Mathematics, Magic, and Mystery: Celebrating Math Awareness Month—Wolfram|Alpha Blog
Every year, members of some of the biggest and most influential mathematics associations get together to dedicate the month of April to math awareness . The initiative was set in motion in 1986 by President Reagan, who said, “To reader help encourage the study and utilization of mathematics, it is appropriate that all Americans be reminded of the importance of this basic branch of science to our daily lives.”
Now, reader of course there’s no “real” magic in math—everything in math must be proven, or else it’s not math yet. But there are certainly a lot of intriguing reader concepts , mysterious reader paradoxes , and even totally baffling unsolved reader problems that make this subject feel somewhat magical at times.
Understanding that what you perceive may not always be truth is fundamental in the fields of math and science. Are the two gray areas in the circle below the same? How do you know? Can you tell for sure just by looking at it?
In fact, for most people, the notion of infinity doesn’t sit very well. Surely there must be a 0.0000…0001 somewhere to subtract from the 0.9999…9999, so it’s not really equal to 1. Except, for that to be true, you would have to write infinity zeroes before you wrote “one” at the end—but there’s no end to infinity, remember? All you would end up doing is writing “zero” for all eternity. reader And infinity zeroes most definitely equals zero.
All right, so there s nothing really mysterious or magical about vampire numbers, but they are still a rather interesting phenomenon. (No? Just me who thinks that? All right, all right, moving on…) reader
Named after the famous game show host, the Monty Hall problem illustrates how an informed outside source affects the probability of the desired outcome. In reality, reader since that outside person is not choosing reader a door at random, but is always eliminating one wrong choice for you, your chances of winning if you switch your answer always increase.
Writing out the different reader scenarios is the easiest way to wrap your head around the problem. We have doors 1, 2, and 3, and we pretend there are goats behind doors 1 and 3 and a car behind door 2. So: 1 (goat) , 2 (car) , 3 (goat) .
And if you’re looking to pull off a real mathematical miracle, then we recommend tackling this 54-year-old unsolved problem—who knows, you may snag the $1,000,000 reward for figuring it out!
Models and thought experiments about the European Space Agency s attempt to orbit and land on a comet. Calculations use Wolfram|Alpha, the Wolfram Language, Mathematica 10.
Mining American Community Survey data finds some least average communities in the US. Non-normal population splits, above average marriage rates, no formal schooling, highest advanced degrees, above average poverty.
Optimize your use of air conditioning, keeping cool while minimizing costs. Calculations allow for when you are gone from home and suggest AC sizing.
Astronomy Chemistry Colors Computational Sciences reader Culture & Media Dates & Times Earth Sciences Education Food & Nutrition Health & Medicine Life Sciences Materials Mathematics Money & Finance Music News Organizations People & History Physics Places & Geography Socioeconomic Data Sports & Games Statistics & Data Analysis Stephen Wolfram Technological World Transportation Weather Web & Computer Systems Wolfram Cloud Wolfram Language Wolfram|Alpha Apps Wolfram|Alpha Widgets
RT @WolframResearch: The Rosetta Spacecraft is about to be the first ever to orbit a comet; join us as we tackle the math http://t.co/rXTh6 RT @WolframResearch: Everything you love about Mathematica 10 and the Wolfram Language is now available on the amazing Raspberry Pi! http:/ Take a deeper reader look at ACS data from the United States: http://t.co/yvcmqc06IB
© 2014 Wolfram Alpha LLC —A Wolfram Research Company | Terms | Privacy
Every year, members of some of the biggest and most influential mathematics associations get together to dedicate the month of April to math awareness . The initiative was set in motion in 1986 by President Reagan, who said, “To reader help encourage the study and utilization of mathematics, it is appropriate that all Americans be reminded of the importance of this basic branch of science to our daily lives.”
Now, reader of course there’s no “real” magic in math—everything in math must be proven, or else it’s not math yet. But there are certainly a lot of intriguing reader concepts , mysterious reader paradoxes , and even totally baffling unsolved reader problems that make this subject feel somewhat magical at times.
Understanding that what you perceive may not always be truth is fundamental in the fields of math and science. Are the two gray areas in the circle below the same? How do you know? Can you tell for sure just by looking at it?
In fact, for most people, the notion of infinity doesn’t sit very well. Surely there must be a 0.0000…0001 somewhere to subtract from the 0.9999…9999, so it’s not really equal to 1. Except, for that to be true, you would have to write infinity zeroes before you wrote “one” at the end—but there’s no end to infinity, remember? All you would end up doing is writing “zero” for all eternity. reader And infinity zeroes most definitely equals zero.
All right, so there s nothing really mysterious or magical about vampire numbers, but they are still a rather interesting phenomenon. (No? Just me who thinks that? All right, all right, moving on…) reader
Named after the famous game show host, the Monty Hall problem illustrates how an informed outside source affects the probability of the desired outcome. In reality, reader since that outside person is not choosing reader a door at random, but is always eliminating one wrong choice for you, your chances of winning if you switch your answer always increase.
Writing out the different reader scenarios is the easiest way to wrap your head around the problem. We have doors 1, 2, and 3, and we pretend there are goats behind doors 1 and 3 and a car behind door 2. So: 1 (goat) , 2 (car) , 3 (goat) .
And if you’re looking to pull off a real mathematical miracle, then we recommend tackling this 54-year-old unsolved problem—who knows, you may snag the $1,000,000 reward for figuring it out!
Models and thought experiments about the European Space Agency s attempt to orbit and land on a comet. Calculations use Wolfram|Alpha, the Wolfram Language, Mathematica 10.
Mining American Community Survey data finds some least average communities in the US. Non-normal population splits, above average marriage rates, no formal schooling, highest advanced degrees, above average poverty.
Optimize your use of air conditioning, keeping cool while minimizing costs. Calculations allow for when you are gone from home and suggest AC sizing.
Astronomy Chemistry Colors Computational Sciences reader Culture & Media Dates & Times Earth Sciences Education Food & Nutrition Health & Medicine Life Sciences Materials Mathematics Money & Finance Music News Organizations People & History Physics Places & Geography Socioeconomic Data Sports & Games Statistics & Data Analysis Stephen Wolfram Technological World Transportation Weather Web & Computer Systems Wolfram Cloud Wolfram Language Wolfram|Alpha Apps Wolfram|Alpha Widgets
RT @WolframResearch: The Rosetta Spacecraft is about to be the first ever to orbit a comet; join us as we tackle the math http://t.co/rXTh6 RT @WolframResearch: Everything you love about Mathematica 10 and the Wolfram Language is now available on the amazing Raspberry Pi! http:/ Take a deeper reader look at ACS data from the United States: http://t.co/yvcmqc06IB
© 2014 Wolfram Alpha LLC —A Wolfram Research Company | Terms | Privacy
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