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...
- A continuous linear function must have the form f(x)=ax. Discontinuous linear functions look dreadful
- A clock never showing right time might be preferable to the one showing right time twice a day
- You can't add apples and oranges but you can add their shapes
- Some numbers are square, yet others are triangular
- For every object there is a distance at which it looks its best
- Much as with people, there are irrational, perfect, complex numbers
- Every infinite set contains uncountably many nested subsets
- There are curves that fill a plane without holes
- The word 'fraction' derives from the Latin fractio - to break. However, there are continuous fractions
- Among all shapes with the same area circle has the shortest perimeter
- Irrational number to an irrational power may be rational
- Demographic tests show that the person least likely to buy Wired magazine is an American schoolteacher
- In some circumstances index equals the content
- Simple Quadrilaterals Tessellate the Plane
- Sphere has two sides. However, there are one-sided surfaces
- There are three plane regions that share exactly the same boundary
- Sometimes in order to add one has to take the difference
- To get cafe au lait one should carry coffee to milk and not milk to coffee
- One is morally obligated to do everything impossible
- For every object there is a distance at which it looks its best
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Last updated: July 6, 2018 What has changed? |
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