Answer to the Problem of the Week
for the week of September 12, 2005
from Mathematics and Humor by Vinik, Silvey, and Hughes

Mathematical Wackie Wordies

Can you determine the name for each of the 25 pictures below?
Mathematics is involved in each of the answers -- Either the answer is a math phrase or the picture involves mathematics.
Click on each picture below for a hint and a larger image.


  1 2 3 4 5
A
B
C
D
E

 

Solution to the Problem:

A-1. Horizontal Line (Horse on a Lion)
A-2. Linear Pair or Parallel Line
A-3. Corresponding Angles or Right Angles (Writing to each other)
A-4. Noah's Ark
A-5. Square Root of Five

B-1. Noel (2L - 2L = no L) or No Elves
B-2. Sign on the Dotted Line (Sine Curve)
B-3. Solution of Right Triangles
B-4. Rectangle (Wrecked Angle)
B-5. Pythagorean Theorem (Pythagorean Serum)

C-1. Hip Hip Hooray (Hip Hip Array)
C-2. Secant (Sick Ant)
C-3. Polyhedron (Polly, He'd Run) or Polygon (Polly Gone)
C-4. Polynomial (Polly, no meal!)
C-5. Prism (Prison) or concave

D-1. Cosine (Go Sign) or Inverse Sine
D-2. Home on the Range (the set 3, 5, 8 is called the range)
            or White House (Y House)
D-3. Hypotenuse (High Pot in Use)
D-4. Paradox (Pair of Docs)
D-5. Apothem (A Possum)

E-1. Unit (You Knit)
E-2. Logarithms (Log Rhythms)
E-3. Parabolas (Pair of Bolas)
E-4. Integral Calculus (Inter-Gull Calculus)
E-5. A Piece of Pie Raised to the Teeth (A P sub pi Raised to the t(th))

Correctly solved by:

1. Henry Tran (solved 24 of the problems) Harrisonburg Virginia
2. Jeffrey Gaither (solved 24 of the problems) University of Virginia
Charlotteville, Virginia
3. Charles Washington (solved 20 of the problems) Winchester, Virginia
4. Caitlin Bitto (solved 20 of the problems) Winchester, Virginia
5. Matthew Ahrnsbrak (solved 20 of the problems) Winchester, Virginia
6. Julianne Harris (solved 20 of the problems) Winchester, Virginia


Honorable Mention to:

7. John Funk Ventura, California
8. Tristan Collins Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia
9. Ashley Hudson Harrisonburg, Virginia