mscroggs.co.uk
mscroggs.co.uk

subscribe

Sunday Afternoon Maths XXVII

 Posted on 2014-09-07 

Sine

A sine curve can be created with five people by giving the following instructions to the five people:
A. Stand on the spot.
B. Walk around A in a circle, holding this string to keep you the same distance away.
C. Stay in line with B, staying on this line.
D. Walk in a straight line perpendicular to C's line.
E. Stay in line with C and D. E will trace the path of a sine curve as shown here:
What instructions could you give to five people to trace a cos(ine) curve?
What instructions could you give to five people to trace a tan(gent) curve?

Show answer & extension

Triangles between squares

Prove that there are never more than two triangle numbers between two consecutive square numbers.

Show answer & extension

If you enjoyed these puzzles, check out Advent calendar 2023,
puzzles about dominos, or a random puzzle.

Archive

Show me a random puzzle
 Most recent collections 

Advent calendar 2023

Advent calendar 2022

Advent calendar 2021

Advent calendar 2020


List of all puzzles

Tags

geometric means pascal's triangle probability digits combinatorics rectangles 2d shapes means expansions angles time prime numbers perfect numbers integration triangles factorials trigonometry scales shapes books menace differentiation perimeter rugby the only crossnumber doubling gerrymandering dodecagons fractions 3d shapes planes median polygons multiplication surds balancing sums square numbers products colouring consecutive numbers mean digital clocks proportion coordinates elections sum to infinity palindromes triangle numbers ave chalkdust crossnumber regular shapes hexagons routes dominos christmas matrices advent folding tube maps ellipses numbers averages range binary odd numbers volume star numbers parabolas division calculus quadrilaterals integers crossnumber floors complex numbers squares partitions circles lines spheres sport addition people maths even numbers pentagons games functions geometry unit fractions decahedra tournaments quadratics cryptic clues clocks dice albgebra arrows factors dates symmetry tangents shape number algebra remainders money cards tiling logic multiples area chocolate chess crossnumbers crosswords sets taxicab geometry indices sequences graphs probabilty digital products cubics square roots irreducible numbers grids geometric mean speed determinants wordplay polynomials cube numbers consecutive integers bases coins cryptic crossnumbers axes percentages

Archive

Show me a random puzzle
▼ show ▼
© Matthew Scroggs 2012–2024