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Arithmetic Billiards
In recreational mathematics, arithmetic billiards provide a geometrical method to determine the least common multiple and the greatest common divisor of two natural numbers by making use of reflections inside a rectangle whose sides are the two given numbers. This is an easy example of trajectory analysis of dynamical billiards. Arithmetic billiards have been discussed as mathematical puzzles by Hugo Steinhaus and Martin Gardner, and are known to mathematics teachers under the name 'Paper Pool'. They have been used as a source of questions in mathematical circles. The arithmetic billiard path Consider a rectangle with integer sides, and construct a path inside this rectangle as follows: * start in a corner, and move along the straight line which makes a 45° angle with the sides; * every time that the path hits a side, reflect it with the same angle (the path makes either a left or a right 90° turn); * eventually (i.e. after a finite number of reflections) the path hits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Least Common Multiple
In arithmetic and number theory, the least common multiple, lowest common multiple, or smallest common multiple of two integers ''a'' and ''b'', usually denoted by lcm(''a'', ''b''), is the smallest positive integer that is divisible by both ''a'' and ''b''. Since division of integers by zero is undefined, this definition has meaning only if ''a'' and ''b'' are both different from zero. However, some authors define lcm(''a'',0) as 0 for all ''a'', since 0 is the only common multiple of ''a'' and 0. The lcm is the "lowest common denominator" (lcd) that can be used before fractions can be added, subtracted or compared. The least common multiple of more than two integers ''a'', ''b'', ''c'', . . . , usually denoted by lcm(''a'', ''b'', ''c'', . . .), is also well defined: It is the smallest positive integer that is divisible by each of ''a'', ''b'', ''c'', . . . Overview A multiple of a number is the product of that number and an integer. For example, 10 is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greatest Common Divisor
In mathematics, the greatest common divisor (GCD) of two or more integers, which are not all zero, is the largest positive integer that divides each of the integers. For two integers ''x'', ''y'', the greatest common divisor of ''x'' and ''y'' is denoted \gcd (x,y). For example, the GCD of 8 and 12 is 4, that is, \gcd (8, 12) = 4. In the name "greatest common divisor", the adjective "greatest" may be replaced by "highest", and the word "divisor" may be replaced by "factor", so that other names include highest common factor (hcf), etc. Historically, other names for the same concept have included greatest common measure. This notion can be extended to polynomials (see Polynomial greatest common divisor) and other commutative rings (see below). Overview Definition The ''greatest common divisor'' (GCD) of two nonzero integers and is the greatest positive integer such that is a divisor of both and ; that is, there are integers and such that and , and is the larges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dynamical Billiards
A dynamical billiard is a dynamical system in which a particle alternates between free motion (typically as a straight line) and specular reflections from a boundary. When the particle hits the boundary it reflects from it without loss of speed (i.e. elastic collisions). Billiards are Hamiltonian idealizations of the game of billiards, but where the region contained by the boundary can have shapes other than rectangular and even be multidimensional. Dynamical billiards may also be studied on non-Euclidean geometries; indeed, the first studies of billiards established their ergodic motion on surfaces of constant negative curvature. The study of billiards which are kept out of a region, rather than being kept in a region, is known as outer billiard theory. The motion of the particle in the billiard is a straight line, with constant energy, between reflections with the boundary (a geodesic if the Riemannian metric of the billiard table is not flat). All reflections are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and G. K. Chesterton.Martin (2010) He was also a leading authority on Lewis Carroll. '' The Annotated Alice'', which incorporated the text of Carroll's two Alice books, was his most successful work and sold over a million copies. He had a lifelong interest in magic and illusion and in 1999, MAGIC magazine named him as one of the "100 Most Influential Magicians of the Twentieth Century". He was considered the doyen of American puzzlers. He was a prolific and versatile author, publishing more than 100 books. Gardner was best known for creating and sustaining interest in recreational mathematicsand by extension, mathematics in generalthroughout the latter half of the 20th century, principally through his " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zigzag
A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular. In geometry, this pattern is described as a skew apeirogon. From the point of view of symmetry, a regular zigzag can be generated from a simple motif like a line segment by repeated application of a glide reflection. Although the origin of the word is unclear, its first printed appearances were in French-language books and ephemera of the late 17th century. Examples of zigzags The trace of a triangle wave or a sawtooth wave is a zigzag. Pinking shears are designed to cut cloth or paper with a zigzag edge, to lessen fraying. In sewing, a '' zigzag stitch'' is a machine stitch in a zigzag pattern. The zigzag arch is an architectural embellishment used in Islamic, Byzantine, Norman and Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coprime
In mathematics, two integers and are coprime, relatively prime or mutually prime if the only positive integer that is a divisor of both of them is 1. Consequently, any prime number that divides does not divide , and vice versa. This is equivalent to their greatest common divisor (GCD) being 1. One says also '' is prime to '' or '' is coprime with ''. The numbers 8 and 9 are coprime, despite the fact that neither considered individually is a prime number, since 1 is their only common divisor. On the other hand, 6 and 9 are not coprime, because they are both divisible by 3. The numerator and denominator of a reduced fraction are coprime, by definition. Notation and testing Standard notations for relatively prime integers and are: and . In their 1989 textbook '' Concrete Mathematics'', Ronald Graham, Donald Knuth, and Oren Patashnik proposed that the notation a\perp b be used to indicate that and are relatively prime and that the term "prime" be used instead of coprime ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Factorisation
In number theory, integer factorization is the decomposition of a composite number into a product of smaller integers. If these factors are further restricted to prime numbers, the process is called prime factorization. When the numbers are sufficiently large, no efficient non-quantum integer factorization algorithm is known. However, it has not been proven that such an algorithm does not exist. The presumed difficulty of this problem is important for the algorithms used in cryptography such as RSA public-key encryption and the RSA digital signature. Many areas of mathematics and computer science have been brought to bear on the problem, including elliptic curves, algebraic number theory, and quantum computing. In 2019, Fabrice Boudot, Pierrick Gaudry, Aurore Guillevic, Nadia Heninger, Emmanuel Thomé and Paul Zimmermann factored a 240-digit (795-bit) number ( RSA-240) utilizing approximately 900 core-years of computing power. The researchers estimated that a 1024-bit RSA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
