EJMT Abstract

This paper is a more in-depth discussions for selected problems discussed in [1], which are inspired by college entrance exam practice problems from China. When initially seeing the problem during an exam, one may have no clue how the problem is created. In this paper, we begin by presenting the essential algebraic manipulation skills that Chinese high school students are expected to apply to answer the question. We then continue the discussion by exploring various scenarios that utilize technological tools. We shall see many unexpected surprising outcomes. More importantly, we summarize how a problem can be extended to a more general setting whenever is possible.