MathPlus's definitions

Dysnauxia

An oft-unspoken disability whereby someone could hardly distinguish between the letter “O” and the number 0, often mistaking one for the other—the disorder was coined after the word “naught” for nothing, nil, or zero.

Guesstimate how many people worldwide suffer from some form of dysnauxia.

by MathPlus October 11, 2021

Math in the Dark

When problem solving with the lights off could help trigger your imaginary thinking, which could be a catalyst to experiencing that aha! moment in producing a creative or elegant solution to a wicked math problem.

Guesstimate many math educators worldwide could get their imaginations light up if they decided to do math in the dark—when darkness triggers their intuition for that long-awaited lateral solution.

by MathPlus October 12, 2021

Delta Math

Fiendish math questions posed by mean or sadistic math teachers that leverage on the deadlier delta to further terrify an oft-semi-innumerate lay public, who are often more fearful about discriminants and differentials than variants and vaccines.

Guesstimate what percentage of math anxious folks globally are more scared of delta math than the delta variant itself.

by MathPlus October 12, 2021

Immoral Shots

When vaccine manufacturers are distributing Covid-19 vaccine booster shots to the rich and selfish countries, while paying lip service to the poor and corrupt nations, which depend mostly on donation from countries guilty of practicing vaccine diplomacy.

Is administering Covid-19 vaccine boosters “unjust” and “unfair” when only 7% of the population of Africa has received a dose, compared to more than 50% of the populations from other continents? How could selling these immoral shots to wealthy countries while ignoring the oft-rogue and dictatorial nations help to stop the pandemic globally?

by MathPlus October 13, 2021

FICA Math

When the Singapore authorities could stop, disable, or block access to any online math content, which was unprovenly created via the works of foreign mathematicians or math educators, that the government deems politically, racially, religiously, or socially inappropriate to be published, because it could cast doubt or create confusion in the minds of locals, who could then have a low or wavering confidence in the Ministry of Education (MOE)’s goal in making the “fine” city an innumerate-free nation—FICA is short for “Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act.”

With a penalty of a fine of up to S$5,000 and continuing fines of up to S$500 for “every day or part of a day” for refusing to remove any politically incorrect content, guesstimate how much FICA math revenue could be generated annually from “mathematically significant” individuals and organizations that committed a mathematical offence.

by MathPlus October 13, 2021

Pi in the Pandemic

When the number π tries to keep herself fresh in the mind’s eye of mathematicians and math educators, by getting involved in the christening of new words and phrases, such as “piralysis,” “Covid-π,” and “pi in the sky”; or by letting her and other pi expressions being redefined with new meanings, often associated with Covid-19 or its variants.

Like the top billionaires who became wealthier during the coronavirus crisis, thanks to Urban Dictionary, pi in the pandemic was productive in producing a few dozen new pi-words and phrases to keep the mathematical brethren in some quasi-aha! mood in the midst of fear and pain.

by MathPlus October 14, 2021

Pimp Up Pi

Make the number π look sexier by expressing it equivalently or approximately in an expression of numbers or/and constants—for example, π = 1 – 1/3 + 1/5 – 1/7 + 1/9 – 1/11 + ⋯, π ≈ √2 + √3, π⁴ + π⁵ ≈ e⁶, and π rad = 180°.

To get others’ attention to its numerical beauty, mathematicians never fail to pimp up pi.

by MathPlus October 14, 2021