Symbol
Introduced by Robert Recorde in 1557 because "no two things can be more equal," this horizontal double-line symbol is standard in equations.
=
A historically terrible diner receives an absolute zero-star review from every single person who eats there. If they get exactly 75 reviews in their first month, this is the sum total of all their stars combined.
0
A standard, perfectly balanced coin flipped 10 times in a row that lands on heads every single time is mathematically guaranteed to land on tails on the 11th flip.
A myth (odds are still 50/50 because each coin is indapandant)
What do you do to the number in the Collatz sequence if it is even?
divide it by 2.
If you have 8 bags with 9 marbles in each, how many marbles do you have in total?
72 which is (8 × 9)
This 16th letter of the Greek alphabet represents the mathematical constant of a circle's circumference divided by its diameter.
Pi
An online shop has three flawless 5-star reviews, but a single zero-star review tanks their score. This is their newly calculated average star rating.
3.75
If you fold a standard sheet of paper in half exactly 42 times, the resulting stack will be thick enough to reach all the way to the moon.
Math (Exponential growth doubles the thickness each time, surpassing 384,000 kilometers)
What do you do to the number in the Collatz sequence if it is odd?
multiply it by 3 and add 1 (often written as (3n + 1))
What is 341 minus 199
142 which is (341 - 200 + 1)
Resembling a sideways figure-8, this symbol was introduced by John Wallis in 1655 to represent a quantity without bound or end.
infinity
A scathing review of a tech company’s new phone goes viral, causing their stock price to plummet by 20%. If the stock was originally valued at $500 per share, this is its new dollar value.
400 dollars
In a room filled with just 23 random people, there is a greater than 50% chance that at least two of them share the exact same birthday.
Math (Birthday Paradox)
What number does the Collatz conjecture claim every single positive starting number will eventually sink down to?
The number 1.
Solve for x in the equation: 4x - 7 = 25
x = 8 (Add 7 to get 32, then divide by 4)
This capital Greek letter is used in mathematics to signify a summation, or the adding up of a sequence of numbers.
SIGMA
A hotel has 80 total reviews. Thanks to an infestation, every single review is a zero-star complaint. Expressed as a fraction, this is the ratio of positive reviews to total reviews.
0/80 -> 0
Lightning never strikes the same exact spot twice because the mathematical probability of two consecutive independent strikes hitting identical geographic coordinates is zero.
Myth (Lightning frequently strikes the same tall structures (like the Empire State Building) multiple times a year)
Which German mathematician proposed this unsolved math problem in 1937?
Lothar Collatz.
Take 12, multiply it by 6, and then divide that total by 8. What is the final number?
9 which is (12 × 6 = 72; 72 ÷ 8 = 9)
In combinatorics, this punctuation mark is placed after a whole number to represent the product of that number and all positive integers below it.
! (5!= 5x4x3x2x1)
This statistical term represents the value that appears most frequently in a dataset, which, for a completely broken product, happens to be a big fat zero.
The mode
It is mathematically impossible to color any map of interconnected countries or regions using only 4 distinct colors without two bordering areas sharing the same color.
Myth (The famous Four Color Theorem proves that 4 colors are always enough to color any flat map)
Which small starting number ((<30)) is famous because it takes an incredible 111 steps and shoots up as high as 9,232 before finally crashing down to 1?
The number 27
A coat normally costs $120 but is on sale for 35% off. How much money do you save?
$42 which is (10% is $12; $12 × 3.5 = $42)