| October Tidbits and Challenges | ||||
| October 25th is the birthday of the mathematician Evariste
Galois. He was born in 1811, and died when he was just 20, in 1832. His genius was evident when he was just 15, but he was twice denied admission to the school he wanted to attend. Family tragedies added to his sadness, but he persevered and finally enrolled in another school. Yet because of his sympathy with the democratic goals of the Revolution of 1830, he was expelled and had to spend several months in prison. Soon after his release, he was killed in a pistol duel, not yet 21 years old. Despite this short and tragic life, he made him mark on mathematics. Among other contributions, he created the study of groups, still a very active field of mathematical research. |
Obviously, lots of math has to do with numbers. After a few years in school, we know a lot about numbers, and how to work with them in basic operations - adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing... But sometimes we don't realize that we can use what we know to figure out things we've wondered about. For example: Take a piece of paper. Fold it in half. Now you have 2 parts. Fold it again. Now there are 4. Fold it again - there are 8. Again, now 16. Suppose you could do this for 50 folds. How thick would it be? Take a guess. Then figure it out to see if you were right. To do this problem, you need to know how thick your paper is. Your ruler may not measure something so thin. If it doesn't, you can assume your paper is .003 inches thick. Okay, now see if you get a good estimate of how tall the folded paper will be, if you could fold it 50 times. E-mail us your answers, including your name, your age, your grade if you're a student, your email address, your home address, including at least your city and state. Also, let us know how you figured out this problem. You might be a winner! |
In many places, October 31st is Halloween. It's celebrated with parties, costumes, and trick-or-treating, collecting bags of candy and other treats. Some kids like to eat their candy fast. But we know one young girl who took a different approach. Coming back home after her excursion through the neighborhood, she emptied her bag of goodies onto the floor. She sorted her candy by type - making small piles of 'Snickers,' 'Reese's Peanut Butter Cups,' 'Twizzlers,' etc. Then she counted, and recorded the amount of each on a piece of paper. Sometimes it's nice to know what you've got. |
