How Many Desks?

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(C)Copyright 2023, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

When math teachers proctor science exams...

The problems are left as an exercise for the reader ... or the teacher, if one wishes to use them in class. It can be stipulated that there are whole numbers of students and desks.

These are not Calendar Math problems (meaning that they didn't appear on a published calendar), but they would work for a calendar because the answer is not greater than 31. You wouldn't want more than 31 students at the same time anyway! (The maximum number is subject to contract negotiations, of course.)

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Square and Triangular Numbers

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(C)Copyright 2023, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

It only makes sense that you can cut a square into two triangles, right?

This is another calendar puzzle, which may or may not have been submitted in time to be posted online as an answer to a question.

Again, it's not my intention to make these comics the norm, but time being what it is, I'm not sure where this comic will go.

I would like to get to 2,000 comics. And I'd like to go beyond that. So I'm not quitting. It's just that it's sometimes difficult to get excited enough to spend a few hours making these comics. And then, once created, getting them uploaded and the blog posts written. This comic, for example, was ready to run in advance, but the post was still a last-minute endeavor.

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Factors and Perfect Squares

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(C)Copyright 2023, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

What do you get when you multiply six times nine?

Something fundamentally wrong with this comic, perhaps.

Okay, so this started as the answer to a calendar puzzle (which, as of this writing, has not been posted. The original didn't have Mark in it. But since it did have 42, it made sense to add him to my comic. It would've made less sense for the calendar solving folks as they're less familiar with my characters and what they usually wear.

Since it wasn't posted, I didn't want this to go to waste. Unfortunately, I realize that everything hinges on an arbitrary puzzle, but I didn't want to rewrite all the dialogue to add extra jokes. Such is life. At least we now know that Mark and Brigid have something in common... assuming Mark knows the significance of the number 42, that is.

UPDATE: The comic literally posted as I was preparing this blog entry. The calendar caretaker had been traveling and hadn't seen my email. It appears here: https://twitter.com/Daily_Epsilon/status/1647697967791640577.

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Swift Solutions

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(C)Copyright 2023, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

I hope the puns don't cause Bad Blood.

This was a calendar puzzle. The question appeared on April 1, and the answer was posted on April 2. In a saner world, I would've had a chance to post this sooner than April 4 instead of a Blank Space. Would've, Could've, Should've. Don't blame me. I know All Too Well.

This is me trying.

Okay, I'm done now.

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Number Substitution Puzzle

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(C)Copyright 2022, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Are you primed for homework?

As a simple substitution problem, there are only 9 letters in the puzzle and 10 digits to choose from. We know that 0 must be one of the numbers in play.

As explained in the comic, we know that three of the letters must represent 9, 1, and 0. That leaves a number of possibilities for D and N which must add up to 9.

This is where the "meta-puzzle" comes in. If we ignore the actual words, there are 8 possibilities that can be found using 7 & 2, 2 & 7, 3 & 6, and 6 & 3. If you use 4 & 5, then you will have to repeat a digit.

If, according to the meta-puzzle, ODD must be odd, then D must be 7 or 3. (Again, 5 won't work, but feel free to try it.)

These now have four solutions because "O" and "V" will be interchangeable. That is, there is nothing to prevent you from switching those two place values.

Of these four solutions, there will actually be only two distinct totals (because switching O and V doesn't affect its sum). Of those two, one will be a prime number and one will not. There will be an easy divisibility test to see which one is composite.

A big Thank You has to go to Rebecca Rappaport and her math-a-day calendar, where this puzzle came from. In that puzzle, you were asked for the sum of P + R + E, which is 1 + 0 + 9 = 10. This puzzle appeared yesterday on the tenth. I wrote the "official" solution, which didn't require a full solution, but I wanted to do one anyway. I didn't take the ODDness or EVENess or PRIMEness into account when I mentioned 8 solutions.

I also write Fiction! You can now preorder Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Preorder the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Calendar Problems 2

As mentioned in other posts, I follow the "Math a Day" Calendar posts on Twitter, and I've even supplied the "official" answer a few times.

I like them so much that I starting using them as warmups in my own classes. The problem was that sometimes the question was at a level beyond my students' current abilities or they were just trivial in nature. Moreover, if an AP walked in, I'd think that they'd prefer to see a "Do Now" that related to what was being covered that day. To that extent, I started writing some of my own.

What follows are a handful of the calendar problems that I created. If any of Rebecca Rappaport's snuck through, allow me to apologize in advance for the error. The answers to each should be a whole number between 1 and 31. The ones below are not necessarily sequential.

If this is popular, I can make it a regular thing. Maybe every other Thursday or so, assuming I have enough to post (and I remember to schedule the post).

As always, math teachers are welcome to use these in their classrooms. If you put them online, please credit this blog. And a link would be nice. Maybe a comment saying "Howdy"? Please refrain from adding them from things that you intend to sell.

Enjoy!

Calendar Problems

As mentioned in other posts, I follow the "Math a Day" Calendar posts on Twitter, and I've even supplied the "official" answer a few times.

I like them so much that I starting using them as warmups in my own classes. The problem was that sometimes the question was at a level beyond my students' current abilities or they were just trivial in nature. Moreover, if an AP walked in, I'd think that they'd prefer to see a "Do Now" that related to what was being covered that day. To that extent, I started writing some of my own.

What follows are a handful of the calendar problems that I created. If any of Rebecca Rappaport's snuck through, allow me to apologize in advance for the error. The answers to each should be a whole number between 1 and 31. The ones below are not necessarily sequential.

If this is popular, I can make it a regular thing. Maybe every other Thursday or so, assuming I have enough to post (and I remember to schedule the post).

As always, math teachers are welcome to use these in their classrooms. If you put them online, please credit this blog. And a link would be nice. Maybe a comment saying "Howdy"? Please refrain from adding them from things that you intend to sell.

Enjoy!

Another Pair of Pants

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(C)Copyright 2021, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Some people just don't understand fashion. That would include me. Some people just don't understand topology. That would aslo include me.

Following up on yesterday's pants discussion, a pants decomposition of a surface is a collection of curves cycles that splits the surface into a set of pants patches. Don't you hate it when your pants split? The jokes could write themselves, but I think the mathematicians already did that for us deliberately.

I figured Cali would be a good student for modeling ripped jeans. And Moira would most likely appreciate them.

Bonus Comic

As you may know, I sometimes give the "official" answers to Calendar Math problems, and sometimes I do this by making a comic out the answer. I was able to present the answer for the January 5, 2022 puzzle. Since it isn't a standalone comic, but a straight explanation, I'm putting it here as a Bonus comic. The question is included.

I also write Fiction! You can now preorder Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Preorder the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

(x, why?) Mini: Pair of Pants

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(C)Copyright 2021, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Don't answer questions about Volume, either. And don't ever, EVER, look first!

A "pair of pants" is any surface that is homeomorphic (topologically equivalent to another space of figure) to a sphere with three holes. The figure on the left is a pair of pants represented in space while the figure on the right is a pair of pants represented on a plane. (And before I colored it, it reminded me of a face that I could use in a future comic.)

Even when asked, when it comes to your partner's pair of pants, tread lightly when making an equivalence with anyone else's figure!

Bonus Comic

As you may know, I sometimes give the "official" answers to Calendar Math problems, and sometimes I do this by making a comic out the answer. I was able to present the answer for the January 1, 2022 puzzle. Since it isn't a standalone comic, but a straight explanation, I'm putting it here as a Bonus comic. The question is included.

I also write Fiction! You can now preorder Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Preorder the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Bonus Comic: Calendar Math

Welcome to everyone who found my blog through the daily math calendar. My answer for the June 6, 2021 puzzle appeared on Twitter today. (Link is coming -- I can't do Twitter at work, except on my phone. And I can't update the blog on my phone.)

For my blog readers, this is the comic that appeared today. The question being asked in the puzzle is in the first panel. The answer is the date (or, I should say, yesterday's date).

You can find more Comics by scrolling down, or clicking on the "Comic" tag.

You can also find them at Comic Genesis but that site is a couple months out of date.