thnik again!

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. - W. Somerset Maugham

Many years ago I subscribed to a math ed journal from a university in Mexico City. I do not remember the name and I have lost all my copies. 

The other day I read in Edumate Peru about an online math ed site from Mexico called Laberintos e Infinitos. They have already produced 18 issues, all freely available online. All the problems this week were taken from or inspired by their last issue.

 

Introducción

Ya lo decía un ?lósofo griego, Heráclito de Efeso, ”todo cambia, nada es” y es así como sucede. Laberintos e In?nitos respira y se renueva. Termina un ciclo y comienza otro. Ahora con nuevas secciones y contenido sigue buscando fomentar un acercamiento con las matemáticas. Por ?n este proyecto renace y se propone continuar y crecer.

Laberintos e infinitos es la revista de matemáticas y actuaría de los alumnos del Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, ITAM, que pretende ser el medio que facilite el acercamiento entre la matemática y el sector educativo de nivel superior y medio superior. Sobra decir que es un espacio abierto a todos aquellos que quieran escribir matemática. Consta de seis secciones:

 

• El matemático del número
• Axiomas, teoremas y algo más
• Aterrizando ideas
• Activa tus neuronas
• Zona olímpica
• En el horizonte

 

 

Invented by Japanese math teacher, Tetsuya Miyamoto, KENKEN™allows you to test your puzzle acumen and improve your math skills at the same time. Exclusively on NYTimes.com, updated with 6 new puzzles daily. – Play it here.

X was certainly not a "mathematician" stricto senso, but it seems
he knew more than enough about modern mathematics so as to produce
several stories in which mathematical concepts are anything but
central ("The Aleph", "The Library of Babel", "The Book of Sand", "The
Garden of Forking Paths").

A nice book on the matter called "X y las Matemáticas" was
written not long ago by Guillermo Martínez, a
competent Argentinian academic logician and best-selling novelist.  

There is probably as much of modern mathematics and philosophy to be
found in X as there is of kabbala and mythology.  His whole
oeuvre, full of mirrors, labyrinths and infinity, is an exploration
into paradox.

I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy. – Richard Feynman

- Did you know that 2009 is not a lucky number?
- Can’t say that I did.
- 2009 -> 85 -> 89 -> 145 -> 42 -> 20 -> 4 > 16-> 37 -> 58 -> 89.
- What on earth are you doing?
- I am squaring the digits and then adding them.
- May I ask what for?
- If I end up with 1 the number is considered lucky.
- Why?
- Because then it stays as 1.
- So not to change is a good thing?
- Why change if you are lucky already?
- Maybe you got a point. So why is 2009 not lucky?
- Because it repeated 89 and then it doomed to go in a circle never reaching 1.
- Nirvana?
- Nirvana or 1. It is the same thing. 
- Do lucky numbers exist?
- Oh yes, even lucky couples.
- What is a lucky couple?
- Two numbers who differ by 1 and are both lucky?
- How many are there?
- You are asking too many questions!

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. – Bertrand Russell

- The other day I tried to rediscover Pythagoras.
- What do you mean?
- I tried to discover that c*c = a*a + b*b in a right-angled triangle.
- Did you have any luck?
- Yes and no. Just like Columbus.
- Did he study triangles?
- He didn’t find what he was looking for, but he found something new and interesting.
- What did you find?
- Above there are two triangles where A is twice as big as B.
- OK. I can see that.
- I discovered a simple relationship between a, b, and c.
- What relationship?
- And I even found a proof that the relationship is always true if A is twice B.
- In a right-angled triangle?
- In any triangle!
- I think you are bluffing!
- Then call the bluff.

A physicist is an atom’s way of knowing about atoms. – George Wald

- What a nice shape!
- You like it?
- Sure do! What do you call it?
- “Nothing”.
- Nothing? You should call it something.
- I like “Something”.
- Like what?
- The name you just gave.
- I did?
- Did you know that you can cover a square if you have enough “Nothing”s?
- I didn’t know that.
- Not every square mind you. Just some.
- There are some things I prefer not to know.