Here is another typical sum puzzle from Presh Talwalkar.

“Solve the following sums:

_____1/(1×3) + 1/(3×5) + 1/(5×7) + 1/(7×9) + 1/(9×11) =

_____1/(4×7) + 1/(7×10) + 1/(10×13) + 1/(13×16) =

_____1/(2×7) + 1/(7×12) + 1/(12×17) + … =”

The only reason I am including this puzzle is that Talwalkar gets very excited about deriving a formula that can solve sums of this type.  This gives me an opportunity to discuss the “formula vs. procedure” way of doing math.

Answer.

See the Incredible Trick Puzzle for solutions.