Forms of Nice Questions

You can invent striking and challenging problems with unique solution by building some symmetry into functional equations. Some are suitable for high school; others could generate college-level projects involving computer algebra. The problems are functional equations with group actions in the background. Interesting examples arise even from small finite groups. Whether a given problem ``works" with a given choice of constant coefficients depends on whether a related multilinear form is nonzero. These forms are essentially the classical group determinants studied by Frobenius in the nineteenth century.

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Journal
College Mathematics Journal
Published
2025-04-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/07468342.2025.2485013
Primary Topic
History and Theory of Mathematics
Type
article
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article

Forms of Nice Questions

Anthony G. O’Farrell
College Mathematics Journal
History and Theory of Mathematics
article

Forms of Nice Questions

Anthony G. O’Farrell
article en

Abstract

You can invent striking and challenging problems with unique solution by building some symmetry into functional equations. Some are suitable for high school; others could generate college-level projects involving computer algebra. The problems are functional equations with group actions in the background. Interesting examples arise even from small finite groups. Whether a given problem ``works" with a given choice of constant coefficients depends on whether a related multilinear form is nonzero. These forms are essentially the classical group determinants studied by Frobenius in the nineteenth century.

College Mathematics JournalVol. 56(5)
Twitter (United States) (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 93%
History and Theory of Mathematics
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