Fee Fi Fo Fum!

Fee fi fo fum hand lettered title

Illustration ©2014 Ken Wilson-Max “Fee fi fo fum”  is from the classic English fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk, which was originally called Jack the Giant Killer.  The Cornish fairytale tells the story of a brave young man during the reign of King Arthur who kills many giants. Giants are common in Cornish stories. Cornwall, the home of…… Continue reading Fee Fi Fo Fum!

How Much Pi?

Emma Haruka Iwao, who works at Google, used Google Cloud computing to calculate 31.4 trillion digits of pi. This is the first time some used publicly available cloud software for an enormous pi calculation. Peter Trueb set the previous world record in 2016, calculating the digits of pi to 22.4 trillion digits. Emma loved pi…… Continue reading How Much Pi?

Are Scary Stories Good For Children?

In 2016 researchers working for The Book People and asked 1000 parents if they like to read scary stories to their children. This is what they found: 78% of parents (that’s almost 8 out of 10 parents) said that baddies helped children tell the difference between good and evil. 53% (just over half) that they helped children “learn…… Continue reading Are Scary Stories Good For Children?

Prime Numbers Stand Out

Prime Numbers are natural numbers greater than one that cannot be formed by multiplying two smaller natural numbers. The new prime number is super long with 22,338,618 digits! So it has a nickname- M74207281, which seems equally long!   The millions upon millions of prime numbers that mathematicians have already found are a small part…… Continue reading Prime Numbers Stand Out