Interesting Maths Facts
March 9, 2018 Leave a comment
- Notches (cuts or indentation) on animal bones prove that humans have been doing mathematics since around 30,000 BC.
- Ancient Greeks used little rocks to represent numbers. The name of Calculus means pebbles in Greek.
- The = sign (“equals sign”) was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing “is equal to” in his equations.
- The word hundred is derived from the word “hundrath”, which actually means 120 and not 100.
- Zero (0) is the only number which cannot be represented by Roman numerals.
- Many Chinese hospitals do not have a 4th floor because the words four in Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean (shi, sei, si, sa) sound the same as the words in those languages for death.
- Forty is the only number with letters in alphabetical order, while one is the only one with letters in reverse order.
- The number 5 is pronounced as ‘Ha‘ in Thai language. 555 is also used by some as slang for ‘HaHaHa’.
- Zero is an even number. Mathematicians remember it. Many people take longer to decide whether it is even or odd.