Polya Problem 3

Marissa Bradshaw

Salt Lake Community College

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?

Understand the Problem:

Find a number that is less than one hundred that is divisible by 2,3,4,5 but they have to

have specific remainders. When the number is divided by 2 it has to have a remainder of 1, when

it is divided by 3 it has to have a remainder of 2, when it is divided by 4 it has to have a

remainder of 3, and when it is divided by 5 it has to have a remainder of 4.

Devise a Plan:

Use the divisibility rules to eliminate numbers that do not fit the criteria. You do not want

1,2,3,4 to divide evenly because you are looking for a specific remainder. Use the rules to see

what numbers will go into 1-100 evenly. Make a list 1-100 and cross off the numbers as you go

to keep track, or to make life simpler just comprise your list of prime numbers. Once you have

your primes do long division to check which number will fit the criteria of the problem.

Carry out the Plan:

List of primes-

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97

a. 59/2= 29 R1 c. 59/4= 14 R3

b. 59/3= 19 R2 d. 59/5= 11 R4

Above you can see that the answer is 59, for the sake of space all of the primes were not

divided out on this paper, but you can test all of them for yourself to see if there is another

number that works or even to just check if 59 works.

Look Back:

There is quicker way to get to the desired number and it is sort of the same method but

there are a couple more key elimination steps that help you resolve the problem by doing less

work.

Since the number being divided by 5 has to have a remainder of 4 you know that in the

ones spot the number has to be a 9 or 4. Since 2 can divide into even numbers without a

remainder this eliminates the possibility of 4 being in the ones place, so it has to be 9. If we look

at the list of primes and only pick out the numbers that have a 9 in the ones place we are left with

19, 29, 59, 79, and 89. Now divide all the numbers by 3 and eliminate the ones that leave you

with a remainder other than 2. Now you should be left with 29, 59, and 89. Now divide them by

4 and see which one leaves you with a remainder of 3. The only one is 59.

I noticed that any time a number ended in four or nine and was divided by five I was left

with the correct remainder of four. This pattern led me to a different elimination process and I

was able to come up with a quicker way to solve the problem.