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 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 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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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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Can you measure the area of a shape with a ruler and a bent coathanger?
This youtube video video from How Round is Your Circle? claims you can estimate area with a tool created from a bent coat-hanger.
I am a little skeptical about the claim which is why I am posting this here as opposed to math.se.
Is this really a…
picakhu
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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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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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Did Grothendieck reinvent the Lebesgue integral?
I have heard multiple times the story that while being a first year undergraduate student, mathematician Alexander Grothendieck rediscovered the Lebesgue integration, which was not so known at this time.
Is this true?
the L
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Would a hypothetical introduction of 2 swimming pools per second of water result in 6 inches of sea level rise this century?
A recent CBS News article, Climate Diaries: The hottest climate science in the world's coldest place quotes Joe MacGregor, the chief scientist of NASA's Operation IceBridge mission:
"Presently, the Antarctic ice sheet is discharging more than two…
gMagQcy
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