Problems & Solutions
- The journal of the Dutch society for Statistics and Operations Research called "Statistica Neerlandica" used to have a popular problem section run for many years in the previous century by Fred Steutel and later by Ton Steerneman. The problems and solutions of issue 50 [1996] through 54 [2000] are available on a publisher's page , which is not properly maintained however. To open the pdf files on it you might have to be patient. There are plans to revive the problem section in electronic form.
The Law
of
Large Numbers
|
 |
Jacob I Bernoulli
1654 - 1705
Ars Conjectandi
1713
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- I used to be addicted to solving problems, many from the "Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde". In the
early days, I enjoyed the coaching by Frits Göbel, one of the most inspiring mathematicians of our
department.
The sequence x defined by x1 = 2 and xn+1 = xn(xn + n)/(n + 1) [n > 1], invented by him as part of a question in a series of many hundreds of original problems for pupils of all kinds, has become known as Göbel's sequence. All terms xn are integer for n < 43, but x43 is a proper fraction.
As for the NAvW, the new fifth series
contains a fresh problem section, while for the nostalgic among us the fourth series can still be found at the
CWI site. Talking of nostalgia, the once flourishing problem section in the
SIAM Review
has been stopped, but there is now an
electronic successor.
Steven Finch's
site has fortunately been revived, though in reduced form.
- The journal of the European Mathematical Society also contains a problem corner, where recently (issue 35 & 37) the problems appearing in the Romanian journal "Gazeta Matematica" were mentioned. More information on the Gazeta Matematica [and on Romanian mathematical stamps] can be found in issue 40 of the EMS newsletter and in Robin Wilsons' valued stamp corner in the Mathematical Intelligencer, viz. in Vol.23 No.1,Winter 2001.
- In my second joint paper with Frits Göbel we employed electrical networks to analyze random walk.
on graphs. In random walks, Bessel functions though modified, come into play as well.
- The Maple6 worksheet of the depicted Bessel functions, of order 0 and 1, has been exported to HTML, so a single click suffices to open it.
Otherwise, you might click J(gif) or
J(pdf) .
The gif-image was made in Derive (4.11) using the integral formula
for Jn for integer n.
The Dutch Cubist Club
Despite its name this is an international club, officially called Cubism For Fun, or CFF in short. It aims at people interested in mechanical puzzles, Rubik's Cube
in particular. In the first issue of the fifth series of the Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde, Frits Göbel
gives a short overview of its history and activities. President and one of the founders is a former student
of ours: Anneke Treep. In the
1982 World Championship
in Budapest another former student:
Gus Razoux Schultz ,
won the silver medal.
See also Lars if you're interested in fast
solution methods.
For further information have a look at
the official CFF site or adress the present Secretary:
Geert Hellings, Schepenlaan 36, 6114 MS Susteren, Netherlands. Telephone: 0(031)46-4495688.
Finally, some useful links to Rubik's Cube and its mathematical background can be found in the list below:
email [remove the obvious anti-spam phrase]:
a.a.jagers@misc-no-spam.utwente.nl
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