
The Science Quiz | Numbers have celebrities, too
The Hindu
The Science Quiz | Numbers have celebrities, too
Questions:
1. What is the lowest whole number whose name, when spelt out in English, contains the letter ‘a’?
2. This six digit number is sometimes called by the name given to a famous fiery bird because its first six multiples (1 to 6) contain the same digits as this number does. Its seventh multiple has six digits of the same number. What is this number?
3. The taxicab numbers are so named because Srinivasa Ramanujan once noticed the number 1,729 — apparently the number of the cab G.H. Hardy had taken to visit Ramanujan — can be expressed as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. As it stands, 1,729 is the second taxicab number. What’s the first?
4. The number 9 appears in a large variety of mythological and cultural contexts across time — from the nine worlds of Norse mythology to the navarasa of Indian performing arts — yet we haven’t been able to find causal links between them. What’s the term analytical psychologist Carl Jung used to describe such occurrences?
5. The numbers 30, 42, 66, 70, 78, and 102 are the first six _______ numbers. All these numbers have eight divisors each, and are not divisible by any square number. Fill in the blank.
Visual:

How do you create a Christmas tree with crochet? Take notes from crochet artist Sheena Pereira, who co-founded Goa-based Crochet Collective with crocheter Sharmila Majumdar in 2025. Their artwork takes centre stage at the Where We Gather exhibit, which is part of Festivals of Goa, an ongoing exhibition hosted by the Museum of Goa. The collective’s multi-hued, 18-foot crochet Christmas tree has been put together by 25 women from across the State. “I’ve always thought of doing an installation with crochet. So, we thought of doing something throughout the year that would culminate at the year end; something that would resonate with Christmas message — peace, hope, joy, love,” explains Sheena.

Max Born made many contributions to quantum theory. This said, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1954 for establishing the statistical interpretation of the ____________. Fill in the blank with the name of an object central to quantum theory but whose exact nature is still not fully understood.











