Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 31-8-2020: The Number 31.

31st August, 2020.

Right …

First things first, how does that introduction video look?

I think the new comic filters in iMovie look good: but wanted to get your opinion …

The other bit … ?

It’s the last day of August and I’m concerned that the new Blogger interface will kick in.

Whether I want it to or not, and whether Google’s ironed out the bugs.

We’ll have to see what happens.

In either case … ?

There was a decided nip in the air.

Enough nip to put the heating on for five minutes.

Winter’s coming …

~≈®≈~

You’ll possibly remember that — in yesterday’s post — I mentioned how a bag of human remains had been found in a river near Sudbury.

That’s not much extra news, today.

Although this piece has floated across the BBC’s site.

It seems an initial post-mortem has proved inconclusive … and that further tests are needed.

Here’s hoping those prove fruitful.

~≈®≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Olga* and Debbi† putting in their answers: with both scoring ten out of ten.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the How To, License and video …

Q1) Is 31 odd or even?

Q2) Is 31 a prime number?

Q3) Name any one of the 31 day months.

Q4) What’s 31 in binary?

Q5) What’s 31: in Roman numerals?

Q6) 31BC saw Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian become Roman consul for the third time.   Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian is better known how?

Q7) AD 31 started on which day of the week?

Q8) Section 31 is fictional spying organisation: in which science fiction franchise?

Q9) What was the 31st state to join the USA?

Q10) Finally … ?   Who wrote the novel, 31 Songs?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) Is thirty (30) a prime number?
A1) No.

Q2) Is thirty (30) odd or even?
A2) Even.

Q3) What’s thirty (30) in Roman numerals?
A3) XXX: also written as xxx.

Q4) Thirty (30) is the atomic number of Zinc.   Zinc and copper make what?
A4) Brass.

Q5) A thirty (30) sided dice has thirty sides.   What shape are each of the sides?
A5) A Rhombus.   They’re what’s occasionally called a lozenge.   (The technical term is Rhombic triacontahedron.   The acute angles on each face are equal to 2 tan−1(1/φ) = tan−1(2).   Apparently …)

Q6) NGC30 is a what: a black hole, double star or globular cluster?
A6) A double star.

Q7) Thirty (30) days has September, April, June and … what?
A7) November.

Q8) 30th February has only ever been used once, in a calendar: in 1712.   In which European country?
A8) Sweden’s.   Apparently, they were reforming the calendar, got involved in a war, then had to insert an additional, extra leap day, in 1712.

Q9) Which country’s alphabet has thirty (30) letters: Greece’s, Bulgaria’s or Russia’s?
A9) Bulgaria’s.

Q10) Finally … ?   30-Love, 30-15, 30-30 and 30-40 are scores in which sport?
A10) Tennis.

Here’s a thought …

“31 (thirty-one) is the natural number following 30 and preceding 32.”
From the Wikipedia entry on 31.

And a song …

Today’s questions will be answered in tomorrow’s Teaser.

Have a good day.


*        Oooh … !   I’ll have to look Fermat’s Room up, Olga!   It sounds interesting.   Fermat’s Theorem was a fascinating thing that took years to solve‡!   About three and a half centuries!   (Apparently, the proof comes in handy for encrypting messages sent on things like WhatsApp and FB Messenger.)

†        Blimey, an housing project?   The last time I heard one of them mentioned, Debbi, was in Candyman!   At ANY rate, I might just have to do a Teaser set on the place: if I can hang it on a date!   It’d probably have to be ten questions, if that’s OK?   Five questions isn’t enough for New York!

‡        It’s based on Pythagora’s Theorem.   The one that says “The sum of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square of the other two sides”?   In other words, we’ve got a right angled triangle with sides called x, y and z^: z is the longest side, and it’s opposite the right angled corner.   Pythagoras said x²+y²=z².   Fermat said that the formula doesn’t work if you raise x, y and z to the power of three, four, or anything else.   THEN became notorious when he wrote “I have proof of this, but this margin is too narrow to contain it” in one his diaries.   That annoyed mathematicians for three and a half centuries.   (Apparently, the proof involved prime numbers.   If you proved the formula didn’t work for — say — 13, you also prove it can’t work for multiples of 13.)

^        It’s easy to check: if x, y and z equal 3, 4 and 5, you get 3²+4²=5², which is 9+16=25 … um …