The Things That Mathematics Cannot Explain | Mathematics - Medium

There are some mind blowing facts and games related to mathematics that even mathematics cannot explain. I just like to call those facts “The Abracadabra of Mathematics” emphasiz Ali Kayaspor, Math Teacher.

The Things That Mathematics Cannot Explain

Let’s take a look at one of those games or tricks. Assume that you are in a classroom with a population of at least 25 students and I am the instructor. I give a blank paper to each of you to write a digit , any number between 0–9, inclusive. After you are done writing your digit on your paper and fold it, I will collect the papers. Of course I don’t have any idea of what you write on the paper. However, I guarantee that I will know the most written number in the classroom.

Now, my claim is that most of the students chose the number 7. If a student comes and unfolds all of the papers and checks the papers, he would say, “You are correct! But how?” Unfortunately, I don’t have any explanation for this, though it is always true. Most people always choose number 7. I might have played this game more than 100 times, and I have never been wrong.

I learned this game from one of my favorite professors, Ali Nesin, 10 years ago...

You might’ve heard of Euclid. I have written some articles about him before. He had a book called “Elements”. I definitely recommend that you buy that book...

This information is very useful because we can also find sin 18 or cos 36 easily without a calculator. This is also exercise for you!

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Recommended Reading

Oliver Byrne: The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid

Source: Medium