The world is still trying to standardize World Standards Day. This year, 2014, World Standards Day is October 14. That’s according to ISO, the International Organization for Standards. The USA, though, will celebrate World Standards Day over a four-day-long span that begins on October 20 and ends on October 24. That’s according to the American Standards Institute […]
Tag: world
“The largest prime number in the world”
Investigator Leslie Lamport writes: ” I heard this today on public radio’s Marketplace: “A discovery of a lifetime (at least for the math geeks among us): the largest prime number in the world.” “This raises the interesting question of which prime numbers are in the world, and which only occur elsewhere.” Other news outlets are […]
A calculating look at the end of the world
Some persons predict that the world will end on December 21, 2012. Perhaps they are correct. For mathematical context, take a look back (perhaps the last look back any of us will have a chance to make!) at the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize winners in the field of mathematics: MATHEMATICS PRIZE: Dorothy Martin of the USA (who […]
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 […]
Reminder: Ig Nobel winner says world WILL end Friday
This is a reminder to mark your calendar. Harold Camping, who shared the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize in mathematics, again says that the world will end this Friday, October 21, 2011. BACKGROUND: This year’s Ig Nobel prize in mathematics was awarded two weeks ago to Dorothy Martin of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1954), Pat […]