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Mathematicians Trivia

Mathematicians Trivia Quizzes

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14 Mathematicians quizzes and 150 Mathematicians trivia questions.
1.
Emmy Noether
  Emmy Noether    
Photo Quiz
 10 Qns
Emmy Noether's contributions to abstract algebra made her one of the most influential mathematicians of her era, all the more impressive due to the institutional misogyny she faced as a woman. This quiz explores her life.
Easier, 10 Qns, AdamM7, Nov 04 21
Easier
AdamM7
Nov 04 21
240 plays
2.
  Behind the Constants   top quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
These ten physical and mathematical constants shape our world, but the minds behind them are less well-known. If there's one thing that's constant in all this, it's that famous scientists don't lead boring lives!
Average, 10 Qns, CellarDoor, Apr 19 11
Average
CellarDoor gold member
1863 plays
3.
  Did the Chicken Cross the Road?   top quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Yes? No? Uncertain? Ten celebrated scientists and mathematicians attempted to answer this question by offering some possible explanations. Let's see if you can identify the person based on the hypothetical answers they provided. Enjoy!
Average, 10 Qns, Matthew_07, Apr 25 11
Average
Matthew_07 gold member
1575 plays
4.
  Famous Mathematicians    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
See what you know about the people behind your math books!
Average, 15 Qns, bsquared, Jan 30 19
Average
bsquared
Jan 30 19
1456 plays
5.
  The Death of a Mathematician editor best quiz   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
In addition to interesting proofs and theorems, mathematics has been the scene of many interesting deaths, some of which have become lost in the fabric of legend.
Difficult, 10 Qns, kevinatilusa, Apr 19 11
Difficult
kevinatilusa
2728 plays
6.
  Famous Mathematicians and Scientists   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz will test your knowledge of famous mathematicians and their contribution to our knowledge. It also includes some information about their writings in general.
Average, 10 Qns, DavidGordon, Dec 14 12
Average
DavidGordon
1509 plays
7.
  Women Are Mathematicians Too!    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Women have had huge influences in the field of mathematics - it's just that Einstein and Euclid get all the attention. This quiz is one math teacher's small attempt to help set the record straight.
Tough, 10 Qns, 3thornes, Apr 19 11
Tough
3thornes
412 plays
8.
  Scientific "Fathers"    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This is a quiz about scientists or mathematicians who are called the "father" of their study. They either revolutionized their field of study or practically invented it.
Tough, 10 Qns, hockeyngolf8, Apr 19 11
Tough
hockeyngolf8
661 plays
9.
  Indian Brains Are Right Here    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz is about some famous Indian scientists, inventors, mathematicians and astronomers. Play this quiz and find out interesting thing about them.
Tough, 10 Qns, ayu29, Feb 20 15
Tough
ayu29
572 plays
10.
  Mathematicians    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Math, you can count on it. These famous mathematicians certainly did, anyway.
Average, 10 Qns, jfullback, Sep 22 13
Average
jfullback
839 plays
trivia question Quick Question
I was a retired United States Naval officer when I wrote the first compilier and later created the COBOL programming language. Who am I?

From Quiz "Women Are Mathematicians Too!"




11.
  Famous Scientists And Mathematicians    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
There were many scientists and mathematicians who sparkled in their field at their times. This is a quiz about a few. Have fun and good luck!
Tough, 15 Qns, namastheg, Jan 29 12
Tough
namastheg
848 plays
12.
  Math's Greatest Minds    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Working with a infinitely large set of numbers, mathematicians are able to prove some of the most insane concepts. See if you know the great minds behind some of the concepts we learn of and use today.
Difficult, 10 Qns, dijonmustard, Jan 03 13
Difficult
dijonmustard
932 plays
13.
  History of Mathematics    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A quiz about famous (and a few not-so-famous) mathematicians throughout history. No mathematical skill is necessary, and in fact even the mathematic-phobic might enjoy this quiz.
Very Difficult, 10 Qns, AndrewF, Apr 19 11
Very Difficult
AndrewF
1568 plays
14.
  Biographies of Mathematicians    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz is on short biographies of mathematicians.
Average, 10 Qns, napierslogs, Apr 19 11
Average
napierslogs
629 plays
Related Topics
  Math [Sci / Tech] (273 quizzes)

  Specific Math Topics [Sci / Tech] (84 quizzes)


Mathematicians Trivia Questions

1. Who was the first Indian scientist to receive a Nobel prize?

From Quiz
Indian Brains Are Right Here

Answer: C.V. Raman

Chandrashekhar Venkata Raman was the first asian to get a Nobel prize in science in 1930. He received the prize for his work on scattering of light known as the Raman effect. He was also the first scientist to get Bharat Ratna (India's highest civilian award) in 1954.

2. This mathematician said "Cogito, ergo sum". Translated into English, this is "I think, therefore I am". Who uttered these words?

From Quiz Famous Mathematicians and Scientists

Answer: Rene Descartes

The Cartesian coordinate system, in which geometric shapes can be expressed in algebraic terms is named after Descartes. The quote is taken from his philosophical classic 'Discourse on Method'.

3. Which mathematician proved the famous formula e^(i*pi) + 1 = 0?

From Quiz Math's Greatest Minds

Answer: Leonhard Euler

"Euler's Identity" is one of the most famous formulas in the world of mathematics, as it ties together the five most important constants: 0, 1, pi, and the imaginary i.

4. Who is known as the Father of Computing for his work on the Difference Engine?

From Quiz Scientific "Fathers"

Answer: Charles Babbage

The cowcatcher, dynamometer, standard railroad gauge, uniform postal rates, occulting lights for lighthouses, Greenwich time signals, heliograph ophthalmoscope are some of Babbage's other inventions. He also has a crater in the northern hemisphere of the moon named after him.

5. She was in the Navy, worked on the UNIVAC computer, and invented the computer language COBOL.

From Quiz Famous Mathematicians

Answer: Grace Murray Hopper

She became the first woman to be elected Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society in 1973, being the first American elected to this honour. Also in 1973 she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and the Legion of Merit. Hopper collected a remarkable number of honorary degrees, receiving at least 37 between 1972 and 1987.

6. Which mathematician, perhaps best known for his namesake coordinate system, can be said to have died from getting up too early in the morning?

From Quiz The Death of a Mathematician

Answer: Rene Descartes

Ever since he was young Descartes had been in poor health, and his doctor's recommendation was that he spend his mornings in bed (legend has it that he came up with the idea for Cartesian coordinates by watching a fly crawl across his ceiling one of those mornings.) Unfortunately, the Swedish princess he was tutoring had an insatiable urge to draw tangents at 5 in the morning, and Descartes soon caught pneumonia and died.

7. This great Greek mathematician from 287-212 BC, is very famous for his attempts at the measurement of the circle.

From Quiz Biographies of Mathematicians

Answer: Archimedes

8. Hypatia (370-415 AD) is the first female mathematician we know by name. But how did she die?

From Quiz History of Mathematics

Answer: cut to pieces with shells

Although a popular lecturer at the university at Alexandria, a group of monks led by a patriarch named Cyril ordered her death because she was a pagan. A mob surrounded her carriage one afternoon after classes, cut her flesh off her bones with shells and took the remains to Cinaron to burn.

9. Which famous botanist of India is well-knowed for the invention of the crescograph?

From Quiz Indian Brains Are Right Here

Answer: J.C. Bose

Jagdish Chandra Bose was a great Indian botanist and physicist. He made the cresograph to measure growth in plants and detect the sensation of plants. A lunar impact crater called Bose was named after him. He was also considered to be the first to make a radio. But, he did not patent it. Thus, he is known as one of the fathers of radio.

10. A famous textbook, "The Elements", was still used as recently as the twentieth century. Who was the author of this text?

From Quiz Famous Mathematicians and Scientists

Answer: Euclid of Alexandria

Euclid deduced his theorems from a small basic set of axioms or postulates which were self-evident. These theorems are still the basis of Euclidian geometry today.

11. Which mathematician had worked with number theory and claimed to have found that x^n + y^n = z^n has no positive integer solutions if n is greater than 2?

From Quiz Math's Greatest Minds

Answer: Pierre de Fermat

Fermat's theory came to be known as "Fermat's Last Theorem". During Fermat's life, no one had proven it, but Fermat did write: "I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which this margin is too small to contain." In the past decades, however, Andrew Wiles had proven the theorem.

12. What mathematician is known as the Father of Algebra?

From Quiz Scientific "Fathers"

Answer: Diophantus

Diophantus, of Alexandria, is best known for his "Arithmetica," a work on the solution of algebraic equations and on the theory of numbers. He was born circa 200 and died around 284 AD.

13. Described as the first pure mathematician, this Greek taught us that the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

From Quiz Famous Mathematicians

Answer: Pythagoras

Ever watch the "Wizard of Oz"? When the scarecrow receives his brain, he incorrectly states the Pythagorean Theorem. He must have had straw up there all the time!

14. Which mathematician, one of the first to describe the situations under which the solution to an equation can be written down exactly, was killed in a duel at the tender age of 20?

From Quiz The Death of a Mathematician

Answer: Evariste Galois

The duel was fought over the attentions of Stephanie-Felice du Motel (and you thought mathematicians never got the girls). Legend has it that Galois spent the night before the duel pouring out all his mathematical knowledge onto paper so it wouldn't be forgotten (this is probably exaggerated, although he did write a manuscript that night). Regardless, it took nearly 15 years after his death before mathematicians realized the full import of young Galois's ideas.

15. Greek philosopher whose theorem about the length of the hypotenuse is famous to many students.

From Quiz Biographies of Mathematicians

Answer: Pythagoras

16. Who was the first Indian astronomer to be elected as the president of the International Astronomical Union?

From Quiz Indian Brains Are Right Here

Answer: Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu

Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu is known as the father of modern Indian Astronomy. He and his friend, Chaddock Wilson described an astronomical effect in 1957 which is known as the Wilson-Bappu effect. He also discovered a comet known as the Bappu-Bok-Newkirk comet with the help of his colleagues. He became the first Indian whose name was not only tagged to a comet but also to an astronomical effect.

17. Many adults today regard Algebra as the least favoured section of their school mathematics. Who can we blame for early works leading to this dreaded subject, algebra?

From Quiz Famous Mathematicians and Scientists

Answer: Diophantus of Alexandria

Diophantus wrote a textbook containing algebraic equations. Some 500 years later, a Persian mathematician, al-Kwarizmi was attributed with writing similar works.

18. Which mathematician had published "The Elements", and has influenced the study of geometry for around 2000 years?

From Quiz Math's Greatest Minds

Answer: Euclid

In his book, "The Element", Euclid of Alexandria gave five postulates that set the basis for Euclidian geometry. However, it was only by the 19th century that Euclid's last postulate was proven to be false, giving the way for non-Euclidian geometry.

19. Many people have suggested that algebra has more than one 'father'. So, this man (or men) is sometimes called the Islamic Father of Algebra.

From Quiz Scientific "Fathers"

Answer: al-Khwarizmi

al-Khwarizmi, 780-850, was born in Bagdad. His colleagues and he, called The Banu Musa, were scholars that worked on translation of Greek scientific manuscripts and they also studied, and wrote on, algebra, geometry and astronomy. The algebraic treatise Hisab al-jabr w'al-muqabala was the most famous and important of all of al-Khwarizmi's works. It is the title of this text that gives us the word "algebra."

20. This mathematician kept the mathematical world up in arms saying he had proven the question that: x^n + y^n = z^n has no solution when n is greater than 2. It is called his last theorem.

From Quiz Famous Mathematicians

Answer: Pierre De Fermat

When Fermat wrote this theorem down, he said "I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which this margin is too small to contain." No one was able to solve this for over 300 years until British Mathematician Andrew Wiles solved it in 1994.

21. What man, discoverer of the (In)Completeness theorem for logical systems, managed to starve himself to death?

From Quiz The Death of a Mathematician

Answer: Kurt Gödel

Near the end of his life, Gödel (who had previously been forced to flee Nazi controlled Austria just before the outbreak of the Second World War) started becoming convinced that people were attempting to poison his food, so he stopped eating. Unfortunately, this led to results as bad as any poison.

22. Which astronomer first discovered the sunspots on the surface of the Sun?

From Quiz Famous Scientists And Mathematicians

Answer: Galileo Galilei

He did what almost all the present amateur astronomers do - project the image of the sun onto a white sheet of paper. He described the phases of the moon and the sunspots in his book 'The Starry Messenger'.

23. This family had eight great mathematicians. One of the sons, Daniel, had a very famous theorem.

From Quiz Biographies of Mathematicians

Answer: Bernoulli

24. Who is popularly known as father of India's Chemical Industry?

From Quiz Indian Brains Are Right Here

Answer: Prafulla Chandra Ray

Prafulla Chandra Ray is also known as a master of nitrites. He discovered many compounds which contain nitrite like mercurous nitrite, nitrite of ammonia and many more. He also led the foundation of India's first pharmaceutical company. His autobiography which is known as 'Life and Experience of a Bengali Chemist' was published in the year 1932.

25. Which mathematician had developed the "method of indivisibles" and published "Geometria Indivisibilis"?

From Quiz Math's Greatest Minds

Answer: Bonaventura Cavalieri

Cavalieri's "method of indivisibles" states that a geometric plane contains infinitesimally small rectangles, which would allow Cavalieri to find the area of a shape quickly. The book's full name is "Geometria Indivisibilibus Continuorum Nova Quadam Ratione Promota", and was harshly criticized because mathematicians believed Cavalieri's method was absurd.

26. This man is known for being the Father of Geometry.

From Quiz Scientific "Fathers"

Answer: Euclid

Euclid, Greek mathematician and philosopher, was born in Alexandria around 325 BC. Very little is known of Euclid's life, other than that he came after the first pupils of Plato and was under the reign of Ptolemy I. His 13 books, collectively entitled "The Elements," were his most famous works. In the books, the theorems and constructions of plane geometry and solid geometry, along with the theory of proportions, incommensurables and commensurable, number theory, and a type of geometrical algebra are discussed. All the Greek geometry knowledge was comprised, comprehensively into these 13 books.

27. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a famous British mathematician who worked mainly in the field of logic. He is much better known by his pen name that he used to write children's books, of which many included logic puzzles. Name him.

From Quiz Famous Mathematicians

Answer: Lewis Carroll

Also known for adding words to the English language such as 'chortle', which came from the poem "Jabberwocky".

28. What mathematician spent his final days defending Syracuse against the invading Romans, only to be killed by a soldier who supposedly saw him working out diagrams in the sand?

From Quiz The Death of a Mathematician

Answer: Archimedes

Much of his work was designing ballistic systems and siege engines for use against the Romans, so these diagrams may not have been so benign. His last words may have been, "Don't disturb my circles!"

29. Alan Turing was the man who cracked Enigma, made great contributions to computer science, and then killed himself in 1954. Many speculate that his sudden behavior was due to the drugs he had been taking for what condition?

From Quiz History of Mathematics

Answer: Homosexuality

In the 1950's, homosexuality was considered a treatable psychological disorder (and was until DSM-IV, I believe, in the 80's). When he reported a burglary at his home in 1952, the police became more concerned about Turing than the thief, and he was required to either spend a year in jail or spend a year on psychoactive drugs that were thought to 'cure' homosexuality, mostly by repressing the sex drive.

30. Who is known as the Father of the Indian space program?

From Quiz Indian Brains Are Right Here

Answer: Vikram Sarabhai

Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai was a renowned physicist. He led the foundation of India's first rocket launching station in Thumba, Kerala. He also established Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India's first space agency. Aryabhatta, the first Indian satellite, was put into orbit in 1975 due to his efforts.

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