Author: admin
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What Fraction Of The Decagon Is Shaded?
What fraction of this regular decagon is shaded? Give this problem a try before jumping in for the solution! Solution: Brute Force The first solution is done with trigonometric functions. We first let each side length of the decagon equal 1. We then add two straight lines as shown below. The size of the angles can…
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So How Far Has The Ant Walked?
This is a question on the application of complex numbers. The standard solution requires us to formulate a function to represent the action of moving forward one unit and turning to the right by 2π/9, and compute the sum using the sum of geometric series formula. But there’s a more elegant way to do this, which lets us…
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That’s Why McDonald’s CEO Only Took A small Bite Of The BIG Arch
So recently there’s a popular video circulating on the internet about the McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski trying the BIG ARCH™ burger on their very own menu. If you haven’t watched it yet, please do so here. At the 12-second mark, Chris said that he loved this ‘product’. Interesting choice of word, ehh? He then proceeded…
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Apparently There’s A Math Problem In America
If I were to tell you that your go-to meal at the local steakhouse has a price reduction of 600%, what would you do? Well of course, you’d drop everything that you are doing and order as many fatty ribeye steaks served the finest fries and salads as you possibly can. Why? Because not only…
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Calculus Challenge: A Slanted Revolution
In this entry, we will solve the above problem using a rotational matrix. Give this problem a try before jumping into the solution! Solution By rotating the curve C and the line y = x by π/4 radians anticlockwise about the origin, the rotated volume will be given by the rotated curve about the y axis between the points at which…
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English Was My Favorite Class
I have been trying to slow down when it comes to writing. Since ChatGPT came out, I too have unfortunately been at the mercy of the temptation to generate parts of my texts using the chatbot, in an attempt to get things done faster. Probably somewhere along the way, the enjoyment I derived from the…
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Math Genius Mary Adler’s Calculus Problem
The real Math Girl Mary Adler is a fictional character from the movie ‘Gifted’. In the Gifted universe, she is a seven year-old math prodigy. I must say I was also considered a ‘Gifted’ child by many. Gifted not because I was good at mathematics, but because I wielded the exceptional prowess of ‘舉一反三’, which…
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University Has Become A Wealth Extraction Machine And Taught Me Absolutely Nothing Useful
An Absurd Price Hike When I did my mathematics degree, I was charged around £28,000 each year for a 3-year undergraduate course. 3 years later, the exact same course, teaching the exact same timeless mathematics is now priced at £35,530 per year at the university I went to. Needless to say, there has been similar price…
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Here’s How Archimedes Measured a Curve Without Calculus
Archimedes tackled the long-standing problem of finding the area of a parabolic segment (the region between a parabola and a chord). In Quadrature of the Parabola, a 3rd-century BC treatise addressed to his friend Dositheus, he proves that the area of any parabolic segment is 4/3 times the area of the inscribed triangle on the same…