Mathematics is the science of numbers and shapes. Mathematics may also be considered a formal language to describe physics.
Questions tagged [mathematics]
59 questions
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Have mathematicians concluded that an Indian mathematical physicist has solved the Riemann Hypothesis?
The Riemann Hypothesis is a mathematical hypothesis that describes the distribution of prime numbers. It is one of the seven Millennium Problems put forth by the Clay Mathematics Institute, notorious for its difficulty and has a $1,000,000 prize for…
justauser
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Can you predict a number that is "randomly" chosen by a person better than chance?
(https://xkcd.com/628/)
If you hover your mouse over the comic for a few second a small tool tip box says:
You can do a lot better than 1% if you start keeping track of the patterns in what numbers people pick.
Is there any evidence for this…
10 Replies
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Did Euler make the elementary mistake √-2 √-3 = √6?
The following extract is from Tristan Needham's Visual Complex Analysis,
Even in 1770 the situation was still sufficiently confused that it was possible for so great a mathematician as Euler to mistakenly argue that √-2 √-3 = √6.
I found this to…
Agile_Eagle
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Did Roman jurists rule that "to learn the art of geometry and to take part in public exercises, an art as damnable as mathematics, are forbidden"?
According to Morris Kline, author of Mathematics for the Nonmathematician (1967):
Roman jurists ruled, under the Code of Mathematicians and Evil-Doers, that "to learn the art of geometry and to take part in public exercises, an art as damnable as…
user55016
54
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Is Chika Ofili's method for checking divisibility for 7 a "new discovery" in math?
Chika Ofili, a 12-year-old Nigerian boy based in the United Kingdom, has received the ‘TruLittle Hero Awards’ for discovering a new mathematical formula. Source
According to the above website (and several others), he envisioned a simple method to…
Pedro A
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Did A&W customers think 1/3 pound burger patties weigh less than 1/4 pound ones?
This Facebook post by 9gag.com makes the claim that customers of A&W thought that A&W's 1/3 pound burgers weighed less than McDonald's 1/4 pound burgers, and preferred to buy the McDonald's burgers due to them thinking that a 1/4 pound burger has…
March Ho
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Did Bertrand Russell spend 360 pages in Principia Mathematica to prove 1 + 1 = 2?
I read from several places that Bertrand Russell spent many pages in Principia Mathematica to prove 1 + 1 = 2, e.g. here said "it takes over 360 pages to prove definitively that 1 + 1 = 2", while here said 162 pages.
I do not believe that is the…
Qiulang
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Did Augustine of Hippo warn Christians to beware mathematicians?
On the first page of Mathematics for the Nonmathematician, mathematician Morris Kline quotes Augustine of Hippo as saying:
The good Christian should beware the mathematician and all those who
make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that…
Jayson Virissimo
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Did Manahel Thabet develop a groundbreaking formula to measure distance in space without the use of light?
I stumbled upon the Wikipedia page of Manahel Thabet recently. Here are some extracts from the Wikipedia page.
"At the age of 25, she earned her first PhD in Financial Engineering magna cum laude, making her the youngest person and the only Arab…
Archy Will He 何魏奇
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Did the Ancient Egyptians use twenty-sided dice?
Ancient d20 die emerges from the ashes of time
Many centuries before Dungeons & Dragons was even a glimmer in the eye of Gary Gygax, ancient Egyptians were rolling a d20 die.
Metropolitan Museum
Twenty-sided die (icosahedron) with faces inscribed…
Wertilq
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Have you shared (one water molecule of) your glass of water with a dinosaur?
I saw on the web:
La probabilité que vous buviez un verre d'eau qui contient une molécule d'eau qui est également passée à travers un dinosaure est de quasiment 100%.
This translates to:
The probability that the glass of water you are drinking…
Pop Flamingo
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Did only a handful of people in Europe know how to do division before the 13th century?
Nicholas Nassem Taleb's latest book (Antifragile) continues to provide fascinating unreferenced claims.
In the middle of an argument that much of the important knowledge in the world is practical, not theoretical, in which he argues that the…
matt_black
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Is there no Nobel Prize for Mathematics because of an act of infidelity?
The Berkeley Daily Planet reports one rumour I heard:
The one Nobel Prize you won’t hear announced is for Mathematics―because, in contrast to Chemistry, Physics, and Literature, there is no Nobelity in Math. Rumor has it that it’s because of a sex…
B Faley
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Do higher mathematical abilities inversely correlate with good communication skills?
There is a persistent stereotype that geeks (let's formally define that as people a couple of standard deviations better than average in math, computers or other related abilities) as a whole have relatively poor language/communication skills,…
user5341
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If children use calculators in primary school, is their learning impacted?
Others are against using calculator in lower level math teaching, saying that it makes children not to learn their basic facts, prevents students from discovering and understanding underlying mathematical concepts and instead encourages them to…
Sklivvz
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