Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 01:18:06 -0400
From: Alex Bogomolny
Oh, boy.
(23)b means 2b + 3 and (111)b = b2 + b + 1. So your first problem is the same as
5b + 6 = b2 + b + 1.
Solve b2 - 4b - 5 = 0 to get b1 = 5 and b2 = -1. Hence, the answer is b = 5.
Since 2*1/2 = 1 in all bases, 1/2 is one and the same thing in all bases. With this hint, can you do [B] now? The answer is b = 7.
Good luck,
Alexander Bogomolny
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