[This is a back-issue from this site’s newsletters]
Next week I’ll have a nice math video to show you. In the meantime, here’s the plot synopses of a number of popular films. Can you guess which movie each one is?
Old Game Now New
[This is a back-issue of this site’s newsletter]
Monday Morning Math is late this week, but for a good reason – I was rushing to finish the new version of my online traffic jam game! Continue reading Old Game Now New
Dinosaur Discovery Downloads
[This is a back-issue of this site’s newsletter]
It’s the school holidays in a lot of places, including here where I live. A good chance to spend time taking the kids to interesting places.
Math and Medicine
This question was posed to a group of medical professionals.
A woman is tested for a particular type of cancer, and the test is positive. Worried, she asks how likely it is that she really has cancer. Which of these is the best answer?
Football Fever!
[This is a back-issue of one of this site’s newsletters]
Remember Paul the Octopus?
Paul the Octopus sadly passed away on 26 October 2010, at the ripe old age of 33 months, but not before shooting to fame for his successful predictions of matches in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Heptagons, and the politics of 19th century France.
[This is a back-issue of one of this site’s newsletters]
When I was in junior high school, my math teacher was teaching us about ruler-and-compass constructions. Do they still teach this to kids? Anyway, he’d taught us how to construct certain shapes, then informed us – the heptagon, or regular seven-sided polygon, can’t be constructed using a ruler and compass.
Continue reading Heptagons, and the politics of 19th century France.
Rubik’s Cubes
[This is a back-issue of one of this site’s newsletters]
As Google may have already told you, this week marks the 40th anniversary of invention of Erno Rubik’s famous cube.
Many people find the cube horribly difficult to solve. If you’re one of those people, take heart in this or this.
Jigsaw Puzzles and the Riemann Hypothesis
[This is a back-issue of one of this site’s newsletters]
Here’s a simple-sounding puzzle: I give you a bunch of triangular tiles. What shapes can you make with them? The tiles are all the same size, all equilateral triangles. You have to use all the tiles I give you.
Squares And Infinities
–b1_1f605e91eb2d2a7e3555a71c738163ac
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary=”b2_1f605e91eb2d2a7e3555a71c738163ac”
–b2_1f605e91eb2d2a7e3555a71c738163ac
Content-Type: text/plain; charset = “UTF-8”
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
So, President was being briefed by his Chiefs Of
Staff on the latest conflict. He listened, asked questions, hummed and
ahed. Then he asked “were there any casualties?”
The Defense Chief nodded. “Three Brazilian soldiers were killed”
“Oh my God.” said the President. He clutched the edge of his desk. A
tear appeared at the edge of his eye. “My God.”
The Chiefs glanced at one another, unsure how to respond to the
President’s obvious grief. Finally he looked up.
“How many millions in a brazillion?”
Oh-kay… not sure where that one came from. Ahem.
So, I got my computer to make a video, showing how to construct a
square with a ruler and a compass. You can see it here
.
Back to big numbers. A number of years ago, I ran a Big Numbers
Contest through my website. Kids had to come up with the biggest
number they could
write in a two inch by four inch box. You’d think that out of the
infinity of numbers, there’d be a clear winner. Astoundingly, the
competition ended in a draw
.
The rules said kids couldn’t write “Infinity”. The obvious reason is
that that would make the contest too easy. The real reason is that
“Infinity” isn’t a well-defined number. There are actually different
sizes of infinity.
Some of the paradoxes of infinity were made clear to me by a short
story by Stanislaw Lem, in this book
. I read it a long time ago. You may find similar presentations by
googling Hilbert’s Hotel Paradox.
Yours,
Michael Hartley
—
To see the newletter archives, This
Link
If you do not want to receive any more newsletters,
http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/newsletter/?p=unsubscribe&uid=5bb87ab629dd196aab24974186e7290a
To update your preferences and to unsubscribe visit
http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/newsletter/?p=preferences&uid=5bb87ab629dd196aab24974186e7290a
Forward a Message to Someone
http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/newsletter/?p=forward&uid=5bb87ab629dd196aab24974186e7290a&mid=116
—
Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com —
–b2_1f605e91eb2d2a7e3555a71c738163ac
Content-Type: text/html; charset = “UTF-8”
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
So, President was being briefed by his Chiefs Of Staff on the latest conflict. He listened, asked questions, hummed and ahed. Then he asked "were there any casualties?"
The Defense Chief nodded. "Three Brazilian soldiers were killed"
"Oh my God." said the President. He clutched the edge of his desk. A tear appeared at the edge of his eye. "My God."
The Chiefs glanced at one another, unsure how to respond to the President’s obvious grief. Finally he looked up.
"How many millions in a brazillion?"
Oh-kay… not sure where that one came from. Ahem.
So, I got my computer to make a video, showing how to construct a square with a ruler and a compass. You can see it here.
Back to big numbers. A number of years ago, I ran a Big Numbers Contest through my website. Kids had to come up with the biggest number they could write in a two inch by four inch box. You’d think that out of the infinity of numbers, there’d be a clear winner. Astoundingly, the competition ended in a draw.
The rules said kids couldn’t write "Infinity". The obvious reason is that that would make the contest too easy. The real reason is that "Infinity" isn’t a well-defined number. There are actually different sizes of infinity.
Some of the paradoxes of infinity were made clear to me by a short story by Stanislaw Lem, in this book. I read it a long time ago. You may find similar presentations by googling Hilbert’s Hotel Paradox.
Yours,
Michael Hartley
–b2_1f605e91eb2d2a7e3555a71c738163ac–
–b1_1f605e91eb2d2a7e3555a71c738163ac
Content-Type: image/png; name=”powerphplist.png”
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-ID: <32a8041081a4b06a7f94acfd9d6fc7a3>
Content-Disposition: inline; filename=”powerphplist.png”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–b1_1f605e91eb2d2a7e3555a71c738163ac–
Constructing A Square Inside A Circle
When I learned straightedge-and-compass constructions in school, I would construct a square by constructing right angles in various places.