Fun Math Problems
e^(i*pi) + 1
what is 0
This group was so afraid of irrational numbers, that when someone revealed the existence of irrational numbers to the world, they threw him over the side of the ship to die.
Who are the Pythagoreans?
If a function, f, is continuous on [a,b] and f(a)>0 and f(b)<0, then there exists a c in (a,b) such that f(c)=0.
What is the Intermediate Value Theorem?
Jane and Billy are arguing on the playground. Jane says “I’m infinity times better than you.” Billy says, “I’m infinity times infinity times better than you.”
This is the answer to: "Is Billy better than Jane?"
What is no?
These are the two Universities that applied and received the Exxon grant to start Mathematics on the Northern Plains
USD and SDSU
(Zsuzsanna Szaniszlo and Dan Schaal)
2^30 + 2^30 + 2^30 + 2^30 =2^ this number
What is 32?
This mathematician, as a young child was told to add the first 100 integers to try to keep him busy. He added them very quickly, using a clever algorithm, surprising his school master.
Who is Gauss (Carl Friedrich)?
Suppose f(x) is continuous on the closed interval [a,b] and differentiable on the open interval (a,b).
Then there is a number c such that a < c < b and
f(b)−f(a)=f′(c)(b−a)
What is the Mean Value Theorem?
I have infinitely many pockets in my jeans. Each pocket contains one penny, one nickel, and one dime.
This is the answer to "Do I need the Axiom of Choice to pick a coin from each pocket?"
What is No?
I could say pick the penny from each pocket.
This is the year that the first MNP was held.
What is 1999?
If x^-2 = 64, what is the value of x^(1/3) + x^0?
What is 3/2?
This mathematically inclined nobleman hired a mathematician to share with him great ideas in mathematics, then published what he learned, failing to give credit for what became a famous rule to the mathematician.
Who is L'hospital? (Marquis)
Every non empty set of natural numbers has a least element.
What is the Well-Ordering Property?
All uncountable sets either have positive measure or are non-measurable.
Answer in the form: What is true or What is false
What is False?
There are uncountable sets with measure 0.
This is the number of states which are considered to comprise the "Northern Plains"
What is six?
Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska
What is the fewest number of people you have to have in a room for the probability of two people having the same birthday be 50%?
What is 23
This mathematician, was being chased by an angry mob, trying to kill him. As he ran to escape, he was blocked by a field of beans. Believing that beans might be the reincarnation of humans, he refused to trample the beans, thus was caught and killed.
Who is Pythagoras?
Given a population with mean μ and standard deviation σ and sufficiently large random samples are taken from the population with replacement, then the distribution of the sample means will be approximately normally distributed.
What is the Central Limit Theorem?
This is another common name for the Banach-Tarski Paradox.
What is the pea and the sun paradox?
This is the campus that sponsored the first Mathematics on the Northern Plains.
What is University of South Dakota
This is the area of the circle whose radius is the average of the radii of two circles with areas of 16 pi and 100 pi.
What is 49 pi
This self taught, deeply religious Indian mathematician credited his almost 3900 correct equations and identities to inspiration provided by his family goddess.
Who is Ramanujan?
An nth degree polynomial function with complex coefficients has exactly n zeros in the set of complex numbers, counting repeated zeros
What is the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra?
This Paradox shows up during the proof of the Banach-Tarski Paradox?
What is the Hausdorff paradox?
This is the goal of the Mathematics on the Northern Plains conference
What is to provide an opportunity for students to present their undergraduate research?