by MathPickle | Nov 16, 2016 |
Before our myths of democracy were inked – Cleisthenes tossed and turned in bed: “All Men Are Created Equal?” “One Man, One Vote?” “Virtuous Man, Multiple Votes!” “That’s it!” he thought. And here is how it...
by MathPickle | Nov 14, 2016 |
Hex (Piet Hein, 1942) I’ve been using a small variant of hex in the age 5 to 7 classroom for several years. Apart from the smaller size, the only other innovation is to insist that the first player plays on the perimeter on their first move. Without a rule like...
by MathPickle | Nov 1, 2016 |
Jayadratha (जयद्रथ), the envious tyrant of Sindhu, was reclining on his fifteen pillows, trying to get comfortable – and failing. He suddenly realized the reason… The stacks of pillows needed to decrease in height from left to right. This was easy…...
by MathPickle | Jul 28, 2016 |
Armenian rugs cover the floor – sometimes laying atop each other. A whole lot of puzzles arise from trying to find the shape and placement of these rugs. PS. The photo is of the oldest pile rug to be discovered – 2500 years old. It is Armenian, but was...
by MathPickle | Jun 21, 2016 |
Richard Smalley was awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry for the discovery that he could make a very very small soccer ball out of Carbon atoms. In 2005 he suddenly began to shrink. He ended up so small that he could bounce on the little trampolines that make...
