PROBLEM OF THE MONTH
September 2004
Congratulations to Bryant Wong, who came up with the best approximation.
His solution is posted here.
This month's problem is to come up with an algebraic expression which
approximates the value of
Your expression
- must use each of the integers 1 through 9, exactly once.
- can only use the operations : + , -, *, /, and ^ (exponentiation).
- can use as many parentheses as you like.
For example, the expression
(4+5) * 7 * 2 * 6 / ( (1+9) * 8 * 3) = 63/20 = 3.15
is a valid approximation (although better ones exist). However,
(816 - 794) / (2 * 5 - 3) = 22/7 = 3.1428...
is not allowed since "concatenating" the numbers 8,1,6 to form 816 is
not a legitmate operation.
Whoever comes up with the expression that best approximates Pi will win.
In case of a tie, the winner will be the first one submitted.
Submit your solution to the Mathematics Undergraduate Office (Math P-142)
or electronically to Prof. Kudzin at
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: October 1st at 12 pm.