Mr Honner

Appreciation Numbers

Belts and Number Systems

I recent bought a bunch of different belts, and I was surprised at how my different choices reminded me of different number systems.

The belt in the middle is the integer belt. The holes are far apart and evenly spaced out, kind of like the integers 1, 2, 3, 4, … .

The belt on top is the rational number belt. The criss-cross pattern means there are lots more holes to choose from, and they are closer together.

The belt on the bottom is the real number belt. You can cinch this closed in a whole continuum of places. You basically have every length available to you, from 0 to whatever.

Belts and number systems; socks and the axiom of choice! What other math lurks in the closet?

Appreciation Geometry Photography

Math Photo: Strange Surface

Today’s Challenge: Describe this surface mathematically!

By patrick honner, 14 years8 years ago

Appreciation

Velocidad Maxima

So if the maximum velocity allowed is 25, does that mean I can go as fast as I want in reverse?

By patrick honner, 14 years8 years ago

History Resources

Mathematical Biographies

This is a comprehensive library of on-line biographies of mathematicians, brought to you by the School of Math and Statistics at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/BiogIndex.html

This is a truly remarkable resource. It looks as though they have thousands of mathematicians in the database, and you can search the biographies by author, region, area, or mathematical topic.

Each entry contains a bio, a list of publications, awards, pictures, and other related materials. You can also check out their famous curves index.

Bravo, SMSUSAS! This is the kind of thing that the internet was really made for.

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