Volume 47
, Issue 1

2011

Welcome to the first issue of Parabola Incorporating Function for 2011. The first article in, by John Perram, describes different meanings of equality. For example, we might write $y=x^2+x+1$ to define $y$ or to represent an equation.

Using a computer algebra system (CAS) such as Mathematica to relate a mathematical narrative requires a more disciplined use of symbols and terms than is common in mathematical text.

When I entered my third year of university study, I was introduced to the topic of Fluid Mechanics $-$ the mathematical analysis of the flow of liquids and gases. I found that the concept of a fluid that is analyzed in that context is not exactly that which applies to real fluids.

Q1351 A city consists of a rectangular grid of roads, with $m$ roads running east-west and $n$ running north-south.  Every east-west road intersects every north-south road.

Q1341 A lazy weather forecaster predicts that future maximum temperatures will be the average of the preceding two days maximum temperatures. The forecaster starts his forecast by noting that yesterday's maximum temperature was $23^\circ$C and the day before it was $29^\circ$C.