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Lefty or righty? A few words about chirality

Do you see anything unusual about this picture? These two boys are identical twins; but not just any twins: they are mirror twins! That means that many of their features are mirror images of each other. What you can’t see in the picture is that one of the boys is a left-handed and the other…
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Calculus in a Chair

What can a chair teach us about integral calculus? Quite a bit, if you have right chair. British designer Julian Mayor made just such a chair: Mr. Mayor reckons the chair is much more comfortable than it looks; Igor (pictured sitting) certainly seems happy. Regardless of Igor’s comfort, the chair is a great illustration of what we mean…
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Lemon Zest and the Surface Area of a Sphere

I was recently asked to bring a cake to a reception on very short notice. Luckily, I found this recipe for Olive Oil Cake  by Marcella Hazan, for which I had all the ingredients. I had two small lemons left in the fridge, and I conveniently assumed that the zest of both of them will be equivalent to the “zest…
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