Problem Of the Week #1

The Broken Eggs

Your Task
Your task is to answer the insurance agents question.
In other words, What can the farmer figure out from this information about how many eggs she
had?
Is there more than one possibility?

Write Up
1. Problem statement - re-write the question in your own words
2. Process Description - describe and show how you and your group attempted to solve the
problem
3. Extensions - invent some extensions of variations of the problem
4. Solution - describe your final solution to the problem
5. Reflection - reflect on how you used two habits of mathematicians to solve the problem.
Write Up
Maths Write-Up
Problem Statement: (Restate the problem using words, pictures, and/or a diagram)

A farmer had many carts of eggs and was walking to the market when she knocked them
over. She decided to go the insurance company but could not remember how many eggs she
started with, all she did remember was she was able to put then in rows of 3, 5, and 6 with
one left over. There wouldn't be one left over when in rows of 7. The problem is now asking
us to figure out how many eggs she started with and if there is more than one possibility.

Process Description: (How did you try to solve the problem? You may also consider how
others in your group tried)

When I began working on this problem I first thought of making a table

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 30 35

7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70 77 84 91 210 245

37 38 39 40 41 42 43

259 266 273 280 287 294 301

I realised that it 49 would be a valid answer. When we were told to discuss with our table
group I found that the answer had to be an odd number. I forgot the reasoning but I remember
that at the time it made perfect sense. I began collaborating with my group and found that
they also thought that 49 would be the answer until we check our worked and found that it
would not work because it was not divisible by 5 and 6.
Then my table group kept on working on it and found that 91 worked for all of them but four.

I decided to keep on going with my chart and got to 301 which I then tested and found that it
worked for all of the numbers.
Extensions: Invent some extensions or variations to the problem; that is, write down some
related problems.They can be easier, harder, or about the same level of difficulty as the
original problem. (You don't have to solve these additional problems.)

Would it work for 8? Or will it be different?

Solution: (The end result, wrong or right, it doesnt matter! Include one or many solutions as
long as they make sense to you!)

The solution that I found was that the farmer had 301 eggs before they all fell and cracked.
The reason why I believe that this is because I found that 301 is divisible by 3, 4, 5, and six
with a remainder of one and divisible of 7. There was other numbers that were very close but
were not divisible by one number. It was very hard going from 91 to 301 because there is a
very big gap.

Self-Assessment: Reflect on two Habits of a Mathematician you used when solving this
problem

Start Small: Mathematicians start with small cases. They take a large, complex problems
and work first with a simpler case. They build on their success with small cases.
I believe that I was able to use this habit of mathematician when working on this problem.
This is because, the solution I found was a big a number in order to get to that number I have
to work from small numbers to a big one. It took time to get to that number but I was able to
find the solution I wanted.
Describe and Articulate: Mathematicians visualize. They draw pictures and diagrams to
represent a situation.
While working on this project I found that I was able to visualize by writing the numbers down
and creating a chart to help me visualize. It helped me solve this problem. In the Maths
Portfolio I wrote that I wished to grow in this habit and I was able to. I think this is a very good
habit to have while working on problems like these because it makes a ig difference when
having something to look at.