Mathopolis15 Prelims (Answers)

QUESTION 1
The earliest known official or large-scale celebration
of X was organized by Larry Shaw in 1988 at the San
Francisco Exploratorium, where Shaw worked as a
physicist, with staff and public marching around one
of its circular spaces, then consuming _____.The
Exploratorium continues to hold X celebrations.
I don't want X. I want something close to X,
observed in July.
What am I talking about?

ANSWER
Pi Approximation Day (22/7)

QUESTION 2
X was German polymath and philosopher . It was only in
the 20th century that Law of Continuity and
Transcendental Law of Homogeneity given by X found
mathematical implementation. X is one of the most
prolific inventors in the field of mechanical calculators,
and was the first to invent the pinwheel calculator in
1685. X proposed an optimist metaphysical theory that
included the notion that we live in "the best of all
possible worlds". ID X.
You would know X for a dispute that occurred around the
same time.

QUESTION 3
X's theorem is a special case of the inscribed angle
theorem. X is said to have offered an ox in sacrifice as
thanks for the discovery to Apollo.
In fact this theorem is only one of two theorems to be
called X's Theorem.
X is regarded by many, including Aristotle, to be the first
philosopher of the Greek tradition. X hypothesised that
the originating principle of nature was a single element:
water.
X was a businessman as well, and is said to have profited
from the olive trade in his region.
ID X.

QUESTION 4
X was invented independently by the Babylonians,
Mayans and Indians(although some researchers say the
Indian number system was influenced by Babylonians).
The Babylonians got their number system from
Sumerians, the first people in the world to develop
counting system.
Robert Kaplan suggests that an ancestor to the
placeholder of X may have been a pair of angled wedges
used to represent an empty number column.
What is X?

QUESTION 5*
X is a sequence of six 9s that begins at the 762nd decimal
place of the decimal representation of π. It is named after
physicist Y, who once stated during a lecture he would like
to memorize the digits of π until that point, so he could
recite them and quip "nine nine nine nine nine nine and
so on", suggesting, in a tongue-in-cheek manner, that π is
rational. Y had won the Nobel prize for physics. Y also
worked in the challenger incident investigation. Y is
regarded as one of the most famous scientists of his time.
ID X&Y.

ANSWER
X- Feynman Point
Y- Richard Feynman

QUESTION 6
X is a well-known Indian mathematician. He has
studied at the undergraduate and graduate
levels at the University of Rajasthan, with gold
medals at the bachelor's and master's levels.
X is vice principal of an educational institution.
You would probably know him for his works as
an author.
ID X.

QUESTION 7
X is a number which is derived from a word in old
Norse that actually means a value 20 more than
that of X.
X is also an English word used to refer to an
administrative division which is part of a larger
region.
Further, X is the record number of points scored in
one NBA game by a single player, set by Wilt
Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors on March
2, 1962.
Identify X.

QUESTION 8*
X was born in England in the 17th century.
X added to mathematics a new branch now called the
"calculus of finite differences" and invented integration by
parts.
Between 1712 and 1724 X published thirteen articles on
topics as diverse as describing experiments in capillary action,
magnetism and thermometers.
X gave an account of an experiment to discover the law of
magnetic attraction and an improved method for
approximating the roots of an equation by giving a new
method for computing logarithms. ID X.
You might know X for a series. Or in fact, many series
following the same pattern.

QUESTION 9
X was an Indian Mathematician who was the first to
write numbers in the Hindu decimal system, with a
circle for zero. X also gave a unique approximation
of the sine function in his commentary on
Aryabhatta's work, Aryabhatiyabhasya, which is the
oldest known prose work in Sanskrit on
mathematics and astronomy. There is also a low-
orbit satellite named after him.
ID X.

QUESTION 10
X was born on 1 April 1776, in Paris, France, in a house on Rue Saint-
Denis. When she was 13, the Bastille fell and she was forced to say
indoors. Thus she turned to her father's library, and was intrigued by
geometry. Thus began her affair with mathematics. She was known to
hide candlesticks in her shoes to enable her to study at night.
She adopted a male pseudonym, Monsieur Le Blanc, to enable her to
send notes to Lagrange.
Upon meeting her, Lagrange did not shun her, but supported her
openly.
She won a prize for her work in elasticity. However, she did her best
work in number theory, where a theorem is named after her. This
theorem is based on solutions to Fermat's Last Theorem.
ID X.

QUESTION 11
The X is a shorthand version for a particular form of
cross-multiplication. It was often taught to students
in the 19th century by rote. This rule was highly
useful for solving problems such as, ""If 4 Yards of
Cloth cost 12 Shillings, what will 6 Yards cost at that
Rate?"
Charles Darwin said about X, "I have no faith in
anything short of actual measurement and the X.”
The term X is also used in C++, writing and in
economics.
ID X.

QUESTION 12
X is a Babylonian clay tablet, notable as containing
an example of Babylonian mathematics. This tablet,
believed to have been written about 1800 BC, has a
table of four columns and 15 rows of numbers in
the cuneiform script of the period.
This table lists what are now called Pythagorean
triples, i.e., integers a, b, c satisfying a^2+b^2=c^2
Id X.

QUESTION 13
X was discovered by a Polish mathematician, as he
was doodling at what he described as a long and
boring conference. He wrote down a rectangular
grid of numbers and then spiralled out, circling the
prime numbers. He noticed a pattern among the
prime numbers. It seemed that the prime numbers
lay on alternating diagonals. However, what was
surprising was the tendency of prime numbers to
lie more on some diagonals than on others.
ID X.

QUESTION 14
X means a group of four things. The term X dates to
the 14th century in English. The word appears in
the King James Bible (Acts 12:4), which refers to
"four Xs of soldiers."
The term was popularised by William Rowan
Hamilton, who used the word to refer to a four
dimensional object with one real part and three
imaginary parts.
Hamilton dedicated the last twenty years of his life
to Xs, and his magnum opus was called Lectures on
Xs.
ID X.

QUESTION 15
X is the notation commonly used in arithmetic
and logical formulae and statements. It is
characterised by the use of operators between
operands.
It is more difficult to parse, or analyse, by
computers. But it is still used in programming
languages due to familiarity.
In fact, everyone in this room is familiar with
this notation.
ID X.

QUESTION 16*
Named after a Swedish Mathematician, X is one of the earliest known ______
curves. X can be constructed by starting with an equilateral triangle, then
recursively altering each line segment as follows:
1. Divide the line segment into three segments of equal length.
2. Draw an equilateral triangle that has the middle segment from step 1 as its
base and points outward.
3. Remove the line segment that is the base of the triangle from step 2.
X is the limit approached as the above steps are followed again and again.
It is thus a figure with infinite perimeter but finite area.
ID X.
The Mathematician in question has a common surname with two American
brothers who are billionaires and heavy weight businessmen.

QUESTION 17
X was created by the Nicolas Bourbaki group of
mathematicians and appears in the margins of
mathematics books written by the group. It
resembles a sign that is used to mark passages
tricky on a first reading or with an especially
difficult argument. We see X in modern day road
symbols. ID X.
(Image on Next Slide)

QUESTION 18
X lived during a time of political turmoil in France. X was a
student at the École Normale, and was incensed when his
school director decided to lock all students in during the
Revolution. He wrote a blistering letter criticizing the director,
which he submitted to the Gazette des Écoles, signing the
letter with his full name. Although the Gazette's editor
omitted the signature for publication, X was expelled.
Ne pleure pas, Alfred ! J'ai besoin de tout mon courage pour
mourir à vingt ans!
The above were the last words of X.
His works in mathematics are very important to this date,
even though they only amount to 60 pages.
ID X.

QUESTION 19*
X was introduced by John Wallis, and, since its
introduction, has also been used outside
mathematics in modern mysticism and literary
symbology.
Leopold Kronecker was skeptical of the notion of X
and how his fellow mathematicians were using it in
the 1870s and 1880s.
This skepticism was developed in the philosophy of
mathematics called ________, an extreme form of
the philosophical and mathematical schools of
constructivism and intuitionism. ID X.

QUESTION 20
X was born the same year that Galileo died. X was a
politician and an alchemist. Interestingly, his works on
alchemy are currently be being put online by Indiana
University.
Speculative fiction author Fritz Leiber said of X, "Everyone
knows X as the great scientist. Few remember that he
spent half his life muddling with alchemy, looking for the
philosopher's stone. That was the pebble by the seashore
he really wanted to find."
X also took up the position of warden of the Royal Mint,
and oversaw England's great recoining.
ID X.

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