About the Problem of the Week
Stan Wagon, a professor in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department at Macalester College, poses a mathematics problem to his students every week. The Problem of the Week tradition was started in 1968 by the late Professor Joe Konhauser. Professor Wagon took over in 1993. Since the problems are meant to be accessible to first-year college students, very little background is needed to understand or solve them.
See the MacPOW Archives
PoW Mailing List
These problems are also sent out by email. To join the mailing list, go to the PoW web page.
Which Way Did the Bicycle Go?
The book Which Way Did the Bicycle Go? …and Other Intriguing Mathematical Mysteries by Joseph Konhauser (deceased), Dan Velleman (Amherst), and Stan Wagon (Macalester) is available from the MAA. This book consists of 191 problems and solutions selected from the Problems of the Week at Macalester College from 1968 to 1995.
The book is especially rich in figures (183 B/W figures, 3 B/W photographs, 2 color photographs of coins for a coin problem, and one color diagram for an Erdös problem).
Dolciani series, volume 18. 237 + xv pages.
ISBN 0-88385-325-6
To order, call 800-331-1622 or visit http://www.maa.org.
More information about the book is available at the MAA’s web site.
Hey! Where are all the answers?
Solutions are usually posted to the mailing list about a week after the problem. At Professor Wagon’s request, we publish them here only for the duration of the semester. Anyone wishing the solution to one or two of the problems can request them from Stan Wagon (wagon@macalester.edu). Please include the problem number in your request. Better yet, check out the book Which Way Did the Bicycle Go?
If you would like to contribute a novel solution to the latest problem, or you want to suggest a new problem, please send it to Stan Wagon (wagon@macalester.edu), the person who runs the mailing list. He says: I do not necessarily wish to receive e-solutions unless: (a) you have an interesting nonstandard approach to a solution, (b) you have a variation or extension that might be worthy of dissemination, or (c) you have information about the history of the problem. Of course, I encourage your problem suggestions.