#21 Six weeks of seconds
Which number is bigger:
The product of all the whole numbers from 1 to 10 inclusively, sometimes written as 10 factorial or 10!
or
The number of seconds in six weeks?
Can you work it out without resorting to a calculator?
Answer next week
#20 Caesar cipher
Solution
You can get from 3 to 47 using the Caesar cipher 鈥� the method that Julius Caesar used to encrypt messages, by shifting letters a fixed number of places up the alphabet.
If you shift the word THREE by four places, you get XLVII, which is 47 in Roman numerals.
Coincidentally, if you convert the letters of the alphabet into numbers, A=1, B=2, and so on, then C=3, and C+A+E+S+A+R = 47.
Quick quiz #20
1 Chytrid fungus has devastated populations of what class of animals around the globe in recent years?
2 What letter refers to a class of string theory in 11 dimensions that is a leading contender for a unifying theory of physics?
3 Orographic rainfall is caused by what?
4 Where are Phobos and Deimos?
5 Which German semiconductor physicist became a byword for scientific impropriety in 2002 when it was revealed he had mainly made up his spectacular results?
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Quick Quiz #20
Answers
1 Amphibians, particularly frogs
2 M-theory. The M stands for 鈥渕agic鈥�, 鈥渕ystery鈥�, 鈥渕embrane鈥� or possibly something else
3 Water-laden air rising over mountains
4 Orbiting Mars 鈥� they are its two moons
5 Jan Hendrik Sch枚n