THE INTERIM PROBLEM

Dr. Mark Sand’s creativity extends to his teaching at Dana, as well. During Interim, Sand offered a class called “Learning and Teaching Mathematics Through Puzzles and Games.” Students were challenged to explore the world of math and logic through common children’s games and puzzles like ones found in newstand magazines. The ultimate goal was to expand students’ methods of thinking in a different way than the usual studying from the textbook. (Although learning the secrets to beating your friends at Mancala isn’t chopped liver.)

Here’s a problem Sand gave to his students in the class (at left):

A natural (counting) number ends in 2. If we move this digit to the beginning of the number, then the number will be doubled. Find the smallest number with this property. <<Answer>>

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