Lake George 2021

Posted on 29 Aug 2021 by Steve Markham

This past week we camped at Lake George for the annual Maughan/Crapo family reunion. We originally planned to stay for 8 days (out of 13) to be home in time for school. But between orthodontist appointments and forecasted thunderstorms, we came home after 6 days. It was great fun, as always.

Tagged with: family outdoors

Presidential Traverse

Posted on 14 Aug 2021 by Steve Markham

On Thursday, Andy, Kyle, and I headed to the White Mountains to hike the Presidential Traverse. According to a library book Janet got me, it’s one of the top 50 hikes in the world (only a couple of which are in the contiguous 48 states). It was difficult hiking and the weather was very hot, so there were some adjustments made mid-trip, but boy was it beautiful!

Tagged with: family outdoors

Math with Straingers

Posted on 02 Aug 2021 by Steve Markham

Math with Straingers

On the train ride to Provo from Salt Lake City, Kyle struck up a conversation with a stranger about the YouTube videos of Magic he was watching. Once he found out how nerdy we are, he asked us a math puzzle that had stumped him for 6 months: Find a number where if you swap the first and last digit, you get twice the value.

My immediate intuition was “provably impossible” and after a minute of thought I said that out loud. Kyle had it proved within a few minutes. The strainger sent me a link to the original source, and it turns out he misremembered it. I hope the guy hadn’t been losing sleep for six months, because the real puzzle is hard, but doable: Find the smallest positive integer where if you move the last digit to the front, you get twice the value.

Spoilers below.

Tagged with: geek

Links and Books, July 2021

Posted on 31 Jul 2021 by Steve Markham

July was tons of fun. Here are some links and quotes for you to enjoy.

Tagged with: geek