September 2010 - mathfun@mailman.xmission.com

[math-fun] muffin problem -- clusters and bounds
by Huddleston, Scott 01 Dec '17

01 Dec '17

I enclose examples of some of the bounds in my 28 Feb. post, and a derivation of the most involved example. S(12/7) = 3/7 = r/4 = (3-r)/3 Muffins: 1/7 * { [3,4]*12 } Persons: 1/7 * { [4*3]*4, [3*4]*3 } S(7/4) = 5/12 = (3-r)/3 = (2r-1)/6 Muffins: 1/12 * { [5,7]*6, [6*2] } Persons: 1/12 * { [5*3,6]*2, [7*3]*2 } S(40/23) = 19/46 = (2r-1)/6 = (12-5r)/8 Muffins: 1/46 * { [19,27]*24, [20,26]*12, [23*2]*4 } Persons: 1/46 * { [19*3,23]*8, [20*4]*3, [27*2,26]*12 } S(228/131) = 54/131 = (12-5r)/8 = (7r-6)/15 Muffins: 1/131 * { [54,77]*120, [55,76]*24, [57,74]*60, [65,66]*24 } Persons: 1/131 * { [54*3,66]*24, [54*2,55,65]*24, [57*4]*15, [77*2,74]*60, [76*3]*8 } S(449/258) = 319/774 = (7r-6)/15 = (73-32r)/42 Muffins: 1/774 * { [319,455]*210, [320,454]*30, [325,449]*42, [336,438]*30, [337,437]*90, [384,398]*42, [387*2]*5 } Persons: 1/774 * { [319*3,390]*42, [319*2,325,384]*42, [320*3,387]*10, [336,337*3]*30, [455*2,437]*90, [455,454,438]*30, [449*3]*14 } Here's a derivation of 449/258 example. 449 muffins -> 898 pieces, used in 124 4-parts with 496 pieces and 134 3-parts with 402 pieces. We split muffins between a 3-part and a 4-part when possible, but 4-parts contain 94 more pieces than 3-parts. We divide these 94 pieces (47 muffins) as evenly as possible among the 124 4-parts. 47 pairs of 4-parts contain both halves of a muffin, which I'll call an A^1 cluster and write A^1 = [a1*3,m]*2 where m denotes the two muffin halves and the other pieces are denoted a1, indicating a set of pieces of possibly different sizes that occure in A^1 clusters. 34 4-parts contain only muffin pieces whose mates appear in 3-parts. These I call A^0 clusters and write A^0 = [a0*4] The 449/258 example uses 30 A^0 clusters ([a0*4])*30 (120 a0 pieces, 30 4-parts) 47 A^1 clusters ([a1*3,m]*2)*47 (282 a1 pieces, 94 4-parts) Note that the A^1 cluster by itself sets an upper bound on S -- the cluster is 2 persons (size 2r), it cntains 1 complete muffin (size 1, pieces m*2), and it has 6 unmatched muffin pieces (a1*6), giving S(449/258) <= avg(a1) = (2r-1)/6. A^0 clusters also bound S by S(449/258) <= avg(a0) = r/4, but the A^1 cluster bound is tighter. Note that this (2r-1)/6 bound holds for examples 7/4 and 40/23. The muffin mates of a0 pieces (resp. a1 pieces) are z0 pieces (resp. z1 pieces). We distribute z0 and z1 pieces as evenly as possible across the 134 3-parts (402 pieces). With 282 z1 pieces, at least 14 3-parts must consist of only z1 pieces. These are Z^0 clusters, Z^0 = [z1*3] = [z10*3] where I refine piece labels so that z1 pieces appearing in Z^0 clusters are labelled z10. I create general Z^k clusters by finding minimal sets of persons that contain complete a0/z0 muffins. Maximally even distribution of the 120 z0 pieces places one per 3-part. Then a Z^1 cluster, closed under a0/z0 muffins, is Z^1 = [a0*4],[z0,z1*2]*4 = A^0,[z0,z11*2]*4 where z1 pieces appearing in Z^1 clusters are relabelled z11. Z^0 clusters bound S by S(449/258) <= avg(a10) = 1-avg(z10) = 1-r/3 = (3-r)/3 and Z^1 clusters provide an even tighter bound S(449/258) <= avg(a11) = 1-avg(z11) = 1-(5r-4)/8 = (12-5r)/8. The 449/258 example uses 14 Z^0 clusters = ([z10*3])*14 ( 42 z10 pieces, 14 3-parts) 30 Z^1 clusters = (A^0,[z0,z11*2]*4)*30 (240 z11 pieces, 120 3-parts) As before, we refine the labelling of a1 pieces into a10 and a11 pieces, according to z10 or z11 complements. The next level of clustering is constructed by taking closure under a10/z10 muffins. The 282 a1 pieces in the 47 A^1 clusters are divided into 240 a11 pieces and 42 a10 pieces. Thus at least 5 A^1 clusters must contain only a11 pieces, and with maximally even distribution we have 42 A^1 clusters with 1 a10 piece and 5 a11 pieces. Continuing to refine pieces according to their appearance in A^10 or A^11 clusters, we have A^10 = A^1 = {a110*6, ...} (6 a110 pieces and some other pieces) A^11 = Z^0, (A^1)*3 = (a111*15, ...) with 449/258 consisting of 5 A^10 clusters ( 5 A^1 clusters, 30 a110 pieces) 14 A^11 clusters (42 A^1 clusters, 252 a111 pieces) A^11 clusters provide bound S(449/258) <= avg(a111) = (7r-6)/15 The 449/258 example lies on the intersection of this bound and the next level cluster bound. The next cluster level takes a110/z110 muffin closure and induces clusters Z^10 = Z^1 Z^11 = A^10, (Z^1)*6 with 449/258 consisting of 0 Z^10 clusters 5 Z^11 clusters (i.e., only Z^11 clusters) and bound S(449/258) <= avg(a1111) = 1-avg(z1111) = (73-32r)/42. I conclude with some computer generated additional information on these bounds. If anyone sort of understands this post and would like to use my program as is (i.e., no manual and documentation is mostly my posts), drop me a note and I'll send the C++ source (300 lines). B<4>(r) = (1r-0)/4; S'(r) <= B<4>(r) on (3/2,2/1] tight bound on (3/2,8/5] and at r = (4+8k)/(2+5k) (3/2,8/5] contains mediant(3/2,8/5) = 11/7 S'( (3/2,8/5] ) = (3/8,2/5]; S'(11/7) = 11/28 B<>(r) = (1-0r)/2 B<4>(r) = B<>(r) at r = 2/1 = 2.0000000 S'(2/1) = 1/2 = 0.50000000 B<4,1>(r) = (3-1r)/3; S'(r) <= B<4,1>(r) on [12/7,2/1) tight bound on [9/5,2/1) and at r = (12+9k)/(7+5k) [9/5,2/1) contains mediant(9/5,2/1) = 11/6 S'( [9/5,2/1) ) = [2/5,1/3); S'(11/6) = 7/18 B<4>(r) = (1r-0)/4 B<4,1>(r) = B<4>(r) at r = 12/7 = 1.7142857 S'(12/7) = 3/7 = 0.42857143 B<4,1,1>(r) = (2r-1)/6; S'(r) <= B<4,1,1>(r) on (12/7,7/4] tight bound on (12/7,59/34] and at r = (21+59k)/(12+34k) (12/7,59/34] contains mediant(12/7,7/4) = 19/11 S'( (12/7,59/34] ) = (17/42,7/17]; S'(19/11) = 9/22 B<4,1>(r) = (3-1r)/3 B<4,1,1>(r) = B<4,1>(r) at r = 7/4 = 1.7500000 S'(7/4) = 5/12 = 0.41666667 B<4,1,1,1>(r) = (12-5r)/8; S'(r) <= B<4,1,1,1>(r) on [40/23,7/4) tight bound on [148/85,7/4) and at r = (80+148k)/(46+85k) [148/85,7/4) contains mediant(47/27,7/4) = 54/31 S'( [148/85,7/4) ) = [7/17,13/32); S'(54/31) = 51/124 B<4,1,1>(r) = (2r-1)/6 B<4,1,1,1>(r) = B<4,1,1>(r) at r = 40/23 = 1.7391304 S'(40/23) = 19/46 = 0.41304348 B<4,1,1,1,1>(r) = (7r-6)/15; S'(r) <= B<4,1,1,1,1>(r) on (40/23,228/131] tight bound on (40/23,1119/643] and at r = (228+1119k)/(131+643k) (40/23,1119/643] contains mediant(40/23,47/27) = 87/50 S'( (40/23,1119/643] ) = (142/345,265/643]; S'(87/50) = 103/250 B<4,1,1,1>(r) = (12-5r)/8 B<4,1,1,1,1>(r) = B<4,1,1,1>(r) at r = 228/131 = 1.7404580 S'(228/131) = 54/131 = 0.41221374 B<4,1,1,1,1,1>(r) = (73-32r)/42; S'(r) <= B<4,1,1,1,1,1>(r) on [449/258,228/131) tight bound on [9349/5372,228/131) and at r = (1347+9349k)/(774+5372k) [9349/5372,228/131) contains mediant(134/77,47/27) = 181/104 S'( [9349/5372,228/131) ) = [1107/2686,2267/5502); S'(181/104) = 75/182 B<4,1,1,1,1>(r) = (7r-6)/15 B<4,1,1,1,1,1>(r) = B<4,1,1,1,1>(r) at r = 449/258 = 1.7403101 S'(449/258) = 319/774 = 0.41214470 B<4,1,1,1,1,1,1>(r) = (61r-60)/112; S'(r) <= B<4,1,1,1,1,1,1>(r) on (449/258,764/439] tight bound on (449/258,149516/85913] and at r = (10696+149516k)/(6146+85913k) (449/258,149516/85913] contains mediant(449/258,764/439) = 1213/697 S'( (449/258,149516/85913] ) = (11909/28896,35408/85913]; S'(1213/697) = 32173/78064 B<4,1,1,1,1,1>(r) = (73-32r)/42 B<4,1,1,1,1,1,1>(r) = B<4,1,1,1,1,1>(r) at r = 764/439 = 1.7403189 S'(764/439) = 2533/6146 = 0.41213798 B<4,1,1,1,1,1,1,1>(r) = (1101-487r)/615; S'(r) <= B<4,1,1,1,1,1,1,1>(r) on [160212/92059,764/439) tight bound on [1313469/754729,764/439) and at r = (160212+6567345k)/(92059+3773645k) [1313469/754729,764/439) contains mediant(19549/11233,764/439) = 20313/11672 S'( [1313469/754729,764/439) ) = [1555262/3773645,111271/269985); S'(20313/11672) = 986147/2392760 B<4,1,1,1,1,1,1>(r) = (61r-60)/112 B<4,1,1,1,1,1,1,1>(r) = B<4,1,1,1,1,1,1>(r) at r = 160212/92059 = 1.7403187 S'(160212/92059) = 37941/92059 = 0.41213787

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Re: [math-fun] Another(?) stick length illusion
by Dan Asimov 25 Aug '15

25 Aug '15

Huh? At least to the nearest pixel, both lines are the same length. They are corresponding diagonals of congruent regular pentagons. I find this to be an impressive illusion. --Dan << << To me the stick that is in fact longer looks like it is in fact longer. If they're supposed to be the same length I think your image needs a bit of editing. >> On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 4:31 PM, Bill Gosper <billgosper(a)gmail.com> wrote: > While hacking the pentagon fill, tutor Julian found > www.tweedledum.com/rwg/6pents.png, which seems to work backwards: > The stick larger than its context appears smaller than the > stick smaller than its context. >> _____________________________________________________________________ "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi." --Peter Schickele

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Re: [math-fun] parametrizing the Koch snowflake curve
by Bill Gosper 24 Apr '15

24 Apr '15

Fourier epicycles thru nth: (d16) sum(((product((1 - (( - 1)^j * tan(((%pi * (2 * k + (1/3)))/(2^j)))/(sqrt(3)))),j,1,inf)) * (%e)^(%i * (6 * k + 1) * t)/((2 * k + (1/3))^2)),k, - n,n) See http://www.tweedledum.com/rwg/cog.htm Also http://gosper.org/fst.dvi Pix: http://gosper.org/fst1.png ,http://gosper.org/fst2.png , http://gosper.org/fst3.png ,http://gosper.org/fst4.png . (For parametric, take Re and Im.) Rich's base 4 recursion loops for rational arg. Find the fixed point of the pending stack ops to simulate infinite recursion, and get an exact val on the curve. Equate to this Fourier series for a *non-obvious* identity. --rwg > If you view the starting triangle as running from 0 to 3, > and write the fraction base 4, you can use the > fraction digits to select which part of the (sub)edge > you are on. The orientation of the edge can be calculated > from the 1s and 2s of the high order portion of the fraction, > and that should give a somewhat kludgy sum for the (x,y) > coordinates of the image point. > RWG likely has some nice FFT clock sum expression. > > Rich > > > -----Original Message----- > From: math-fun-bounces(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto: math-fun-bounces(a)mailman.xmission.com] On > Behalf Of N. J. A. Sloane > Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 12:43 PM > To: math-fun(a)mailman.xmission.com > Cc: njas(a)research.att.com > Subject: Re: [math-fun] parametrizing the Koch snowflake curve > > Jim Propp asked: > >> Does anyone (Bill Gosper, maybe?) know an explicit parametrization > of the Koch snowflake curve? > > The Cantor set consists of the points 0 <= x <= 1 which have a base 3 "decimal" expansion that > does not contain a 1. Is there a similar characterization of the Koch snowflake? > > Neil Sloane > >

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[math-fun] sqrt(pi)
by Bill Gosper 24 Mar '13

24 Mar '13

Pairwise combining the terms of A&S 6.5.31 (upper Gamma CF), then adding last week's lower gamma CF: In[185]:= Equal[Gamma[ z], ((y^z*((1/(cfk[n*(z - n), -z + y + 2*n + 1, List[n, Infinity]] - z + y + 1)) + (1/(z + cfk[n*y, z - y + n, List[n, Infinity]] - y))))/(E^y))] z 1 Gamma[z] == (y (------------------------------------------- + -y + z + cfk[n y, n - y + z, {n, Infinity}] 1 y -----------------------------------------------------------)) / E 1 + y - z + cfk[n (-n + z), 1 + 2 n + y - z, {n, Infinity}] where cfk:=ContinuedFractionK and y>0 can be chosen to optimize convergence. Specializing, In[186]:= % /. z -> 1/2 /. y -> 1 Out[186]= 1 Sqrt[Pi] == (-------------------------------------- + 1 1 -(-) + cfk[n, -(-) + n, {n, Infinity}] 2 2 1 ------------------------------------------) / E 3 1 3 - + cfk[(- - n) n, - + 2 n, {n, Infinity}] 2 2 2 In[192]:= N[List @@ %186 /. cfk[num_, den_, _] :> ContinuedFractionK[num, den, {n, 9}]] Out[192]= {1.77245, 1.77244} This is the first non-asymptotic sum or CF I've seen for sqrt(pi). But the sum behind the lowergamma cf has been there all along, so I must not have been paying attention. --rwg

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Re: [math-fun] Disk polyominoes
by Allan Wechsler 13 Apr '12

13 Apr '12

A funster who might or might not wish to remain anonymous has corrected me in private. A3 does not equal 2; it equals 1. The corrected sequence is: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3 ... As before, I'm not entirely confident of the last couple of values. Thank you for the correction.

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[math-fun] Machine Go
by rcs＠xmission.com 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

Science Daily has a report of a recent success for a Go program. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090514083931.htm The program Huygens defeated two professional Go players. The program had handicaps of 6 or 7 stones. Question for the Go players among us: Does a handicap of 6 stones mean that the starting board has 6 stones added for the weaker player, or that 6 is added to the final score? Rich

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[math-fun] Slanted coverage
by Bill Gosper 07 Jul '11

07 Jul '11

In those ubiquitous little tables of area and volume formulae in handbooks and textbooks, there's often a picture of a skewed cone next to the right cone to emphasize that they have the same volume formula. Did you ever wonder why there's never the skewed cone area formula? For the special case with the apex directly above a point on the circumference, I get pi h r 3F2[-1/2,1/4,3/4; 1/2, 1; -4 r^2/h^2], which doesn't even converge for h < 2 r. The area element for the general x,y,z parametric surface is just Out[85]= (1,0) (0,1) Norm[Cross[({x, y, z}) , ({x, y, z}) ]] (I don't recall this from 18.03.) E.g., for the torus with radii r and R, In[116]:= % /. {x :> (Cos[#2]*(R + r*Sin[#1]) &), y :> (Sin[#2]*(R + r*Sin[#1]) &), z :> (r*Cos[#1] &)} Out[116]= Norm[Cross[({Cos[#2] (R + r Sin[#1]) & , Sin[#2] (R + r Sin[#1]) & , (1,0) r Cos[#1] & }) , ({Cos[#2] (R + r Sin[#1]) & , (0,1) Sin[#2] (R + r Sin[#1]) & , r Cos[#1] & }) ]] In[117]:= % /. f_[L_List] :> f /@ L /. Abs[w_] -> w Out[117]= Sqrt[Power[-(-r Sin[#1] & ) (Cos[#2] (R + r Sin[#1]) & ) + (0 & ) (r Cos[#1] Sin[#2] & ), 2] + Power[-(0 & ) (r Cos[#1] Cos[#2] & ) + (-r Sin[#1] & ) (-(R + r Sin[#1]) Sin[#2] & ), 2] + Power[(r Cos[#1] Cos[#2] & ) (Cos[#2] (R + r Sin[#1]) & ) - (r Cos[#1] Sin[#2] & ) (-(R + r Sin[#1]) Sin[#2] & ), 2]] In[119]:= % /. (f_ &) :> (f &)[t, u] Out[119]= 2 2 2 2 Sqrt[r Cos[u] Sin[t] (R + r Sin[t]) + 2 2 2 2 r Sin[t] (R + r Sin[t]) Sin[u] + 2 2 2 (r Cos[t] Cos[u] (R + r Sin[t]) + r Cos[t] (R + r Sin[t]) Sin[u] ) ] In[120]:= FullSimplify[%] Out[120]= 2 2 Sqrt[r (R + r Sin[t]) ] In[125]:= Assuming[R > r > 0, Integrate[%120, {t, 0, 2*Pi}, {u, 0, 2*Pi}]] Out[125]= 2 4 Pi r R Did Archimedes know this? --rwg

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[math-fun] €8,000 (~$10,000) prizes on magic squares
by Christian Boyer 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

While magic squares have been known and studied for many centuries, it is surprising that for certain types of magic squares we still do not know today which are the SMALLEST possible! In an effort to make progress on these unsolved problems, twelve prizes totaling €8,000 (~$10,000) and twelve bottles of champagne are offered for the solutions to twelve enigmas. Details here: www.multimagie.com/English/MagicSquaresEnigmasE.pdf Christian Boyer. www.multimagie.com/indexengl.htm

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[math-fun] eta triples again
by Bill Gosper 01 Oct '10

01 Oct '10

I was surprised to get Jacobi's (least abstruse of all) aequatio satis abstrusa, a polynomial relating eta(q), eta(q^2), eta(q^4), abbreviated {1,2,4}, from the abstruser {1,2,3} := 0= -\[Eta][q]^60 \[Eta][q^2]^24+\[Eta][q]^72 \[Eta][q^3]^12+12 \[Eta][q]^48 \[Eta][q^2]^24 \[Eta][q^3]^12+196608 \[Eta][q]^24 \[Eta][q^2]^48 \[Eta][q^3]^12+16777216 \[Eta][q^2]^72 \[Eta][q^3]^12-196830 \[Eta][q]^36 \[Eta][q^2]^24 \[Eta][q^3]^24-19131876 \[Eta][q]^24 \[Eta][q^2]^24 \[Eta][q^3]^36-387420489 \[Eta][q]^12 \[Eta][q^2]^24 \[Eta][q^3]^48 (spurning Mma's DedekindEta, which expects period ratio tau instead of nome q.) {1,2,3} -> 6/{3,2,1} = {2,3,6} by Jacobi's imaginary transformation {1,2,3} -> {2,4,6} by q -> q^2 resultant({2,3,6},{2,4,6},eta(q^6)] = {2,3,4} (Warning: huge!) resultant({2,3,4},{1,2,3},eta(q^3)) = {1,2,4} quod erat desideratum. With the imaginary reciprocator and resultant you can apparently get any distinct triple of the form {2^a 3^b, 2^c 3^d, 2^e 3^f}, {a,b,c,d,e,f} nonnegative integers. Similarly for p and q, relatively prime, instead of 2 and 3, if you start with {1,p,q}. Strangely, with *three* relative primes, e.g., {2,3,5}, you seem to be limited to the 23 identities {{2,3,5},{4,6,9},{4,6,15},{4,6,25},{4,9,10},{4,9,15},{4,10,15},{4,10,25},{4,15,25},{6,9,10},{6,9,25}, {6,10,15},{6,10,25},{6,15,25},{9,10,15},{9,10,25},{9,15,25},{12,20,45},{12,20,75},{12,50,75}, {18,20,45},{18,45,50},{18,50,75}} The resultants are formidable. It might be easier to use undetermined coefficients on the series expansions. But not much. --rwg

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Re: [math-fun] Martin Gardner archive
by James Propp 30 Sep '10

30 Sep '10

Are any math-funsters in California area in a position to help me out with a bit of archival research? Or for that matter are any math-funsters in New Jersey in a position to help me by asking John Conway a question or two? I'm trying to follow up on a recent posting to this forum by Thane Plambeck, describing his discovery of a letter from Martin Gardner to David Klarner dated 4 Oct 1983, in which Martin asks David what he knows about the problem of tiling a triangle of dots of side n with tiles consisting of either 3 dots in a row or 3 dots forming a triangle. I want to trace the history of this problem (which Conway and Lagarias discussed in an article called "Tiling with Polyominoes and Combinatorial Group Theory" that had a huge impact on my career). I can't reach Conway, and Lagarias says (paraphrased) "I don't know, and if you want to ask Conway, you'll probably have to come to Princeton and go to the math tea if you want to track him down; he's not taking phone calls or answering email these days." (I should mention that I also sent my question to Conway by snail-mail a couple of months ago; no reply.) I suspect that Conway learned about the problem from Gardner or Klarner and then forgot to include an attribution when he wrote the article with Lagarias (perhaps because he'd forgotten it), or perhaps the attribution never got included because Lagarias did most of the actual writing (and he may not have been aware of where Conway had gotten the problem from). Anyway, I'd love to find out that Conway learned about the problem either directly or indirectly from Gardner, because this would be a new example of the deep influence Gardner had on my mathematical career --- and I could cite this in October when I attend my local Celebration of Mind event. Can anyone help me out? A Californian could look through Gardner's correspondence with Klarner and Conway from the early to mid 80's; a New Jerseyite could drop in on departmental tea for a few days (or maybe beard Conway in his Fine Hall lair during office hours, or catch him before or after a class). I should also say that, if there turns out to be a definite path from Gardner's work to the Conway-Lagarias article, I would write an article about this for the College Mathematics Journal (describing how one ripple from the Conway-Lagarias article led eventually to some work of Kenyon, Okounkov, and Sheffield that was cited by the Fields Institute when they awarded Okounkov a Fields Medal a few years ago); any math-funster (or anyone else for that matter) who contributed some legwork at Stanford or Princeton would be effusively thanked in print. By the way, I went to http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/xml/sc0647.xml but Mozilla said "Error loading stylesheet: Parsing an XSLT stylesheet failed" and Safari simply gave me a blank screen. Thanks, Jim Propp

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