Defining a geographical area of the Atlantic Ocean, the name of the “Bermuda triangle” was born in 1964 from the pen of an American journalist. Like all triangles, it has three vertices: the Bermuda archipelago and the cities of Miami in Florida, and San Juan in Puerto Rico..
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[EN VIDÉO] How to reconcile with mathematics? Normalien, agrégation in mathematics and holder of a master’s degree in the history of religions, Hervé Lehning has devoted himself entirely, since 2010, to the popularization of science, in mathematics, computer science and cryptology. In this video, he gives some simple ideas to play down and facilitate access to mathematics.
The surface of the Bermuda Triangle is of the order of one million square kilometres. According to the legend, this place would be particularly dangerous: many boats and planes would have disappeared there. Of course, this is a myth popularized by the disappearance of a squadron of five American torpedo planes training in the area on December 5, 1945. In Encounter of the third kind, Steven Spielberg’s film, released in 1977, this squadron is kidnapped by aliens…
The facts are more prosaic as the communications show radiowhich everyone can find on theInternet. Strangely, the lieutenant instructor, who commanded the squadron, did not have his watch. The flight plan corresponded to a triangle defined by three angles and three lengths.
Can you find out why forgetting a watch could lead to the loss of a squadron?
Response :
Knowing the speed of the plane, the watch calculates distances. If these are wrong, the Squadron Leader may find himself over the Bahamas thinking he is in South Florida and make a bad decision, which has probably lost the Squadron at sea. mysteries are the cause of the forgetting of the watch and the fact that none of the student pilots of the squadron corrected the errors of the lieutenant instructor… Unless they all forgot their watches, which remains extremely curious. Is it necessary to intervene aliens to explain these quirks?
Learn more about Hervé Lehning
Normalien and agrégation in mathematics, Hervé Lehning taught his discipline for a good forty years. Crazy about cryptography, member of the Association of encryption and information security reservists, he has in particular pierced the secrets of Henri II’s cipher box.
- His blog MATH’WORLD on Futura
- the latest book by Hervé Lehning :
Also to discover: The universe of secret codes from Antiquity to the Internet published in 2012 by Ixelles.
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