(Some) SPECIAL MATH DATES IN 2024 Here are just a few (see #5) of the mathematically special dates in 2024. Some of passed already, but many are still ahead of us. I hope you’ll have fun celebrating them – I know I will! 1. March 14 – Pi Day: We might as well start with […]
Category: More Math Tidbits
Isn’t Math Wonderful? & Pesky Puzzler 24.1 – Jan ’24
Consider this January 24, and look at its date, written with the two-digit year: 1/24/24. Note that the month (1) times the day (24) equals the year (24). This phenomenon happens again on February 12: 2/12/24. And again on March 8. (3/8/24). Indeed this happens SEVEN times this year. (Apr 6, Jun 4, Aug 3, and Dec 2 […]
Start with 80 beers!
Crazy as it sounds, it works! 🙂 Yes, but only if you’ve NOT yet had your birthday in ’21. If so, you need to add 41, not 40. (Alternatively, it works for everyone for their age on 12/31/20.) Explain why, and receive BONUS Brain Teaser credit!
Perfect Numbers
If a number’s proper divisors (the divisors other than the number itself) add up to the number itself, we call the number perfect (partly because this is SO rare!). Examples: 6 is perfect, since its proper divisors are 1, 2, & 3 and 1 + 2 + 3 = 6. 28 is perfect because the proper divisors are 1,2,4,7, […]
Limerick Translation
Is Zero (0) Even or Odd? (Or Neither or Both?)
A whole number is even if it is divisible by 2. Equivalently (since sometimes there is confusion with 0 and the word ‘divisible’), a whole number is even if it can be written as two times some whole number. E.g., 22 is even because it can be written as 2 time somes whole number (namely 11), and […]
The Pythagorean Theorem – Amazing & Beautiful!
Most of us ‘memorize’ (what we think is) the Pythagorean Theorem. And it seems to be one of the few things we claim to remember from math classes. My guess is, that if asked right now what the theorem is, most of us would answer (somewhat triumphantly) a2 + b2 = c2 !! And, we’d […]
What is PI really? Enlightening background and history.
This needs to be said carefully, but pi is technically a ratio. More below, but first: a ratio is a comparison of two quantities, as in ‘the ratio of boys to girls in that class is 5 to 4.’ Such a comparison (using the example) is often written 5:4, or sometimes 5/4. And that can be viewed as […]
Special Math Dates in 2016
Here are just a few of the mathematically special dates in 2016. I hope you’ll have fun celebrating them – I know I will! 1. Pi Day 2016 !! We might as well start with what we called last year the ONCE IN A CENTURY date! As you may remember, the common decimal approximation for pi is 3.14. So […]
Perfect, Abundant, and Deficient Numbers
Pick any positive integer you want, and look at its divisors (or factors). For example, the divisors of 15 are 1, 3, 5, and 15; the divisors of 24 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 24; and the divisors of 29 are 1 & 29. Now disregard the number itself , and consider the other […]
