Monday, October 11, 2010

Brain Teasers

For your coffee break tomorrow, or your midnight snack tonight - why not have a crack at one of the following little mathematical proofs... link down below there

There's prizes going for the person who gets them out first...

I just hope you'll remember where you first heard about em when you're claiming your prize




9 comments:

Peter Goulding said...

I daresay I could do most of them if I put my mind to it, so long as there's no mention of fig rolls.

Niamh B said...

I know, it's very distracting when they use food in mathematical problems.
Do remember to keep your workings.

Titus said...

Done 'em. Won 'em.

Totalfeckineejit said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Totalfeckineejit said...

The Riemann hypothesis was Hilbert's eighth problem, I've got a fair idea what the other seven were too. Being called 'Speccy' at school was probably one of them.

Niamh B said...

Funny Titus, it seems they haven't updated the site with your win, get on to them I'd say - typical shoddy onlineness.
Oh TFE, poor old Hilbert, clever of him to number his problems though wasn't it - would you say they're numbered in order of importance?

Ross said...

I can see a difficulty straight away. A major problem here is that this is not a question - it is a statement.

"The question is whether, for all problems for which a computer can verify a given solution quickly (that is, in polynomial time), it can also find that solution quickly."

How do you give an answer to a statement? Stupid mathematicians.

Niamh B said...

Titus - I've just realised, they've probably had a rush in entries since i've posted this, so maybe there's going to be a draw for the first 10 correct answers.
And yeah Ross, stupid mathematicians, where would the world be without the poets I ask you? We'd still be living in the dark ages if we'd left those scientists in charge!!

Kat Mortensen said...

Yup. Got the answers right here in my little spaceship glove compartment. I'm jetting off to Pluto for a holiday and I'll be endeavouring to measure exactly how many light years it takes to get to the next galaxy. If my wings fry in the face of the sun, remember me!

Kat