Some of the stuff on this page will seem almost more like magic than math or science. These are wonders of the modern universe that are guaranteed to astound and amaze you! Read on.
This is a really awesome poem about how to fit ten people in nine rooms (with only one in each room) read:
Ten weary, footsore travelers,
All in a woeful plight,
Sought shelter at a wayside inn
One dark and stormy night.
"Nine rooms, no more," the landlord said,
"Have I to offer you.
To each of eight a single bed,
But one must serve for two."
A din arose. The troubled host
Could only scratch his head,
For of those tired men no two
Would occupy one bed.
The puzzled host was soon at ease-
He was a clever man-
And so to please his guests devised
The most ingenious plan.
In room marked A two men were placed,
The third was lodged in B,
The fourth to C was then assigned,
The fifth retired to D.
In E the sixth he tucked away,
In F the seventh man,
The eighth and ninth in G and H,
And then to A he ran.
Wherein the host as I have said,
Had laid two travelers by;
Then taking 1-The tenth and last-
He lodged him safe in I
Nine single rooms-a room for each-
Were made to serve for ten;
And this it is that puzzles me
And many wiser men.
Closed Curves
This is probably the least amazing but most interesting thing here. If you make any closed curve, no matter what shape and draw a line from inside the curve out, the number of times the line crosses the curve will be odd. But if you draw it from the outside out, it will be even. Look at the illustration below.
Etheopian Peasant Multiplication System
It is said that loong ago Etheopian peasants didn't understand normal multiplication, however, they had an amazing method for multiplication that will amaze you:
Say you wanted to buy 25 cows for 12 dollars each. We would do this:
Here's how it works. One number goes in the half column and one in the double. You may wonder why half of 25 is considered twelve, that is because they didn't understand fractions either. One number is halved and one number is doubled until the halves column reaches 1. Then all the rows with an even number in the halves column are crossed out because even numbers were considered evil. After that all the numbers in the doubles column (including the original) are added up to get the answer. If it doesn't seem amazing maybe you don't understand and need to read a little closer. Supposedly though, it all makes mathematical sense somehow and would be simple to understand if we had a better knowledge of the binary system.
This is a picture of 3 interlocking rings, right? Wrong. Look at them very carefully. If you take any given ring and imagine that it isn't there, then you can see that the other two are not interlocking. Since no two of them interlock, none of them must interlock. I'm not sure if that proves anything... But it sure is a weird thing to think about.
This is another interseting one. If you take a tourus (doughnut shape) and paint two rings on it like the ones in the illustration(left) you can turn it inside out through a hole in it's side, the rings can interlock and then un-interlock. Study my illustration for a minute and ponder this...then go insane.
The Mystery of the Dissappearing Tile
This one baffles the mind every time. There are a number of tiles covering a certain amount of area, but when they are rearranged they cover a different amount of area. This isn't something I can explain with words, but with pictures... Below are two examples. Both of them are Macromedia Shockwave Flash Animations. This means they require a plug-in to be veiwed. Believe me, it is well worth getting the plug-in! If you don't already have it visit MacroMedia.
To view these right click them to pop up a small menu and hit play.
Here we are just looking at the first few digits of pi and already we see a 26 repeat and a 79, 32, and 38 repeat in reverse order. hmmm...
I also want to show you this cool picture of "Merry Christmas" written symmetrically:
To see some more of these click here.
A Different Kind of Magic Square
Everyone has heard of the magic square, this is a square of numbers arranged so that all of the numbers on a row or column add up to the same number, but what I want to show you is different
What's so magical about this square? First, what it does, and second, how it works. Here's what it does. Take five pennies and 20 small paper markers. Place a pennie on a square at random, then place markers on all the other squares in the same row and column. Do this again and again, until you are forced to put the last penny in the last empty spot.
Then take the pennies off and add up the numbers that they were covering.
They should add up to exactly 60! Why 60, no reason, that is just the number I picked to make this square with. But it can be done with any number. Here is how, take 2 sets of 5 numbers that all together add up to a certain number, then make an addition table from the numbers. For example, I used 12,3,4,18,0 and 7,1,4,9,2 (which adds up to 60) and I put the first set up numbers accross the top and the second set down the side, so that the first box contained a 19 because 12 plus 7 equals 19, the second box contains a 10 because 3 and 7, and so on...
Illusions
Here are a couple of quick optical illusions which will baffle you for a minute. Read the following sentence fast.
A bird in the
the hand is worthless
notice anything... try reading it again.
Here is another one. Count the number of times the letter "F" appears in the following sentence:
Fascinating fairytales of faraway lands are the fertilizer for the fructification of the creative minds of the future.
There are eleven "F"s in that sentence. If you only counted eight, look at the two "of"s, they are pronounced "ov" so most people forget to count them.
Puzzles
Here are a few quick brain teaser puzzles...
Why are 1963 pennies worth almost $20?
Does a tetrahedron have four or five faces? Answer yes or no.
Write the digits 9 to 1 in order, backwards.
There are two books, volume I and volume II. Vol I is 1 inch thick and sits on a shelf to the left of vol II, which is an inch and a half thick. These thicknesses include the covers, which are 1/8 of an inch thick. If a tiny worm starts in the first page of vol I and eats his way horizontally until he reaches the last page of vol II, how far does he travel?
You are on one side of a river with a wolf, a duck, and a flower. You have to use a canoe to get to the other side and you have to eventually get the wolf, duck, and flower to the other side as well. You cannot leaave the wolf alone with anything or it will eat it, and you cannot leave the duck alone with the flower, or it will eat it. You can only take two things with you in the canoe at a time.
I am currently working on a page with many more puzzles and games, although it is still in its early stages of construction.to visit it click here. I will need lots of input from my visitors to complete it!
Much, much more will be coming soon...
If you have anything you want me too see send it to: steve-weber@usa.net If I think it is good enough I will add it to this site and give you proper credit.
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