# Problems from Another Time

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

Given a wooden log of diameter 2 feet 5 inches from which a 7 inch thick board is to be cut, what is the maximum possible width of the board?
The perimeters of two similar triangles are 45 and 135 respectively. One side of the first triangle has length 11″ and a second side, 19″. Find the lengths of the sides of the second triangle.
One says that 10 is divided into three parts and if the small part is multiplied by itself and added to the middle one multiplied by itself the result is the large one multiplied by itself...
A man agreed to pay for 13 valuable houses worth $5000 each, what the last would amount to, reckoning 7 cents for the first, 4 times 7 cents for the second, and so on, increasing the price 4 times on each to the last. A father left$20,000 to be divided among his four sons ages 6, 8, 10, and 12 years respectively so that each share placed at 4 1/2 compounded interest should amount to the same value when its possessor becomes the age 21.
Show that the curves x2 - y2 = a2 and 2 xy = b2 cross at right angles.
The highest point of the Andes is about 4 miles above sea level.
Given a right triangle where you know the length of the base and the sum of the perpendicular side and the hypotenuse.

If 40 oranges are worth 60 apples, and 75 apples are worth 7 dozen peaches, and 100 peaches are worth 1 box of grapes and three boxes of grapes are worth 40 pounds of pecans, how many peaches can be bought for 100 oranges?
In order to encourage his son in the study of arithmetic, a father agrees to pay him 8 pennies for every problem solved correctly and to charge him 5 pennies for each incorrect solution.