We give an elementary solution to the famous Basel Problem, originally solved by Euler in 1735. We square the well-known series for arctan(1) due to Leibniz, and use a surprising relation among the re-arranged terms of this squared series.

For a suitably nice, real-valued function "f" defined on an open interval containing [a,b], f(b) can be expressed as p[subscript n](b) (the nth Taylor polynomial of f centered at a) plus an error term of the (Lagrange) form f[superscript (n+1)](c)(b-a)[superscript (n+1)]/(n+1)! for some c in (a,b). This article is for those who think that not…

Fermat's Last Theorem says that for integers n greater than 2, there are no solutions to x[superscript n] + y[superscript n] = z[superscript n] among positive integers. What about rational exponents? Irrational n? Negative n? See what an undergraduate senior seminar discovered.

Two people take turns selecting from an even number of items. Their relative preferences over the items can be described as a permutation, then tools from algebraic combinatorics can be used to answer various questions. We describe each person's optimal selection strategies including how each could make use of knowing the other's preferences. We…

It seems rather surprising that any given polynomial p(x) with nonnegative integer coefficients can be determined by just the two values p(1) and p(a), where a is any integer greater than p(1). This result has become known as the "perplexing polynomial puzzle." Here, we address the natural question of what might be required to determine a…

In 1225 Fibonacci visited the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II. Because Frederick was an important patron of learning, this visit was important to Fibonacci. During the audience, Frederick's court mathematician posed three problems to test Fibonacci. The third was to find the real solution to the equation: x[superscript 3] +…

This note presents another elementary method to evaluate the Fresnel integrals. It is interesting to see that this technique is also strong enough to capture a number of pairs of parameter integrals. The main ingredients of the method are the consideration of some related derivatives and linear differential equations.

The Stoltz-Cesaro Theorem, a discrete version of l'Hopital's rule, is applied to the summation of integer powers.

A. Lobb discovered an interesting generalization of Catalan's parenthesization problem, namely: Find the number L(n, m) of arrangements of n + m positive ones and n - m negative ones such that every partial sum is nonnegative, where 0 = m = n. This article uses Lobb's formula, L(n, m) = (2m + 1)/(n + m + 1) C(2n, n + m), where C is the usual…

We begin by answering the question, "Which natural numbers are sums of consecutive integers?" We then go on to explore the set of lengths (numbers of summands) in the decompositions of an integer as such sums.

We give an irredundant axiomatization of the complete ordered field of real numbers. In particular, we show that all the field axioms for multiplication with the exception of the distributive property may be deduced as "theorems" in our system. We also provide a complete proof that the axioms we have chosen are independent.

The fundamental theorem of algebra for the complex numbers states that a polynomial of degree n has n roots, counting multiplicity. This paper explores the "perplex number system" (also called the "hyperbolic number system" and the "spacetime number system") In this system (which has extra roots of +1 besides the usual [plus or minus]1 of the…

Fibonacci's forgotten number is the sexagesimal number 1;22,7,42,33,4,40, which he described in 1225 as an approximation to the real root of x[superscript 3] + 2x[superscript 2] + 10x - 20. In decimal notation, this is 1.36880810785...and it is correct to nine decimal digits. Fibonacci did not reveal his method. How did he do it? There is also a…

Positive sums count. Alternating sums match. Alternating sums of binomial coefficients, Fibonacci numbers, and other combinatorial quantities are analyzed using sign-reversing involutions. In particular, we describe the quantity being considered, match positive and negative terms through an Involution, and count the Exceptions to the matching rule…

As with natural numbers, a greatest common divisor of two Gaussian (complex) integers "a" and "b" is a Gaussian integer "d" that is a common divisor of both "a" and "b". This article explores an algorithm for such gcds that is easy to do by hand.