Today, February 7th, 2018, is called e-day because e is approximately 2.718, and this date is written 2/7/18 in some parts of the world.
e, also called Euler’s Number after the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, is a very important constant that comes up in many different places in mathematics. The numer e was discovered by the Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli while studying compound interest where e arises as the limit of (1 + 1/n)n as n approaches infinity. e can also be calculated by summing:
The constant e appears naturally on the exponential function, which models growth. Hence, the same way that the constant π appears in everything that is round, the number e appears in everything that grows: size of baby animals, leaves in trees, bacteria populations, spreading of diseases, spirals in flowers and snails, radiactive decay of elements, money invested in a bank, processing power of computers… Everything that grows the faster the bigger it is follows an exponential law, and contains the number e.
e has an infinite number of digits. We prepared a website listing the first 60.000 digits of e and help you find your birthday in it:
If we assign a number to each letter in the alphabet we can even find your name within the digits of e, along with the complete works of William Shakespeare, the ending of Game of Thrones (spoiler alert), the full text of the Wikipedia from the year 2030 or what you’ll have tomorrow for breakfast…
At least that’s what conjectured: It is conjectured that e is a normal number. In normal numbers every possible sequence of digits of a certain length appears with the same frequency. There are approximately as many 1s as 9s, as many 23s as 42s, as many 0000s as 1111s, etc. So within the infinite digits of a normal number we are able to find any possible sequence of any finite length.
Happy e-day to you!
MaRDI is a Germany-wide initiative to address challenges in mathematical research. It is aimed mainly at mathematicians to change how we do mathematics using FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) research data. This way, it fits very well with our own open-source philosophy.
IMAGINARY actively participates in this initiative by assisting in communicating and...Lire la suite
March 14 is already known as Pi Day and is celebrated in many countries worldwide. It is named after the important number π, the ratio between the circumference and diameter of a circle, and approximately equal to 3.14. The International Day of Mathematics (IDM) celebration expands Pi Day to include the whole spectrum of mathematics. Mathematical language and reasoning are accessible to everyone. This year, the...Lire la suite
The International Day of Mathematics (IDM) is a worldwide celebration, proclaimed by UNESCO. Each year on March 14 all countries will be invited to participate through activities for both students and the general public in schools, museums, libraries and other spaces. March 14 was chosen as the date for the IDM because it was already celebrated in many...Lire la suite
Registration is now open for the MATRIX × IMAGINARY Online Gathering that will take place on September 8 - 9, 2021
Join us to discover the future of mathematics engagement. Innovations in math museums, exhibitions, new formats, technologies, and inspiring ideas!
Some...Lire la suite
On March 14, the International Day of Mathematics will be celebrated worldwide under the theme “Mathematics for a Better World”.
Organized by the International Mathematics Union, the IDM includes a mixture of virtual and face-to-face celebrations in 2021, on all continents: from Madagascar to Gambia, from Panama to Chile, from Albania to Malaysia, from Bangladesh to Australia, people all over the world (in...Lire la suite