Newsletter 16
Optical Illusions and McNugget Numbers
1 January, 2005
http://www.simonsingh.net
1. Optical Illusions
2. New Year Giveaway
3. Horrendous Space Kablooie in the USA
4. Fix for the CD-ROM
5. Shop Partly Closing Down & Free CD-ROM Download
6. Competition Winner
7. Puzzle Competition
1. Optical Illusions
There's no better way to start the New Year than by
staring at optical illusions. It really makes you
appreciate the flawed genius otherwise known as your
brain. The page below is a brilliant collection of
illusions, pointed out to me by Professor Richard Wiseman,
author of 'The Luck Factor' and 'Where's the Gorilla?'.
Enjoy ...
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/index.html
(If you have problems accessing the
illusion web pages, then just download the Flash plug-in
at the bottom of the web page.)
And if your hunger for illusions is still not satiated,
then pay a visit to ...
http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~moraes/illusion.html
2. New Year Giveaway
In an effort to clear out my shelves for the year
ahead, I am keen to give away the following translations
of Fermat's Last Theorem:
L'Ultimo Teorema di Fermat (Italian) - 2 copies
El enigma de Fermat (Spanish) - 5 copies
Le Dernier Theoreme de Fermat (French) - 1 copy
Fermats Letzter Satz (German) - 1 copy
Fermat's Last Theorem (Hebrew) - 1 copy
If you would like one, then just email me at
freebook@simonsingh.net putting the title in the
subject of your email and your address in the body. The
books will be sent on a first come, first served basis.
3. Horrendous Space Kablooie in the USA
Because I have been talking about my new book (Big
Bang) in my last three newsletters, I thought I might use
the Calvin & Hobbes term for this theory of cosmic
creation instead of the more familiar phrase ... just to
break the tedium.
There is not much to report, except that the book will
be published in the US this week, and I will be touring
throughout the States in January and February. Details of
my US lectures are now available at:
http://www.simonsingh.net/Simon_Lectures.html
Translations of Big Bang will appear during the course
of 2005. The Italian edition is already out, and I was
shocked to learn that the Italian for Big Bang is Big
Bang:
http://www.simonsingh.net/Big_Bang_Reviews.html
4. Fix for the CD-ROM
The recent Windows XP patch seems to have caused
problems for a small minority of people using the CD-ROM
version of 'The Code Book'. If you are still encountering
problems, then the solution is described at:
http://www.simonsingh.net/The_CDROM_XP_Fix.html
5. Shop partly closing down & free CD-ROM download
In contrast to every other shop in the world, I am
going to be taking the simonsingh.net shop off-line,
inasmuch as it will no longer be possible to order by
credit card. If you live in the UK, then you can still
order signed books and CD-ROMs by cheque and post, and
details of how to do this remain on the site. However, if
you live overseas, then you will have to obtain books from
local shops made of bricks or other online shops.
http://www.simonsingh.net/Simons_Shop.html
The good news is that the interactive CD-ROM version of
'The Code Book' is now downloadable for free. Having
distributed 25,000 copies over the last three years, it is
great to see that this resource can be made even more
widely available. The download takes approximately 3 hours
via broadband - details available at:
http://www.simonsingh.net/Code_Book_Download.html
6. Competition Winner
Last month I asked: "Why do mathematicians get
Christmas (Dec 25) confused with Halloween (Oct 31)?" The
answer is that 25 in decimal (Dec) is equal to 31 in octal
(Oct). 2 x 10 + 5 = 3 x 8 + 1
The first entry out of the hat and winner of 'The Music
of The Primes' by Marcus du Sautoy was Jon Bolmstedt from
Sweden.
7. Puzzle Competition
Certain numbers have a special property. For example,
1729 is the smallest number that can be expressed as the
sum of two cubes in two different ways: 1729 = 12 cubed +
1 cubed = 10 cubed + 9 cubed.
An interesting story about 1729 can be found at:
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Ramanujan.html
The special number in the puzzle is the so-called
McNuggets number. Before going any further, I should
stress that this puzzle is neither an endorsement of fast
food in general nor McDonalds in particular. A future
newsletter will contain a healthy salad based puzzle.
From the standard menu, McNuggets come in 6's, 9's and
20's (we ignore the Happy Meals because you get fries, a
drink and a toy) and pound menu (which is new) where they
come in 4's. The McNugget number is the largest number of
McNuggets that you cannot order at McDonalds from their
standard menu. What is the McNugget number?
Email the answer and your address to
puzzle@simonsingh.net and one of the correct entries
will win a copy of the brilliant "How Mumbo-jumbo
Conquered the World" by Francis Wheen. (Thanks to James
Blowey at Durham University for introducing me to the
McNuggets number.)
Best Wishes for 2005,
Cheerio,
Simon.
Ps. If you need to email me, then please do not reply
to this address, as your email will not reach me. Please
go via the website
http://www.simonsingh.net
and click the contact button. It takes me ages to answer
emails, as I am struggling to keep up with my
correspondence, so please be patient.
PPs. To unsubscribe, please send a blank email to
newsletter-unsubscribe@simonsingh.net. For further
help with subscribing and unsubscribing, please visit
http://www.simonsingh.net/Sign-up.html | 
