Q 01/05

Pi, about 3.14159, is the ratio of a circle's circumference to which of its measurements?

A) Its area

B) Its diameter

C) Its radius

D) Its radius squared

Answer · why

B) Its diameter

Its diameter: pi is the same for every circle, so any wheel rolls just over three times its own width in one full turn.

Q 02/05

The sequence 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 is named after which mathematician?

A) Descartes

B) Fibonacci

C) Fermat

D) Euclid

Answer · why

B) Fibonacci

Fibonacci: he brought the sequence to European readers in his 1202 book Liber Abaci, through a puzzle about breeding rabbits.

Q 03/05

The Pythagorean theorem says the square on which side equals the sum of the squares on the other two?

A) The height

B) The hypotenuse

C) The median

D) The base

Answer · why

B) The hypotenuse

The hypotenuse: US President James Garfield published his own proof of the theorem in 1876, while he was still a congressman.

Q 04/05

In flat geometry, the interior angles of a triangle add up to how many degrees?

A) 90

B) 180

C) 360

D) 720

Answer · why

B) 180

180: on a curved surface such as a globe, a triangle's angles add up to more, as much as 540 degrees.

Q 05/05

A googol is 10 raised to which power?

A) 10

B) 30

C) 100

D) 1,000

Answer · why

C) 100

100: Edward Kasner's young nephew is said to have coined the name, and Google's founders named their company as a play on it.