His colleague, Dr. Lou Thurston, associate math professor, agrees. Some problems I can get right away. Then, the next one I could work on for hours or days and get nothing. Boerkoel said once a solution is found to a problem, it must be proved to assure the answer is correct. Then he continues to work on the problem looking for ways to shorten or alter the solution.
Some problems have more than one way to a correct solution.
Boerkoel gets his math problems from American Mathematical Monthly , Mathematics Magazine and College Math Journal . The easier problems are posted for the students, although they are designed for math professionals. The problems in these journals are for professionals. They probably are not going to be solved by students. Students aren't familiar with some of the rules and regulations of problem solving.