Math Through History
Who is known for the theorem about right triangles where a² + b² = c²?
Pythagoras
In baking, this mathematical concept helps you adjust ingredient quantities when scaling a recipe.
Percentages
What ancient Greek mathematician is famous for the puzzle of proving that the square root of 2 is irrational?
Pythagoras
What branch of mathematics studies the patterns of growth and decay, and is commonly used in biology to model populations?
Exponential functions (or Exponential growth and decay)
In The Martian, this actor’s character uses math to ration food, calculate launch trajectories, and survive on Mars.
Matt Damon/Mark Watney
The smallest positive integer that is both a square and a cube
1
This symbol originated in India and was crucial for mathematical advancement.
0
Financial institutions use this type of math to calculate how much interest you earn on your savings account.
simple/compound interest
What famous math problem asks whether every even number greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two prime numbers?
Goldbach’s Conjecture
What is the name of the mathematical ratio that has been used in art and architecture to create pleasing proportions and is approximately equal to 1.618?
Golden Ratio
In The Imitation Game, this real-life mathematician cracked the Enigma code during WWII.
Alan Turing
The next number in the sequence 2, 3, 5, 8, 12, 17
23
This pattern of numbers (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13...) was first studied by an Italian mathematician investigating rabbit populations.
Fibonacci (Sequence)
Sports analysts use this branch of mathematics to predict player performance and game outcomes.
Statistics
What is the name of the 21st-century math problem that challenges mathematicians to determine whether every problem whose answer can be quickly checked can also be quickly solved?
P vs NP Problem
In physics, what branch of mathematics is essential for describing motion, forces, and change, and was developed by Newton and Leibniz?
Calculus
This 2008 movie is based on MIT students who used card counting to win millions in Vegas.
21
If you write out all the integers from 1 to 100, this is how many times the digit “7” appears.
20
This ancient mathematical problem about doubling the volume of a cube led to the discovery of irrational numbers.
Delian Problem
Insurance companies use this mathematical field to determine your premiums based on risk factors.
Actuarial Science
What mathematical mystery involves a function whose zeros may all lie on a single vertical line in the complex plane, and is one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems?
Riemann Hypothesis
What unsolved problem offers a $1 million prize and involves the distribution of prime numbers?
Riemann Hypothesis
In this film, John Nash struggles with schizophrenia while making major contributions to game theory.
A Beautiful Mind
The smallest number that leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by 2, 3, and 4
13
This 17th-century Japanese mathematician calculated π to 10 decimal places using inscribed polygons.
Seki Takakazu/Seki Kowa
Netflix and other streaming services use this mathematical technique to power their recommendation algorithms
Singular Value Decomposition
What is the name of the conjecture that deals with the behavior of sequences defined by repeatedly applying the rule “if even, divide by 2; if odd, multiply by 3 and add 1”?
Collatz Conjecture
What field of science uses geometry and trigonometry extensively to study the shapes and motions of celestial bodies?
Astronomy (or Astrophysics)
This movie opens with a professor presenting a complex problem on the blackboard, later solved anonymously by a student janitor.
Good Will Hunting
From a standard deck of 52 cards, this is the number of ways to choose a 5-card hand.
2,598,960