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Evangelista Torricelli: 2 puzzles worth knowing

2 puzzles from Evangelista Torricelli, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• This shape holds a finite amount of paint but infinite surface to paint

  Take the curve y = 1/x for x ≥ 1 and spin it around the x-axis. The resulting trumpet-shaped solid has a finite volume — you could fill it with a finite amount of paint. But its su…

  — Evangelista Torricelli, De solido hyperbolico acuto

• Find the Point Closest to All Three Corners

  Pierre de Fermat challenged Evangelista Torricelli with a deceptively simple question: inside any triangle, find the single point that minimizes the total distance to all three cor…

  — Pierre de Fermat (posed); Evangelista Torricelli (solved), Fermat point

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