Monthly Archives: June 2012

Basic Math in the Movie: Die Hard with a Vengeance – Water Jug Puzzle

Posted on June 30, 2012 by

This is a fun puzzle:     In the movie “Die Hard with a Vengeance”, Bruce Willis must measure 4 litres of water using two containers one with a capacity of 3 litres and the other with 5 litres.   … Continue reading →

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Open question: Can the sum of the first k primes produce cubes?

Posted on June 30, 2012 by

n-th prime                Prime 1                                         2 2               … Continue reading →

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When the last pair of digits of n-digit num3er is n times the first pair of digits

Posted on June 29, 2012 by

Here’s a fun little problem: To find a number such that the last pair of digits of a n-digit number is n times its first pair of digits.   (1)   If   n = 3, that is, a 3-digit … Continue reading →

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Kasparov vs #Turing #chess

Posted on June 28, 2012 by

For the first time in public, Mr Kasparov played a match against Turing’s chess program live on stage at The University of Manchester’s Alan Turing Centenary Conference. Although he won in just 16 moves, Mr Kasparov praised the prototype program … Continue reading →

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Rock-Paper-Scissors #Robot #tech #math

Posted on June 28, 2012 by

Janken (rock-paper-scissors) Robot with 100% winning rate     The purpose of this study is to develop a janken (rock-paper-scissors) robot system with 100% winning rate as one example of human-machine cooperation systems. http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/fusion/Janken/index-e.html     A British robot proves … Continue reading →

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Sharon Bertsch McGrayne: Bayes’ Rule #stats

Posted on June 27, 2012 by

“If you’re not thinking like a Bayesian, perhaps you should be.” —John Allen Paulos, New York Times Book Review     The Theory That Would Not Die: How Bayes’ Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and Emerged … Continue reading →

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Area between three tangent circles?

Posted on June 24, 2012 by

3 circles of radius r such that all three are externally tangent, what is the area of the shape in the center in terms of r?                 What’s the area between three tangent circles?     Area … Continue reading →

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Triangular Numbers : Product #mathchat

Posted on June 24, 2012 by

Can you prove the following   #1     #2     #3     #4     Triangular Number : Definition http://mathworld.wolfram.com/TriangularNumber.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_number    

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Brian Greene: What is Mathematics?

Posted on June 21, 2012 by

Physicist Brian Greene answers: “What is Mathematics?” Professor of Physics & Mathematics, Columbia University Brian Greene Official Website          

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What specific amount is a couple/ a few/ many/ several or numerous?

Posted on June 20, 2012 by

Question:   What specific amount do you think of when saying …. …. a couple? …. a few? …. quite? …. a bit? …. bit by bit? …. quite a bit? …. quite a few? …. many? …. a lot? … Continue reading →

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