Browsing category ninja maths

The Mathematical Ninja and the *Other* Pole

“Sensei, why have you covered the entire Earth in an area-preserving wrap?” “It’s all @colinthemathmo's doing.” “I’m surprised you’re doing it in hardware rather than working it out in your head.” “Oh, $\frac{1000}{\sqrt{\pi}}$? That’s trivial.” “But of course it is.” “I mean, $\frac{1}{\pi}$ is pretty close to $\frac{1}{\sqrt{10}}$, which is

Calculating $e^e$ and $e^{-\frac{1}{e}}$

"The Mathematical Ninja is currently on sabbatical. Leave a message after the tone... or else!" Oh dear! How are we going to figure out $e^e$ now? Let alone $e^{-\frac{1}{e}}$? We'll just have to roll up our sleeves and get our thinking hats on, that's all. OK, $e^e$ First of all,

The Mathematical Ninja and the Unknown Powers

The Mathematical Ninja peered at the problem sheet:   Given that $(1+ax)^n = 1 - 12x + 63x^2 + \dots$, find the values of a and n   Barked: “$n=-8$ and $a=\frac{3}{2}$.” The student sighed. “I get no marks if I just write down the answer.” Snarled: “You get no

A logs puzzle

Via @markritchings, an excellent logs problem: If $a = \log_{14}(7)$ and $b = \log_{14}(5)$, find $\log_{35}(28)$ in terms of $a$ and $b$. One of the reasons I like this puzzle is that I did it a somewhat brutal way, and once I had the answer, a much neater way jumped

A Challenge to the Mathematical Ninja

“I beg your pardon?!” yelled the Mathematical Ninja. The terribly well-dressed gentleman stood his ground. “I said, sensei, I would work $0.8^{10}$ out differently.” A sarcastic laugh. “This, I have to see!” “Well, $8^{10} = 2^{30}$, which is about $10^{9}$.” “About.” “Obviously, we can do better with the binomial: $2^{10}$

The Mathematical Ninja and $\arctan(0.4)$

It took the Mathematical Ninja a little longer than normal; the student had managed to rummage around in her bag and lay a finger on the calculator before simultaneously feeling her arm pulled away by a lasso and hearing "0.3805. Or, as a one-off, since the question is asking for

The Mathematical Ninja and the Cube Root of 4

The student swam away, thinking almost as hard as he was swimming. The cube root of four? The square root was easy enough, he could do that in his sleep. But the cube root? OK. Breathe. It's between 1 and 2, obviously. What's 1.5 cubed? The Mathematical Ninja isn't going

The Mathematical Ninja and the SSNs

A professor - according to Reddit - asked their class how many people you'd need to have in a room to be absolutely certain two of them would have Social Security numbers1 ending in the same four digits (in the same order). 10001, obviously. How about a probability of 99.9%?