Although for many people mathematics is boring or in fact, they do not understand many of the theorems that make it up and it is not that they like to do most of mathematical operations , the truth is that like any other area of knowledge , mathematics is full of data that can be the most curious. Let us know below, the curiosities about mathematics that will leave you surprised.
The curiosities about mathematics that will surprise you
Here are some of the most surprising facts and curiosities of mathematics that you surely did not know.
Nature loves Fibonacci sequences
The spiral shapes of sunflowers and other patterns in nature follow a Fibonacci sequence , where the sum of the previous two numbers in the sequence gives you the next (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc.)
In a crowded room, two people probably share birthdays
It only takes 23 people in a room to give you a uniform probability that two of them have the same birthday. But with 75 people in the room, the chances increase to 99 percent!
Multiplying by ones always gives you palindromic numbers
If you multiply 111,111,111 × 111,111,111 you get 12,345,678,987,654,321, a palindrome number that reads the same forward or backward. And that works also if you multiply only 11 x 11 (121) or only 1 x 1 (1).
The universe is not big enough for a gugolplex
A googolplex or googolplex is 10 to the power of a gogol, or 10 to the power of 10 to the 100 . Our known universe doesn’t have enough space to write that down on paper. If you try to do that sum on a computer, you will never get the answer, because it will not have enough memory.
Seven is the favorite number
You may have guessed that most people’s favorite number is 7 and it seems to have been proven now (albeit very relatively). A recent online survey of 3,000 people by writer Alex Bellos found that about 10% of them chose seven as their favorite number.
That could be because seven has many favorable connections (seven wonders of the world, pillars of wisdom, seven seas, seven dwarfs, seven days, seven colors in the rainbow). But it is also true that seven is “arithmetically unique” , the only number that cannot be multiplied or divided while keeping the answer within the group of 1 to 10.
Prime numbers help cicadas survive
Cicadas incubate underground for long periods of time before going out to mate. Sometimes they spend 13 years underground, sometimes 17. Why? Both intervals are prime numbers and biologists now believe that cicadas adopted those life cycles to minimize their contact with predators with rounder numbered life cycles.
The answer is always 6174
Starting with any four-digit number (that has at least two different digits) you will realize that the answer you will get if you calculate them in a certain way is always 6174.
To find out why simply follow the steps below:
- Arrange the digits of the four-digit number in descending / ascending order to make it possible for you to get the largest and smallest numbers.
- Subtract the smallest number from the largest.
- Take the answer and repeat the process.
- You will eventually end up in 6174 or ‘Kaprekar’s Constant’. Just as remarkable is the fact that it will never take more than seven steps to get to the number.
Picking a number at random, let’s try 4551, for example.
- Stage 1: 5541-1455 = 4086
- Stage 2: 8640 – 0468 = 8172
- Stage 3: 8721 – 1278 = 7443
- Stage 4: 7443 – 3447 = 3996
- Stage 5: 9963 – 3699 = 6264
- Stage 6: 6642 – 2466 = 4176
- Stage 7: 7641-1467 = 6174
The most curious number
The most curious number is 142857 , if we multiply it by 7 the result is 999999. Also, if we multiply it by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. It will give us the same series of numbers in different order .
- 3 X 142857 = 428571
- 5 X 142857 = 714285
The perfect time for watch ads
Have you noticed that in most watch ads the hands appear as 10:08 and 10:10? The reason is that drawing a rectangle with the limit of the minute hand would create a golden rectangle . And golden ratios have been shown to be considered pleasing to the eye. Also, this position can be likened to a smile .
