Problem of the Month Rules:
A new problem is posted on the first class day of the month for each calendar month except May / December.
Any undergraduate student enrolled at WSU can submit a solution. You can revise and resubmit your solution, but only your most recent solution will be considered your entry and used for scoring.
To be considered, your solution must be your original work, have sound reasoning, and have a correct answer. Your solution must also have your full name, WSU ID, and email address at the top, and brought to the Math Office (Jabara 355) before the end of the month.
Your solution does not need to fit on the small handouts! It can be written or typed/printed on as many pages as needed.
All students who submit a correct solution will have their name listed the following month.
- The student with the first correct solution receives a prize, their choice of swag from the math department.
- The student with the most elegant solution will also receive their choice of swag from the math department. This solution will also be displayed on the POTM board the following month.
For privacy, all such displayed information is reserved to the POTM board and not posted online.
Questions should be sent to daniel.trousdale@wichita.edu with POTM in the subject line.
September 2025
Caterpillar
A n-tree is a trunk with three branches, each of which split into three smaller branches, and so on, so that there are 3n outermost branches. A caterpillar starts at the trunk, and only moves from a parent branch to an immediate child branch or vice versa. It wants to visit every branch at least once, eat all the leaves, and finish back at the trunk. The least number of moves this will take for a given n-tree is M(n). If M(1) = 6, find M(6).
Updated: 9/16/2025