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UW Challenge April 28 2008

This week’s problem: Andrew has n3 white cubes of the size 1 x 1 x 1. He wants to construct an n x n x n cube with all its faces being completely white. Find the minimal number of the faces of small cubes that Basil must paint black in order to prevent Andrew from […]

Posted in Math and Physics | 1 Comment »

Online Moving Sale - Books, Stuff

TBD: A Proper Post about my new job at Wolfram Research, the makers of Mathematica; leaving Isilon and Seattle; going (back) to Champaign Illinois, and life in general.
But: I need to get rid of A Lot Of Stuff before we move, including (click on the links to see proper updated lists with details):

A bunch of […]

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

UW Challenge April 21 2008

This week’s problem: Find the minimum number of squares that are required to draw a complete n x n grid. For example, when n = 2, the answer is 3, as three squares suffice: a 2×2 and two 1×1 squares (draw a picture!); moreover it is easy to see it can’t be […]

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UW Math Challenge of the Week Winner

The UW Math Department offers a weekly challenge, with a small prize picked each week. A couple weeks ago, they picked me, much to my surprise :-).

While I only do these for fun, and the intent is for the prize to go to Undergrads, then Grad students, and finally Faculty, it was nice to be […]

Posted in Math and Physics | No Comments »