From: "Hermann Kremer" Subject: Re: My apologies to her majesty. Now how do I do this CRT problem.... Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 19:57:34 +0200 Newsgroups: sci.math Summary: [missing] lemma_one@my-deja.com schrieb in Nachricht <8jeehr$e51$1@nnrp1.deja.com>... >I pray the Queen of Mathematics forgive me my efrontery.... > >That out of the way, today we went over the harder homework problems in >class. One of the students volunteered to explain her solution to one of >the hard Chinese Remainder Theorem problems in class--and she didn't use >the Chinese Remainder Theorem to obtain her correct solution(!?!)--but >rather a long chain of common sense and algebraic arguments. We ran out >of time so the instructor didn't cover the generic approach to solving >the problem, which I would like to know how to do, so that when I have >to solve similar problems in the future (like when I actually take >Number Theory next semester) I'll be able to look back on the methods of >solving this problem. > >Also, I'm interested in references to the history of the Chinese >Remainder Theorem and what form it was known in to the ancient Chinese. >I can't find any decent explaination of this anywhere. You may look at http://www.math.sfu.ca/histmath/China/ChinaTimeLine.html >Anyways, this is the problem: > >------ >One a desert island, five men and a monkey gather coconuts all day, then >sleep. The first man awakens and decides to take his share. He divides >the coconuts into five equal shares, with one coconut left over. He >gives the extra one to the monkey, hides his share, and goes back to >sleep. Later, the second man awakens and takes his fifth from the >remaining pile; he too finds one extra and gives it to the monkey. Each >of the remaining three men does likewise in turn. Find the minimum >number of coconuts originally present. IIRC, there has been a longer thread on the coconut problem ca 2 months ago in this NG. Try to find it by DejaNews. Regards Hermann -- >------- > >Thank you very much for help with this. > > >Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ >Before you buy.