Friday, December 28, 2012

Explorers

Those who know mathematics but do not immerse in it daily often use its terms in contexts that surprise and delight.  I smiled with appreciation when I found, in Issue 25 (December 2011-2012) of 6x6, "The Life of Explorers" by Fani PapageorgiouUgly Duckling Presse has given me permission to include parts II, IV, and VI (of eleven parts) here.

from    The Life of Explorers     by Fani Papageorgiou

     II.     On the Method of Trial and Error

If a dog with a long stick in its jaws wants to get through a door,
he will twist and turn his head until he achieves his goal.

     IV.     On the Honeycomb

Mathematicians have proven that the cross-sectional shape that uses
the minimum way to store a given volume of honey is a repeating
pattern of regular hexagons.

     VI.     On Quadratic Equations

They always have two solutions.

Prehistory is the period for which no written records exist.
The Dead Sea is not a sea but a hypersaline lake.
Confluence is the point where two rivers meet.
News is an acronymic word, meaning information from North, East, 
West and South.
We know that America and India are different places.

No comments:

Post a Comment