PROBLEM OF THE MONTH

February 2007




Congratulations to Ahmed Khan, this month's winner! We received 4 correct solutions, but Ahmed's is the simplest: [txt]

Find a partition of the segment [-1,1] into black and white segments such that the integral of any quadratic polynomial f(x) = x2 + a x + b over the black segments is equal to the integral over the white segments.

This month's prize will be awarded to the best explained, correct solution.


Submit your solution to the Mathematics Undergraduate Office (Math P-142) or electronically to problem@math.sunysb.edu by the due date. Acceptable electronic formats are: PDF, Postscript, DVI, (La)TeX, or just plain text. Please include your name and phone number, or preferably your email address.

Closing date: March 1st at 12 pm.