(Thanks to the nice people at the bottom of the page for some gems . Your joke or gem could go here, too. Just e-mail me.)
“The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift, which we neither understand nor deserve.”---E.P. Wigner from ``The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences'' in Symmetries and Reflections, (Oxbow Press, Woodbridge, Conn., 1979), p. 237 (found at http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~bohmwww/quotes.html.
This link demonstrates the role math plays in science, technology, and culture.
Here is some math fun including pictures of mathematicians on postage stamps, when math terms were used for the first time, and great mathematicians on postage stamps.
Did you ever wonder about zero?? Read on!
Here are interesting facts about the whole numbers up to 9,999.
And if that is not enough, you can enjoy is a number a day web site!
Here is a fun youtube presentation about Mobius transformations.
If you like to play tic-tac-toe and other games on a torus check out the web site of Jeff Weeks. Jeff was our 2008 Wiener Lecturer.
And here's all about Tom Lehrer's new math. Try this site for other of his math songs!
Here is a site for everyone who has had a paper rejected (or been rejected from a job ….).
Here's every scientist's dream:
If that isn’t good enough, check out this site to tell if you’re really a pure mathematician.
If you ever wondered where mathematics stands in the intellectual hierarchy read on!
(these very cool jokes came from http://xkcd.com )
Here's proof that if you can imagine, numbers are fun.
Do you know what i and pi said to each other?.... Click here to see.
Speaking of numbers, if people call you "four eyes," what should you say?
......I'm number 1!! (hint: i*i*i*i)
Here and here and are web sites for math jokes. Here's one for math jokes by kids.
Here is a web site for math comics, and here's a Larson comic for those who think they don't have horse sense about math (but you all do have good sense about math!).
Here are some riddles.
Do you want to celebrate Pi Day every day?
How about reading 75 proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem.
If you like math mysteries, click on SquareOneTV.
Here is a cool site for kids and adults with puzzles, logic games, including sudoku, and illusions, and here is a middle-school kid's site.
You've heard about new math, well here's how our grandparents did math! (from youtube.com)
Feeling a little on edge? Check out this smile and, well, smile (the sound doesn't work on Firefox)! Then, check out the illusions!
Some days, you just gotta shout (and sing)! (This needs shockwave.)
Then, if you are a romantic math person at heart, check out this.
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Do you know why 6 is afraid of 7?? Click here for the answer.
WARNING: I have been known to put this question on final tests!
If you want to hear the answer sung, click here! (gotten from http://www.bnlmusic.com/snacktime/ )
How about learning pi to 1000 places.
Now, how about hearing it sung by kids from Fort Vancouver High School in Vancouver, WA!
Q: How many elements are in a commutative group?
A: A-belian (................10^9)
What did one math book say to the other?? Click here for the answer.
What did the zero say to the eight?? Click here for the answer.
The number 12 walks into a bar and orders a whiskey sour.
The bartender looks at him and says, "Sorry, I can't serve you..."
Why?? Click here for the answer.
An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second orders half a beer. The third, a quarter of a beer.......
The bartender says "Got it!", and pours two beers.
What does a theorem drink when it gets thirsty?
Ans: LEMMA-nade...
What do you get when you cross an apple with an elephant?.........
apple elephant cos(theta)!
Theorem: All positive integers are interesting.
Proof: Assume the contrary. Then there is a lowest non-interesting positive integer. But, hey, that's pretty interesting! A contradiction.
Theorem: Consider the set of all sets that have never been considered. Hey!
They're all gone! Oh, well, never mind...
Q: Do you already know the latest stats joke?
A: Probably
A friend got this in a fortune cookie (really!!): 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot
What did God say when he created Actuaries?
He scratched his head and said, "Go figure!" They took it literally...
*Why is Halloween is equal to Christmas: DEC25 = OCT31 (hint: think OCTAL)
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Here’s what your math profs mean when they use the following words:
Clearly: I don't want to write down all the "in-between" steps.
Trivial: If I have to show you how to do this, you're in the wrong class.
It can easily be shown: No more than four hours are needed to prove it.
Brute force: Four special cases, three counting arguments and two long inductions.
Elegant proof: Requires no previous knowledge of the subject matter and is less than ten lines long.
Similarly: At least one line of the proof of this case is the same as before.
Two line proof: I'll leave out everything but the conclusion, you can't question 'em if you can't see 'em.
Briefly: I'm running out of time, so I'll just write and talk faster.
Proceed formally: Manipulate symbols by the rules without any hint of their true meaning.
Proof omitted: Trust me, It's true.
*Why did the student write LOWBAT as an answer to the question asking for
the integral of e^x? (HINT; He was using a calculator)
e^x and a constant are walking down the street together when the constant sees a differential operator coming their way. He starts to run away, and e^x asks "Why are you running away?" The constant answers "That's a differential operator. If it acts on me, I disappear." e^x says "I'm e^x, I don't have anything to worry about." and keeps on walking. When he reaches the differential operator, he says "Hi, I'm e^x."
The differential operator responds, "Hi, I'm d/dy"
Two mathematicians are studying a convergent series.
The first one says: "Do you realize that the series converges even when all the terms are made positive?"
The second one asks: "Are you sure?"
The first one says: "Absolutely!"
Q: Did you hear about the mathematician whose jacket was too long?
A: He had a Taylor Expansion.
A professor gives a multiple choice test and sees a student flipping coins. The prof. goes over and asks the student why he's flipping coins and the student explains he didn't study and figures that just random guessing would be better than anything he could do.
Finally, near the end of the test, the prof. sees the student furiously flipping coins and walks over and asks why. Click here for reason.
A farmer asks his sheepdog to count his new sheep. The dog runs into the field, and after a bit, runs back to his master,
"40," replies the dog.
"How can there be 40?" exclaims the farmer. "I only bought 38!"
"I know," says the dog. "But I rounded them up."
A group of Mathematicians were in a band. They got up on stage and proceeded to stand there in silence for three whole minutes. When a member of the audience asked what they were doing, the band replied, "why, we're playing an imaginary number."
Do you know what (sin x)/n is? ANS: six!
Now, do you know what (sin x)/x is?
Speaking of imaginary numbers…. Here’s something that happened last time I got a wrong number: “I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is an imaginary number. Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and dial again.”
Do you know the shortest mathematical joke?...... Let epsilon be less than zero.
... and then there was the statistician who drowned in a river which was only
......on average.
What’s yellow, linear, normed, and complete?? Click here for answer.
A man was complaining that although he had been able to teach his horse mathematics and physics the horse was unable to learn philosophy, which proves you can't put Descartes before the horse.
What’s clear and used by trendy, sophisticated engineers to solve differential equations?
The Perrier Transform.
Here's a fun anagram: eleven plus two = twelve plus one
There are three types of people, those who know how to count and those who don't.
There are 10 types of people, those who know binary and those who don't.
Non-math fun:
Want to get an idea of the scale of the universe? Check out this site.
If you want to see whether you are a scientist check this out:
And from the sublime to the funny, here's Tom Lehrer's word on chemistry.
Check out a high-tech digital clock here.
Here is a Lego computer!
Here is a web site of a wonderful movie on music and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra
(Thanks to Steve Atlas, Alex Berrian, Mary Birtwhistle, Bruce Boghosian, Michael Burr, Amanda Casale, Jean Cormack, Sarah Cugini, Dan Grayson, Dan Greisen, Tawanda Gwena, Elaine Harris (and the play “Proof” by David Auburn), Boris Hasselblatt, Emily Harvey, Aaron Haurwitz, John Hugg, Sebastian Jara, Ed Kalafarski, Andrew Kang, Richard Kelley, Kevin Lewis, Herb Lin, Tyler London, Kyle Maxwell, Rabbi Brian Zachary Mayer, A super Ottoson sixth grade math teacher, Rob Mungar, Fred Nelson, Kyle Nichols-Schmolze, Sarah Patch, Charlotte Pierce, Brian Powers, Jillian Rennie, Thomas Schuster, John Seltzer, Chih Ming Tan, Roger Tobin, Jill Waldman, Meng Kitty Yan, James Yorke, Yuantee Zhu, Uncle Karl Zimmer, cousins Karl III, Lisa, Nancy, and Nino, and some kind anonymous soul.)