January 3, 2009
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math puzzles, Morris
For me the holidays end on Monday so I just have time to post this seasonal question.
Why is Christmas the same as Halloween?
Specifically why is Oct. 31 = Dec. 25.
Hint: you need to look at exactly how this is written.
A short problem with a long pedigree.
I found this in Martin Gardner’s book ‘The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems’, problem 3.9 in my copy. He credits Solomon Wolf Golomb, the inventor of Polyominoes which inspired tetris.
Isaac Asimov based a whole story on this puzzle, ‘A Curious Case of Income Tax Fraud’, part of his Black Widowers series.
I asked some work colleagues and had some amusing answers, none of which were maths related. Maybe you have your own?
Enjoy!
Steve
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December 17, 2008
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math puzzles, numbers, The Mathcast
Pascal’s triangle, with its host of nifty tricks, provides the surprising solution to last weeks’ puzzle on sequences of averages.
As a bonus puzzle, not mentioned in the podcast, consider the following variation with a completely different solution: Our sequence starts
1, 1, …
Now each additional term is twice the average of all the earlier terms, not including the terms immediate predecessor! So, the third term is twice the average of 1, i.e. 2. We have now 1,1,2 …
The fourth term is twice the average of 1 & 1, i.e. 2 and we have 1,1,2,2
Continuing in this way we get 1, 1, 2, 2, 8/3, 3, etc. The sequence wobbles around, but will grow steadily. But the remarkable thing is that the nth term, divided by n, tends to exactly (1 – 1/e^2)/2, a fact well worth trying to prove!
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December 1, 2008
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Favorites, logic, math puzzles, The Mathcast, toys and math products
Our favorite new and not-so-new products of 2008!
Check out these great gifts!
- Zome is an incredibly powerful construction system!
- the great puzzles of Puzzellation (available at Barnes and Nobles)
- The terrific puzzle computer game DROD
- The Magic Mirror Image Coloring Book
- The Riddles of the Sphinx by David J Bodycombe, an amazing compendium of puzzles, of hundreds of kinds, at all levels of difficulty, with historical essays to boot!
- Which leads us to Nikoli, the great Japanese puzzle co! (Rules can be found here)
- The Princeton Companion to Mathematics is a landmark classic. A must-have for every serious student, researcher or amateur.
- How Round is Your Circle just one of the many fantastic titles out on Princeton University Press
- AK Peters is another fantastic press, with a wide range of interesting math and CS titles, including, ahem, the Symmetries of Things.
- Binary Arts/ThinkFun is another source of great puzzles!
- And the authors Martin Gardner and Ivan Moscovitch are always fantastic!
Hope this helps and have fun!! Let us know how it works out!
Happy Holidays from the Math Factor!
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October 22, 2008
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guests, math puzzles, The Mathcast
Ed Pegg, of mathpuzzle.com , Wolfram research and consultant to the TV show Numb3rs, returns to discuss cellular automata and a fiendishly difficult puzzle.
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September 25, 2008
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answers, math puzzles, numbers, The Mathcast
We settle some business and address the game of Plinko.
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September 23, 2008
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math puzzles, numbers, The Mathcast
We discuss math on TV, the smallest ungoogleable number and a devilish game with billiard balls.
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September 1, 2008
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guests, math puzzles, Mathfactor Events, The Mathcast
We visit the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market, soliciting math questions, and pose a problem about funny walks.
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August 22, 2008
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answers, guests, math puzzles, The Mathcast, Topology and geometry
We conclude our interview with Dana Richards, editor of Martin Gardner’s Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems pondering how to cut a hole through a cube large enough that another, same-sized cube can pass through!
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