Bonus Puzzle: Match Point Mystery
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Author Archives: thomas
Interview: Carl Cullinane and the Democratic Dashboard
I recently interviewed Carl Cullinane, mastermind behind the fantastic electoral data website Democratic Dashboard, as part of my work for the Global Lab podcast. Continue reading
The worst tennis players of the millennium
Following my piece on tennis and probability, here is another tennis article. There is not really much maths in this one, just carefully researched irrelevance (though there may be a more mathsy follow-up at some point). Oh, and I am not really claiming that any of these players are the worst. See the disclaimer!
Continue reading
There Wolf!
The solution to the “Where Wolf?”
puzzle is now available:
#5: Where Wolf?
A truth-tellers and liars puzzle.
Published: 12/06/2015
Difficulty: **
Maths knowledge required: None
The number that just won’t go away…
The 82000 sequence is still generating interest.
Here’s a great Numberphile video about the sequence from mathematician James Grime:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNS1fabDkeA]
The sequence has also made it into the Online Encyclopaedia of Integer Sequences, as A258107!
I have also found an early mention of the special properties of 82000, in this exchange on a French puzzle forum, from October 2008. Continue reading
Puzzle #5: Where Wolf?
So I promised a really hard puzzle for #5… Well, this is not that one, sorry. Next time. This is a late substitute. A good one though.
A maths joke
A mathematician walks into a bar. The punchline is left as an exercise for the reader. #mathsjoke
— Thomas Oléron Evans (@Mathistopheles) March 17, 2015
Probabilities for the French Open final
Here’s a bit of very simplistic probability calculation on the outcome of the French Open final, related to my article on the value of a set in tennis. Continue reading
Tennis: How much is a set worth?
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With the men’s final of Roland Garros about to start, I have written a pretty simple piece about how much a set is worth in a tennis match (in probability terms). I have tried to keep the style accessible, as with the Pointless maths articles (although I probably simplified a little too much with those).
Click here to read the article.
The photo is from Yann Caradec via Wikimedia Commons, published Creative Commons: HERE.
The solution to the algebra puzzle…
The solution to Puzzle #4 is now up. Either follow the links from the puzzle itself HERE, or, if you have seen the question already, click HERE to go straight to the solution.
As I mentioned previously, I think this is a good puzzle for mathematics learners at GCSE level or for those setting out on A-level courses, both for checking up on basic algebraic understanding and for illustrating some specific problem-solving skills. I have summarised the key learning points that I think the puzzle raises on the solution page.