Theorem: All Numbers are Interesting // 105

Family Occasion `It was a wonderful party,' said Lucilla to her friend Harriet.

`Who was there?'

`Well ­ there was one grandfather, one grandmother, two fathers, two mothers, four children, three grandchildren, one brother, two sisters, two sons, two daughters, one father-in-law, one mother-in-law and one daughter-in-law.'

`Wow! Twenty-three people!'

`No, it was less than that. A lot less.'

What is the smallest size of party that is consistent with Lucilla's description?

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Answer on page 277

Don't Let Go! Topology is a branch of mathematics in which two shapes are `the same' if one can be continuously deformed into the other. So you can bend, stretch, and shrink, but not cut. This ancient topological chestnut still has many attractions ­ in particular, not everyone has seen it before. What you have to do is pick up a length of rope, with the left hand holding one end and the right hand holding the other, and tie a knot in the rope without letting go of the ends.

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Answer on page 277

Theorem: All Numbers are Interesting Proof: For a contradiction, suppose not. Then there is a smallest uninteresting number. But being the smallest one singles it out among all other numbers, making it special, hence interesting ­

........................................... contradiction.

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