20 Things You Didn’t Know About Math!

Mathematics is a very interesting subject. From its rich history to different tricks and tips, mathematics lays down a number of amazing facts to help students get involved with this subject in a better way. There is plenty of fun and strange math-related facts out there that will fascinate children of all ages. We’ve compiled a list of 20 cool things you didn’t know about math that are fun and fascinating. This list of facts about math you can use to show your friends math is everywhere: in nature, in the classroom and everywhere else we look.

20 Interesting Facts about Maths

1. There are types of interesting numbers in mathematics. One such number is a hundred. The number 100 does not actually mean 100. It is derived from the Old Norse word “hundrath,” which actually means 120.
2. Did you know that the number 0.999999…is equal to 1?  Mind-boggling… but here is an example to prove it: Let x=0.9999…Then 10x = 9.9999…10x-x =(9.9999…)-(0.9999…), then 9x=9, finally x=1
3. ‘FOUR’ is the only number in the English language that is spelled with the same number of letters as the number itself.
4. The reason Americans call mathematics “math”, is because they argue that “mathematics” functions as a singular noun so ‘math’ should be singular too.
5. From 0 to 1000, the only number that has the letter ‘A’ in it is ‘one thousand’.
6. Every odd number has an “e” in it.
7. Among all shapes with the same perimeter, a circle has the largest area.
8. The sum of the digits of the number added to 9 is always equal to the sum of the digits of the result.
9. The only Shakespeare play to contain the word ‘mathematics’ is the Taming of the Shrew.
10. The easiest way to remember the value of Pi (3.1415926) is by counting each word’s letter in ‘May I have a large container of coffee’.
11. The only number in English that is spelled with its letters in alphabetical order is ‘forty’. And one is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order.
12. A year isn’t exactly 365 days — it’s 365.2564 days! That’s why we have a leap year every four years.
13. In a room of just 23 people, there’s a 50% chance that two people have the same birthday.
14. There are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 ways to scramble a Rubik’s Cube.
15. The equal sign ‘=’ was invented by an English mathematician in 1557. In his book Robert Recorde explains: ‘…to avoid the tedious repetition of these words: “is equal to”, I will set (as I do often in work use) a pair of parallels, or Gemowe lines, of one length (thus =), because no two things can be more equal.’
16. We all know that primes are numbers that can only be divided by themselves and 1 (such as 2,3,5,7, etc). But what would be the highest prime number you can think of? The largest prime number known so far is 2^57,885,161-1, a 17,425,170 digit number. The new largest-known prime is the third discovered by Curtis Cooper of the University of Central Missouri, who was running Gimps software on 1,000 university computers. It took one of the PCs 39 days of non-stop computing to check it was indeed prime.
17. The power of exponential growth is shocking. You can actually reach the moon by folding a paper of 0.01mm 45 times.
18. 111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321
19. Zero Is the Only Number That Can’t Be Represented In Roman Numerals
20. If you multiply 6 by an even number, the answer will end with the same digit. The number in the ten’s place will be half of the number in the one’s place.

These math fun facts will help students get involved with this subject in a better way. These facts can also be used for various GK quizzes and questions. Apart from this, it can also be an interesting way to amaze your friends and become a Maths Guru. How do you make Maths fun? Young children are drawn to math-related games, mainly because for them it’s a game, not a math problem. You can browse through some of our best math resources for kids that will help motivate their interest in the subject.

Wow, after hearing those facts about maths, we’re positive that the young person in your life will no longer think that the subject is ‘uncool.’ That said, if you’re looking for an additional tool to help your child engage with maths, you should check out our best math apps.

Do you know any more fascinating maths facts?