Mathematics
4 verified facts in this category.
- The oldest known mathematical object is the Lebombo bone from 35,000 BCE with 29 notches, possibly tracking lunar phases—predating written language by over 30,000 years.
- A pizza can be cut into 11 equal pieces using only 4 straight cuts, and more generally, n straight cuts can divide a circle into up to (n²+n+2)/2 pieces—far more than the 2n pieces most people expect.
- The mathematician Paul Erdős published more papers than any other mathematician in history—over 1,500—and the Erdős number measures collaboration distance from him, with over 500 people having an Erdős number of 1.
- The number 73 is the 21st prime number, and its reverse 37 is the 12th prime, while 21 is the product of 7 and 3—making it a 'prime factor mirror prime' and Sheldon Cooper's favorite number in The Big Bang Theory.