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Answer to the Problem of the Week for the week of October 3, 2005 |
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| Vanity Plates |
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If these famous mathematicians were alive today, they would probably be sporting the
license plates below. Can you identitfy the owner of each vanity plate?
Click on the plate for a hint. |
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Solution to the Problem:
| State | Vanity Plate | Mathematician |
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| Virginia: | 1 4 6 4 1 | Pascal |
| Georgia: | 1 1 2 3 5 8 | Fibonacci |
| Ohio: | 7 - 24 - 25 | Pythagoras |
| dy / dx | Leibniz | |
| (0,0) | Descartes | |
| Connecticut: | 5/9 (F - 32) | Celsius |
| Florida: | FLUXION | Newton |
| s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c) | Heron | |
| Michigan: | E I PI 1 O | Euler |
| Pennsylvania: | 5 0 5 0 | Gauss |
| South Carolina: | ELEMENTS | Euclid |
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My wife (a math major) looked at Michigan's license plate and told me that the answer was Old MacDonald (ee-ii-pi-ii-oo). She is such a kidder. |
Here are some great answers that were sent in for the extra credit:
| Contributed by: | Vanity Plate | Mathematician |
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| Sagar Patel | MC 2 | Einstein |
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Olivia Quach Sharina Smith |
E IS MCC | Einstein |
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Keith Mealy Patrick McDuffee Maggie Morrison Andrew Montoya |
E MC2 | Einstein |
| John DeBergh | R LA TIV T | Einstein |
| Walt Arrison | FOR E A | Fourier |
| Torbjörn Jansson | 1/0 | Bhaskara |
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Jeffrey Gaither Erin Fennacy |
XN YN ZN | Fermat |
| Jo Monhollen | MARGINS | Fermat |
| Danny Gordon | 4 COLORS | Wolfgang Haken |
| Ben Swartz | MYOO(N) | Mobius |
| Stephen O'Hara | PI - 314 | Archimedes |
| 1. Sagar Patel | Columbus, Georgia |
| 2. Olivia Quach | Harrisonburg, Virginia |
| 3. Walt Arrison | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| 4. John Funk | Ventura, California |
| 5. Keith Mealy | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| 6. Charlie Cumiskey | Columbus, Georgia |
| 7. Torbjörn Jansson | Örebro, Sweden |
| 8. Jeffrey Gaither | University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia |
| 9. Slayton Gilmore | Columbus, Georgia |
| 10. Jo Monhollen | Pasadena City College Pasadena, California |
| 11. Russell Beaty | Columbus, Georgia |
| 12. Sharina Smith | Newport News, Virginia |
| 13. Heather Brown | Winchester, Virginia |
| 14. Patrick McDuffee | Harrisonburg, Virginia |
| 15. Charles Washington | Winchester, Virginia |
| 16. Ben Swartz | Winchester, Virginia |
| 17. Carter Galbraith | Columbus, Georgia |
| 18. Danny Gordon | Columbus, Georgia |
| 19. Tristan Collins | Virginia Tech Blacksburg, Virginia |
| 20. Elizabeth Carlson | Winchester, Virginia |
| 21. Phillip Diana | Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia |
| 22. Erin Fennacy | Fresno, California |
| 23. Maggie Morrison | Winchester, Virginia |
| 24 John DeBergh | Winchester, Virginia |
| 25. Andrew Montoya | Winchester, Virginia |
| 26. Stephen O'Hara | Winchester, Virginia |
| 27. Andrew Barnes | Winchester, Virginia |
| 28. Jesie Biggs | Winchester, Virginia |
| 29. Trish Nicholson | Jasper, Indiana |