Dear Readers, welcome to this decade's last issue of Parabola!
The focus of this issue is the interplay between fun games and serious maths. Accordingly, this issue offers twice the number of fun and challenging problems for you to solve. Enjoy!
This is a simple introduction to dynamic programming, by way of a mathematical analysis of the game Connect Four.
Monopoly® is a common household game where players attempt to bankrupt an opponent by buying properties, gaining profits, and taking control of the game board. Which properties give the best winning strategies?
A magician asks you to think of a number and then to perform some arithmetic operations on it. As if by magic, the magician then tells you which number you have calculated. This article provides variations of this magic trick and thereby provides an intuitive introduction to number theory.
Q1605 Calculate the constant term when the expression
\(\big(1 + x + \frac{1}{x}\big)^{10}\)
is expanded and like terms collected.
Q1591 For \(f(x)=x^4+2x^3-7x^2+11\), find a line which is tangent to the graph $y=f(x)$ twice.
The problems and solutions from the 58th UNSW School Mathematics Competition.
The winners of the 58th UNSW School Mathematics Competition.
Congratulations to you all!