This year, 2011, is ending—unexpectedly—in December. To celebrate, we pay tribute to the winners of this year’s Ig Nobel Prize in mathematics. The prize was awarded to: Dorothy Martin of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1954), Pat Robertson of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1982 [and whose book is pictured […]
Tag: calculation
How Much Water for the World’s Coffee and Tea?
While waiting for your coffee to brew or your tea to steep, you might distract yourself by calculating how much water is used to produce all the coffee and tea consumed in the world in a year. Then, if you are feeling in a comparative and provocative mood, you might get in touch with the […]
Calculations: Insurance for clowns
Clown insurance is for clowns, not for persons potentially afflicted by them. Insurance companies offer it to clowns because clowns – no matter what you may thoughtlessly think of them – are people, and bad things can happen to anyone. Clown insurance exists, as a distinct product category, thanks to the mathematical discipline called risk assessment. […]
Camping schedule for October: The Halting Problem
Ig Nobel Prize-winner Harold Camping repeats his prediction that the world will end on October 21, 2011. Mr. Camping is an expert in what mathematicians call The Halting Problem. He gives you this audio greeting [click to hear it]. His website says: Thus we can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those […]