by MathPickle | Feb 6, 2017 |
The crow took pebbles and dropped them into an urn so that the water level rose until the crow could drink. What a smart crow! That’s as much as Aesop wrote, but afterwards he witnessed a peculiar algorithm that the crow devised… The crow started with a...
by MathPickle | Jan 11, 2017 |
King Kong rearranges the city skyline. The skyscrapers create interesting patterns even though they are generated by a simple algorithm. Let’s look at an example if he starts with 5:2 skyscrapers. The algorithm: King Kong removes the top floor from every...
by MathPickle | Nov 28, 2016 |
Uncracked 114 (Diophantus of Alexandria, c. 215-290) Students working with exponents should be asked to find which values of n from 0-100 are possible by summing the cubes of three positive integers: a^3 + b^3 + c^3 = n. Next, ask if the cubes can be negative. This is...
by MathPickle | Oct 29, 2016 |
The Josephus Problem (Josephus, 1st Century) This is a great and accessible proof whose basis in historic violence is sure to appeal to that half of the class with too much testosterone. Search for: Recent Posts How to pair up students? A Message to Mathematicians...
by MathPickle | Oct 6, 2016 |
Before the wise builder builds – the wise builder thinks. Here we are going to build the foundations of a great skyscraper – Taipei 101. Start with a 6×6 grid. Add numbers or letters or colors to the top left part of the grid as shown. Now is the...
