Math Trek

  1. Math

    A Dog, a Ball, and Calculus

    Some dogs live to play fetch, especially if the object of interest is a favorite tennis ball or toy. Others, like ours, fetch only when the reward is a particularly tantalizing tidbit. At least one dog, however, appears to take the enterprise seriously enough to figure out an optimal path to the target. Elvis and […]

    By Ivars Peterson
  2. Math

    Measuring with Jugs

    Given a 5-liter jug, a 3-liter jug, and an unlimited supply of water, how do you measure out exactly 4 liters? In her book In Code: A Mathematical Journey, Sarah Flannery gives this classic brainteaser as an example of the sorts of playful puzzles that her father, a mathematics lecturer at the Cork Institute of […]

    By Ivars Peterson
  3. Math

    Deciphering the Wrinkles of Crumpled Sheets

    Crumpling is a ubiquitous, though poorly understood, physical phenomenon.