The Ten Questions and Answers

Abstract

Let a and b be two numbers and, for convenience, let us assume that a ≥ b. Let,

$$\begin{array}{*{20}{l}} {p = a + b,\quad q = a - b,\quad r = ab} \\ {s = {a^2} + {b^2}\,\,t = {a^2} - {b^2}.} \end{array}$$

((2.1))

Given any two of the five quantities p, q, r, s, t, how to find a and b? These are the ten questions.