Creative Approach To Maths Question
November 25th, 2007 | by limeehai |Maths is interesting and fun. We can also be creative through being able to solve or answer challenging maths questions. The approach to solving the problems decides how effective we can be trained for creativity.
An example is explained below.
Determine whether the expression 62x - 22x can be divided by 4.
We can solve this maths challenge through various approaches.
One approach is to substitute the variable “x” in the expression by an ambiguous integer. The number obtained, after the substitution, can be easily determined by applying the divisibility by 4 rule. Click on this link to view the divisibility by 4 rule.
However, this approach is mathematically not elegant. It suffices, though, to meet the question objective.
A better approach that looks more mathematically professional, is the application of factorisation to determine the possibility of divisibility by 4.
This approach requires prior knowledge of the factorisation method to the given maths problem.
Factorisation method to the general expression a k - b k :
a k - b k = (a - b)(ak-1 + ak-2 b + … + abk-2 + bk-1)
Therefore by re-writing 62x - 22x = (6 - 2) ( ……..), it becomes very obvious that the given challenge can be divide by 4 since the first written factor of the expression is (6 - 2) = 4!
The message here is that there are various ways to achieve the objective of the maths question. It is a matter of which method is creative or interesting and involves mathematically challenging steps. The approach can be direct and less conceptual or conceptually involved with application of maths theorems. Both are, within their own definition, creative in nature.
