Between divine and human proportion.

A monk called Luca Pacioli wrote a book titled «The Divine Proportion» and asked Leonardo Da Vinci to illustrate it. When the artist finished all the drawings Luca examined them and said: «Your work is fantastic.» «Thank you father Pacioli » replied Leonardo. «Your book deserved that and more.» «I was right when I decided to ask you to illustrate my book because I knew you would love the theme of proportions. You showed me the sketch of the Vitruvian Man you drew and I was really impressed » said Pacioli.

Da Vinci explained that Vitruvio was a roman architect who had written about human proportions. These proportions are considered the canon of art, «Did you know that the distance from your elbow to your fingertips is a fifth of your height?» said Leonardo. «And the distance from your elbow to your armpit is an eighth of your height? And did you know that the length of your hand is a tenth of your height?»

Proper and Improper Fractions

The four fours

Srinivasa Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician from the 20th century. He was called “ the friend of numbers.” He had a natural ability with numbers and was very famous in the scientific world for that reason. When he was a child, he invented a game to entertain his brothers while they were waiting at Madras train station.

There was a train with four coaches and a steam engine in front of them. Every coach had the number four on it and the steam engine had the number one.

In the Red

Fu Chang was a young man who lived in China a long time ago. He wanted to work for the government so he took an exam to get the job. He was sure he`d pass the exam because he was very good at writing literature and poetry.

During the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) it was very difficult to get a post in the government but if you passed the exam you could earn a lot of money and have a higher social status.

What comes after Thursday? Thursday!!!

It was a very cold Christmas day of the year 1582 and Pope Gregory XIII was talking to Christopher Clavius, a Jesuist who was very upset at that moment:
«Oh, please, Your Holiness, let me explain the changes in the calendar to the people,» said Christoper.