Extending the Class of Mathematical Problems Solvable in School

Abstract

The problems of practical importance which are considered in school today
necessarily have to lead to a mathematical model that can be solved by
school mathematics knowledge. This includes systems of equations of
at most second degree, some simple trigonometry and/or some basic geometry.

This restricts severely the class of such problems and conveys the
impression that mathematics is not applicable enough. We provide examples of
problems related to practice which are difficult to solve by means of traditional school
mathematics but are amenable for solving (at least with a certain precision)
with the use of software systems dealing with mathematical problems.

We also present the results of an experiment with such problems that were given to
school students participating in the second round of the competition
“VIVA Mathematics with Computer”.

ACM Computing Classification System (1998): K.3.1.