I am hooked! I never really like Sudoku. Sudoku uses numbers, but really is not a mathematical puzzle. NY Times recently released a new puzzle called KenKen.
KenKen shares some properties with sudoku. Each is a pure logic challenge in which numbers are filled in the squares of a grid. Unlike sudoku, though, in which the numbers act solely as symbols (letters or pictures would work as well), KenKen requires arithmetic. Source.
MacBreak Video 174 reviewed the Griffin AirCurve at Macworld. The AirCurve is a non-powered acoustic amplifier.
AirCurve looks like a simple, elegantly minimal stand for your iPhone. But inside is a coiled waveguide “horn’ that collects the sound from the built-in speaker of your iPhone, amplifies it (by about 10 decibels), and projects it into the room.
At first glance, it appears to be using the Fibonacci Spiral. I can see how it uses the same principles as the cochlea of the human ear. It is hard to tell for sure, but a pretty neat device for your ipod.
Categories: Math · Science · Technology
Categories: Just For Fun · Math
Mathpuzzle.com is an amazing site for mathematical puzzles. I heard about it on The Math Factor podcast. They routinely have Ed Pegg as a guest. Ed is the founder of mathpuzzle.com, works for Wolfram research and consultant to the TV show Numb3rs.
The site is a great resource for any math geek.
Categories: Math
Password complexity is a must in today’s Internet world. There are a number of reasons to have a complex password and the reason is mathematical.
Baring any password hash or encryption vulnerabilities, your password strength is a function of its combinations. If you want to find out how complex your password or passphrase is, enter it’s complexity into Hackosis’s Brute Force Calculator. Make sure your password cannot be brute forced in your lifetime.
Remember Moore’s Law loosely states that computer speed will double every two years for the foreseeable future.
Here are my results:
4,161,536,836,220,038,797,975,977,729,896,447,213,568 combinations.
It takes 15,139,582,815,099,997,962,446,569,472.00 hours or 630,815,950,629,166,627,581,591,552.00 days to crack your password on computer that tries 137,438,953,472 passwords per hour.
I think I am fairly safe for awhile. How does your password rate?
Categories: Math · Technology
The Golden Ratio, Phi, shows up again.
Snail Car Is Born When Math, Dreams Collide:
In a project that would make Franz Kafka grin, a 30-year-old bug has metamorphosed into a snail. The resulting creation, an art car called The Golden Mean, is a golden gastropod that glows in the dark and shoots rings of fire from its feelers. It also seats six comfortably.
Blacksmith John Sarriugarte, who fabricates custom home furnishings, worked with his wife, Kyrsten Mate, to transform a 1966 VW Bug into the rolling piece of art. The Golden Mean is making its debut at the Burning Man art festival this year.
Any ideas? It is 1 mile. Convert other units of measure to everyday objects using Sensibleunits.com.
Try this one:
50 kilograms = 37 MacBooks Air
The converter will go both ways!
Categories: Just For Fun · Math · Science · Think About It
A mechanical binary adding machine, who needs computers? The site has instructions on how to build one and a video demonstrating the machine’s functionality.
Dad, I have a project for you (just kidding)!
Categories: Math · Technology
I heard this puzzler on CarTalk the other week. It has a very clever answer.
Imagine that you have two lengths of fuse like that and each takes exactly 1 hour to burn. But the fuses don’t burn evenly and they’re both likely to be different. So let’s say a fuse is 1 foot long and it takes 40 minutes for the first inch to burn and then only 20 minutes for next 11 inches to burn. Or it could be 12 minutes for the first 4 inches and 48 minutes for the last 8 inches to burn. All you know is that the fuses are not identical and that they each take 1 hour to burn completely.
Now using only these two fuses and a cigarette lighter, how do you measure 45 minutes?
Categories: Just For Fun · Math
Inspired by Jimmy Kimmel’s and Sarah Silverman’s videos I’m F*ing Matt Damon and And I’m F*ing Ben Affleck.
Now Hillary is F*ing Obama!
Categories: Math · Motivation
