The Mathematical Tripos examinations, and the Wranglers who achieve honours in them, are the topic of the That's Maths column ( TM023 ) in the Irish Times this week. Today (20/06/13) the results of the final examinations in mathematics will be read out at the Senate House in Cambridge University. Following tradition, the class list … Continue reading Wrangling and the Tripos
Month: June 2013
Amazing Normal Numbers
For any randomly chosen decimal number, we might expect that all the digits, 0, 1 , … , 9, occur with equal frequency. Likewise, digit pairs such as 21 or 59 or 83 should all be equally likely to crop up. Similarly for triplets of digits. Indeed, the probability of finding any finite string of … Continue reading Amazing Normal Numbers
Joyce’s Number
With Bloomsday looming, it is time to re-Joyce. We reflect on some properties of a large number occurring in Ulysses. The Largest Three-digit Number What is the largest number that can be written using only three decimal digits? An initial guess might be 999. But soon we realize that factorials permit much greater numbers, and … Continue reading Joyce’s Number
Prime Secrets Revealed
This week, That's Maths in the Irish Times ( TM022 ) reports on two exciting recent breakthroughs in prime number theory. The mathematics we study at school gives the impression that all the big questions have been answered: most of what we learn has been known for centuries, and new developments are nowhere in evidence. … Continue reading Prime Secrets Revealed
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