Mark Brader:
> These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2018-02-12,
> and should be interpreted accordingly... For further information
> see my 2017-09-25 companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian
> Inquisition (QFTCI*)".
> * Game 5, Round 2 - Geography - The Second Place
> 1. This question is about Europe, *excluding* overseas possessions
> or territories such as Greenland and *also excluding* countries
> such as Russia that extend into Asia. With those exclusions,
> Ukraine is the *largest country in Europe by area*. What is
> the second-largest?
France. (#3 is Spain, #4 Sweden.) 4 for Erland, Marc, and Pete.
> 2. Greenland is the *largest island by area* in the world. What is
> the second-largest?
New Guinea. 4 for Dan Blum, Peter, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.
> 3. The Caspian Sea is the *largest lake by area* in the world.
> What is the second-largest?
Lake Superior. Also accepting Lakes Huron and Michigan considered as
a single lake, in which case it is larger than Superior. (If Lake
Huron is counted separately, it's #4 and Victoria is #3.) 4 for Marc,
Joshua, and Dan Tilque. 3 for Dan Blum and Pete.
> 4. Of the 7 continents, Asia is the *largest continent by
> population*. What is the second-largest?
Africa. (#3 is Europe, #4 North America.) 4 for Dan Blum, Peter,
Erland, Marc, and Joshua.
> 5. If countries on multiple continents are counted with
> the continent where their capital is, then Brazil is the
> *largest country by population in South America*. What is
> the second-largest?
Colombia. (#3 is Argentina, #4 Venezuela.) 4 for Erland.
2 for Dan Blum.
> 6. Alaska is the *largest US state by area*. What is the
> second-largest?
Texas, duh. (#3 is California, #4 Montana.) 4 for Dan Blum, Peter,
Marc, Pete, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.
> 7. Sudan used to be the *largest country in Africa by area* until
> it split. Now Algeria is the largest -- and what is the
> second-largest? (Hint: it's not Sudan or South Sudan.)
Democratic Republic of the Congo. (#3 is Sudan, #4 Libya.)
4 for Peter, Erland, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.
> 8. Honshu is the *largest island in Japan by area*. What is the
> second-largest?
Hokkaido. (#3 is Kyushu, #4 Shikoku.) 4 for Dan Blum, Peter,
Erland, Pete, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.
> 9. Western Australia is the *largest state in Australia by area*.
> What is the second-largest?
Queensland. (#3 is South Australia, #4 New South Wales. Territories
are irrelevant for this question, but if they did count, the Northern
Territory would be #3.) 4 for Erland, Pete, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.
> 10. Mt. Everest is the *tallest mountain in the world by elevation
> of the summit above sea level*. What is the second-tallest?
K2, also called Godwin Austen. (#3 is Kangchenjunga, #4 Lhotse, both
in the Himalayas while K2 is in the Karakoram range.) 4 for Dan Blum,
Peter, Marc, Pete, Joshua, and Dan Tilque. 3 for Erland.
> * Game 5, Round x = 3 - History - History of Mathematics
> 1. Pythagoras was primarily a philosopher, but made contributions
> to mathematics as well. Although the theorem that bears his name
> was known to eastern mathematicians earlier, he was the first
> to introduce it to Greek philosophy. Name any year he was alive.
570-495 BC. 2 for Pete.
> 2. Please complete the previous question before decoding the rot13.
> Over a century later, another Greek philosopher published
> the book usually known as "The Elements" -- the most famous
> mathematical work of its time and the foundation of geometry
> as we know it, which has been used as a textbook ever since.
> Who was he?
Euclid. 4 for Dan Blum, Peter, Erland, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.
> 3. Fibonacci published the "Liber Abaci", which introduced the
> Modus Indorum ("method of the Indians"), today known as the
> arabic or Hindu-Arabic numeral system. He also introduced the
> famous growth sequence which bears his name. Name any year he
> was alive.
1175-1250. 4 for Dan Blum.
> 4. Calculus was simultaneously developed by two people.
> Isaac Newton was one. Who was the other?
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. 4 for Dan Blum, Peter, Marc, Joshua,
and Dan Tilque.
> 5. Name any year both Newton and <answer 4> were alive.
1646-1716. 4 for Dan Blum, Peter, Erland, Marc, and Joshua.
> 6. Pierre de Fermat developed the beginnings of infinitesimal
> calculus. He also had a famous conjecture that began the
> development of algebraic number theory. It remained unproven
> until 1994. Name any year Fermat was alive.
1607-65.
> 7. Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier made important contributions to the
> study of trigonometric series. A Fourier series decomposes
> any periodic function into the sum of a set of sine waves.
> Name any year he was alive.
1768-1830. 4 for Dan Blum and Joshua (the hard way).
> 8. The "Principia Mathematica" is an important work written by
> Alfred North Whitehead and a former student of his, Bertrand
> Russell. Name any year they were both alive.
1872-1947. 4 for Dan Blum, Erland, Marc, Pete (the hard way),
Joshua, and Dan Tilque.
> 9. Albert Einstein is best known for his work on relativity.
> He first published a paper on special relativity, which dealt
> with the nature of space-time. 11 years later he published the
> general theory of relativity, which included the behavior of
> gravity and other topics. Name either of the two publication
> years or any year in between.
(Yeah, I know, this was supposed to be a history round about math,
not physics. I didn't write it!)
1905-16. 4 for Erland, Marc, Pete, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.
> 10. And finally the man who broke it all. Kurt Friedrich Gödel's
> incompleteness theorem proved that any mathematical system has
> flaws: in any sufficiently complete system there are things
> that are true, but cannot be proven. Within 10 years, when
> was this published?
1935 (accepting 1925-45). 4 for Dan Blum and Marc. 3 for Pete.
2 for Joshua.
Scores, if there are no errors:
GAME 5 ROUNDS-> 2 3 TOTALS
TOPICS-> Geo His
Joshua Kreitzer 32 26 58
Dan Blum 25 28 53
Dan Tilque 28 16 44
Erland Sommarskog 27 16 43
Marc Dashevsky 20 20 40
Pete Gayde 23 13 36
Peter Smyth 24 12 36
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "UNIX ... the essential partner for
m...@vex.net | eyespot or rynchosporium control in barley."