It’s nothing but fractions! And you’re not supposed to use a calculator. Ear buds pump your favorite tunes directly into your brain. Is 37/74 reduced to its simplest form? Yes? No? Argh . . . ! Don’t get frustrated. Try to relax. Let the soothing sounds of fractions ease your pain.
That’s right: The soothing sounds of fractions. Those tunes that are massaging your mind are composed of the same fractions that are hurting your head. You can thank the Greek mathematician Pythagoras for discovering that fact. Are you familiar with his right triangle theorem, A² + B² = C²? Well, according to legend, that same Pythagoras once spent an afternoon listening to blacksmiths hammering away at their anvils. He noticed that some clanging sounds rang together in a pleasing chorus. Other clangs clashed in a cacophony of noise. Pythagoras decided to investigate this curious phenomenon. He discovered that it didn’t matter which of the blacksmiths did the hammering. Nor did it matter how light or heavy handed their hammering was. The pleasantness of any clang combo depended only on the weight ratio of the hammers involved. And please note, “ratio” is the fancy name for a fraction.
Denne historien er fra May/June 2021-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Denne historien er fra May/June 2021-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. It’s in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. It’s in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.
