math facts

Are there only 64 squares present on the chess board?

This is a trick question because it is possible for someone to get confused and immediately calculate the total number of squares in a chessboard with eight rows and eight columns by using the formula (number of rows X number of columns)

= 8 X 8 = 64.

Let’s start by reducing the complexity of the situation.

The total number of 1X1 squares is presented in eight rows by eight columns on the chess board.

= 8 X 8 =64.

However, if you start thinking about 2X2 squares, 3X3 squares, and so on up to 8X8 squares, you can figure out how to answer the question.

The total number of 2X2 squares is presented in seven rows by seven columns on the chess board.

= 7 X 7 =49.

The total number of 3X3 squares is presented in six rows by six columns on the chess board.

= 6 X 6 =36.

The total number of 4X4 squares is presented in five rows by five columns on the chess board.

= 5 X 5 =25.

The total number of 5X5 squares is presented in four rows by four columns on the chess board.

= 4 X 4 = 16.

The total number of 6X6 squares is presented in three rows by three columns on the chess board.

= 3 X 3 = 9.

The total number of 7X7 squares is presented in two rows by two columns on the chess board.

= 2 X 2 = 4.

The total number of 8X8 squares is presented in one row by one column on the chess board.

= 1 X 1 = 1.

Therefore, the total number of squares presented on the chess board is found by summing up all the values obtained by 1X1, 2X2, 3X3, 4X4, 5X5,6X6,7X7 and 8X8 squares.

i.e., 64 + 49 + 36 + 25 + 16 + 9 + 4 + 1 = 204.

Therefore, the total number of squares on the chess board is 204.

Attoseconds

Atto means eighteenth in Danish, Attosecond means 1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000th of a second.

In one attosecond, light can travel the length of 3 hydrogen atoms.

Generally, light can travel 7.5 times around the earth in 1 second. However, in an attosecond it can barely move from one end of the molecule to the other end.

Another way to think about this is:

one attosecond : one second = one second : 32 billion years.

The Flash, a superhero from a comic book who has the ability to run faster than the speed of light, has the ability to see events that occur for less than one attosecond, which, for humans, is less time than it takes to blink an eye.

Seconds in 6 weeks=10!

We know that, for any positive integer n, n! is defined as the product of all positive integers less than or equal to n.

i.e., n! = 1 x 2 x 3 x … x (n-1) x n

so, 10! = 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8 x 9 x 10 = 3,628,800

we see that, how seconds in 6 weeks make 10!

6 weeks = 6 x 7 days = 6 x 7 x 24 hours = 6 x 7 x 24 x 60 minutes = 6 x 7 x 24 x 60 x 60 seconds = 3,628,800 seconds

This video verifies that seconds in 6 weeks = 10!

Happy Pi day!!!

Happy Pi day!!!

Kaprekar constant

The number 6174 is called the Kaprekar constant. It was discovered by the Indian Mathematician Kaprekar.

We get this constant if we perform certain routine calculations to any four-digit number.

The rule is

1. Take any 4 digit number.

2. Arrange the digits of the 4 digit number in descending and ascending order.

3. Subtract the smaller number from the bigger number

4. Repeat the steps from 2 for the answer obtained also.

Repeat the steps till you reach 6174.

We always end up with 6174. Once you reach 6174, the process will continue generating the same number.

Let us solve an example to understand this..

Kaprekar constant

Kaprekar Number

A Kaprekar number is

A number’s square divided into two parts such that the sum of its parts is equal to the original number.

Kaprekar Number

An example of this Kaprekar Number is explained in the following video.

Cool math titbits

National Mathematics Day

December 22 is celebrated as the National Mathematics Day in honor of the birth anniversary of Indian Mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.

SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN

Goldbach’s Conjecture

Goldbach’s conjecture is one of the oldest unsolved problems in mathematics.


Any even number greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two prime number.

Every odd whole number greater than 5 can be written as the sum of three primes. 

Goldbach’s conjectures

Goldbach, a Prussian mathematician(1690-1764)

On 7 June 1742, Goldbach wrote a letter to the mathematician Euler in which he proposed the conjectures he found.

Euler responded back on 30 June 1742 as

Every integer greater than 2 is a sum of two primes, I regard this as a completely certain theorem, although I cannot prove it.

Euler

Though the Goldbach’s conjecture looks simple to understand, it has not yet been proved.

In the modern times, the conjectures proposed by Goldbach is identified as weak or strong Goldbach conjecture.

STRONG GOLDBACH CONJECTURE

Any even whole number greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two prime number.

WEAK GOLDBACH CONJECTURE

Every odd whole number greater than 5 can be written as the sum of three primes. 

In 2013, Harold Helfgott, a Peruvian mathematician released two papers claiming the proof of Goldbach weak conjecture and The proof was accepted for publication in the Annals of mathematics series in 2015, and has been undergoing further review and revisions.

In March 2000 the publishers of the book ‘Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s conjecture (Bloomberg in the USA and Faber and Faber in the UK) offered a prize of one million dollars for anyone who could prove the Goldbach’s conjecture

Any even whole number greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two prime number.

The prize was kept open for two years, but nobody claimed it.

Odd(number) Fact

A cool fact about odd numbers.