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The Hindu
02-05-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
The Science Quiz: Mathematical puzzles
The Science Quiz: Mathematical puzzles Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit YOUR SCORE 0 /6 RETAKE THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | Visual: Name the game whose starting setup is shown here. The point is to move the entire stack of disks to another pole, one at a time, but at no point allowing a larger disk to sit atop a smaller one. DID YOU KNOW THE ANSWER? YES NO Answer : Towers of Hanoi SHOW ANSWER 2 / 6 | Pick a positive integer. If it's odd, multiply by 3 and add 1 (so 5 becomes 16). If it's even, divide by 2 (so 6 becomes 3). Repeat the process with the number you have. The Collatz conjecture is that if you repeat this process enough, you'll eventually reach X. What's the value of X? DID YOU KNOW THE ANSWER? YES NO Answer : 1 SHOW ANSWER 3 / 6 | When Leonhard Euler solved the problem called the Seven Bridges of Y in 1736, he founded modern graph theory. The idea is to traverse Y, a city, such that one would cross each of its seven bridges only once. Name Y. DID YOU KNOW THE ANSWER? YES NO Answer : Königsberg SHOW ANSWER 4 / 6 | What's the following problem called? Say you're on a game show. The host asks you to pick one of three boxes to open. One box has jewels, the other two have nothing. You pick box 1. But instead of opening it, the host opens box 3 and shows you it's empty. Now, do you pick box 2 or stay with box 1? DID YOU KNOW THE ANSWER? YES NO Answer : Monty Hall problem SHOW ANSWER 5 / 6 | Say you have a _____ ______: a square grid of numbers such that every row and every column sums up to the same value. One unsolved problem asks whether it's possible to make a 3x3 _____ ______ composed of nine distinct perfect square numbers (e.g. 9, 16, 25, etc.). Fill in the blanks (both pairs have the same words). DID YOU KNOW THE ANSWER? YES NO Answer : Magic square SHOW ANSWER
The Independent
17-04-2025
- Science
- The Independent
The secret to getting a perfect strike in bowling, according to scientists
The secret to scoring the perfect strike in a round of ten-pin bowling has been unlocked, according to a multinational team of scientists. Using a set of complex differential equations, first developed by 18th-century polymath Leonhard Euler, the researchers ran simulations to work out the optimal bowling strategy, accounting for factors ranging from spin and friction to oil patterns on the boards. And the findings could have implications for competitive bowling at the highest levels of the sport. Physicists and engineers from Loughborough University and a number of American universities worked together on the research project, which was published in the journal AIP Advances. They based their simulations on the bowling style of a hypothetical 'average' bowler, releasing the ball at 17.9 mph at a 45-degree angle with a 416 rpm spin rate. 'Bowling ball movement is surprisingly challenging to model,' said Simon Ji, of Princeton University in New Jersey, noting that friction conditions and ball weights vary widely from alley to alley. However, he added, their models had shown 'very realistic ball behaviour, and were verified by several professional players and coaches'. The researchers also paid particular attention to the impact of oil patterns on strike chance. 'In competitive bowling, oil is applied to the lanes in patterns specifically designed to create challenging friction profiles,' they noted, examining the conditions of oil patterns used in current bowling tournaments down to the most minute detail. Based on these models, the authors found that the best strategy would be to release the ball at the 28th board from the left, at 1.8 degrees to the right of a straight line. This will allow the ball to take a curved path, the most effective route to scoring a strike, while also allowing for a substantial margin of error - as they note, 'in real life, no bowler can hit their target with 100% accuracy.' The optimal shot described in the study would work for a particular bowler, launching a ball onto a particular oil pattern - but the models, the researchers say, could be applied for different players in a range of scenarios. The authors hope that their research might be put to practical use in the field of competitive bowling, which has seen particular renewed interest in the UK in recent years. The number of tenpin lanes has reached a record 5,700, and the largest national bowling alley operator, Hollywood Bowl, enjoyed unprecedented sales of £230 million last year. 'The simulation model we created could become a useful tool for players, coaches, equipment companies and tournament designers,' said Dr Curtis Hooper, of Loughborough University. Mr Ji said, 'We are already in contact with several well-known coaches in the field, and hope to tailor our simulations to better fit their needs in the near future.'
