Personal Blogs

The word 'dermatoglyphics' refers to the study of patterns on the skin. It's of interest to word-puzzle enthusiasts (as well detectives; think fingerprints) because at 15 letters it weighs in as one of the longest words in English with no repeated letters.

Imagine we scramble the letters completely at random, to get an anagram: for example 'eymrsopahcdgtli'. Suppose we try many of these anagrams and count the number of letters that are in the same position as they were in the original 'dermatoglyphics'. The count can be anything from 0 to 13, or 15. What will its average value be?

Just a jester

Fourier analysis, named after Joseph Fourier (1768 - 1830), is a branch of mathematics of huge importance in modern technology.

A little-known fact is that Fourier once had a short-term position at a Cambridge college, where he was very highly regarded. When he came to leave the college all the other dons gathered and sang “Fourier’s a jolly good fellow!”

People said baking was difficult. But it turned out a piece of cake.

Q. What kind of cheese weighs a thousand kilos and never moves?

A. The still ton.

I just watched this talk where the speaker said we can't deal with uncertainty. I wasn’t sure he was right.

“I adore timber-framed houses”, Tom ———

Drill down for the answer

ξ

Beamed

What shall it profit a person, if they understand a thing, but cannot explain it to the world?

The rose whispered to me

Can you not see that I am dying?

No I replied

All roses live forever

Little rose you can carry us both

And to wherever we want

Because love is a miraculous vehicle.