GI. Mrs Perkins’ Electric Quilt
Paul Nahin discusses his fabulous new book “Mrs Perkins Electric Quilt“, mosquitos, falling through the Earth, whether mathematics is “real” and much more!
Archive for guests
GF. More Clock Crazies
Hmm. Somehow Stephen Morris pulls off that rarest of Math Factor tricks– leaving Kyle and Chaim at a loss for words, with his sneaky clock puzzle.
GE. Clock Confusion Redux
Kyle and Chaim get into trouble with their wives and Mathfactor correspondent, Stephen Morris, discusses the Kate Bush Conjecture and And The Clocks Struck Thirteen
Oh by the way, would you like a cool Math Factor Poster? Click on this to download:
GC. Another Buncha Prisoners
Man, what is it with puzzlers and prisoners? Jeff Yoak lines ‘em up and the stakes are high in this week’s puzzle.
Also, we are now twittering at MathFactor; each of the authors has an account of his own; mine is CGoodmanStrauss. You can tag solutions and comments with #mathfactor. See you there!
GB. Hat Strategy
How can three people, each required to guess the color of hat on their head, strategize and maximize the chances they’ll all be right?
GA. Stacking the Chips
Jeff Yoak discusses the mathematical – and non-mathematical – nature of poker. Sitting at the table led him to wonder: Which numbers, precisely, are the sum of consecutive integers, and in how many ways?
FZ. Find the Coin!
The Math Factor podcast catches up with Jeff Yoak, an author on the Math Factor website, to discuss his fantastic Find-the-Gold-Coin puzzle.
FV. Singmastery!
David Singmaster, Puzzler Extraordinaire, early master of the Rubik’s Cube, poser of the Singmaster Conjecture, etc, etc, engages in some wordplay.
FT. Sum and Double, Double and Sum
Rob Fathauer discusses the ins and outs of the mathematical toy business, and we ask: For which numbers is the sum of digits the same as the sum of digits of twice the number. For example:
The sum of the digits of 351 is 9 and the sum of the digits of 2 x 351 = 702 is also 9.
1) If a number has this property, can we always rearrange its digits and obtain another number with this property (513, 135, etc all have it)
2) Which powers of 2 have this property?
3) And most of all, can you give a simple characterization of the numbers with this property, in terms of just the digits themselves?
FR. Who Wants To Be A Mathematician?
Kyle and Chaim finally get back into the studio!
We first pose a quick question: If you drive fifty miles in fifty minutes, must there be some ten minute interval in which you drive exactly ten miles?
Of course there must — mustn’t there? Well prove it!
Our main feature this week is an interview with Michael Breen, from the American Mathematical Society, who came and hosted a game show “Who Wants To Be A Mathematician!” About a hundred high school students from all over northwest Arkansas came to cheer on their classmates; Kyle Strong of Har-Ber High in Springdale came in first, winning $1250, and Karan Batra, of Bentonville placed second with $250.
Our interview includes a few sample problems… I guess we shouldn’t list too many of them, in case Micheal wants to recycle them! Mike’s also responsible for the great series of Mathematical Moments posters— check them out!
PS: We opened with the Up To One Million Dollars In Prize Money May Be Given Away gag… Always fun!
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