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For instance, the first counterexample must be odd because f(2n) = n, smaller than 2n; and it must be 3 mod 4 because f 2 (4n + 1) = 3n + 1, smaller than 4n + 1. For each starting value a which is not a counterexample to the Collatz conjecture, there is a k for which such an inequality holds, so checking the Collatz conjecture for one starting ...
The monkey and the coconuts is the best known representative of a class of puzzle problems requiring integer solutions structured as recursive division or fractionating of some discretely divisible quantity, with or without remainders, and a final division into some number of equal parts, possibly with a remainder.
A variant of the story has been told with 11 camels, to be divided into 1 ⁄ 2, 1 ⁄ 4, and 1 ⁄ 6. [22] [23] Another variant of the puzzle appears in the book The Man Who Counted, a mathematical puzzle book originally published in Portuguese by Júlio César de Mello e Souza in 1938. This version starts with 35 camels, to be divided in the ...
The misdirection in this riddle is in the second half of the description, where unrelated amounts are added together and the person to whom the riddle is posed assumes those amounts should add up to 30, and is then surprised when they do not — there is, in fact, no reason why the (10 − 1) × 3 + 2 = 29 sum should add up to 30.
Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. What is being divided is called the dividend, which is divided by the divisor, and the result is called the quotient. At an elementary level the division of two natural numbers is, among other possible interpretations ...
The Tower of Hanoi (also called The problem of Benares Temple[ 1] or Tower of Brahma or Lucas' Tower[ 2] and sometimes pluralized as Towers, or simply pyramid puzzle[ 3]) is a mathematical game or puzzle consisting of three rods and a number of disks of various diameters, which can slide onto any rod. The puzzle begins with the disks stacked on ...
A simple fraction (also known as a common fraction or vulgar fraction, where vulgar is Latin for "common") is a rational number written as a / b or , where a and b are both integers. [ 9] As with other fractions, the denominator ( b) cannot be zero. Examples include 1 2 , − 8 5 , −8 5 , and 8 −5 .
Long division is the standard algorithm used for pen-and-paper division of multi-digit numbers expressed in decimal notation. It shifts gradually from the left to the right end of the dividend, subtracting the largest possible multiple of the divisor (at the digit level) at each stage; the multiples then become the digits of the quotient, and the final difference is then the remainder.