Monday, June 8, 2009

Solving Historical Elementary Mathematics Problems #2

100 buns were to be distributed to 100 monks, some young and some old. Each old monk was given 3 buns while 3 young monks shared a bun. If all the buns were given out, how many old monks and how many young monks were there?
(Ming Dynasty, China)
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20 comments:

  1. Zhi Xian and Zhi TingJune 8, 2009 at 7:39 PM

    There are 75 young monks and 25 old monks.

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  2. Zhi Xian and Zhi TingJune 8, 2009 at 7:43 PM

    For the number of old monks, it must be less than 33 as 34 onwards, when you times 3, it will give you more than hundred buns.For the number of young monks, it must be more than 67.From there , you start using guess and check.

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  3. VincentJune 8, 2009 at 8:04 PM

    That's correct! However, is there another method to get the answer in a direct way rather than using guess and check?
    I must compliment Zhi Xian and Zhi Ting because you have used good reasoning to guess and check the answer in a quick way.

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  4. Zhi Xian and Zhi TingJune 8, 2009 at 8:15 PM

    Since you know that 1 old monk has 3 buns and 3 young monks share 1 bun, then you add the three buns and 1 bun together to form a group.Then use 100 to divide by 4 to get how many groups are there.From there you work out the answer which is 75 yung monks and 25 old monks!

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  5. Zhi Xian and Zhi TingJune 8, 2009 at 8:16 PM

    Sorry, 75 yung should be 75 young.

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  6. Zhi Xian and Zhi TingJune 9, 2009 at 1:04 PM

    so sad,nobody commented.

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  7. HaziqueJune 9, 2009 at 5:18 PM

    Who is Galileo? Is this the answer, Mr Soh?? He was an Italian scientist who formulated the basic law of falling bodies

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  8. HaziqueJune 9, 2009 at 5:23 PM

    Sorry, forgot to put full stop!!

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  9. AnonymousJune 9, 2009 at 6:03 PM

    I think guess and check is the easiest method.:)

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  10. Zhi Xian and Zhi TingJune 9, 2009 at 6:21 PM

    There are 17 cases of H1N1 flu!

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  11. Zhi Xian and Zhi TingJune 10, 2009 at 2:50 PM

    There are 18 cases of H1N1 flu!

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  12. HaziqueJune 10, 2009 at 4:27 PM

    How does a parrot talk?

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  13. HaziqueJune 11, 2009 at 4:18 PM

    Why nobody answer my question?:(

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  14. HaziqueJune 11, 2009 at 4:20 PM

    Never mind, I create another question:
    What is our body made of?

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  15. AnonymousJune 11, 2009 at 4:56 PM

    cells,blood,skin,blood vessels,heart,lungs,windpipe,mouth,gullet and all sorts of things that our body is made of.

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  16. HaziqueJune 11, 2009 at 5:13 PM

    The cells of the same type form tissues, different tissues form organs, organs working together form organ systems, organ system together form organism.

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  17. AnonymousJune 11, 2009 at 5:16 PM

    Extracted from textbook???

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  18. HaziqueJune 15, 2009 at 4:23 PM

    Do you know how bats communicate?

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  19. AnonymousJune 16, 2009 at 5:21 PM

    Bats communicates by using soundwaves coming out of their body. These sounds are ultrasonic and hence, we can't hear it. When they are mating, they emit scents to attract their mates.

    ReplyDelete
  20. AnonymousJune 23, 2009 at 5:10 PM

    The old monks will have 25 while the young have 75.

    ReplyDelete

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