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26th June 2003

THE TEACHER'S QUESTION

Brian Grainger

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brian@grainger1.freeserve.co.uk


 

I like maths puzzles that seem to expect a solution from what appears to be very little information. The following is an example.

The maths teacher came into the staff room all of a lather.

"I have lost the notes to my lesson on Diophantine Eqautions", he exclaimed. "Has anyone found them?"

"Calm down", said the Head of Maths. "Do you remember anything about the content?"

"I remember I had created an equation where I had summed the 5th powers of 5 different numbers."

"Do you remember anything about the solution?", asked the Head of Maths.

"I remember the answer had 4 digits, all different", said the teacher.

The Head of Maths tapped his calculator for a couple of minutes and then wrote something on a piece of paper. Passing it to the teacher he said, "Is that what you were looking for?"

"Yes! Amazing!", the teacher exclaimed. Thanking his colleague profusely he left to teach his class.

What was the equation the Head of Maths had written on the piece of paper?

If you want a clue, click here.

If you want the answer, click here.


 

 

 

 


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