This article is not yet available in English; the French version is shown.
Articles recommended for you.
One of the arts and pleasures of mathematics is finding different ways to represent problems. Some problems in dynamics can profitably be replaced by the study of trajectories on a billiard table, revealing hidden structures—and hence hidden logical beauty.
The constant π is everywhere in mathematics. It is undoubtedly the best-known irrational number—and even the best-known transcendental number. How is it defined geometrically, and why does it appear in every branch of mathematics?
Visitors to the Palais de la découverte cannot help being fascinated by the sequence of π's decimal digits in the rotunda devoted to it. The digits seem to occur in no apparent order. Yet they are the result of a calculation!
The appeal of recreational mathematics is that it requires little formal knowledge. Yet there are ingenious techniques that are hardly ever taught.
