lewis carroll's calendar magic dr. sid kolpas associate professor
TRANSCRIPT
Lewis Carroll Fantasy and Mathematics
Dr. Sid Kolpas
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Delaware County Community College
Why did I decide to spend my life teaching Math?
• I was fascinated with Math, and very good at it.
• Friends and fellow students told me I explained Math better than their teachers.
• I felt great joy in explaining mathematical concepts to others.
• I found teaching highly rewarding, interesting, and challenging.
• I love lifelong learning.
• I had a number of individuals who got me interested in Math, and encouraged me:
Alan Mescon, my 9th grade Algebra Teacher
Dr. Malcolm Soule, a CSUN Professor with whom
I had 4 classes. We’ve been friends for 49 years.
Martin Gardner
I read everything he wrote, and
Corresponded with him.
Dr. Barnabas Hughes OFM: Professor, Mentor, Friend
He sparked an interest in Mathematics, Mathematics History,
and teaching.
Dedicated to Martin Gardner
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
Born January 27, 1832
Died January 14, 1898
• Charles Lutwidge
• Carolus Lodovicus
• Lewis Carroll
• Charles Dodgson =
Mathematician
• Lewis Carroll=Author
Carroll/Dodgson Timeline
• 1854 BA Math: 1st in Math, 2nd in Classics
• 1857 MA Math/Oxford Professor
• 1861 Ordained Minister
• 1865 “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
• 1871 “Through the Looking-Glass”
• 1876 “The Hunting of the Snark”
• 1889 “Sylvie and Bruno”
Some Mathematical Titles:As
Charles Dodgson/Lewis Carroll • Matrices and Determinants: Linear Algebra MAT 200
• Euclid and His Modern Rivals Geometry
• Symbolic Logic Chapter 3 MAT 120
• The Game of Logic Chapter 3 MAT 120
• Mathematical Theory of Voting Game Theory
• A Tangled Tale Puzzles. Chapter 1 MAT 120
• Pillow Problems Puzzles. Chapter 1 MAT 120
• Curiosa Mathematica Puzzles. Chapter 1 MAT 120
• Plane Algebraical Geometry College Algebra MAT 151
• A New Theory of Parallels Geometry
Some Inventions
• Mechanical Toys
• Mathematical Magic Tricks
• Games: Traveling Chessboard, Doublets,
Syzygies, Circular Billiards, Ciphers,
Puzzles
• Special Photographic Effects
Doublets, or Word Ladders, is a game
invented for “two little girls who found
nothing to do” on Christmas Day
1877. Carroll originally called the the game
“word-links,” but by 1879 he had published
enough of the puzzles in Vanity Fair
magazine to merit a collection by
Macmillan titled “Doublets: a word
puzzle.” The name stuck, and the game was
an immediate and runaway hit.
A Doublet Game 1. Change Dog to Cat:
2. Change Head to Tail
Characteristics/Accomplishments
• One of the top Victorian Photographers
• Minister
• Deeply religious
• Anti-vivisectionist. Helped to form an animal right’s league.
• Stammered when he spoke: “Do Do Dodgson”
• Literary Critic
• Poet
• Spent much of his time babysitting the young daughters of Dean Liddell; Alice Liddell was his favorite
Charles & Alice
Alice comforts the Dodo
Poem from “Through The
Looking-Glass”
Lewis Carroll’s Calendar Magic
He memorized the following trick and
computed the day of the week for any date in
under 20 seconds!
“A Day For Any Date” was
published in the magazine Nature
on March 31, 1887
Methods of Predicting The Day
of The Week Preceeded Carroll
• Augustus Demorgan: 1851
Excel Program For Carroll’s
Calendar Trick
http://scphillips.com/units/dayfor
m.html
Another Carroll Calendar Trick:
• Pick any month from the calendar
• Box ANY 3 by 3 matrix of dates
• I’ll almost instantly tell you the SUM of those nine dates.
• How did I do it?
A LEWIS CARROLL LOGIC PUZZLE (MATH 120)
(a) All babies are illogical.
(b) Nobody is despised who can
manage a crocodile.
(c) Illogical persons are dispised.
B= it is a baby L= it is logical
M=it can manage a crocodile
D= it is despised
Use the 3 premises to arrive at a
conclusion
The End
Suggested Reading
The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition Hardcover
by Lewis Carroll (Author) , Martin Gardner (Editor,
Introduction) , John Tenniel (Illustrator)
Lewis Carroll: A Biography by Morton N. Cohen
Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical
Mathematical Logical Life by Robin Wilson