For those of us who have yet to memorize our multiplication tables, the concept of someone doing math for fun is as paradoxical as putting pineapple on pizza. Even so, Leigh Mercer […]
A Limerick for Mathematicians
Happy Pi Day!
Happy #PiDay
The High-Flying Conspiracy Theories of Denver International Airport
Frequent travels will tell you that it doesn’t matter whether you are going to Heaven or Hell, you have to go through Atlanta to get there. If, however, your destination is the […]
Words That No Longer Mean What They Used To
Everyone reading this is a girl. You lived much of your life in the Matrix. You’re really not all that fantastic; in fact, you’re really quite awful. Even before you were born, […]
Meet the Man Who Was Struck By Lightning 7 Times
Whoever said lightning never strikes twice never met Roy Sullivan. Sullivan was born on February 7, 1912. From 1936 to his retirement in 1977, he served as a United States park ranger […]
How Many Ways Can Santa Arrange His Reindeer?
As of this writing, it is the middle of summer in our part of the world, but Christmas is just around the corner. That is if you define “just around the corner” […]
Can You Decode The Message Designed to Tell Aliens All About Humanity?
Assuming you are a person of reasonable intelligence, (actually, since you are a reader of Commonplace Fun Facts, we assume you are a person of extraordinary intelligence), what would you make of […]
How Many Licks Does it Take To Get to the Tootsie Roll Center of a Tootsie Pop?
In 1970, the world was asked the question, “How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?” The question was posed in an animated […]
Improve Your Memory With These Helpful Mnemonics
Who hasn’t wished to have a better memory? Whether you struggle with recalling the names of people whom you just met, have difficulty with how many “c”s and “m”s to include in […]
Was the USA Nuclear Launch Code Really ‘00000000’?
In the 1983 movie WarGames, the fictional W.O.P.R. succeeds in hacking NORAD’s launch code, revealed to be “CPE1704TKS.” National security experts at the time reassured the public that the movie was a […]
Dreams So Powerful That They Shaped History
Scientists, philosophers, and theologians have long pondered and theorized about dreams. What are they? What causes them? What purpose do they serve? The debates about dreams continue, but one thing is certain: […]
Pizza: The Mathematically Perfect Food
It goes without saying that pizza is the perfect food for almost every occasion. Did you know it is even the perfect food for math class? The formula for determining the volume […]
Why Does Sesame Street’s Count Like to Count?
Children have been learning how to count with the help of Sesame Street’s Count von Count for nearly fifty years. The purple-skinned vampire is well named, since he derives much more pleasure […]
The World’s Most Complex Game is Too Complicated for a Computer
If you are one of those people who have difficulty remembering the rules for games, you may wish to avoid Magic. It has been classified as the most complex game in existence. […]
The Indiana Pi Bill and the Attempt to Redefine Mathematics Through Legislative Fiat
Do you remember when you first learned of the concept of π? Have mathematics always been at least a little bit difficult for you? Haven’t you wished you could just pass a […]
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