Oddity Central

Oddity Central


Real-Life Good Will Hunting – Chinese Delivery Man Discovers Simpler Solution to Complex Math Problem

Posted: 21 Jul 2016 12:01 PM PDT

Yu Jianchun, A Chinese migrant worker from Henan province with no former mathematical training and no college degree, is being hailed as a real-life version of Will Hunting, the character played by Matt Damon in the 1997 Oscar-winning film “Good Will Hunting”, after finding an alternative method to verify Carmichael numbers.

Carmichael numbers, also known as “pseudo primes”, are large numbers that only appear to be prime numbers, which are only divisible by one and themselves. They are used for credit card encryption and online payments, among other things. There are examinations that can be done to find out which numbers are prime and which are Carmichael numbers, but it’s tricky work. Apparently, a young mailman with no studies in advanced mathematics has just come up with a simpler way to verify Carmichael numbers.

Yu-Jianchun-Carmichael-numbers

South Korean Soldiers Take Ballet Lessons to Relieve Stress

Posted: 21 Jul 2016 06:21 AM PDT

Guarding the border with North Korea is a very stressful job for the South Korean soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas, but they recently found a very unconventional way to unwind – taking ballet lessons.

Once a week, the young soldiers of the Koran army’s army’s 25th Division switch their heavy army boots for ballet shoes and take part in a ballet class intended to relieve some of the stress of guarding the world’s most heavily fortified border. Under the guidance of Lee Hyang-jo, a ballerina at the Korean National Ballet who started teaching at the base a year ago, the young soldiers struggle to do splits pirouettes and other ballet moves, as a way of relaxing.

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Girl Who Sneezes 8,000 Times a Day Leaves Doctors Baffled

Posted: 21 Jul 2016 05:47 AM PDT

Ira Saxena, a young girl from Colchester, England, can’t stop sneezing. From the moment she wakes up, she sneezes over 10 times per minute, and the unusual condition seems to be getting worse. Her mother is desperate to help, but doctors aren’t even sure what is causing the unusual sneezing bouts.

Ira’s mysterious condition kicked in one morning, three weeks ago, when Ira woke up and started sneezing. Her mother Priya says the sneezing wasn’t so bad at first, but it quickly progressed to a point where the girl wasn’t even able to attend school anymore. She now sneezes about 8,000 times per day, sometimes up to 10 times a minute, until she falls a sleep. “The one blessing is she sleeps fine, it is the only time when she is not sneezing and she can sleep right through the night,” her mother said.

Ira-Saxena-sneezing

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