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There are approximately 20351 mathematical articles in Wikipedia.
| An example of a map projection: the area-preserving Mollweide projection of the earth. |
A map projection is any method used in cartography (mapmaking) to represent the dimensional surface of the earth or other bodies. The term "projection" here refers to any function defined on the earth's surface and with values on the plane, and not necessarily a geometric projection.
Flat maps could not exist without map projections, because a sphere cannot be laid flat over a plane without distortions. One can see this mathematically as a consequence of Gauss's Theorema Egregium. Flat maps can be more useful than globes in many situations: they are more compact and easier to store; they readily accommodate an enormous range of scales; they are viewed easily on computer displays; they can facilitate measuring properties of the terrain being mapped; they can show larger portions of the earth's surface at once; and they are cheaper to produce and transport. These useful traits of flat maps motivate the development of map projections.
| ...Archive | Image credit: NASA | Read more... |
Pascal's triangle is a geometric arrangement of the binomial coefficients in a triangle. It is named after Blaise Pascal in much of the western world, although other mathematicians studied it centuries before him in India, Persia, China, and Italy. The rows of Pascal's triangle are conventionally enumerated starting with row zero, and the numbers in odd rows are usually staggered relative to the numbers in even rows. A simple construction of the triangle proceeds in the following manner. On the zeroth row, write only the number 1. Then, to construct the elements of following rows, add the number directly above and to the left with the number directly above and to the right to find the new value. The above animation shows the procedure for doing this for the first 5 rows.
| ...Archive | Read more... |
- ...that a regular heptagon is the regular polygon with the fewest number of sides which is not constructible with a compass and straightedge?
- ...that the Gudermannian function relates the regular trigonometric functions and the hyperbolic trigonometric functions without the use of complex numbers?
- ...that the Catalan numbers solve a number of problems in combinatorics such as the number of ways to completely parenthesize an algebraic expression with n+1 factors?
- ...that a sphere can be cut up and reassembled into two spheres the same size as the original (Banach-Tarski paradox)?
- ...that it is impossible to devise a single formula involving only polynomials and radicals for solving an arbitrary quintic equation?
- ...that Euler found 59 more amicable numbers while for 2000 years, only 3 pairs had been found before him?
- ...that you cannot knot strings in 4-dimensions? You can, however, knot 2-dimensional surfaces like spheres.
- ...that there are 6 unsolved mathematics problems whose solutions will earn you one million US dollars each?
- ...that there are different sizes of infinite sets in set theory? More precisely, not all infinite cardinal numbers are equal?
| Showing 9 items out of 21 | More did you know |
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