Monthly Archive for February, 2009

The Electric Snowmobile Runs

After working for a full semester on the Clarkson University Electric Snowmobile, I had the opportunity to witness the track of the snowmobile spinning for the first time. This snowmobile is built on a Polaris 600RR racing chassis and is fitted with a three phase AC motor and 200 lithium polymer batteries. This test was done a number of weeks before the snowmobile was taken to the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge. More information about the Clarkson University Electric Snomwobile team can be found here.

An Interesting Math Problem

There are 2 mathematicians Sally and Pete. Sally knows the sum of two numbers and Pete knows the product of those same two numbers. Assume that the numbers are integers greater than 1 and that the mathematicians know this. For simplicity, let the first number be less than or equal to the second. Furthermore assume that each mathematician only speaks truly. The conversation goes as follows:

Sally: I know that you don’t know what the two numbers are.
Pete: Now I do know what the two numbers are.
Sally: Now I know what the two numbers are.

What are the two numbers?