Below are a few example assignments of the Mathematics B-day. For the entire collection, visit our archive.

Assignment 2020: Keeping several – balls in the air

You have probably tried to juggle yourselves. Two balls is still doable, but after that it quickly gets more difficult, and the number of possible ways to throw the balls also increases quickly. Today it will turn out that there is a surprising amount of beautiful mathematics behind juggling. The ball is in your court!

Assignment 2019: Connect and conquer

This Mathematics B-assignment is about something we all love to do: winning games. Sometimes that is down to luck, but not with the game you’ll be playing today…

Assignment 2018: Snakes’ nest

The problem is described as follows: what is the area of the smallest shape (blanket) which can cover all lines (snakes) of length 15 (after you have rotated, shifted or turned over the blanket in such a way that it fits). This is an open problem in mathematics: nobody knows the answer!