The World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

March 5, 2012 37 Comments

Every once in a while a math problem takes the world by storm … at least the world of nerds.  About five years ago, the “World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem” hit the internet.  Not that this problem was new or unique.  After all, it has been around for hundreds of years.  However, with the speed and ease of communication of the internet, the problem spread like wildfire.  In fact, according to rumors, the problem was so addictive that the whiteboards in the offices of Google were filled with attempted solutions.  As the story goes, one employee said that the problem probably cost Google about a quarter of a million dollars in lost time.

What was the problem that people couldn’t stop thinking about?  Think you can solve it?  Enjoy … and no cheating!  (For a PDF version of the problem, click World’s Hardest Easy Geometry Problem.)

 

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A theorem a day in the New Year

January 4, 2012 Leave a comment

Looking for that perfect New Year’s resolution?  Looking for something that will be both informative and fun to do each day?  I give you the best resolution ever – reading about a different theorem every day in the New Year!

Below is a great website that publishes a different theorem each day for you to read and enjoy.  Honestly, can you think of anything better to do with your time?  That’s more of a rhetorical question as we all know the answer is NO!

To get started, just click on the website:  http://www.theoremoftheday.org/index.php.  Happy New Year!

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A New Year’s Resolution

December 21, 2011 Leave a comment

Well, it’s that time of year again.  The time of year millions of people resolve to change who they are, what they look like or what they do.  And, as it turns out, mathematicians are no different from anyone else.  Sometime in the 1940’s, G.H. Hardy sent the following list of New Year’s resolutions to a friend.

  1. To prove the Riemann Hypothesis
  2. To make a brilliant play in a crucial cricket match
  3. To prove the nonexistence of God
  4. To be the first man atop Mount Everest
  5. To be proclaimed the first president of the U.S.S.R., Great Britain, and Germany
  6. To murder Mussolini

Unfortunately, just like us mere mortals, G.H. Hardy never fulfilled any of his resolutions – what a shame, a proof of the Riemann Hypothesis would have been a great one.  Oh well.  At least he can inspire us to think big!

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Looking for that perfect holiday gift?

November 29, 2011 Leave a comment

Looking for that perfect holiday gift?  Instead of giving that video game or other mind-numbing gift, why not give the gift of knowledge?  A mathematically related gift can be the perfect present to help stimulate the mind.

Looking for that great book?  Try one of these.

Looking for that perfect pencil or pen?  How about something like this?

Need a refill on your coffee?  Try this.

  • The perfect cup of coffee – Nothing better than drinking the morning ‘cup of joe’ while staring at great mathematics.

Don’t know what to get?  How about something different?

As always, look around and enjoy the links.  And remember – these links are always available on the GIFT IDEAS page in the toolbar.

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The 100 Greatest Theorems of Mathematics

October 26, 2011 2 Comments

As a mathematics teacher, I am often asked what I believe is the single greatest theorem in all of mathematics.  And, depending on my mood, I could claim any one of a dozen theorems to be the greatest.  Talk to other math people and you will probably get a completely different dozen.  In fact, there are probably as many different opinions as there are theorems.  To me that is one of the beautiful things of my subject.

With that being said, I guess there is no point in anyone ever trying to construct a list, right?  Not really. Enter mathematicians Jack and Paul Abad.   In 1999, they set forth on the arduous journey of generating the list of the 100 Greatest Theorems.  In making the list, they used 3 criteria.

  • the place the theorem holds in literature
  • the quality of the proof
  • the unexpectedness of the result

What did they come up with?  Below is their top 12.  For the complete list, click here.

  1. The Irrationality of the Square Root of 2 by Pythagoras (500 B.C.)
  2. Fundamental Theorem of Algebra by Karl Frederich Gauss (1799)
  3. The Denumerability of the Rational Numbers by Georg Cantor (1867)
  4. Pythagorean Theorem by Pythagoras (500 B.C.)
  5. Prime Number Theorem by Jacques Hadamard and Charles-Jean de la Vallee Poussin – separately (1896)
  6. Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem by Kurt Godel (1931)
  7. Law of Quadratic Reciprocity by Karl Frederich Gauss (1801)
  8. The Impossibility of Trisecting the Angle and Doubling the Cube by Pierre Wantzel (1837)
  9. The Area of a Circle by Archimedes (225 B.C.)
  10. Euler’s Generalization of Fermat’s Little Theorem by Leonhard Euler (1760)
  11. The Infinitude of Primes by Euclid (300 B.C.)
  12. The Independence of the Parallel Postulate by Karl Frederich Gauss, Janos Bolyai, Nikolai Lobachevsky, G.F. Bernhard Riemann – collectively (1870-1880)

What do you think?  Did they get it right?  Enjoy the debate!

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