This is a fairly standard exercise in integral calculus. I guess the standards for getting into Oxford to read mathematics is dropping. Oh well. Anyway, can you figure out the right answer? If so, perhaps you too, deserve a place at Oxford. Solution There’s a bit to unpack here. We have sketched the equation y…

A simple cubic equation sort of looks like a snake meandering through the origin. Adding other terms changes the way it meanders, which often results in different intersections it makes with the axes. Our challenge today is to analyze the above equation find out exactly how many solutions it has. Now are you ready? Let’s…

This algebra challenge comes from the 1997 Oxford University’s Entrance Exam. And to be honest, any student with a good understanding of the A-level curriculum should be able to work this out. Specifically we want to find which power of x has the greatest coefficient in the expansion of polynomial shown above. Now grab your…

This is honestly one of the best puzzles for students and anyone looking to test their understanding of calculus. It took me a while to be able to do it in my head, and I think there are two layers of understanding to the solution. So give this problem a go, and when you are…