PROBLEM SOLVING SEMINAR

Hoang Quoc Viet Fernando Chandika

Pure Maths undergraduate Pure and Applied Maths undergraduate
University of Auckland University of Auckland

1 Proposed Problems
Problem 1 Evaluate
Z π Z π
2 2
2
sin ( x) dx and cos2 ( x) dx
0 0

Problem 2 Prove the Pythagorean theorem using the following picture

and a bit of algebraic manipulation

Problem 3 Evaluate the following sum

S = 12 + 22 + . . . + n 2

Problem 4 (For those who are interested in Maths 340) Find the following
integrals

1
 (i) Z ∞
cos(2 x)
2 2
dx
−∞ (1 + x )

(ii) Z ∞1
4
dx
−∞ 1 + x

(iii)* Z ∞sin x
dx
−∞ x

Problem 5 Find the following integral

Z 1³ p q´
t q + t p dt
0

where p, q ∈ N − {0}
Problem 6* (Little Fermat Theorem). Let a ∈ N and p be a prime number
such that gcd(a, p) = 1, thus we have

a p−1 ≡ 1 mod p

A bit story behind Little Fermat Theorem: This theorem is stated "Little" to
be distinguished between another theorem of Fermat in which it is regarded
as " Big Fermat Theorem"="Fermat’s last theorem" as follows

Let x, y, z ∈ Z+ and for all n natural number greater than 2, the

following equation does not have any integral solutions

x n + yn = z n

Surprisingly, it took all mathematicians around the world over a century to

unleash the problem. This theorem is deeply related to some other advanced
mathematics such as analytic number theory ( family of elliptic curves and
so on). The method to prove this problem remains unknown.^ ¨

These are some examples show that proofs can be done using pure geometry

2
3
 Problem 7 (Famous Jensen inequality). Let f be a convex function (i.e
concave up) on the interval [a, b] then
f ( a) + f ( b ) a+b
µ ¶
≥f
2 2
More generally, we have ∀ t ∈ [0, 1]

t f ( x1 ) + (1 − t) f ( x2 ) ≥ f ( tx1 + (1 − t) x2 )

where x1 , x2 ∈ [a, b]
Hence, if we let t = 12 and x1 = a, x2 = b, we obtain the famous Jensen in-
equality.
Problem 8 (Sum of tan function) Let α, β ∈ 0, π2 such that α + β ≤ π2 , we
£ ¤

have
tan(α) + tan(β)
tan(α + β) =
1 − tan(α) tan(β)

2 Reference
(1) Mathematics Magazine

(2) www.mathlinks.ro ( Art of Problem Solving website)