Carrie Nader

EDU 2010

Module 4 Polya Problem

11/27/2018

Polya Problem: ​A certain whole number less than 100 leaves the remainders 1, 2,

3, and 4 when divided, respectively, by 2, 3, 4, and 5. What is the whole number?

Polya Step 1: Understand the Problem

We are asked to find a number that is less than 100 and has remainder of 1 when divided by 2, a

remainder of 2 when divided by 3, a remainder of 3 when divided by 4 and finally a remainder of

4 when divided by 5.

Polya Step 2: Devise a Plan

One strategy I am going to use is to look back at how I solved a similar problem to this in

chapter 1 activity number 8. There I eliminated possibilities and I plan to use the same strategy

here. By picking number that do not follow the divisibility rules I will eliminate several options.

As of right now this seems like the best way to get to the answer. When I have narrowed it down

I will use guess and check.

Polya Step 3: Carry Out the Plan

STEP 1: First I listed out all numbers from one to 100 and then crossed off the ones that matched

these divisibility tests: 2-is an even number, 3-the sum of the digits must be divisible by 3, 4-the
last two digits must form a number divisible by 4, and 5- the number must end in a 0 or 5. After

eliminating the ones that followed the divisibility rules I ended up with the following list: 1,7

11,13,17,19,23,29, 31,37,41,43,47,49,53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 77, 79, 83, 89, 91, and 97.

Step 2: With this list I then started choosing number to divide using long division and continued

to eliminate my possibilities by dividing them by 2, 3, 4 and 5 and seeing if their remainders

matched the ones I am supposed to get.

STEP 3: After a long process of trial and error, I finally found that 59 is the number that when

you divide 2,3,4 and 5 by it, you are left with the remainders 1,2,3, and 4!

Polya Step 4: Look Back

When solving this problem I first looked at how I solved a similar problem to this one to figure

out how to start it. In the previous problem I used eliminating possibilities. So, I then used that

strategy to eliminate all the numbers that are divisible by 2,3,4, and 5. Then I took each number

that was left and one by one checked to see if their remainders were 1,2,3 and 4. Even though it

was a lengthy process it still got me to the answer I desired. Another strategy that might have

worked better along with the one I used would be to work backwards after getting the second list

of numbers since 59 is closer to the end of that list than starting at 1 was. This problem can apply

to the real world if you have a long list of numbers (like for a job or career) and you only have a

short amount of time to solve it. For example I could have started by simply trying every number

from 1 to 100 to see if any got the desired remainders, however that would have taken a lot more

time to get to 59.