I've come across similar statements about things being "countless", and also cocked an eyebrow when I heard them. For example, I once read that postal codes were unlimited as well, when there are, in fact, only 17,576,000 different possibilities, roughly half of the number of people in Canada. In any case, it never occurred to me that such dubious claims (well, dubious to the mathematically trained) could be turned into lessons. It's quite remarkable just how interested the students got in the problem. This video, enticingly titled "998,001 and its Mysterious Recurring Decimals", showed up as one of the recommended videos in the sidebar.
Sunday, 28 July 2013
Two Videos
A friend sent me the following video today, inspired by a child's toy.
I've come across similar statements about things being "countless", and also cocked an eyebrow when I heard them. For example, I once read that postal codes were unlimited as well, when there are, in fact, only 17,576,000 different possibilities, roughly half of the number of people in Canada. In any case, it never occurred to me that such dubious claims (well, dubious to the mathematically trained) could be turned into lessons. It's quite remarkable just how interested the students got in the problem. This video, enticingly titled "998,001 and its Mysterious Recurring Decimals", showed up as one of the recommended videos in the sidebar.
The topic of this video would make an interesting diversion in a course on infinite series, and like the previous video, it has something of a combinatorial flavour.
I've come across similar statements about things being "countless", and also cocked an eyebrow when I heard them. For example, I once read that postal codes were unlimited as well, when there are, in fact, only 17,576,000 different possibilities, roughly half of the number of people in Canada. In any case, it never occurred to me that such dubious claims (well, dubious to the mathematically trained) could be turned into lessons. It's quite remarkable just how interested the students got in the problem. This video, enticingly titled "998,001 and its Mysterious Recurring Decimals", showed up as one of the recommended videos in the sidebar.
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