Update...
The Purdue Problem of the Week retired effective January 2019. The archives are still available with many problems to entertain and to illustrate a wide range of mathematical techniques.
About the Problem of the Week...
The Purdue Problem of the Week will has returned in a new, interactive format.
Problem of the Week is now a discussion board that functions 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 and 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 also be able to vote up/down any solution and comment on any solution just like on StackExchange. We provide the problems, and 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.
About the founder of Problem of the Week
Michael Golomb, who passed away on April 9, 2008 at the age of 98, began the Problem of the Week program and ran it for many years. Several years prior to his passing, health problems forced him to stop administering the program, but he continued to provide the problems. And even now many of the problems appearing in Problem of the Week were provided by Michael Golomb. He created many of the problems himself, and collected (and often modified) the others from various sources.
For more information see Michael Golomb's obituary.Problems
Fall 2018
- Fall 2018, problem 70
- Fall 2018, problem 71
- Fall 2018, problem 72
- Fall 2018, problem 73
- Fall 2018, problem 74
Spring 2018
- Spring 2018, problem 56
- Spring 2018, problem 57
- Spring 2018, problem 58
- Spring 2018, problem 59
- Spring 2018, problem 60
- Spring 2018, problem 61
- Spring 2018, problem 63
- Spring 2018, problem 64
- Spring 2018, problem 65
- Spring 2018, problem 66
- Spring 2018, problem 67
- Spring 2018, problem 68
- Spring 2018, problem 69
Fall 2017
- Fall 2017, problem 49
- Fall 2017, problem 50
- Fall 2017, problem 51
- Fall 2017, problem 52
- Fall 2017, problem 53
- Fall 2017, problem 54
- Fall 2017, problem 55
Spring 2017
- Spring 2017, problem 34
- Spring 2017, problem 35
- Spring 2017, problem 36
- Spring 2017, problem 37
- Spring 2017, problem 38
- Spring 2017, problem 39
- Spring 2017, problem 40
- Spring 2017, problem 41
- Spring 2017, problem 42
- Spring 2017, problem 43
- Spring 2017, problem 44
- Spring 2017, problem 45
- Spring 2017, problem 46
- Spring 2017, problem 47
- Spring 2017, problem 48
Fall 2016
- Fall 2016, problem 19
- Fall 2016, problem 20
- Fall 2016, problem 21
- Fall 2016, problem 22
- Fall 2016, problem 23
- Fall 2016, problem 24
- Fall 2016, problem 25
- Fall 2016, problem 26
- Fall 2016, problem 27
- Fall 2016, problem 28
- Fall 2016, problem 29
- Fall 2016, problem 30
- Fall 2016, problem 31
- Fall 2016, problem 32
- Fall 2016, problem 33
Spring 2016
- Spring 2016, problem 7
- Spring 2016, problem 8
- Spring 2016, problem 9
- Spring 2016, problem 10
- Spring 2016, problem 11
- Spring 2016, problem 12
- Spring 2016, problem 13
- Spring 2016, problem 14
- Spring 2016, problem 15
- Spring 2016, problem 16
- Spring 2016, problem 17
- Spring 2016, problem 18