But by October, the culegere had become a symbol of failure. Problem 347: Solve the system of equations . He’d stare at the two innocent-looking lines until the x’s and y’s blurred. Problem 512: Study the monotonicity of the function . The arrows (↑ for increasing, ↓ for decreasing) felt like personal accusations.
But the next problem stopped him cold. Problem 790: A different father is four times as old as his son. In 18 years, he will be only twice as old. But the sum of their current ages is a prime number. Find their ages.
That night, he didn’t stop at three problems. He solved five. Then ten. By December, the blue culegere was battered but beloved. And when his teacher asked the class, “Who enjoys the challenge problems at the end of each chapter?” Andrei raised his hand. culegere matematica clasa a 9 a
He wrote the equations: let son = s , father = f . (f = 4s) (f + 18 = 2(s + 18) \Rightarrow 4s + 18 = 2s + 36 \Rightarrow 2s = 18 \Rightarrow s = 9, f = 36.) Sum = (9 + 36 = 45), which is not prime. A contradiction.
One rainy Thursday, he flipped to a random page. Problem 789: A father is three times as old as his son. In 12 years, he will be twice as old. Find their ages. But by October, the culegere had become a symbol of failure
Andrei hated the culegere . Its thick, blue cover—creased at the spine, coffee-stained on the back—sat on his desk like a small, mute tyrant. His father had bought it in September with the best intentions: “Three problems every night, and you’ll be top of the class.”
He felt a strange thrill. The problem hadn’t tricked him—it had invited him to think beyond the formula. For the first time, math felt less like memorizing and more like investigating. Problem 512: Study the monotonicity of the function
“The equations force the son to be 9 and the father 36, with sum 45. Since 45 is composite (3 × 15, 5 × 9), the condition ‘sum is prime’ cannot be met. Therefore, no such ages exist in whole numbers.”