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Mathematics: a Powerful Tool for Solving Problems. Doug French The Mathematical Association. MATHEMATICS is USEFUL and INTERESTING. MATHEMATICS is a POWERFUL TOOL for solving PROBLEMS. PROBLEMS provide the MOTIVATION for learning MATHEMATICS. A Problem with Percentages.
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Mathematics: a Powerful Tool for Solving Problems Doug French The Mathematical Association
MATHEMATICS is USEFUL and INTERESTING. MATHEMATICS is a POWERFUL TOOL for solving PROBLEMS. PROBLEMS provide the MOTIVATION for learning MATHEMATICS.
A Problem with Percentages Two cups of coffee at £1.25 with a 10% discount. How much to pay? 10% of £2.50 = 25p Cost of two cups of coffee: £2.50 – 25p = £2.25 10% of £1.25 = 12.5p = 13p to the nearest penny Cost of one cup of coffee:£1.25 – 13p = £1.12 Cost of two cups of coffee: £2.50 – 26p = £2.24
A Curious Property 7 × 9 = 63 and 8 × 8 = 64 1 × 3 = 3 2 × 4 = 8 3 × 5 = 15 4 × 6 = 24 5 × 7 = 35 6 × 8 = 48 7 × 9 = 63 8 × 10 = 80 9 × 11 = 99 2 × 2 = 4 3 × 3 = 9 4 × 4 = 16 5 × 5 = 25 6 × 6 = 36 7 × 7 = 49 8 × 8 = 64 9 × 9 = 81 10 × 10 = 100 20 × 22 = 440 and 21 × 21 = 441 n² – 1 = (n – 1)(n + 1)
The Difference of Two Squares A pictorial proof
The Difference of Squares of Two Consecutive Odd Numbers n 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 n² 1 9 25 49 81 121 169 (2n + 1)² – (2n– 1)² = 4n 2 = 8n Difference of squares of two consecutive odd numbers is a multiple of 8. Difference of squares of ANY two odd numbers is a multiple of 8.
REMEMBERING is NOT ENOUGH. Need to know WHY as well as HOW. It is EASIER to REMEMBER when you UNDERSTAND and there is much LESS to REMEMBER.