In some cities, bicycle counters have now been installed in busy locations. These record how many bicycles have passed this location on a given day. Firstly, this is intended to raise awareness of sustainable modes of transport and encourage people…
Determining areas of irregular shapes like countries and regions can be complicated. However, a theorem discovered in 1899 by Austrian mathematician Georg Alexander Pick (1859–1942) can help to get simple and good approximations! To use Pick’s Theorem, one needs a…
From Escher’s impossible scenarios to the geometric figures that shape graphic poems, many artist have found in math an inexhaustible source to expand their creativity. Thus, the infinity symbol (∞), similar to the Bernoulli’s lemniscate curve, appears in multiple forms…
Eva works at Eco-delivery, an environmentally friendly courier that delivers post by bicycle within the city. The sun was shining and Eva decided to head to the beach with her swimwear. Early as it was, Lena and Ullrika were already…
On December 8th, 1921, Fred R. Barnard used the slogan “One Look is Worth A Thousand Words” to promote advertisements on streetcars. This slogan has not lost its relevance to this day: Certain things can be expressed more precisely using…
Everyone loves ice cream! But have you ever looked at an ice cream cone through the eyes of mathematics? In this task, we are trying to optimise the ice cream cone! Think about what an ice cream cone is mathematically….
An ancient Greek mathematician, geographer, and astronomer named Eratosthenes of Cyrene was the first person to determine the size of the Earth using the principles of geometry and astronomy. Around 240 B.C., he achieved this remarkable feat by designing an…
Your birthday is a very special day of the year. Hopefully the weather will be fine so you can do special things: throw snowballs, have a garden-party in the sun, enjoy the colored leaves on a forest hike or fly…
The question of which sofa you can just push through a hallway that turns at right angles is an unsolved mathematical problem. Fame and glory await the designer of the ideal sofa! Imagine you have a hallway that turns at…
In a film documentary about the Eiffel Tower, we learned the following information: The elevators in the Eiffel Tower travel as many kilometres in a year as if they circled the entire globe two and a half times. How could…
