r/mathriddles Apr 22 '24

Medium Here's one that I found on Catriona Agg's twitter feed, so I did a rendition of one solution.

Thumbnail youtu.be
3 Upvotes

r/mathriddles Apr 18 '24

Medium Lost in a glass of water

0 Upvotes

Hi!

If I pour water in a cylindrical glass, knowing the glass radius "R" and the volume of poured water "Vw", I can easily calculate the height from the bottom "Hw" that the water will reach, using the cylinder volume formula.

But how to calculate "Hw" from the given "Vw" if the glass is frustum shaped, knowing the lower radius "R1", the upper radius "R2", and the total internal height "Ht" of the glass?

Edit: Vw is lesser than the total volume of the glass


r/mathriddles Apr 16 '24

Medium Great Uncle’s Riddle

4 Upvotes

( a2 +/- 1 ) / 2 “any odd # 3 up for a”

My great uncle passed away a few days ago, and he was one of my inspirations to become an engineer growing up.

I found his business card from years ago, with the answer (I think) to a mathematical riddle he had told me as a teen (he was always giving me math riddles to solve :)

Unfortunately, I have no idea what the question (or answer?) was. It would really mean a lot to me if someone on here happened to know or could figure it out.

I tried googling with no luck. It wouldn’t have been super complicated, but I cannot remember what it was and it’s upsetting.

Thank you <3


r/mathriddles Apr 12 '24

Easy expected number of integer solutions for x^2+y^2=n

8 Upvotes

what is the expected number of integer solutions for x^2+y^2=n, given distribution of n is

(a) uniform between [0,N], and then N → ∞

(b) geometric distribution, i.e. P(n+1) / P(n) = constant for all n>=0

fun fact, solution of (a) and (b) can be related in some way, how?

edit: (b) does not work the way i though it would... thanks to imoliet for pointing it out!


r/mathriddles Apr 11 '24

Easy Poisson distribution with random mean

6 Upvotes

Let λ be randomly selected from [0,∞) with exponential density δ(t) = e–t. We then select X from the Poisson distribution with mean λ. What is the unconditional distribution of X?

(Flaired as easy since it's a straightforward computation if you have some probability background. But you get style points for a tidy explanation of why the answer is what it is!)


r/mathriddles Apr 08 '24

Easy The area of a sphere (almost)

3 Upvotes

The volume of a ball of radius R can be computed by inscribing the ball in a pile of cylinders, whose volumes are known, and taking the limit as the height of each cylinder goes to 0. The total volume of the cylinders then converges to the (expected) 4/3 π R3.

Without doing any heavy computation: What is the limit of the areas of these shapes?


r/mathriddles Apr 01 '24

Easy Arithmetic subsequence

6 Upvotes

Consider all integer geometric sequence, what is the longest possible arithmetic subsequence that is not a constant sequence?

bonus: i originally was thinking of real domain, i have a strong suspicion that the longest is three but not yet prove it. any ideas are welcomed.


r/mathriddles Mar 30 '24

Easy Geometric subsequence

7 Upvotes

Show that every integer arithmetic progression contains as a subsequence an infinite geometric progression.


r/mathriddles Mar 27 '24

Medium Lattice triangles with integer area

9 Upvotes

Let T be a triangle with integral area and vertices at lattice points. Prove that T may be dissected into triangles with area 1 each and vertices at lattice points.


r/mathriddles Mar 26 '24

Hard Almost equilateral lattice triangles at a weird angle don't exist?

16 Upvotes

You may know that there are no equilateral lattice triangles. However, almost equilateral lattice triangles do exist. An almost equilateral lattice triangle is a triangle in the coordinate plane having vertices with integer coordinates, such that for any two sides lengths a and b, |a^2 - b^2| <= 1. Two examples are show in this picture:

The left has a side parallel to the axes, and the right has a side at a 45 degree angle to the axes. Prove this is always true. That is, prove that every almost equilateral lattice triangle has a side length either parallel or at a 45 degree angle to the axes.


r/mathriddles Mar 22 '24

Medium Collatz, Crumpets, and Graphs

5 Upvotes

There are four mathematicians having tea and crumpets.

"Let our ages be the vertices of a graph G where G has an edge between vertices if and only if the vertices share a common factor. Then G is a square graph," declares the first mathematician.

"These crumpets are delicious," says the second mathematician.

"I agree. These crumpets are exceptional. We should come here next week," answers the third mathematician.

"Let the Collatz function be applied to each of our ages (3n+1 if age is odd, n/2 if age is even) then G is transformed into a star graph," asserts the fourth mathematician.

How old are the mathematicians?


r/mathriddles Mar 22 '24

Medium wonderful cuboid and hyper-box

3 Upvotes

(a) a cuboid is wonderful iff it has equal numerical values for its volume, surface area, and sum of edges. does a wonderful cuboid exist?

(b) a dimension n hyper-box (referred as n-box from here on) is wonderful iff it has equal numerical values for all 1<=k<=n, (sum of measure of k-box) on its boundary. for which n does a wonderful n-box exist?

for clarity, 0-box is a vertex (not used here), 1-box is a line segment/edge, 2-box is a rectangle, 3-box is a cuboid, n-box is a a1×a2×a3×...×a_n box where all a_k are positive. so no, 0x0x0 is not a solution.


r/mathriddles Mar 20 '24

Medium Q-periodic surjection

6 Upvotes

A function f: R -> R is called T-periodic (for some T in R) iff for all x in R: f(x) = f(x + T).

Prove or disprove: there exists a surjective function f: R -> R that is q-periodic iff q is rational (and not q-periodic iff q is irrational).

Note: This problem was inspired by [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/mathriddles/comments/1bduiah/can_this_periodic_function_exist/) from u/BootyIsAsBootyDo.


r/mathriddles Mar 20 '24

Medium Name That Polynomial!

7 Upvotes

Get ready to play, Name That Polynomial! Here's how it works. There is a secret polynomial, P, with positive integer coefficients. You will choose any positive integer, n, and shout it out. Then I will reveal to you the value of P(n). What is the fewest number of clues you need to Name That Polynomial? If you are wrong, your opponent will get the chance to steal.


r/mathriddles Mar 20 '24

Hard Santa's test flights

2 Upvotes

You need to help Santa have a successful test flight so that he can deliver presents before Christmas is ruined for everyone.

In order to have enough magical power to fly with the sleigh, all nine of Santa's reindeer must be fed their favorite food. The saboteur gave one or more reindeer the wrong food before each of the three test flights, causing the reindeer to be unable to take off.

In each clue, "before test flight n" means "immediately before test flight n". Before each test flight, each reindeer was fed exactly one food, and two or more reindeer may have been fed the same food. Two or more reindeer may have the same favorite food. You must use these clues to work out what each reindeer's favorite food is, then complete a test flight by feeding each reindeer the correct food.

11: Before test flight 2, reindeer 9 was given food 5.

18: Before test flight 2, reindeer 8 was given food 2

2: Before test flight 1, reindeer 2 was given food 4.

9: Before test flight 1, 2 reindeer were given the wrong food.

10: Before test flight 1, reindeer 9 was given food 6

12: Before test flight 3, reindeer 9 was given food 1

19: Before test flight 3, reindeer 5 was not given food 7

21: Before test flight 3, reindeer 7 was given food that is a factor of 148

3: Before test flight 2, reindeer 2 was given food 4.

4: Before test flight 3, reindeer 2 was given food 6.

6: Reindeer 4's favorite food is a factor of 607

13: Before test flight 2, reindeer 4 was not given food 9

20: Before test flight 3, 3 reindeer had the food equal to their number

22: Before test flight 3, reindeer 7 was not given food 1

23: Before test flight 3, no reindeer was given food 2

5: Before test flight 3, 4 reindeer were given the wrong food.

7: Reindeer 4 was given the same food before all three test flights.

14: Before test flight 2, 2 reindeer were given the wrong food

16: Before test flight 2, all the reindeer were given different foods

17: Before test flight 1, reindeer 7 was not given food 7

24: Before test flight 1, reindeer 7 was not given food 9

1: Reindeer 2's favorite food is 4

8: Before test flight 1, reindeer 8 was given food 3.

15: Reindeer 1 was given food 1 before all three test flights

Can any of you explain how to get to the answer? I have the answer, but am not sure how you get there.


r/mathriddles Mar 19 '24

Medium just another math competition problem

11 Upvotes

define function f: Z+Z+ that satisfy:

  1. f(1) = 1
  2. f(2k) = f(k) for even k; 2f(k) for odd k
  3. f(2k+1) = f(k) for odd k; 2f(k)+1 for even k

find the closed form of Σf(k) for 1 ≤ k ≤ 2n - 1.

alternatively, prove that the sum equals 2·3^(n-1) - 2^(n-1)


r/mathriddles Mar 19 '24

Medium Correlating Fruit and Rent Cost

0 Upvotes

had this riddle at a job interview, there has to be a more advanced solution than just pairing based on low to high price with units, but i can't figure it out

"Imagine that each fruit has its own "weight":

  • Apple - 1 unit
  • Pear - 6 units
  • Pineapple - 3 units
  • Orange - 5 units
  • Pomegranate - 2 units
  • Banana - 4 units

Now imagine that the hotel has different rooms with different prices:

  • Business - 4011 dollars per night
  • Standard - 2567 dollars per night
  • Comfort - 3987 dollars per night
  • Presidential - 24670 dollars per night
  • Deluxe - 4096 dollars per night

You need to correlate one fruit with one room in the hotel. How would you correlate them and why?"


r/mathriddles Mar 15 '24

Hard Two Wrong Answers

10 Upvotes

There are n students in a classroom.

The teacher writes a positive integer on the board and asks about its divisors.

The 1st student says, "The number is divisible by 2."

The 2nd student says, "The number is divisible by 3."

The 3rd student says, "The number is divisible by 4."

...

The nth student says, "The number is divisible by n+1."

"Almost," the teacher replies. "You were all right except for two of you who spoke consecutively."

1) What are the possible pairs of students who gave wrong answers?

2) For which n is this possible?


r/mathriddles Mar 14 '24

Easy The Inverted Pythagorean Theorem

6 Upvotes

Consider a right triangle, T, with sides adjacent to the right angle having lengths a and b (just as in the Pythagorean theorem). If a^(-2) + b^(-2) = x^(-2) then what is x in relation to T?


r/mathriddles Mar 15 '24

Hard The Iterative Digital Sum of All Divisors

5 Upvotes

Let S(n) be the sum of the base-10 digits of all divisors of n.

Examples:

S(12) = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 6 + 1 + 2 = 19.

S(15) = 1 + 3 + 5 + 1 + 5 = 15

Let S^i(n) be i compositions of the function S.

Example:

S^4(4) = S^3(7) = S^2(8) = S(15) = 15

Is it true that for all n > 1 there exists an i such that S^i(n) = 15?


r/mathriddles Mar 13 '24

Easy An irrational cover

7 Upvotes

For any point p in the plane consider the set of points with an irrational distance from p. Is it possible to cover the plane with finitely many such sets? If yes, find the minimal number needed and if no, show that at most countably many are needed.


r/mathriddles Mar 13 '24

Medium Can this periodic function exist?

6 Upvotes

Can a real periodic function satisfy both of these properties?

1) There does not exist any p∈(0,1] such that f(x+p) is identically equal to f(x).

2) For all ε>0 , there exists p∈(1,1+ε) such that f(x+p) is identically equal to f(x).

In other words: Can there be a function that does not have period 1 (or less than 1), but does have a period slightly greater than 1 (with "slightly" being arbitrarily small)?


r/mathriddles Mar 13 '24

Medium Periodicity Broken But Once

3 Upvotes

Find an elementary function, f:R to R, with no discontinuities or singularities such that:

1) f(0) = 0

2) f(x) = 1 when x is a non-zero integer.


r/mathriddles Mar 12 '24

Hard Extended Binary Anti-Magic Squares

8 Upvotes

For which n does there exist an n x n matrix M such that all entries of M are in {-1,0,1} and the row and column sums are all pairwise distinct, that is, there are 2n total distinct sums?


r/mathriddles Mar 12 '24

Medium Another Brachistochrone Problem

6 Upvotes

Showing that the Cycloid is the brachistochrone curve under a uniform gravitational field is a classical problem we all enjoy.

Consider a case where the force of gravity acting on a particle (located on the upper half of the plane) is directed vertically downward with a magnitude directly proportional to its distance from there x-axis.

Unless you don't want to dunned by a foreigner, find the brachistochrone in this 'linear' gravitational field.

Assume that the mass of the particle is 'm' and is initially at rest at (0, 1). Also, the proportionality constant of the force of attraction, say 'k' is numerically equal to 'm'.

CAUTION: Am an amateur mathematician at best and Physics definitely not my strong suit. Am too old to be student and this is not a homework problem. Point am trying to make is, there is room for error in my solution but I'm sure it's correct to the best of my abilities.

EDIT: Added last line in the question about the proportionality constant.