Erebus

Fact library / Trivia

Math facts

6 math facts, each paired with a strange little scene and a hook for the hard word.

The spiral from the leaning tower

Fibonacci, also called Leonardo of Pisa, helped bring Hindu–Arabic numerals to Europe in his 1202 book Liber Abaci.

Picture it

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is made of stacked spiral seashells. A man at the top tells a tiny fib ("Oh, nachi!") and drops a scroll of numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8…

Memory hooks

  • Fibonacci: "fib-oh-NAH-chee": a little fib from the tower (sound-alike)
  • Pisa: a leaning tower made of spiral shells (visual association)

Say it: Fibonacci (fib·oh·NAH·chee)

Pi's birthday party

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 (3/14), which is also Einstein's birthday.

Picture it

On March 14, 3/14, maths teachers everywhere eat pie. A wild-haired guest blows out the candles on a pie: it's also EINSTEIN's birthday, and he sticks out his tongue for the photo.

Memory hooks

  • March 14: 3/14, like 3.14 (number hook)
  • Einstein: blowing out candles on a pie (visual association)

The textbook that lasted 2,000 years

Euclid of Alexandria's geometry textbook, the Elements, was written in thirteen books around 300 BC.

Picture it

In ancient Alexandria, a teacher named EUCLID ("YOU CLUED me in!") writes a geometry textbook in thirteen scrolls. Students used it for over two thousand years. An unlucky 13 students drop their scrolls at once.

Memory hooks

  • Euclid: "You clued me in!" (sound-alike)
  • thirteen: 13 unlucky students dropping their scrolls (number hook)

Rules for nothing

In AD 628, the Indian mathematician Brahmagupta set out rules for calculating with zero as a number.

Picture it

An Indian astronomer writes down, for the first time, the rules for treating zero as a real number: add it, subtract it, multiply by it. A BRAHMIN with a GUPPY fish in his bowl ("BRAHMA-GUPTA") stares at the empty bowl and calls it zero. The year: 628.

Memory hooks

  • Brahmagupta: a Brahmin with a guppy (sound-alike)
  • 628: six, two, eight: all even, none zero (number hook)

The number a nine-year-old named

A googol, 1 followed by 100 zeros, was named by the nine-year-old nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner.

Picture it

A mathematician asks his nine-year-old nephew to name a really, really big number: a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The boy gurgles "GOOGOL!" like a baby. Years later, two students name a search engine after it.

Memory hooks

  • googol: a baby's gurgle (sound-alike)
  • 100: a 1 followed by a hundred zeros (number hook)

The margin that was too small

Fermat's Last Theorem, scribbled in a margin in 1637, was finally proved by Andrew Wiles in 1994.

Picture it

In 1637, a French lawyer scribbles in the margin of a book: "I have a marvellous proof, but this margin is too small to contain it." Mathematicians hunt for it for 358 years, until an English professor, ANDREW WILES, uses all his WILES to crack it in 1994.

Memory hooks

  • Andrew Wiles: using all his wiles (sound-alike)
  • 1994: 358 years after 1637 (number hook)