5th Conundrum: January 2014: Ringing in the New Year Not only was midnight January first the start of a new year, but it also marked a moment when the hour, minute and second hands of a clock were all aligned. OK, the latter isn’t as interesting or special; unlike… Continue reading »
Lighthouse Maneuver and Vampire Mystery at Mystic Seaport A. Captain Jim (156lb), Sailor Taylor (84lb) and Little Bianca (72lb) are incarcerated by a haunted witch to the top room of a lighthouse at Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT. A general pulley is safely fixed to the top of the lighthouse. Continue reading »
The Missing One Prof. Stoiciu’s math puzzle night is held every Tuesday between 6 and 7 PM in the Dennett private dining hall in Mission. All students but one arrives to the event at 6PM. The missing student arrives sometimes between 6 and 7 PM. Prof. Stoiciu wants to give… Continue reading »
What’s My Card? A student is given five random cards from a standard deck of 52 cards. He must choose four cards to reveal to his professor. He does this as follows; the professor is out of the room, and he puts… Continue reading »
First Conundrum: Tic-Tac-Toe Consider ‘Russian Doll’ tic-tac-toe. Each person has two large, two medium and two small pieces; the large can swallow any medium or small, the medium can swallow any small. If someone gets 3 in a row they win, else it’s a tie. If blue goes first, do… Continue reading »
A Well-Planned Party Mid-terms are over, final-papers are submitted and all grades are fantastic. So what should a Williams student do on a Saturday night? Naturally organize a memorable party where students can share their success stories. Six students in Gladden, commonly known as the “G6 of math and science”,… Continue reading »
As the year draws to a close, thxe Math/Stat faculty conducts its annual April ritual: bribing students to become majors. Throughout the month of April, each professor does a tour of the 100 and 200-level math classes to make his best pitch in hopes of wooing the sophomores before they… Continue reading »
March Madness is heating up! This year, 68 teams enter the infamoussingle-elimination tournament, but only one prevails. As a Notre Dame fan, you’re rooting for the Fightin’ Irish to come out on top. And this time you have compelling evidence pointing to the fact that they will! At one point… Continue reading »
While daydreaming about what happens when two come together, it dawns on you that an interesting phenomenon occurs when two twoscome together! Namely, whether you add them or multiply them, a pair of twos makes four. Now you’re wondering if there are other pairs which fare so well when coupled. You… Continue reading »
Ah, memories from the break . . . Dammit, I’m mad! Mom and Dadhave left me to do the civic duty of babysitting my brother Bob fromnoon to nine on seven eves! That was really not on my radar—I would so rather be at my gym! I tried many distractions to keep him entertained, ranging from shouting “Was it a rat I saw?” to… Continue reading »