skeleton.qmd

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Suppose you are asked to pour 1 liter of milk into a large container. You have two empty containers that hold 2 and 3 liters, respectively. But you have no other measuring devices.

Can you do it?

(This and more can be found here: https://maa.org/press/maa-reviews/in-code-a-mathematical-journey)

Though a ‘simple’ problem, it’s solutions hinges upon ancient Greek Diophantine method to find integer solutions to equations such as:

Ax + By = C
A,B,C are given integers
Find integer solutions for x,y

One key is that gcd(A,B) must divide C evenly. (https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/20906/how-to-find-an-integer-solution-for-general-diophantine-equation-ax-by-cz?rq=1

Thus, this Diaophantine equation has no solution, because gcd(2,4)=2 and 2 does not divide 1.

2x+4y = 1

What does this have to do with R?

A recent puzzle (#414) On r-bloggers.com us to find the check digit for a set of integers. A little rewording shows this is of the form of a Diophantine Equation with multiple variables.

vim:linebreak:nospell:nowrap:cul tw=78 fo=tqlnrc foldcolumn=1 cc=+1