# Problems from Another Time

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

Determine the greatest cylinder that can be inscribed in a given cone.
A square walled city measures 10 li on each side. At the center of each side is a gate. Two persons start walking from the center of the city.
A series of circles have their centers on an equilateral hyperbola and pass through its center. Show that their envelope is a lemniscate.
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 authors recount the 'great tale' of Napier's and Burgi's parallel development of logarithms and urge you to use it in class.
A lady being asked how old she was at the time of her marriage replied that the age of her oldest son was 13; that he was born 2 years after her marriage...
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.
How a translation of Peano's counterexample to the 'theorem' that a zero Wronskian implies linear dependence can help your differential equations students
There is a log 18 feet long, the diameter of the extremities being 1 ft and 2.6 ft respectively...