Wild About Math!

Now that the MMM #20 submission deadline is past …

Sol — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:26:54 +0000

In the next few days, Quan and Daniel will be picking a random winner for MMM #20 over at Blinkdagger. We received 20 solutions. What’s very interesting to me is that, of those 20, two people were able to solve the problem without using trigonometry. Here’s a hint, can you tell if the center piece of the pie is bigger than either of the edge pieces without computing the exact area of any of the pieces? It’s too late to submit an entry if you haven’t already, so my question is just for fun. Leave a comment on this post if you see an easy way to solve the problem.

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Twittering about Math

Sol — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:28:18 +0000

I’ve gotten excited about using twitter for VERY short snippets of fun Math stuff. I’ve started twittering URLs of cool Math sites.

If you’re interesting in following my tweets, not all will be about Math, my twitter name is slederman.

If you twitter a fair amount about Math leave your twitter name in the comments and I’ll follow you.

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MMM #19: Two winners!

Sol — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:36:35 +0000

We had 25 submissions for MMM #19 so I decided to give out two prizes! Random.org picked the numbers 6 and 22, which corresponded to the entries from Patrick Swickard and Todd Trimble. Congratulations to the two of you! I’ll be contacting you to get you your prizes!

Everyone who submitted an entry got the right answer, which I would expect since a quick calculator check would verify the answer. Some people explained their answers better than others. The most-straightforward solution I saw was this one by Ron Frederick.

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MMM #19: Which is larger?

Sol — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:26:52 +0000

Troy Williams was announced as the winner for MMM #18 over at Blinkdagger. Congratulations, Troy!

Now it’s time for MMM #19.

I have a Rubik’s Revolution, courtesy of Techno Source (or $10 Amazon.com gift certificate, if you prefer, or $10 in USD via PayPal to non-US folks) to give to the winner.

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A simple but disturbing Math problem

Sol — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:04:48 +0000

My brother gave me a Math problem this morning. He and I both know how to solve it but we’re both disturbed by the fact that the right answer seems unintuitive. I’m interested to see if one of you can explain the answer in a way that is intuitive.

Here’s the problem: A car gets 50 miles per gallon for a 10 mile stretch of a trip and 40 miles per gallon for the next 10 mile stretch of the trip. What’s the average miles per gallon for the two stretches of the trip?

Again, the point isn’t to get the right answer. Go ahead and solve it, though, for your personal satisfaction. The point is how one can see that the answer isn’t 45 miles per gallon.

Thoughts?

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Important Reasons for Learning the Fundamentals of Math

Sol — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:37:52 +0000

[ Editor’s note: This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of how to Become a teacher in Florida. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com. ]

Math is used in varying degrees in every single aspect of our daily lives, especially in the information age. Whether you are cognizant of this fact or not, computations are constantly running calculations are being made, and formulas are being proved. Our world is a mathematical world. What follows is a list five important reasons we need to have a strong understanding of the fundamentals of math.

Math is an integral part of daily life.

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Winner for MMM #17

Sol — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:22:54 +0000

Marijn Jongerden is the winner of MMM #17. Click here for Marijn’s solution.

A few people tackled the advanced problems. I will be writing followup articles related to the generalizations.

Check out Blinkdagger on Monday for the next contest.

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MMM #17: The bishop and the king

Sol — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:59:17 +0000

Doug Hull was randomly chosen as the winner for MMM #16 over at Blinkdagger. Congratulations, Doug!

It’s time for a new contest problem. As you may have noticed, I like counting and probability problems. I found an elegant one in an old book. I won’t reveal what the book is until the end of the contest. Here’s the problem:

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Math doesn’t suck

Sol — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:50:55 +0000

When the Penguin Group publishing company contacted me to see if I was interested in reviewing Danica McKellar’s popular books, Math Doesn’t Suck, and Kiss My Math, I jumped at the chance. No, it wasn’t for the free books. The time I spend reading and writing doesn’t justify the cost savings. I review products I believe in. Period. For the sake of full disclosure, I received a free copy of each of the two books. That’s it.

Danica McKellar is a well-known actress, a mathematician, and an advocate for Math education. I’m delighted to see people with a tremendous amount of influence use that influence to make Math more accessible.

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MMM #15: We have a winner!

Sol — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:12:24 +0000

Richard Berlin, who has been participating in Monday Math Madness! for quite a while, was picked as the winner for this contest by Random.org. Congratulations, Richard! I’ll be sending you your prize so send me your address. Stand by for another Monday Math Madness on Monday at Blinkdagger.

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