Problem of the Week Returns

10-21-2015

The problem of the week has returned!  Fans of problem of the week have been solving problems every week for decades and now they can do it all online at www.math.purdue.edu/pow.

Problem of the Week will now be a discussion board that will function similarly to StackExchange.  

Each Friday of the semester the problem will be posted on the webpage and will also appear in The Exponent. We will lock the associated discussion board for the first 24 hours to allow people time to read and ponder the problem.

After that time we will invite solutions to be posted on the discussion page.  We strongly encourage people to post alternative solutions even when a good, existing solution has already been posted. The problems will remain of the same general type though we will occasionally have more advanced problems than what we have given in the past.

The discussion board for each problem will be moderated. Any user can post a solution.  Users will be able to use MathJax to present their solutions and will be able to vote up/down any solution and comment on any solution just like on StackExchange. We provide the problems. You provide the solutions.

As Problem of the Week is strictly for entertainment purposes, we ask kindly that users work the problems themselves. Finding good problems is difficult and often problems (and solutions) can be found elsewhere on-line. We prefer problem of the week not test your ability to search the internet.