Week 2 email
Hey everyone!
Just a quick email this week. I’d like to start off by giving an update on Pi Ball. We’re pushing back the date of ticket release, I apologise for the confusion. We will give advanced notice about exactly when tickets will be released, you haven’t missed them.
Tl;dr:
- Pi Ball update (we’re delaying ticket release, more info soon)
- Week 2 regular events (Pub social and Maths Jam)
- Rewiring session
- Weekly problem
Without further ado, here’s our lineup for this week.
Week 2 Pub Social
Our first pub social of the semester will run as usual, we’ll meet in the Whey Pat to socialise and play games (exploding kittens was popular at the end of last semester). Drinking and games are optional.
Where: The Whey Pat
When: Monday, 20:00
Facebook link: https://fb.me/e/2hH3ctpli
Week 2 Maths Jam
We’ll meet at the Union to play board/card games and socialise. It’s usually very chill and a lot of fun.
Where: Union Small Rehearsal Room (Top Floor)
When: Sunday, 12:00-14:00
Facebook link: https://fb.me/e/2my7PeT7v
Week 2 Rewiring Session
Rewiring sessions are designed to encourage and promote the spirit of mathematical playfulness and curiosity. We meet and attendees suggest questions or ideas to play around with. These can be anything and often take the form of investigating some previously studied area without looking at preexisting literature.
Where: MAT, Tutorial Room 1D
When: Friday, 16:00-17:00
Facebook link: https://fb.me/e/4hg99ySoM
That’s all for now. I wish you all the best for week 1 and hope to see some of you at our events.
Sincerely,
Dan Roebuck
President of SUMS
This weeks problem is the famous ‘Green eyed dragons’ logic puzzle, it goes as follows:
“You visit a remote desert island inhabited by one hundred very friendly dragons, all of whom have green eyes. They haven’t seen a human for many centuries and they are very excited about your visit. They show you around their island and tell you all about their dragon way of life (dragons can talk, of course). They seem to be quite normal, as far as dragons go, but then you find out something rather odd. They have a rule on the island which states that if a dragon ever finds out that he/she has green eyes, then at precisely midnight on the day of this discovery, he/she must relinquish all dragon powers and transform into a long-tailed sparrow. However, there are no mirrors on the island, and they never talk about eye color, so the dragons have been living in blissful ignorance throughout the ages. Upon your departure, all the dragons get together to see you off and in a tearful farewell you thank them for being such hospitable dragons. Then you decide to tell them something that they all already know (for each can see the colors of the eyes of the other dragons). You tell them all that at least one of them has green eyes. Then you leave, not thinking of the consequences (if any). Assuming that the dragons are (of course) infallibly logical, what happens? If something interesting does happen, what exactly is the new information that you gave the dragons?”
Here is the original pdf solution: https://www.physics.harvard.edu/files/sol2.pdf. I encourage you to argue if you have a disagreement with the solution presented 🙂).