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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Is poker more a game of skill than chance?
I just read a NY Times article which claims that a US Judge ruled that poker is a game of skill and not one of chance.
In a ruling that goes to the heart of what it means to play poker, Judge Jack B. Weinstein tossed out the conviction and vacated…
Kenshin
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Does counting with fingers diminish the ability to work with numbers in the future for children?
There is a belief that says children who count with the aid of their fingers will be prone to having problems in math in the later years to come.
Is this belief true?
2hamed
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Is the use of X for unknown quantities taken from the Arabic word "shay"?
In this TED Talk, the speaker says that the use of X for unknown quantities was the result of Spanish people taking the Arabic word shay (meaning "thing"), which was used by Arabs to denote unknown quantities, and representing it by the Greek letter…
Daud
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Is the difference between men and women' estimates of their number of sexual partners caused because men estimate rather than count?
In this Tedx talk about sexy mathematics, Dr Clio Cresswell says that there is an inconsistency between womens' and mens' reports of the number of sexual partners they have had.
Now, men report, on average, having had sex with two to four times as…
matt_black
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Is being a professional logician associated with serious mental health issues?
In Indiscrete Thoughts, Gian-Carlo Rota claims that:
It cannot be a complete coincidence that several outstanding logicians of the twentieth century found shelter in asylums at some point in their lives: Cantor, Zermelo, Gödel and Post are…
Jayson Virissimo
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Has knowledge in mathematics in teenagers decreased through time?
I have been told that the level of knowledge in mathematics is much lower today than twenty or fifty years ago. Is it true?
I'm looking for statistics that present the level of knowledge in mathematics of teenagers (or slightly older) versus time…
Remi.b
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Was there a person made the quote about poetry that Poincaré responded to?
It is claimed that Henri Poincaré, a well-known mathematician, said this:
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things.
It is also claimed that that quote was in response to this quote:
Poetry is the art of giving different…
Ooker
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Did Abraham de Moivre Predict His Own Death?
According to the website I was perusing, found here, it stated that a mathematician named Abraham de Moivre, predicted the date of his own death (using some nonsensical method of when he had slept for 24 hours more than usual).
At the last point of…
Kenshin
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Was Aryabhatta the first to invent place value system and zero?
I was shocked when I read on a blog that Aryabahatta, an Indian guy born in 476 AD discovered zero.
Surely people knew about zero before that.
But his greatest contribution has to be ZERO, for which he became immortal. He certainly did not use the…
yomuhuwex
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Was Napoleon right that "there cannot be a great nation without great mathematics"?
I am teaching mathematics. And I want to collect as many evidences as I can to let my students know that mathematics is very important.
Accidentally I got a quote from Napoleon as follows.
Napoleon used to say that (quoted from this site):
there…
kiss my armpit
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Can a body be dissolved by a few liters or gallons of Hydrofluoric acid?
In the "Cat's in the Bag..." episode of Season 1 of "Breaking Bad," characters are shown with 4 gallon-jugs of Hydrofluoric Acid that they use to dissolve 2 adult corpses. Chemistry is a major plot device in the show and it seems like they go to…
Larry OBrien
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Does Heads Up Texas Hold'em have more possible hands than atoms in the universe?
In the Vice (HBO) clip AI Poker Bots Are Beating The World's Best Players, it is claimed (at 2:00), that Texas Hold'em has "more possible hands than atoms in the universe".
..this competition featured a complex style of the game called Heads
Up…
Fiksdal
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Are left-handed people better at mathematics?
During a math exam, I was told: "You are left-handed, you should become a mathematician."
I searched online and, sure enough, there are some web-sites claiming that left-handed people tend to be better at mathematics.
For example, Fact Retriever…
Niklas Rosencrantz
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Does the 'B' in 'Benoit B. Mandelbrot' stand for 'Benoit B. Mandelbrot'?
Decorated mathematician Benoit B. Mandelbrot, who first coined the term fractals, allegedly gave himself the middle initial B, representing again his full name.
Did he in fact ever legally adopt this addition as a pseudonym or is this likely a…
Constantin
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Summer Mathematics Workbooks for Elementary and Middle School
There is a wide variety of summer mathematics workbooks available for students in elementary and middle school (see here). With summer coming up, these books seem to be available everywhere. Thus my questions are:
Is there any evidence that suggests…
user19437
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