Many of the amusing mathematical tidbits that I’ve highlighted in the podcast do not require very deep or complex reasoning: they are simple consequences of logically thinking through our basic notions about numbers, counting, or probability. In this first chapter we discuss some of these very basic but somehow surprising ideas.
City of Mutants
From Math Mutation podcast 1
Did you know that almost everybody in Pittsburgh has an above-average number of fingers? Some say it’s nuclear waste. Some say it’s toxic pollution. But I say it’s just the math.
Suppose a city has 2 million residents. Assuming everyone ...
