Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles
Raymond Smullyan, a Mathematician, Philosopher and author of several outstanding books of logical puzzles, tells, in one of his books, a revealing story. A friend invited him for dinner. He told Smullyan that his teenage son was crazy about Smullyan's books and could not wait to meet him. The friend warned Smullyan not to mention that he is a Mathematician and that Logic is a part of Mathematics because the young fellow hated Mathematics.
Having told this story, would it be wise to announce up front what this site is about? Perhaps against a better judgement, I've put together a manifesto that aims to explain the purpose of this site.
By the way, did you know that...
- There are many things that can be added
- Much as with people, there are irrational, perfect, complex numbers
- How to write an equation of the union of two sets
- Everything you can do with a ruler and a compass you can do with the compass alone
- Two simple polygons of equal area can be dissected into a finite number of congruent polygons
- Demographic tests show that the person least likely to buy Wired magazine is an American schoolteacher
- The Length of the diagonal of the unit square equals the square root of 2
- Sets may be thick, thin and normal
- Among all shapes with the same area circle has the shortest perimeter
- Irrational number to an irrational power may be rational
- A continuous linear function must have the form f(x)=ax. Discontinuous linear functions look dreadful
- Two simple polygons of equal area can be dissected into a finite number of congruent polygons
- Falsity implies anything
- As in the art, there are imaginary and surreal numbers
- In the sequence of all integers, there are arbitrary long runs with no primes
- A clock never showing right time might be preferable to the one showing right time twice a day
- There is a simple solution to the affirmative action problem
- The word 'fraction' derives from the Latin fractio - to break. However, there are continuous fractions
- Among all shapes with the same perimeter a circle has the largest area
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Last updated: July 6, 2018 What has changed? |
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