Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Sfogliato da
Categoria: Math and numbers

Gödel’s Theorem

Gödel’s Theorem

Italian version In 1930, the Austrian logician and mathematician Kurt Gödel, one of the most profound minds of the century, formulated his two incompleteness theorems. The first theorem states that a formal system that includes arithmetic cannot be both consistent—that is, free of contradictions—and complete—that is, capable of proving all the truths of the system. If we do not want to sacrifice consistency, we must accept that there are propositions that cannot be proven—the so-called undecidable propositions.The liar’s paradox offers…

Leggi tutto Leggi tutto

The public debt and the Bible

The public debt and the Bible

Italian version In the category Math and numbers, in addition to topics related to mathematics, I decided to write articles that show us numbers related to the reality we live in. This is the first article of this kind. Several years ago, if I remember correctly at the end of the 1990s, I had the opportunity to attend a show by Giorgio Gaber, a famous italian artist. Gaber was a genius; his songs and monologues stimulated deep reflections on our…

Leggi tutto Leggi tutto

Vedic mathematics and the division by 109

Vedic mathematics and the division by 109

Italian version In my previous article Vedic mathematics and fast calculus, I talked about the curiosity aroused by early readings on Vedic mathematics, which originates from the Hindu sacred texts, the Vedas. I was amazed when I learned that the four elementary operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) can be performed differently from what we learned in primary school. This is just one of the special features of Vedic mathematics, which contains many “alternative” calculus techniques that are excellent exercises in…

Leggi tutto Leggi tutto

Vedic mathematics and fast calculus

Vedic mathematics and fast calculus

Italian version A few years ago my friend Andrea, an elementary school teacher, invited me to teach a math lesson as part of a school project. He told me that I could freely choose the topic to present to a mixed class of elementary school children, ages 8 to 10. I remember that I enthusiastically welcomed this proposal, and when I thought about the topic to propose, it occurred to me that a few months earlier I had heard about…

Leggi tutto Leggi tutto