## Saturday, 29 September 2012

### Welcome little Einsteins...

So, this is the first post on our blog's wall ^_^

I really hope this experiment we are starting fits well on your (sometimes) fuzzy minds XD

This forthcoming week we'll learn about some numbers that cannot be expressed as fractions (the so-called irrational numbers) I don't kno why, but I do love these numbers!

One fine example of irrational numbers is the famous $\sqrt{2}$ which you are using everyday without even noticing: DIN A4 papers. In two or three days you will finally know why is this numer related to the paper sheets you write on.  There is even a spiral related with the DIN A4 paper sheets which is almost perfectly built, but has some imperfections that will be mended in Unit 7.

Sometimes it is impossible to explain something without using mathematics... It is a strange math-world we are living in!.

BTW: did  you know that Futurama's screenwriters are indeed mathematicians, physicists and theoretical engineers? I promise I will tell you more about the hilarious math-jkes it is possible to find in this series.

Anyway, I would like to finish this post with an incredible animated vide showing, among others, the Fibonacci spiral (the one that will be introduced in Uint 7) and that is quite a lot "smoother" than the DIN-A4 spiral. That spiral is featured in the beautiful video on the right.

And DON'T FORGET THIS IS OUR BLOG, so any contribution about maths, science, music, movies or whatever will be welcomed :D

First Challenge of the Week:     PILGRIM's PROBLEM

An Italian pilgrim was planning his journey from Rome to Santiago de Compostela. Before arriving to Spain, he wanted to visit 64 different cities using only 15 straight pilgrimages. The map he was currently in possession of, showed the different paths communicating all the cities he wanted to visit.

Would you be able to draw a path using 15 straight lines without removing the pencil from the sheet so the pilgrim manages to complete successfully his trip?

Watch it: You MUST start your trip from the black spot, but you can finish it wherever you want. Note there’s one missing connection between two towns at the bottom of the drawing.