Solve the following problems by Polya's Method:
1. In 2016, December 25 fell on a Sunday. On what day of the week does Christmas fall in 2025?
Understand the problem
In the problem, it is given that December 25 of 2016 is Sunday. The question now lies on
what day is Christmas after 9 years, December 25 of 2025. If we would understand
deeply, the patterns of days per week in a yearly calendar may alter because of leap
years (years having 366 days). Though 2016 is a leap year, it won’t affect the count
simply because the added day is on the month of February, and not December.
Make a plan
Since the problem is all about days in a week, we simply look for patterns. In a year,
there are 365 days, which then be divided into 7 (days in a week). This now will give us 1
day remainder. so if we apply a 1 day remainder in a yearly calendar (excluding the leap
years) we could easily know what day of the week does a specific date fall.
Example:
If May 1, 2017 is Monday, then May 2, 2018 is Tuesday.
*Take note that if a leap year comes, we add 2 additional days since leap year has 366
days.
Carry out the plan
December 25, 2016 - Sunday
December 25, 2017 - Monday
December 25, 2018 - Tuesday
December 25, 2019 - Wednesday
December 25, 2020 - Leap year (+2) Friday
December 25, 2021 - Saturday
December 25, 2022 - Sunday
December 25, 2023 - Monday
December 25, 2024 - Leap year (+2) Wednesday
December 25, 2025 – Thursday
So, the day of the week does Christmas fall in 2025 is Thursday.
Look back
Looking for patterns in these types of questions is one of the better ways to sole
mathematical problems. Using symmetries and figures are not an advisable method, but
through understanding the problem and patterns, we can easily determine its solutions.
2. Out of 40 students, 14 are taking English, and 29 are taking Chemistry. If 5 are in both classes,
how many are only taking English and Chemistry? How many are not taking any of the two
subjects?
Understanding the problem
The problem shows a group of students taking different classes. Based on the given,
there are 40 students, out of which are 14 students taking English, 29 students taking
Chemistry, and 5 students in that group of 40 takes both of these classes. Since a given
students takes both classes, the problem now lies on how many students are only taking
English and Chemistry respectively. Moreover, how many students are not taking any
subjects at all.
Make a plan
Based on the problem, we can use the If-then method to make it simpler. The given
were:
40 students in total
14 students taking English
29 students taking Chemistry
5 students taking both English and Chemistry
Carry out the plan
If we add 29 and 14, then the sum should be subtracted by 8 to find out how many
students are only taking English and Chemistry (Marked as EC). So,
29 + 14 = N – 5 = students (EC)
29 + 14 = 43 – 5 = 38 students (EC)
So, there are 38 students who are taking English and Chemistry subjects only.
If there are 40 students in total, then we could subtract it by 38 to find out how many
students are not taking any of the 2 subjects.
40 – 38 = 2
So, there are 2 students who are not taking any of these subjects.
Look back
As for my understanding, we could also use Venn Diagram in this problem, but for us to
be able to comprehend a lot easier, we use the if-then method to interpret the given
numbers in the problem.