle to defuse a bomb, from the movie “Die Hard”: On the fountain there should be two jugs: 5 gallon and 3 gallon. Fill one of the jugs with exactly 4 gallons of water. You must be precise.

5 Inductive Reasoning Specific  General
Inductive reasoning is characterized by drawing a general conclusion/conjecture from repeated observations of specific examples. The conjecture may or may not be true. You are looking for patterns to make predictions. Examples: letters game, number sequences, predicting next equation

6 Deductive Reasoning General  Specific
Deductive reasoning is characterized by applying general principles to specific examples. Examples: Pythagoras’ theorem

7 Triangular Numbers

8

9 Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (30 April 1777 – 23 February 1855) was a German mathematician and scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, electrostatics, astronomy and optics. Sometimes referred to as "the Prince of Mathematicians", Gauss had a remarkable influence in many fields of mathematics and science and is ranked as one of history's most influential mathematicians. He referred to mathematics as "the queen of sciences".

10 Geometric argument for Gauss’s formula

11 Polya’s 4 Steps Understand the problem Devise a plan
Carry out the plan Look back and check

12 Units Digit of a Power of 7
#47, page 27 What is the units digit in 7 raised to 491?

13 Frog Climbing a Wall #48, page 27 A frog is at the bottom of a 20 foot well. Each day it crawls up 4 feet but each night it slips back 3 feet. After how many days will the frog reach the top of the well?

14 Matching Socks #51, page 27 A drawer contains 20 black socks and 20 white socks. If the light is off and you reach into the drawer to get your socks, what is the minimum number of socks you must pull out in order to be sure that you have a matching pair?

15 Crossing a River A person must take a wolf, a goat, and some cabbage across a river. The rowboat to be used has room for one person plus either the wolf, the goat or the cabbage. If the person takes the cabbage in the boat, the wolf will eat the goat. If the wolf goes in the boat, the goat will eat the cabbage. The goat and cabbage are safe only when the person is present. Even so, the person gets everything across the river. How?

16 Blaise Pascal French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher Was told not to study math until 15 but rebelled Invented first digital calculator “We arrive at truth, not by reason only, but also by the heart.”

17 Pascal’s Triangle

18 Patterns in Pascal’s Triangle
Symmetry Sums of Rows Prime Numbers Diagonals and Fibonacci Hockey Stick Pattern

19 Pascal and Pizza If there are 8 different toppings to choose from, how many possibilities are there? (assuming no doubles) No toppings Just one Two Three Pattern?

20 Pascal and Sierpinski Try this at home: print off a blank Pascal’s triangle, fill in at least 16 rows of numbers. What happens when you fill in all the hexagons that have odd numbers and leave the other ones blank???


Download ppt "Chapter 1: The Art of Problem Solving"

Similar presentations


Ads by Google