Mathematical headaches? Problem solved!
Hi, I'm Colin, and I'm here to help you make sense of maths
Mathematical headaches? Problem solved!
Hi, I'm Colin, and I'm here to help you make sense of maths
Dear Uncle Colin, In reading Sir Dermot Turing’s XY&Z, he states that the number of species of cycle is 101 - and after a bit of thought, I figured out that that’s the number of partitions of the number 13. However, I couldn’t work out how to get 101! Can
Read More →“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 $\sqrt{1}{\frac{10}}$, which is
Read More →Dear Uncle Colin, I have a probability question that involves a weird place where every family has three children, and every child is either a girl or a boy. 50-50. Independent of each other. If I take a random family, and choose at random one of the children, I have
Read More →I am a big fan of polyhedra. I’ve raved elsewhere about the icosidodecahedron, and even something as dull as a cube is something I can get behind. And so, naturally, I wondered: is there a periodic table of polyhedra? And the answer is “not exactly”. But there’s something pretty close
Read More →Dear Uncle Colin, I can derive the timeless SUVAT equation $v^2 = u^2 + 2as$, but I can’t intuitively see where it comes from. Any clues? - Everyone Needs Explanations, Really Get Yours Hi, ENERGY, and thanks for your message! This is one that I never really picked up on
Read More →Many moons ago, I looked into the game theory of Minesweeper, and - in particular, what you should do in this situation: I think I got my probabilities wrong there, and want to put that right. If you want to work out the correct move (and associated probabilities), you should
Read More →Dear Uncle Colin, I have the parametric equations $x = (t+1)^2$ and $y = \frac{1}{2}t^3 + 3$ and the lines $y = 16 - x$ and $x=1$. I need to find the area enclosed by the curve, these two lines and the $x$-axis, but my answer doesn’t agree with the
Read More →"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,
Read More →In the 71st episode of Wrong, But Useful, we’re joined by @nookiedv, who is Anouk de Vos in real life. We discuss: Number of the podcast: 1729, a fairly uninteresting number. Sums of cubes updates: 33 42 3 is also interesting as there are two solutions but it’s unknown if
Read More →Dear Uncle Colin, I just solved $2\cos^2(4x)=1$ between 0 and $2\pi$ and found four solutions: $\frac{1}{16}\pi$, $\frac{3}{16}\pi$, $\frac{5}{16}\pi$ and $\frac{7}{16}\pi$. The answer scheme says there are sixteen solutions! Where have I gone wrong? Have You Perhaps A Trig Identity Answer? Hi, HYPATIA, and thanks for your message! Looking at your
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