150 // What Shape is a Crescent Moon?

What Shape is a Crescent Moon? The Moon is low in the sky shortly after sunset or before dawn; the bright part of its surface forms a beautiful crescent. The two curves that form the boundary of the crescent resemble arcs of circles, and are often drawn that way. Assuming the Moon to be a perfect sphere, and the Sun's rays to be parallel, are they arcs of circles?

A crescent formed

by two arcs of

circles. Is the crescent

Moon like this?

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Answer on page 283

Famous Mathematicians All the people listed below ­ except one ­ either started a degree (or joint degree) in mathematics, or studied under famous mathematicians, or were professional mathematicians in their other life. What are they famous for? Which person does not belong on the list?

Pierre Boulez Michael Jordan

Sergey Brin Theodore Kaczynski

Lewis Carroll John Maynard Keynes

J.M. Coetzee Carole King

Alberto Fujimori Emanuel Lasker

Art Garfunkel J.P. Morgan

Philip Glass Larry Niven

Teri Hatcher Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Edmund Husserl Bram Stoker

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