Sir Walter Raleigh, adventurer, explorer and privateer, was among most colourful characters of Tudor times. He acquired extensive estates in Waterford and Cork, including Molana Abbey near Youghal, which he gave to his friend and advisor, the brilliant mathematician and astronomer Thomas Harriot. Raleigh needed an excellent navigator on his transatlantic voyages, and he brought … Continue reading Thomas Harriot: Mathematician, Astronomer and Navigator
Month: August 2015
The Great American Eclipse
Just two years from now, on Monday, August 21, 2017, the Moon's shadow will sweep across the United States at a speed of over 2,000 km/hr. The Great American Eclipse of 2017 will generate a frenzy of activity. [TM074: search for “thatsmaths” at irishtimes.com ]. Solar eclipses are not especially rare, but this one is of … Continue reading The Great American Eclipse
Buffon was no Buffoon
The Buffon Needle method of estimating $latex {\pi}&fg=000000$ is hopelessly inefficient. With one million throws of the needle we might expect to get an approximation accurate to about three digits. The idea is more of philosophical than of practical interest. Buffon never envisaged it as a means of computing $latex {\pi}&fg=000000$. Buffon and his Sticks … Continue reading Buffon was no Buffoon
The Bridges of Paris
Leonhard Euler considered a problem known as The Seven Bridges of Königsberg. It involves a walk around the city now known as Kaliningrad, in the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania. Since Kaliningrad is out of the way for most of us, let's have a look closer to home, at the bridges of Paris. [TM073: … Continue reading The Bridges of Paris
ThatsMaths 