A Mathematical Palindrome
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321
Magic Epitaph
Shall we all die?
We shall die all;
All die shall we –
Die all we shall.
– Epitaph, St. Winwalloe’s churchyard, Gunwalloe, Cornwall
Unquote
“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.” — A.A. Milne
The Bridges of Konigsberg
In old Konigsberg there were seven bridges:
Villagers used to wonder: Is it possible to leave your door, walk through the town, and return home having crossed each bridge exactly once?
Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler had to invent graph theory to answer the question rigorously, but there’s a fairly intuitive informal proof. Can you find it?
Most Hangings Survived
In 1803, Australian Joseph Samuel was sentenced to hang for murder. The first attempt failed when the rope broke. A replacement rope stretched, letting Samuel’s feet touched the ground. And the third rope broke.
So they let him go.
“Mister Eat-Everything”
France’s Michel Lotito, better known as Monsieur Mangetout, eats metal and glass for a living. He began eating unusual materials compulsively as a child and has made it into a career, performing publicly since 1966.
Thanks to an unusually thick stomach lining, Mangetout can safely consume 2 pounds of metal a day with no ill effects. Generally he cuts large items — bicycles, television sets, shopping carts, a coffin — into 1-kilogram pieces, which he washes down with mineral oil and plenty of water.
In 1978 he started eating a small plane, a Cessna 150. He finished it in 1980.
