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Problems from Another Time

Individual problems from throughout mathematics history, as well as articles that include problem sets for students.

The Recruiting Officers
Two officers each have a company of men, the one has 40 less than the other.
The Time It Takes To Eat a Goat
A lion, a wolf and a fox each take a certain amount of time to eat a goat separately. How long would it take all these animals together to eat the goat?
Maxes and Mins
Determine the different values of x, when a certain function hits a minimum.
Two Numbers
Find two numbers with sum 20 and when squared their sum is 208.
A Room with a View
Find the height of a window.
A Swarm of Bees
The square root of half the number of bees in a swarm has flown out upon a jessamine bush; 8/9 of the swarm has remained behind.
Logarithms: The Early History of a Familiar Function - The Challenges of Parallel Insights in the History of Mathematics
The authors recount the 'great tale' of Napier's and Burgi's parallel development of logarithms and urge you to use it in class.
Pigs in a Blanket?
Three hundred pigs are to be prepared for a feast.
Age
My age is a number consisting of two digits, 1/7 of this number is a mean proportional between these two digits, and two years hence, my age will be a third proportional to the same two digits, directly as they stand in my present age.
Tree and Vine
A tree is 2 zhang tall and has a circumference of 3 chi. There is a vine that winds seven equally spaced times around the tree and reaches the top. What is the length of the vine?

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