Tag: maths
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Elf Chalkboard Puzzle
A puzzle: elves wipe numbers from your chalkboard in a particular pattern. Is the number that's left odd or even?
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Pure Fourier series animations for 12 oddly satisfying minutes
3Blue1Brown produced animations showing Fourier series configured to draw interesting pictures, and they're mesmerising.
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Going Critical
A fabulous and interactive exploration of network interactions. Treat as a longread (with some opportunities to play as you go along).
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Follow-up: I found two identical packs of Skittles, among 468 packs with a total of 27,740 Skittles
"Only" 464 packs of Skittles needed to be opened to find a pair. Yay?
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Going beyond the Golden Ratio
I show that for the same reason that the golden ratio, ϕ=1.6180334.., can be considered the most irrational number, that 1 + √2 can be considered the 2nd most irrational number, and indeed why (9 + √221)/10 can be considered the 3rd most irrational number.
Let us imagine a game between two kids, Emily … -
The most unexpected answer to a counting puzzle
3Blue1Brown (YouTube)
Summary: if an idealised weight slides into another, bouncing it off a wall then back into itself, how many times will the two collide? If the two weights are the same then the answer is 3: the first collision imparts all of the force of the first into the second, the second … -
How Few Votes Can Win a UK General Election?
What's the minimum number of votes a party can get and still win a UK general election? Let's try to find an answer...
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Lucy`s Secret Number puzzle
Lucy’s Secret Number puzzle (datagenetics.com) You are at a party and overhear a conversation between Lucy and her friend.
In the conversation, Lucy mentions she has a secret number that is less than 100.
She also confesses the following information:
"The number is uniquely describable by the answers to the following four questions:"
Q1) Is the number divisible by … -
Moscow Math Olympiad Puzzle
Moscow Math Olympiad Puzzle (datagenetics.com) How can you and a friend publicly communicate about cards you are holding without a third person knowing?
Datagenetics -
Voronoi Diagrams
Imagine I’m in a desert, and there are two wells where I can obtain water. If I want to go to the nearest well, which well do I visit? Clearly, it depends one where I am standing. It’s possible to draw a line dividing the desert. To the ‘left’ of the line, it’s nearer to …
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Lambda Calculus - Computerphile - YouTube
Computerphile -
Eiffel Tower
Is it true that the air around The Eiffel Tower weighs more than the tower?
DataGenetics -
Calculating Pi (when you're ill)
Dan's stuck in bed while he recovers following a medical issue. But while his body's recovering, he's been occupying his brain by writing software to visually approximate the digits of pi!
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Pi, PINs, and Permutations
How many digits of Pi do you need to ensure all possible 10,000 four digit PINs are included?
DataGenetics -
Programming Is Not Math
When I learned to program, back when dinosaurs walked the earth and the internet had no cats, there was an idea: if you were good at math, you’d be good at programming. I was great at math as a kid, but perhaps because I didn’t like it much, no one steered me towards programming. I…
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