Category: Math History
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Every Unsolved Prime Number Problem
Brocard’s Conjecture Twin, Cousin, and Sexy Primes Palindromic Primes Euclid Numbers Goldbach’s Conjecture Brocard’s Conjecture A prime number is a positive whole number that has exactly two divisors: 1 and itself. Pick a prime number greater than 2, like 3. Then take the next prime number after that, in this case read more
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Every Unsolved Geometry Problem that Sounds Easy – Part 2
Five More Geometry Problems That Are Way Harder Than They Look Tripod Packing The Thomson Problem The Levi-Hadwiger Conjecture Heesch’s Problem Kalai’s 3ᵈ Conjecture Tripod Packing Let’s start with a cube existing at some fixed location in 3D space. (This problem can be easier to comprehend if you think of the read more
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Unsolved Problems in Graph Theory Explained
Graph theory has uncovered many secrets of networks and relationships, but some problems remain unsolved. Here are three famous unsolved problems in graph theory, the Total Coloring Conjecture, the Hadwiger Conjecture, and the 1-Factorization Conjecture, and why they continue to puzzle mathematicians. Building Blocks of Graph Theory 1-Factorization Conjecture Unfriendly Partition read more
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Every Weird Temperature Scale Explained
Celsius Fahrenheit Kelvin The Obscure Temperature Scales Celsius Anders Celsius. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons In its simplest definition, a temperature scale uses numbers to classify how hot or cold something is. The Celsius scale is the most commonly used scale of temperature around the world, with units of degrees Celsius. read more
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Every Weird Measurement System Explained
One of the oldest surviving documents is an ancient Mesopotamian tablet that details a complaint by a customer who was sold 1,080 pounds of substandard copper ingots. A Mesopotamian pound was roughly equivalent to a mina, which was made up of 60 shekels and weighed approximately 1.25 pounds. It was not until after the French read more
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Fibonacci and the Birth of Modern Math
Leonardo de Pisa Fundamentally Changed Math Discovering the Fibonacci Series Ancient Indian Discoveries in Sanskrit Texts The Golden Number (Phi, φ) The Golden Spiral From Roman Numerals to Hindu-Arabic Numbers Fascinating Facts About the Fibonacci Sequence Leonardo de Pisa Fundamentally Changed Math mathematics is related to Natural Sciences the result of read more
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Every Non-Newtonian Fluid Explained
What Is a Non-Newtonian Fluid? Time-Independent Non-Newtonian Fluids Time-Dependent Non-Newtonian Fluids The Mathematical Challenge Rheological Models Real-World Applications and Open Problems What Is a Non-Newtonian Fluid? A non-Newtonian fluid is one whose viscosity does not remain constant under different rates of deformation. Unlike Newtonian fluids such as water or air, where read more
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The Fastest Way to Travel is not a Straight Line
What Is the Brachistochrone? The Challenge The Calculus of Variations Deriving the Solution The Cycloid What Is the Brachistochrone? One of the most fascinating problems in the history of mathematics is the brachistochrone problem, posed in the 17th century. It seeks to answer a seemingly simple question: what is the fastest read more
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Every Unsolved Geometry Problem that Sounds Easy
Five Geometry Problems That Look Simple but Remain Unsolved Square Packing Bellman’s Lost in a Forest Problem Ulam’s Packing Conjecture Lebesgue’s Universal Covering Problem Moser’s Worm Problem Kobon’s Triangle Problem Five Geometry Problems That Look Simple but Remain Unsolved Square Packing A unit square is a square with a side length read more
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Every Unsolved Math Problem that Sounds Easy – Part 2
Six Deceptively Simple Unsolved Problems in Mathematics Mersenne Primes Perfect Numbers The Rational Distance Problem The Moving Sofa Problem The Inscribed Square Problem The Ramsey Theory Problem Six Deceptively Simple Unsolved Problems in Mathematics Mersenne Primes One unsolved problem in mathematics concerns whether or not there are infinitely many Mersenne primes. read more
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