Question

Anyone have any cool/interesting math they've found or are thinking about in the past week or so that they want to share?

Answer 1

I've been learning calculus by myself. It's pretty interesting.

Answer 2

the =6 problem. took me a minute to figure out 1 1 1=6
\[1 1 1=6\]
\[2 2 2=6\]
\[3 3 3=6\]
all the way up to 9. you just put math symbols between the numbers on the left side of the equation to get it = to 6 cant introduce any new numbers, but you can use square roots.
I thought it was pretty fun

Answer 3

@shamil98 Cool are you doing limits, derivatives, or integrals right now? I love calculus.

@lonnie455rich Thanks, I'm trying to figure this out now. Can it also be extended to 4 4 4 =6 and higher?

Answer 4

Someone told me about this mathematical event:
Pythagorize the Flatiron

On December 5, 2013, Manhattan will see an awesome, one-of-a-kind spectacle when the National Museum of Mathematics, New York's newest museum landmark, presents a math event that lights up one of the city's oldest landmarks: the Flatiron Building.

In what might be one of the most unusual events of this holiday season, MoMath will create a stunning illuminated demonstration of the Pythagorean Theorem.

By surrounding the entire structure with glow sticks, held in place by hundreds of New Yorkers, the length of the shimmering sides will show that the Flatiron Building is roughly based on a 5-12-13 right triangle. (It's no coincidence that this event takes place on the only date in the next 92 years that includes this famous Pythagorean triple.) A further, even larger, display of three huge squares will form a demonstration of the famous theorem: a2 + b2 = c2.
[a squared + b squared = c squared]

"Pythagorize the Flatiron," the first in a series of MoMath MathHappening events, promises to be the biggest, most amazing mathematics demonstration New York City has ever seen.

Participants are invited for hot chocolate and cookies at MoMath, immediately following this momentous event.
http://momath.org/

MoMath... and You... Pythagorize the Flatiron Building!

When: December 5th, 2013 6:45 PM through 7:30 PM

Answer 5

yes all the way up to 9

Answer 6

lol sorry you just said that and I ignored it. >_<

Answer 7

I also learned about this:

Arthur Benjamin's TED talk "The Magic of Fibonacci Numbers":

http://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_the_magic_of_fibonacci_numbers.html?source=email#.Un0rlEqyfZd.email

Answer 8

Arthur Benjamin is a freak at math. that is the dude that can raise massive numbers to roots in his head faaaast

Answer 9

@Directrix Haha awesome idea for a math event for 5-12-13. Thanks.

Answer 10

Last year I was playing around with Fibonacci numbers and discovered another cute little pattern. It was as if it was a little colony of microorganisms that multiply and after two generations, the old ones start to die off. So:

1,1,2,3,5,8,13,... is really:

1 turns into 2.
Those 2 make 4, but the old one dies off, so you have just 3.
Those 3 make 6, but then the other 1 dies off leaving 5.
5 makes 10, then 2 die off from the start, leaving 8.
8 makes 16, and you lose 3 now, leaving 13.
And so on, so you have:

\[F_{n} =2F_{n-1}-F_{n-2}\]

Just means the last generation doubles, the ones from 2 generations ago all die out, and that's what you have left.

Then you can play around with different lifetimes and different reproduction rates to see what other "metallic" ratios you can find.

Answer 11

I've done limits and derivatives (the basics) and i'm starting integration soon.

Answer 12

A fun thing to do with derivatives is approximating functions by making a polynomial that has the same derivatives as the one you want to approximate. For instance, if you look at cos(x) at x=0 it has a value of 1, so we could approximate y=cos(x) with y=1, since it has the same value at x=0 and it also has the same first derivative at x=0, which is 0.

Then you can add on another term like 1-(x^2)/2 and see that that's actually a lot better of a fit, since you have it somewhat curving down, and not only that, it has the same first, second, and third derivatives as cos(x). Add on another term, and you see that:

cos(x) is really similar to 1-(x^2)/2+(x^4)/24.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=taylor+series+of+cos+x

Anyways, there are a lot of cool things out there, is there anything in particular you like/dislike about calculus?

Answer 13

CyMath

http://www.cymath.com/

A website recently launched to freely provide step-by-step typeset results in algebra, trigonometry, differential calculus, and integral calculus.

CyMath launched its cymath.com website to put people in "the right mindset of solving math problems, with the focus not on the 'what,' but more on the 'why.'" Just key in your expression or equation — or modify one of CyMath's examples — then select from among eight actions in the pull-down menu:

•simplify
•factor
•expand
•partial fraction
•long division
•complete the square
•derivative
•integral

Looking for a challenge? CyMath posts a new problem on its blog every Monday:

http://www.cymath.com/blog

Answer 14

Awesome thanks. A great replacement for wolfram alpha for step-by-step help.