Due Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021 at 5:00 pm via email to jwswift@gmail.com.
Each of the state senators in a hypothetical “Red” state is either a Republican or a Democrat. Recently, exactly 80% of the Republican senators and 5% of the Democratic senators voted YES to ban mask mandates in public schools. The measure passed. How many Republican senators voted YES?
Hint: You cannot get a precise number. The best you can do is something like “At least blank of the Republican senators voted YES”.
The contest is open to all undergraduates at Northern Arizona University.
Send your submissions or questions to Jim Swift at jwswift@gmail.com by the due date and time. Please include the subject “potw”. You may attach a pdf (possily a scan) to the plain text email. No MS Word documents, please. You can use the “TeX for Gmail” extension to get nice equations within email.
The answers should be clearly and logically explained. The goal is to write mathematics, not to to write down the answer and draw a box around it.
If your instructor gives you credit for submissions to problem of the week, please include their name and the class (e.g. Swift, MAT 239).
Problems will be graded on a scale of 1 to 3. A model solution is posted each week. A ladder listing the points earned is posted in the lobby of the Adel Math Building (across from the MAP room). Your name will be printed on the ladder, but no names will be published on the web. Let me know if you want to remain anonymous on the posted ladder.