Geometry

Experiments you can run yourself.

The Poincaré Conjecture

Every surface without "holes" can be continuously deformed into a sphere.

The Möbius Strip

A Möbius strip cut along its centre line gives one longer band, not two.

The Golden Ratio

The golden ratio equals about 1.618 (the golden number φ).

Conic Sections

Cutting a cone with a plane parallel to its slant line gives a parabola.

The Banach–Tarski Paradox

Mathematically, one ball can be reassembled into two identical ones — assuming the axiom of choice.

The Pythagorean Theorem — Visual Proofs

The area of the square on the hypotenuse equals the sum of the areas of the squares on the legs.

Euler's Formula for Polyhedra

For any convex polyhedron, V − E + F always equals 2.

The Spiral of Theodorus — Square Roots Geometrically

The successive hypotenuses in the spiral of Theodorus have lengths equal to the successive square roots √n.

The Intercept Theorem (Thales) — Proof

Parallel lines crossing the arms of an angle cut them into proportional segments.

Geometric Transformations

Only a dilation changes a figure's size; isometries preserve distances.

Squaring the Circle — Why It Is Impossible

You cannot construct, with compass and straightedge, a square whose area equals a given circle.

Compass-and-straightedge constructions

Trisecting an arbitrary angle with compass and straightedge is impossible (proven).

The three-body problem

The motion of three gravitating bodies cannot be predicted by a formula forever — it can be chaotic.

Non-Euclidean geometry

The sum of the angles of a triangle drawn on a sphere is greater than 180°.

The Klein bottle — a surface with no inside

The Klein bottle has no separate inside and outside — it is one-sided.

The hairy ball theorem

On the whole Earth a horizontal wind cannot blow everywhere at once — there is always a windless spot.

The Brouwer fixed-point theorem

When you stir coffee in a cup, some point of the liquid always returns exactly to its place.

Pick's theorem

The area of a polygon with vertices on a grid is found by counting dots: P = i + b/2 − 1.

The Reuleaux triangle

Not only the circle has constant width — the Reuleaux triangle can roll too.

Morley's theorem

The angle trisectors of any triangle always form an equilateral triangle.

The ham sandwich theorem

A single flat cut can simultaneously halve bread, cheese and ham — arranged any way at all.