What’s special about ZERO?
(or: Much ado about Nothing)
Zero doesn’t actually exist. Think about it: by definition it isn’t anything, it’s nothing!! Even so, here are 5 facts every mathematician should know about Zero:
Barney Maunder-Taylor
PUZZLE OF THE WEEK
What shape goes in the intersection of this Venn Diagram?
Read on for the answer:
HOW DO GRADIENTS WORK?
Here I am at the World’s Steepest Road in Harlech, North Wales. The road sign indicates an almighty 40% – but how is this measured? ON ROADS: The 40% means that however far you travel
5 WAYS TO TYPE SYMBOLS π λ √∫≤∑≈
not to mention $\frac{e^{-t}}{y^3+1}$ To type Mathematical Symbols on your PC: 1) USE WINDOWS EMOJIS: To type ⅷ∀√∛∞∑²³ⁿ∃∞∫≈≡≥ and many more. Simply press windows key together with . to bring up the emoji keyboard, then
WHICH ARE BETTER: FRACTIONS OR DECIMALS?
DECIMALS ARE WAAAY BETTER THAN FRACTIONS: most GCSE students prefer decimals because they allow you to compare the sizes of two numbers at a glance! For instance, which is bigger out of $\frac{2}{5}$ and $\frac{3}{7}$?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “God Made the Integers. All Else is the Work of Man”
… or so thought Leopold Kronecker (1823-1891) in his famous quote. WHY KRONECKER WAS WRONG: the integers (whole numbers) include the Positive Integers or “counting numbers” 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on: easy for
HYPOTHESIS TESTS
In statistics, these wonderful techniques allow us to use some data that we have collected to make predictions and conclusions about the real world. AN EXAMPLE: Amy and Bill are playing snakes and ladders, but
FACTORIALS!
Factorials are so cool that the notation is: AN EXCLAMATION MARK!!!! The exclamation mark means something very specific in maths. It’s great to be impressed with numbers, but please do not put an exclamation mark
WORD OF THE WEEK: INDEX
INDEX (plural indices): you can see these in expressions like $5^2 = 25$. The 5 is called the BASE, the 2 is called the EXPONENT or INDEX, and the 25 is called a power (in
GEOMETRY PUZZLE: WHAT SHAPE DO YOU SEE?
TRICKY TILINGS:
Tiling stores are like treasure troves of geometrical amusement. Here’s a photo I took yesterday. The puzzle is simply: what shape(s) do you see?
ANSWER: ….