Volume 3, Number 41
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12 October 1998 Vol. 3, No. 41
THE MATH FORUM INTERNET NEWS
Famous Math Problems - Reed | Perfect Number Journey | AskA+ Locator
FAMOUS PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS - Isaac Reed
http://mathforum.org/~isaac/mathhist.html
An investigation of some of the great problems that have
inspired mathematicians throughout the ages. Included are
problems suitable for middle and high school math students,
with links to solutions, biographies, references, and other
math history sites. Problems include:
- The Bridges of Königsberg
a problem that inspired the great Swiss mathematician
Leonard Euler to create graph theory, which led to the
development of topology
- The Value of Pi
discovering the value of and different expressions
for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its
diameter
- Puzzling Primes
understanding the properties of the prime numbers
and the difficulty of finding primes
- Famous Paradoxes
Zeno's Paradox and Cantor's Infinities
- The Problem of Points
an age-old gambling problem that led to the development
of probability by French mathematicians Pascal and Fermat
- A Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem
a proof that relies on Euclidean algebraic geometry,
and is thus beautifully simple
- A Proof that e is irrational
a proof by contradiction that relies on the expression
of e as a power series
See also Isaac's Bibliographic Guide to Math History Books:
http://mathforum.org/~isaac/problems/bib1.html
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THE PERFECT NUMBER JOURNEY - Heng O.K.
http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~novelway/MEW2/lesson1.html
"Mathematicians and non-mathematicians have been fascinated
for centuries by the properties and patterns of numbers.
They have noticed that some numbers are equal to the sum
of all of their factors (not including the number itself).
The smallest such example is 6, since 6 = 1 + 2 + 3. Such
numbers are called perfect numbers."
This journey through number patterns and properties of
numbers offers math facts and exercises that address:
- How to find perfect numbers?
- What are Mersenne numbers?
- How are Mersenne primes related to perfect numbers?
- How to find Mersenne primes?
- How were the larger perfect numbers found?
- Are there any odd perfect numbers?
- Some properties of perfect numbers
- How are perfect numbers and triangular numbers related?
- Are all perfect numbers hexagonal?
- What is the largest known prime?
From the same author comes The Maths Room, a "Virtual
Mathematics Resource Room," offering selected sites in a
variety of mathematical categories:
http://sunflower.singnet.com.sg/~okheng/
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ASKA+ LOCATOR
http://www.vrd.org/locator/
A database of "AskA" services designed to link students,
teachers, parents, and other K-12 community members with
experts available via the Internet.
Profiles of each AskA service include identification
information (e.g. publisher, e-mail address, contact person,
links to service home page), scope, target audience, and a
general description of the service. Some of the Web sites
provide additional resources such as on-line references,
archives of previously asked questions, and links to
related sites.
You can browse by subject or search for services in the
Locator by keyword, subject, grade, etc.
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CHECK OUT OUR WEB SITE:
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Join the Math Forum http://mathforum.org/join.forum.html
Send comments to the Math Forum Internet Newsletter editors
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