Presented by Cold Stone Creamery(R)
The Department of Mathematics Challenge of
the Week
A solution and a new problem is posted every Monday during fall and spring semesters at www.cs.colostate.edu/~rmm
Email your solutions to solution@math.colostate.edu
One winner each
week is eligible for a free ice cream and topping, courtesy of Cold Stone
Creamery.
Solution to Challenge 5 Fall '04
The problem again: Alice is thinking of a polynomial P(x).
She tells you that all of the
coefficients are non-negative integers, but she won't tell you anything
else about them, or even give you a hint about the degree of the polynomial.
However, if you query her with an integer value i, she will tell you the
value of P(i).
She brags that she has thought up a ``really difficult" polynomial that you
won't be able to figure out, even after many queries.
How can you surprise her?
Previous Challenges, Fall '04
Challenge 1
Challenge 2
Challenge 3
Challenge 4
If you would like to receive a weekly email reminder about the Challenge Problem, send an email to
solution@math.colostate.edu
The Department of Mathematics Challenge Problem is
sponsored by the Cold Stone Creamery, which is providing all the
prizes.
If more than one correct solution is submitted, one prize winner will be
chosen from among the correct solutions. Submissions from CSU faculty
and people not affiliated with CSU are encouraged, but they are ineligible
for the prizes.
For questions, comments or suggestions for future
challenge problems: please e-mail Ross McConnell, rmm@cs.colostate.edu.
