What are some mind-blowing facts

about mathematics?
1. Birthday Paradox

The birthday paradox says that if there are 23 people in a room, there is a more than 50% chance
that two people have the same birthday. It seems counterintuitive because the probability of
having a birthday on any particular day is only 1/365.

But the difference relies on the fact that we only need two people to have the same birthday as
each other. If, instead, the game was to get someone with a birthday on a particular day, such
as March 14, then with 23 people, there is only a 6.12% chance that someone will have that
birthday.

In other words, if there are 23 people in a room, and you choose one person X, and ask, Does
anyone else have the same birthday as X, the answer will probably be no. But then repeating
this on the other 22 people increases the probability every time, resulting in a net probability of
more than 50% (50.7% to be more precise).

2. Mandelbrot Set (Looks Like This)

The Mandelbrot set is a set of complex numbers that, when iterated according to a certain
formula, do not escape to infinity. Based on the simplicity of the formula itself, which is z -> z +
c, you would not expect such a complex figure to arise.

When you zoom in on the Mandelbrot set, you get an infinite number of smaller Mandelbrot sets,
which in turn have infinitely more (This kind of behavior is typical among fractals.)

It really captures the idea of worlds within worlds, universes within universes. Here is a video of
a zoom (among many on YouTube). I think its absolutely mind blowing.

If you still dont think theoretical math is awesome after seeing that video, I dont know what to
say.

3. Banach-Tarski Paradox

The Banach-Tarski paradox says that you can split one shape into two perfect copies of itself.
More specifically, it says that given a solid ball in 3-dimensions, it is possible to break it into a
finite number of pieces and then arrange them back into two identical copies of the original ball.

Of course, its highly counterintuitive, and its considered by many to be the single most
paradoxical result of mathematics. After all, in real life, we never see one object suddenly turning
into two copies. In fact, it seems to defy the conservation of mass in physics, which says that
mass should be preserved; shouldnt the result, with two objects, have twice the mass of the
original?

Well, not if the original mass was infinity. Then doubling infinity is still infinity, so there is
technically no breaking of laws. For a layman explanation of the Banach-Tarski paradox, see this
article I wrote in 2010.
4. Monty Hall Problem

This infamous problem is stated as follows:

Suppose youre on a game show, and youre given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is
a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows whats
behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, Do you
want to pick door No. 2? Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

No one I know has gotten the correct answer on the first try. Surprisingly, the answer is that its
better to switch!

Rather than trying to explain the details of the problem here, I will refer you to the Wikipedia
article, which does a very good job at exposition. The story is pretty funny too:

Many readers of vos Savants column refused to believe switching is beneficial despite her
explanation. After the problem appeared in Parade, approximately 10,000 readers,
including nearly 1,000 with PhDs, wrote to the magazine, most of them claiming vos Savant
was wrong (Tierney 1991). Even when given explanations, simulations, and formal
mathematical proofs, many people still do not accept that switching is the best strategy (vos
Savant 1991a). Paul Erds, one of the most prolific mathematicians in history, remained
unconvinced until he was shown a computer simulation confirming the predicted result
(Vazsonyi 1999).

The lesson is, dont trust your intuition, when someone knows what's waiting for you.

5. Gabriels Horn and the Painters Paradox

Familiar perhaps to calculus students, Gabriels horn is a shape that has a finite volume but an
infinite surface area (both are straightforward to check with integral calculus).

A popular way to make this into a real-world problem is to imagine painting the shape. The
painters paradox states that it is possible to completely fill the horn with paint (finite volume),
but it is impossible to completely paint the horns inside (infinite surface area).
The Koch snowflake is a shape, along similar lines, that has finite area but an infinite perimeter.
In fact, the Mandelbrot set, from #2, also has finite area and infinite perimeter!

6. Basel Problem

The only item to appear both in the 10 equations list and in this list, the Basel Problem says that
if you take the reciprocal of all the square numbers, and then add them all together, you get pi
squared over six.

If youre a normal, sane human being, it was probably completely unexpected that the stuff on
the left side has anything to do with pi, the ratio of a circles circumference to its diameter.

7. Abels Impossibility Theorem

Most of you in high school have seen the quadratic equation, which tells you how to solve the
degree 2 polynomial equation ax + bx + c = 0.

But the story doesnt end there. In the 1500s, mathematicians solved the cubic equation (degree
3), which is just one step up: ax + bx + cx + d = 0. The corresponding solution is far more
complicated:
Thank heavens you didnt have to learn that in high school. But lets go one step further. How do
you solve a quartic equation (degree 4): ax + bx + cx + dx + e = 0? At this point, the formula
is absolutely ridiculous:

I dare you to click on that and scroll through the whole thing.

Now breathe a sigh of relief, because Im not going to show you the formula for the next step up,
the quintic equation (degree 5), ax + bx + cx + dx + ex + f = 0, because it doesnt exist! Its
not that we havent found it yet; we actually proved its impossible! In fact, for any polynomial
with degree 5 or higher, there is no solution in roots.

8. There Are Different Levels of Infinity

Yes, some infinities are bigger than others. Technically, infinities have a property called
cardinality, and an infinity with a higher cardinality than that of another infinity is the larger one.
(Regular numbers have cardinalities too, but the cardinality of an infinity is always higher than
that of a mere number.)

There are still many counterintuitive facts about cardinalities of infinity. For example, are there
more integers than even integers? You would think that there are, since youre missing all the
odd integers. But the answer is no, they have the same cardinality. Are there more fractions than
integers? Nope, there are just as many integers are there are fractions.

However, Georg Cantor showed that there are actually more real numbers than there are
fractions. The real numbers are often referred to as the continuum, and for a long time, it was
conjectured, but not known, that there is no level of infinity between integers and the continuum;
this conjecture became known as the continuum hypothesis.

It turns out that the continuum hypothesis is neither true nor false in the normal sense. It was
proved that it can be neither proved nor disproved. (Read that sentence again.) More precisely,
Paul Cohen proved that the continuum hypothesis is independent of ZFC, the standard set of
axioms for mathematics.

9. Gdels Incompleteness Theorem(s)

Basically, it was proved that some true things cannot be proved. There are various layman
formulations of this result, and Ill list a couple here:

Any sufficiently powerful system has statements which can neither be proved nor
disproved. (E.g, continuum hypothesis.)

Any sufficiently powerful system cannot prove itself to be consistent, even if it is

consistent.

These became known as Gdels incompleteness theorems. Not surprisingly, these had huge
implications in not just math but also philosophy.
10. Fermats Last Theorem

The Pythagorean theorem says that in a right triangle, a + b = c. Now suppose we force the
variables to be integers. So the solution a=3, b=4, c=5 is allowed, but a=1.5, b=2, c=2.5 is not
allowed, even though it fits the equation. It can be shown that there are an infinite number of
solutions with a, b, c all integers.

But what happens if we take this one step up? How many integer solutions are there to a + b =
c? The answer is none. The same happens with a + b = c: no solutions.

In fact, Fermats Last Theorem states that for any exponent higher than 2, this equation has no
integer solutions. This famous problem, conjectured in 1637, took nearly four centuries to solve,
being proved finally by Andrew Wiles in 1995.
source:10 Surprising Mathematical Facts

Cicada Cycles
An amazing example of importance and utility of prime numbers is presented by Mother Nature
herself in form of Cicada cycles.

Cicadas, a type of winged insects, need to solve a basic problem for their survival and
reproduction - surviving the danger of being eaten by predators.
Some species of Cicadas have adapted to their environment and have undergone evolutionary
changes like ability to fly faster or to hide effectively from predators.
But certain other species of cicadas, like the genus Magicicada, which don't have any such
defenses are obviously slower, easier to spot, and thus vulnerable.

This is where the prime numbers come in.

This is where the prime numbers come in.
Research has shown that having a prime numbered life cycle keeps a
species (here, Cicadas) out of resonance with the life cycle of its
predators.
As a result, no particular kind of predator gets accustomed to having
Cicadas for food and hence doesn't depend on them.

As it is pretty intuitive, the predators with life cycles of 1, 2, 4 or 8 years will in no way get
habitual of catching cicadas that show up only once every 13 or 17 years. So these predators
would prefer to target other kinds of prey, than Cicadas.

Here the reason for life cycles of 13 or 17 years, instead of smaller prime numbers like 2, 3, 5, or
7 has its explanation in the climate conditions.
During the evolution of Cicadas (1.8 million years ago), they couldn't survive above ground
when temperatures dropped too low.

Thus, evolution might have favored cicadas with longer life cycles as compared to those with
shorter life cycles.
This is because the more often they come out of the ground, the more likely they would be to get
attacked with cold.

Here are some mind-blowing facts about Mathematics,

1. If you write out pi to two decimal places, backwards it spells pie.

2. The spiral shapes of sunflowers follow a Fibonacci sequence. Thats where you add the
two preceding numbers in the sequence to give you the next one. So it starts 1, 1, 2, 3, 5,
8, 13, 21, etc. The Fibonacci sequence shows up in nature a fair bit.

The Fibonacci sequence is encoded in the number 1/89. 1/89 = 0.01 + 0.001 + 0.0002 +
0.00003 + 0.000005 + 0.0000008 + 0.00000013 + 0.000000021 + 0.0000000034 etc.
A pizza that has radius z and height a has volume Pi z z a. Because the area of a
circle is Pi multiplied by the radius squared (which can be written out as Pi z z). Then you
multiply by the height to get the total volume.
The word hundred is derived from the word hundrath, which actually means 120 and not
100. Hundrath is Old Norse.
111,111,111 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321. It also works for smaller numbers: 111
111 = 12321.
In a room of just 23 people theres a 50% chance that two people have the same birthday. Its
called the Birthday Problem. In a room of 75 theres a 99% chance of two people matching.
Zero is the only number that cant be represented in Roman numerals. The Latin word
nulla would have been used instead.
We tend to think of odd numbers as male and even numbers as female.
 If you shuffle a pack of cards properly, chances are that exact order has never been seen
before in the whole history of the universe.
Theres not enough space in the known universe to write out a googolplex on paper.
According to Carl Sagan in the original Cosmos series. A googolplex is 10 to the power of a
googol, or 10 to the power of 10 to the power of 100.
The most popular favourite number is 7. Nearly 3000 people, around 10% of the total asked,
chose 7 as their favourite number in an online poll by Alex Bellos. The second most popular was
3.
7 also shows up a lot in human culture. We have seven deadly sins, and seven wonders of the
world. Not to mention colours of the rainbow, pillars of wisdom, seas, dwarves, days in the
week. This might be because when these things came about there were celestial bodies visible in
the sky (the Sun, the Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).
The number 4 is considered unlucky in much of Asia. Thats because the words for four in
Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean (shi, sei, si, sa) sound the same as the words in those
languages for death.
10! seconds is exactly 6 weeks. 10! means 10 factorial. 10! = 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
2 1 = 3628800 seconds. Which is 42 days, or 6 weeks, exactly.
Take any four digit number, follow these steps, and youll end up with 6174.

1. Choose a four digit number (the only condition is that it has at least two different digits).
2. Arrange the digits of the four digit number in descending then ascending order.
3. Subtract the smaller number from the bigger one.
4. Repeat.
Eventually youll end up at 6174, which is known as Kaprekars constant. If you then repeat the
process youll just keep getting 6174 over and over again.

SPECIAL NO. : 6174

Try this:

1. Take any four-digit number, using at least two different digits. Repdigits, such as 1111,
will not work, because you will just end up with 0 after step 3.

2. Arrange the digits in ascending and then in descending order, adding leading zeros if
necessary. Add leading zeros if necessary for example, 4560 in ascending order is 0456
and 6540.

3. Subtract the smaller number from the bigger number.

4. Go back to step 2 and repeat the process.

This process, known as the Kaprekar routine, will always reach the number 6174, within 7
iterations. Once 6174 is reached, the process will continue yielding 6174 because 7641 1467 =
6174.
For example, choose 6532:
6532 2356 = 4176
7641 1467 = 6174
Another example, choose 4906:
9640 0469 = 9171
9711 1179 = 8532
8532 2358 = 6174
7641 1467 = 6174
6174 is known as Kaprekars constant, named after Indian mathematician D. R. Kaprekar

The Mathematics of Art

Golden Ratio
The golden ratio (symbol is the Greek letter "phi" shown at left)
is a special number approximately equal to 1.618
It appears many times in geometry, art, architecture and other areas.
The Idea Behind It

We find the golden ratio when we divide a line into two parts so that:
the longer part divided by the smaller part
is also equal to
the whole length divided by the longer part
Have a try yourself (use the slider):
72.0
28.0
=
2.571
100
72.0
=
1.389
Try to make
these the same.
= Landscape
100
72.0
Note: only first few digits are shown
2015 Math is Fun - Maths Resources v 0.81
Beauty
This rectangle has been made using the Golden Ratio, Looks like a typical frame for a painting,
doesn't it?
Some artists and architects believe the Golden Ratio makes the most pleasing and beautiful
shape.
Do you think it is the "most pleasing rectangle"?
Maybe you do or don't, that is up to you!

Many buildings and artworks have the Golden Ratio in them, such as the Parthenon in Greece,
but it is not really known if it was designed that way.
The Actual Value
The Golden Ratio is equal to:
1.61803398874989484820... (etc.)
The digits just keep on going, with no pattern. In fact the Golden Ratio is known to be an
Irrational Number

Natasha Glydon
Art and Math may at first seem to be very differing things, but people who enjoy math tend to
look for mathematics in art. They want to see the patterns and angles and lines of perspective.
This is why artists like M.C. Escher appeal to mathematicians so much. There is a large amount
of math involved in art, not to mention basic things like measuring and lines, but the intricacies
of art can often be described using math.
Leonardo Da Vinci
One very famous piece, known as the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, is drawn
according to the golden ratio. The golden ratio is 1:0.618 and has been coined golden because it
is said to be aesthetically pleasing. The golden proportion can be found throughout the human
body. A golden rectangle is simply a rectangle with dimensions that reflect the golden ratio. The
Mona Lisa has many golden rectangles throughout the painting. By drawing a rectangle around
her face, we can see that it is indeed golden. If we divide that rectangle with a line drawn across
her eyes, we get another golden rectangle, meaning that the proportion of her head length to her
eyes is golden. There are other golden rectangles that can be drawn on the rest of her body, like
from her neck to the top of her hands.
Da Vinci created other pieces that were also drawn according to the golden ratio such as The
Last Supper, Old Man, and The Vitruvian Man. The Vitruvian Man (or Man in Action) is the
drawing of a man inscribed in a circle. The height of the man is in golden proportion from the
top of his head to his navel and from his navel to the bottom of his feet. The Vitruvian Man
illustrates all of the divine proportions within the human being
M.C. Escher
Escher is a famous artist who created mathematically challenging artwork. He used only simple
drawing tools and the naked eye, but was able to create stunning mathematical pieces. He
focused on the division of the plane and played with impossible spaces. He produced polytypes,
sometimes in drawings, which cannot be constructed in the real world, but can be described
using mathematics. His drawings caught the eyes and looked possible by perception, but were
mathematically impossible. His particular drawing, Ascending and Descending, which can be
viewed at the M. C. Escher website, was one of these masterpieces. In this drawing, Escher
creates a staircase that continues to ascend and descend, which is mathematically impossible, but
the drawing makes it seem realistic. The following image, Relativity, is an example.... (more)

Fermats Last Theorem (Fermats Conjecture) :

It states that no three positive integers a, b, and c satisfy the equation an+bn=cn

for any integer value of n greater than two.

The first successful proof was released in 1994 by British Mathematician Andrew Wiles, and
formally published in 1995, after 358 years of effort by mathematicians after the conjecture was
proposed. The proof is over 150 pages long and took almost 7 years to develop. Prior to Wiles's
proof, thousands of incorrect proofs were submitted, amounting to roughly 10 feet (3 meters) of
correspondence.

It is among the most notable theorems in the history of mathematics and prior to its proof, it was
in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "most difficult mathematical problem", one of the
reasons being that it has the largest number of incorrect and unsuccessful proofs!

Collatz Conjecture :

Take any positive integer n. If n is even, divide it by 2 to get n/2

. If n is odd, multiply it by 3 and add 1 to get 3n+1

. Repeat the process endlessly and no matter what number you start with, you will eventually
reach 1.
Whether or not it is possible for all positive integer initial values to eventually reach 1, is one of
the well known unsolved problems in mathematics. Paul Erds said about the Collatz conjecture:
"Mathematics may not be ready for such problems." He also offered $500 for its solution.

Kaprekars Constant :

6174 is known as Kaprekars Constant, after the Indian Mathematician D.R. Kaprekar.

1. Take any four-digit number, using at least two different digits (Leading zeros are
allowed.)

2. Arrange the digits in descending and then in ascending order, to get two four-digit
numbers, adding leading zeroes if necessary.

3. Subtract the smaller number from the larger number and go back to step 2.

The above process will always reach the fixed number, 6174, taking at most 7 iterations. Try it
yourself! (Note that after the first subtraction or the subsequent subtractions, the result obtained
is always a multiple of 9!)

Similarly, 495 is the equivalent constant for three-digit numbers.

Prime Generating Polynomials :

The polynomial, n2+n+41

can be used to produce 40 primes for consecutive integer values 0n39. This property was
discovered by Euler. Similarly, the incredible formula, n279n+1601

was discovered, which produces 80 primes for the consecutive values 0n79!

HardyRamanujan number 1729

It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. The two
different ways are:
1729 = (1)^3 + (12)^3 = (9)^3 + (10)^3.

There is an interesting story behind the discovery of this number.

For those of you who don't know, Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887 - 1920) was an Indian
mathematician and a famous autodidact who had no formal training in Mathematics and yet
made extraordinary contributions to the subject. Before he died at an young age of 32, he
independently compiled nearly 3900 results. The most interesting fact of his research was that he
never wrote the method of achieving the said result. As such, vast amount of further research has
been carried out to just find the method between the question and the answer!
G. H. Hardy (1877 - 1947) was also a renowned mathematician and was also the mentor of
Ramanujan since 1914. When Hardy was asked what his greatest contribution to mathematics
was, Hardy unhesitatingly replied that it was the discovery of Ramanujan. He called their
collaboration "the one romantic incident in my life."

Once, Hardy was visiting Ramanujan in the hospital. His famous anecdote regarding the incident
resulted in 1729 (number) being known as the HardyRamanujan number. In Hardy's words:
"I remember once going to see him when he was ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi cab number
1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not
an unfavorable omen. "No," he replied, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number
expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways."

Amazing insight from someone who was ill at that time and admitted in the hospital! This
incident shows Ramanujan's extraordinary albeit untutored brilliance.

The Knot Theory

Awestruck by the coincidence of Mans thoughts and Natures hidden secrets, which poses the
question as to whether Maths was invented or discovered.

The French mathematician, Alexandre-Theophile Vandermonde (1735-96), published a paper in

1771, in which he first highlighted the significance of using knots as part of the geometry of
positions. The humble knot that has accompanied man since the pre-historic era, comes in
different shapes and designs. Knots play an indispensable role in everyday life, whether for the
priest or the fisherman.
The Knot Theory, as it came to be called, was developed further by the 19th century
mathematicians, to explain such things as the structure of atoms among many other things. The
question most mathematicians were asking was: How do we convert one type of knot into
another without breaking the strand? This is a typical problem in a branch of mathematics
called Topology, which deals with properties that are preserved even under continuous
deformations of objects involving stretching but no breaking or tearing. If you take a bit of
dough from your kitchen and shape it into a doughnut, you can transform it into the shape of a
coffee cup by simply stretching and reshaping it and without cutting or breaking it. Try it out.
Topology is extensively applied in designing computer networks that form clusters of computers
leading to the now ubiquitous Internet. Why were mathematicians wracking their brains about
knots? Well, they were just curious! This curiosity led them to one of the most profound secrets
of nature DNA.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), is the genetic material found in the cells of every living
organism. It has two very long intertwined strands twisted around each other millions of times to
look like a double helix, acting as two sides of a ladder made up of alternate sugar and
phosphates molecules. The rungs of the ladder consist of more molecules generally a pair of
bases called A, T, G, C. As the cell divides, it replicates this DNA into a daughter DNA, by
copying its genetic code made of ATGC into the new cell. This involves an elaborate process of
uncoiling each DNA which is quite tightly knotted and then separating the daughter DNA
molecules. DNA must follow the stringent rules of Knot Theory in order to accomplish this
task of generating new DNAs with the help of enzymes.

So, the question that to be asked is: How did the nature incorporate such a complex technique of
topology and knot theory in such tiny cells and DNAs? This is one of the finest examples of how
nature uses the same mathematical principles that human brains learnt out of curiosity.

Today's biologists are trying to understand how DNA and other enzymatic mechanisms in our
body use math to solve topological issues. This is an exciting new branch, where
mathematicians, physicists, chemists and biologists, work together to demystify the complex
biological systems. This brings us back to our basic question of whether mathematics was
discovered or invented. We see ample examples of nature using mathematics as part of its design
tool.

Source: Book- Speed of time by Nalawade, Sharad.

This hexagon is a special diagram to help you remember some Trigonometric Identities
Sketch the diagram when you are struggling with trig identities ... it may help you! Here is how:

Building It: The Quotient Identities

Start with:

tan(x) = sin(x) / cos(x)

To help you remember

think "tsc !"

Then add:

cot (which is cotangent) on the opposite

side of the hexagon to tan

cosec or csc (which is cosecant) next, and

sec (which is secant) last

To help you remember: the "co" functions are all on the right

OK, we have now built our hexagon, what do we get out of it?

Well, we can now follow "around the clock" (either direction) to get all the "Quotient Identities":
Clockwise

tan(x) = sin(x) / cos(x)

sin(x) = cos(x) / cot(x)

cos(x) = cot(x) / csc(x)

cot(x) = csc(x) / sec(x)

csc(x) = sec(x) / tan(x)

sec(x) = tan(x) / sin(x)

Counterclockwise

cos(x) = sin(x) / tan(x)

sin(x) = tan(x) / sec(x)

tan(x) = sec(x) / csc(x)

sec(x) = csc(x) / cot(x)

csc(x) = cot(x) / cos(x)

cot(x) = cos(x) / sin(x)

Product Identities

The hexagon also shows that a function between any two functions is equal to them multiplied
together (if they are opposite each other, then the "1" is between them):

Example: tan(x)cos(x) = sin(x)

Example: tan(x)cot(x) = 1

Some more examples:

 sin(x)csc(x) = 1

tan(x)csc(x) = sec(x)

sin(x)sec(x) = tan(x)

But Wait, There is More!

You can also get the "Reciprocal Identities", by going "through the 1"

Here you can see that sin(x) = 1 / csc(x)

Here is the full set:

sin(x) = 1 / csc(x)

cos(x) = 1 / sec(x)

cot(x) = 1 / tan(x)

csc(x) = 1 / sin(x)

sec(x) = 1 / cos(x)

tan(x) = 1 / cot(x)

Bonus!

AND we also get these:

The more abstract it gets, the more easy, simple and beautiful it is!

For example, many different results can be understood as different aspects of a single more
abstract one. The typical example is the general Stoke's theorem. All of the following classical
results of calculus and vector calculus
(usual Stoke's theorem)

(Gauss theorem)

(Green's theorem)

(Fundamental theorem of calculus)

... can be seen as special cases of the following single and more abstract result:

(general Stoke's theorem)

The equal sign '=' was invented by an English mathematician in 1557. In his book, Robert
Recorde explains:
"...to avoid the tedious repetition of these words: 'is equal to', I will set (as I do often in work
use) a pair of parallels, or Gemowe lines of one length (thus =), because no two things can be
more equal."

SOME AMAZING FACTS ABOUT MATHEMATICS

1. In 2010 on World Maths Day, 1.13 million students from more than 235 countries set a record
correctly answering 479,732,613 questions.

2. Americans called mathematics math, arguing that mathematics functions as a singular noun
so math should be singular too.
3. They have been calling maths math for much longer than we have called it maths.

4. Mathematics is an anagram of me asthmatic.

5. The only number in English that is spelled with its letters in alphabetical order is forty.

6. The only Shakespeare play to include the word mathematics is The Taming Of The Shrew.

7. Notches on animal bones show that people have been doing mathematics, or at least making
computations, since around 30,000BC.

8. The word hundrath in Old Norse, from which our hundred derives, meant not 100 but 120.

9. Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. (Albert Einstein).

10. Mathematics [is] the subject in which we never know what we are talking about nor whether
what we are saying is true. (Bertrand Russell).

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Krunal M Harne, Retired Quizzer

Written Oct 6

Four colors theorem

4 colors are always enough to represent all the countries in a given map so that no 2 adjacent
countries have the same color.
Hairy ball theorem

If you comb a ball with hair on it, you cant comb all the hair to lay flat, at least some of it will
be always straight up.

Here is a fact;
There is a condition called
"Math Anxiety" which causes people to perform poorly in mathematics.

Not because they are ungifted in mathematics but condition causes their brain to enter such a
state where they simply cannot perform maths.
(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/...)
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Pawan Singh, electrical and communication engineer

Written Sat

Its impossible to comb all the hairs on a tennis ball in the same direction

A failed attempt to comb a hairy 3-ball (2-sphere), leaving a tuft at each pole. Photo by
Wikipedia.

The theorem was first stated by Henri Poincar in the late 19th century, and there is a much more
proper way to mathematically formulate it: there is no nonvanishing continuous tangent vector
field on even-dimensional n-spheres. Colloquially though, it is expressed in a much simpler
way: you cant comb a hairy ball flat without creating a cowlick.

This theorem, which was proven in 1912 by Brouwer has an interesting consequence: in an ideal
spherical planet, there is at least one point in which the wind is blowing.

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Navnath Ubale, , ,

Written Jan 1

220 Loves 284.

Yes, this pair of numbers was considered as a symbol of love in medieval period, lovers used to
send flowers, fruits to each other with these numbers written. Also some Arab writings say that
couples used to eat apples with these numbers written and believed that it increases their
affection and seduces them.

These are called amicable numbers, a pair of numbers, each of which is the sum of the factors of
the other. The smallest pair of amicable numbers is (220, 284). They are amicable because the
proper divisors of 220 are 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 20, 22, 44, 55 and 110, of which the sum is 284; and
the proper divisors of 284 are 1, 2, 4, 71 and 142, of which the sum is 220. [1]

The first ten amicable pairs are: (220, 284), (1184, 1210), (2620, 2924), (5020, 5564), (6232,
6368), (10744, 10856), (12285, 14595), (17296, 18416), (63020, 76084), and (66928, 66992) [2]

Amicable numbers are featured in the novel The Professor's Beloved Equation by Yoko
Ogawa, and in the Japanese film based on it.

Paul Auster's collection of short stories entitled True Tales of American Life contains a
story ('Mathematical Aphrodisiac' by Alex Galt) in which amicable numbers play an
important role.

Amicable numbers are featured briefly in the novel The Stranger House by Reginald Hill.

Amicable numbers are mentioned in the French novel The Parrot's Theorem by Denis
Guedj.

Amicable numbers are featured in the visual novel Rewrite (visual novel). [3]

Thanks for reading!

Footnotes

[1] Amicable numbers - Wikipedia

[2] Amicable numbers - Wikipedia

[3] Amicable numbers - Wikipedia

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Raktim Gogoi, Lover of facts
Written Sep 30

1. If you write out pi to two decimal places, backwards it spells pie.

BuzzFeed / Kelly Oakes / Via Twitter: @TrueFacts

3.14 = PIE.

2. A French word for pie chart is camembert.

Ezergil

Because of course it is.

3. The spiral shapes of sunflowers follow a Fibonacci sequence.

Irantzu_Arbaizagoitia

Thats where you add the two preceding numbers in the sequence to give you the next one. So it
starts 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. The Fibonacci sequence shows up in nature a fair bit.

4. The Fibonacci sequence is encoded in the number 1/89.

Jupiterimages / Thinkstock

1/89 = 0.01 + 0.001 + 0.0002 + 0.00003 + 0.000005 + 0.0000008 + 0.00000013 + 0.000000021

+ 0.0000000034 etc.

5. A pizza that has radius z and height a has volume Pi z z a.

pizzagifs.tumblr.com

Because the area of a circle is Pi multiplied by the radius squared (which can be written out as Pi
z z). Then you multiply by the height to get the total volume.
6. The word hundred is derived from the word hundrath, which actually means 120 and
not 100.

mshch

Hundrath is Old Norse.

7. 111,111,111 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321.

Via studentbeans.com

It also works for smaller numbers: 111 111 = 12321.

8. In a room of just 23 people theres a 50% chance that two people have the same birthday.

DimitrovoPhtography/DimitrovoPhtography

Its called the Birthday Problem. In a room of 75 theres a 99% chance of two people matching.

9. Zero is the only number that cant be represented in Roman numerals.

Flickr: wwarby / Creative Commons

The Latin word nulla would have been used instead.

10. (6 9) + (6 + 9) = 69.

reactiongifs.com

11. We tend to think of odd numbers as male and even numbers as female.

crazydiva

This ancient belief was tested by James Wilkie and Galen Bodenhausen of Northwestern
University. In his latest book, Alex Bellos writes: They showed respondents randomly assigned
pictures of the faces of young babies, each next to a three-digit number that was either odd-odd-
odd or even-even-even, and asked them to guess the babys sex [] Respondents were about 10
per cent more likely to say that a baby paired with odd numbers was a boy, than if the same baby
was paired with even numbers.
12. If you shuffle a pack of cards properly, chances are that exact order has never been seen
before in the whole history of the universe.

Via giphy.com

Proof.

13. Zero is an even number.

daizuoxin / Thinkstock

But people take longer to decide whether its even or odd because its not as easy for us to
mentally categorise.

14. Theres not enough space in the known universe to write out a googolplex on paper.

astrotastic.tumblr.com

... (more)
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Kranti Kumar Udayasingh, 2+ years experience in IT Services

Written Sep 16 Upvoted by Pranay Raj, studying MSc. Mathematics at BITS-Pilani

Kaprekars constant

This one is the best mathematics trick I found till date. Try this out ..

1. Think of any 4-digit number that has at least two different digits (for ex. 1234 is allowed,
2222 is not as no second digit).

2. Now arrange the digits in descending order and then again in ascending order giving you
two different numbers.
 3. Subtract the smaller number from the larger one.

4. Repeat step 13 for every result you get after subtraction.

If you do this you will soon get Kaprekars constant: 6174. It doesnt matter what 4-digit number
you start with, youll always get to 6174 and then get stuck there because 6174 itself gives you a
result of 6174.

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Abhishek Bhagat, learning from life

Updated Oct 12

Once I was going through internet and came up with some of the most interesting things about
maths that will depict its true beauty:

[1] Source

If you have pizza with radius z and thickness a then its volume is =pi*z*z*a
 111,111,111*111,111,111= 12,345,678,987,654,321. Isnt it interesting ?

1089*9 = 9081

According to a research students who chew gum score better in maths. So guys what are
you waiting for.start chewing gums :p

2520 is the smallest number that can be divided by all numbers from 110. Try it !!

There are 177,147 ways to tie a tie, mathematicians says this. ! Well they are way too
much.. arent they?

In 1900, all worlds mathematical knowledge can be compiled in 80 books but now it
would take around 100,000 books to compile all.. Phew.we learnt a lot in a century.!!

According to birthday paradox, in a group of 23 people there is a 50% chance that at

least two will have same birthday.

Paul Erdos, one of the greatest mathematician could tell how many seconds a person has
lived if age of that person is provided to him. He could do this in his head and that too
when he was just 4 yrs old. !! Genius :o

The largest prime number ever found is more than 22 million digits long .

If you divide 1 by 998001 then you will get a complete sequence from 000 to 999 in
order. Try it if you want.!!

Arabic numerals, that we use today in english were actually invented in India.

Millennium Prize (US $1 million) given to a person who can solve any 1 of 7 math
problems. but till now only one problem has been solved.

[2] Information Source

Footnotes

[1] Image on boston.com

[2] 23 Facts about Math FACTSlides

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Sandipan Bala, Unadulterated randomness
Written Dec 30

Well ever wondered how the Surface Area of a Sphere was derived?

Well here is a great visualisation to alter your perception.

Step 1: Cut the sphere in the following way.

Step 2: Spread the cut out part across the paper

Step 3: Collate the pieces together in the following way
Step 4: Spread the areas out separately to form a sine curve
Step 5: The area of the sine curve is the surface area of the sphere
Heres a GIF file for better understanding.
Theres of course the generic method of calculation where the surface area is calculated by
cutting the sphere into infinitesimally thin disks of varying radius stacked over one another and
integrating them, but this above method is a different way to look at the same problem.
Image Source: Google Images

Edit: Updated the images corresponding to the GIF file, since GIF file is not accessible on
Quora for mobile devices.

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Ganesh Pawar, works at Students

Written Sep 15

1. A googol is one followed by one hundred zeros. It was first used by 9-year-old Milton
Sirotta in 1938.

2. Most clocks which have Roman numerals on their face use IIII for four instead of the
more familiar IV.

3. More numbers begin with the digit 'one". This applies to a wide variety of data sets,
including electricity bills, street addresses, stock prices, population numbers, death rates,
length of rivers and mathematical constants.

4. Alice in Wonderland learns that in a class of 23 pupils the probability that two have the
same birthday is more than a half.

5. The equals sign (=) was invented in 1557 by Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde. The
word 'equal' Congress from Latin term 'aequalis'' meaning uniform, identical or equal.

6. The word twelve is worth 12 points in Scrabble.

 7. It should take no more than 20 moves to solve a Rubkis Cube no matter which of the 43
Quintillion possible starting positions you begin with.

8. You can remember the value of Pi (3.1415926) counting each word's letters in May I
have a large container of coffee?

9. 111111111*111111111=12345678987654321

10. 2520 is the smallest number that is divisible by 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10

11. 18 is the only number that is twice the sum of its digits.

12. The correct mathematical name of the division bar in a fraction is VINCULUM

13. The numbers on opposite sides of a dice always add up to seven

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Sai Krishna Vh, I know few things.

Written Jun 17, 2016

Pi has the answer to all your questions

Pi is an infinite non-repeating decimal, meaning that every possible number combination exists
somewhere in Pi. Converted into ASCII text somewhere in that infinite string of digits is the
name of every single person on this planet, the date, time and manner of your death and the
answers to all the great questions.
Good luck finding the answers for your questions, you wont need Quora anymore :P

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Yash Kothari, Future Mathematician

Written Thu

Entire Fibonacci Sequence can be enclosed in the number 1/89

1/89 = 0.01 + 0.001 + 0.0002 + 0.00003 + 0.000005 + 0.0000008 + 0.00000013 + 0.000000021

+ 0.0000000034 and so on, enclosing in it the entire Fibonacci sequence, to infinity and
beyond.

Fibonacci Sequence comes at many places in nature also.

 0.999 is equal to 1
 Wonderful Patterns

1*1 = 1

11 * 11 = 121

111 * 111 = 12,321

1,111 * 1,111 = 1,234,321

11,111 * 11,111 = 123,454,321

111,111 * 111,111 = 12,345,654,321

1,111,111 * 1,111,111 = 1,234,567,654,321

11,111,111 * 11,111,111 = 123,456,787,654,321

111,111,111 * 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

Monty Hall Problem

Now the Host asks if you want to switch the door or want to stay with door only. Mostly people
will that it wont make any difference if you switch or not as they would be equally probable.
But they arent.
 Benfords Law
 Birthday Paradox
Do you think probability of these can somehow increase to 50% ? No, right?

Bingo!!!
 More can be found at : Cool Facts

The Maths Behind Beauty!

The Golden Ratio!
The Perfect Face - Golden Ratio Beauty Calculator
This is a ratio of a particular aestheric inetrest, be it the ratio in fibonacci series, the ratio with
which a shell`s radius keeps decreasing!

Be it in the patterns in a pineapple

or it many parts of the human body.

Be it in music!, art! next to everything that appeals to human eye!

Ofcourse views are subjective!

However by definition- Golden Ratio a/b is defined as the Ratio of the sum of the two numbers
to the larger number being same as the larger number by the smaller number!.

The amazing part is that its a number!