POW#2HowManyEggxactly?

FormysecondProblemoftheWeek,Iwasgivenaproblemtitled,HowMany
Eggxactly?.Inthisproblem,Davedropsanentirecolonyofeggsandfollowingtheincident,
triestoputthemintogroups.WhenDaveattemptstoputtheeggsintogroupsoftwo,thereis
oneeggleftover.Whenhetriestoputtheeggsintogroupsofthree,thereisalsojustoneegg
leftover.Thesameoneleftovertrendalsoappliestogroupsoffour,five,andsixeggs.
HoweverwhenDaveputstheeggsintogroupsofseven,hehasperfect,completegroupswithno
eggsleftover.ItwasourjobtofindoutmultiplepossibilitiesforthenumberoftotaleggsDave
couldvehad.Theproblemdescriptionincludednodiagrams,graphs,ortablestoassistusin
solvingtheproblem.Inotherwords,itwasuptoustocreateamethodtohelpussolvethe
problem.Speakingofwhich,hereismythinking/mathprocessthatIusedtosolvetheeggissue.

Again,thegoalofthisproblemwastofindanumberthatcouldcreateseven,perfect
groupswithnoeggsleftover.Inaddition,groupsoftwotosixeggshadtohaveexactlyoneegg
leftover.ThefirststepItookwastodoexactlythis.Icreatedatablewithnumberstwothrough
sixontopforthenumberofeggsinagroupandnumbersrangingfromonetothirtysixinafar
leftcollumn.Then,Ilistedouttheanswersinamultiplicationtableformat,withforexample,
twotimestwoequallingfivebecausebasedontheproblem,therewouldbeoneremainingaside
fromthefour.BelowisanexampleoftheworkIdidinthefirstpart.

SampleTable

11

13

10

13

16

19

Basedontheproblem,thenumberslistedinthesixcollumnwouldequalthoseinthe
sevencollumn(6+1=7).Istoppedusingthisparticularmethodsimplybecauseitwas
timeconsuming.Afterall,itmighttakehundredsofnumberstogetsimilaritiesthatmeetthe
requirementsforthiseggproblem.ThenIfiguredthatcommonmultiplesoftwothroughseven
would
have
toendindoublezero.Forexample,numberstwothroughsixwouldgointoa
numberlikethreehundredbecausetheywouldhavetohavearemainderofoneandofcourse,
hopefullysevencouldfitperfectlyintothreehundredone.Ironically,thisexampleactuallydoes
work.MydoublezerotheorywasonethatIthoughtwouldworkaftercreatingamultiplication
table.Itturnsoutthatonehundredisntevenamultipleoftwothroughsix,onlysixty.SoI
testednumberstwothroughsixbyseeingiftheycouldgointodoublezeronumbersandsevento
seeifitcouldgointozero,onenumbers(ex:701).Truthfully,Ionlydividedsevenbythezero,

onenumbersbecausethiswoulddetermineifanentiresetcouldwork.Ionlytestedthedouble
zeronumbersifseven
could
gointoacertainzero,onenumber.Frommycalculations,Ifound
thattheonlynumbersthatcouldworkforthisproblemrangingfromonehundredtothree
thousandwerethreehundredoneandtwothousandfourhundredone.Hereiswhatjusta
portionofmyworklookedlike.

NumbersThat
Do
and
DoNot
Work

=DoesWork,=DoesntWork

1900and1901

2000and2001

2100and2101

2200and2201

2300and2301

2400and2401

Ionlyhad
two
numbersthatcouldworkfromonehundredtothreethousand.
Wasthat
it?
No.Infact,Iwastoldthattherewerefourmorenumbersbetweenthreehundredoneand
twothousandfourhundredonethatworked.ItwasbecauseofthisthatIalsodecidedtotest
numbersendinginjust
one
zeroand
one
one.Eventhoughtwothroughsixcanonlygointo
sixtyandthereforeIshouldonlytestnumbersendinginsixtytosavetime,Itestedallzeroand
onenumbersjusttobesure.Thatsaminimumoftwohundredtencalculationsfromthree
hundredonetotwothousandfourhundredone.Justlikethepreviousmethod,Istartedby
dividing,forexample,eighthundredthirtyonebysevenandifthatworked(whichitdidnt)I
wouldcontinuedividingeighthundredthirtybytwothroughsixtoseeifIcouldgetsix
nondecimalanswers.Aftercompletingthiswork,Ifoundoutthatinadditiontothreehundred
oneandtwothousandfourhundredone,numberssevenhundredtwentyone,onethousandone
hundredfortyone,onethousandfivehundredsixtyone,andonethousandninehundred
eightyonecouldalsoworkforthisproblem.Nowwehavefouranswersinadditiontothree
hundredoneandtwothousandfourhundredone.

EventhoughIhadthesesixanswers,itwasmyendgoalthroughoutthisentireprocessto
findanequationthatcouldgivewaytoallfutureanswersintheproblem.Itesteddifferent
equationswithdifferentstudentsinmyclassuntilIwasfinallypersuadedthatthecorrectanswer
wasthisone,shownbelow.

y=420x+301

Withthisequation,yequalsanynumberthatcanbedividedbysevenandxequalsany
numberthatyouplugin.IfyoulookattheanswersIhavealreadyfound,youllnoticethatthe
differencebetweeneachofthenumbersinthepatternisfourhundredtwenty.Thisiswhyfour
hundredtwentyistherateofchangeandthecoefficientforx,andthreehundredoneisthey
interceptbecauseitwasthefirstvalueoftheproblem.Keepingthisinmind,thenextthree
numbersinthepatternaftertwothousandfourhundredonearetwothousandeighthundred
twentyone,threethousandtwohundredfortyone,andthreethousandsixhundredsixtyone.

IbelieveIdeservea10/10forthisassignment(boththeproblemandthewriteup)
becauseIexplainedmyentirethinkingprocessingreatdetailfromstarttofinish,showed
extensiveamountsofworkwhenactuallysolvingtheproblem,anddisplayedmyprocessof
thinkingthroughmultiplemathematicaldiagrams.ThroughthisPOW,IthinkIwasabletouse
the,
ExperimentThroughConjectures
and,
BeConfident,Patient,andPersistent
HabitsofaMathematicianthebest.Intermsofthisfirsthabit,Iwasalwaysopentonewideas,
options,andwaystosolvetheproblem.Inaddition,Iwasneversatisfiedwithanequationuntil
theverylastminute.Finally,IwasconfidentinwhatIwasdoing,rarelylookingatanyone
elsesworkforsupport,waspatient,punchingovertwohundredcalculationstogetmyfinal
equation,andwaspersistent,nevergivingupwiththeproblem.Aftersolvingthisproblem,an
interestingextensionwouldbetotestthisproblemusingnumberstwothroughthirteenoreven
fifteen.