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Nerdy trivia questions are always a fun way to challenge your knowledge of specific topics.
Whether you’re a tech-savvy whiz or an avid movie buff, these nerdy trivia questions will put your skills to the test.
Straight off the bat, here is a warm-up question to clear any brain fog:
Question: A buckyball is a stable and spherical molecule made up of what element?
Answer: Carbon
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1. Which appealing yellow fruit is slightly radioactive due to its high potassium content?
Answer: Banana
2. What Greek word, meaning "I have found it," was supposedly shouted by the mathematician Archimedes upon realizing that the volume of his body displaced an equal volume of water in his bathtub?
Answer: Eureka
3. Obelus is the name for the mathematical symbol that has a horizontal line with a dot above and a dot below it. Which arithmetic operation is the sign used for?
Answer: Division
4. According to the musical based on his adventures, which Nickelodeon cartoon is not just any kind of absorbent, multicellular, deep-sea organism, but specifically, Aplysina fistularis?
Answer: SpongeBob Squarepants
5. Typically requiring the use of your pointer finger and thumb, what “P” cooking measurement is equal to 1/16th of a teaspoon?
Answer: Pinch
6. Nikola Tesla had an idea that you could harness power in the air because water drops get transferred to dust particles and create hygroelectricity, which is what kind of “clingy” electricity that can make your hair stand on end?
Answer: Static
7. The "reference mineral" for a 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness is diamond, which has an absolute hardness of 1500. What soft mineral, often found in commercial products like baby powder, is the reference mineral for 1 on the Mohs scale?
Answer: Talc
8. On Earth, the recipe for them is water and light. If you were on another planet with a different atmosphere, what colorful post-precipitation meteorological phenomenon would you be less likely to see?
Answer: Rainbow
9. Known for illustrating the relation between each side of a right triangle, what famous theorem is best known by its famous equation "a^2 + b^2 = c^2"?
Answer: Pythagorean theorem
10. What set of three positive integers give the same result whether you add them all or multiply them all together?
Answer: 1, 2 and 3
11. In 2023, a Dutch company halted plans to start production on the first iteration of a solar-powered car. What is the car manufacturer's name, also the surname of a character from "Toy Story"?
Answer: Lightyear
12. In a 2017 survey by Hasbro, the Scottie Dog beat the T-Rex and the Hat to claim the title of most popular playing token in what board game?
Answer: Monopoly
13. Although the exact origin is unknown, this piece of technology and calculating tool used beans or stones moved in grooves of sand to perform calculations. Although computers have mostly replaced it, which tool is still in use for teaching arithmetic to children in many parts of the world?
Answer: Abacus
14. "No" is the negative-sounding chemical symbol that represents an element first produced in the U.S. in 1958. The element is named after what man who more famously lent his name to a series of prizes?
Answer: Alfred Nobel
15. At their closest respective points, Earth is approximately 365 million miles from what gas giant planet named after the Roman god of thunder and the sky?
Answer: Jupiter
16. In the commonly taught order-of-operations acronym PEMDAS, the “E” stands for what “powerful” type of numbers?
Answer: Exponents
17. He had intended to call it Freax, but his friend changed the name without consulting him. Finnish-American software engineer Linus Torvalds is best known as the creator of what piece of open-source software?
Answer: Linux
18. If you multiplied all the numbers on your telephone’s keypad, what number would you get?
Answer: 0
19. Don't hurt yourself or anyone else while thinking about this one: Abbreviated "pn," what small unit of measurement used for adding spices or sugar to your cooking is roughly equivalent to 1/16 of a teaspoon?
Answer: Pinch
20. What do you call the longest side of a right triangle (that is, the side that’s opposite the right angle)?
Answer: Hypotenuse
21. 14241 is a palindromic number, which means it is the same written backward and forward. What is the next biggest palindromic number after 14241?
Answer: 14341
22. The Mobius strip was the inspiration for a universal symbol first created in 1970 and composed of 3 arrows in a roughly triangular shape. This symbol stands for what action?
Answer: Recycling
23. Established at the General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1960 and named after a Serbian-American engineer whose first name is Nikola, what unit of measurement is equivalent to one weber per square meter?
Answer: Tesla
24. Which natural number is not just a favorite of the Internet (...nice) but special because its square (4761) and cube (328509) use every decimal digit from 0 to 9 exactly once?
Answer: 69
25. Waxy buildup in the human ear is actually a form of what type of wet skin excretion?
Answer: Sweat
26. What carnivorous plant, formally discovered in 1759, is only native to the wetlands of North and South Carolina?
Answer: Venus flytrap
27. In January 2021, phrases like “$GME,” “To the moon,” and “Stonks” became part of normal American parlance as which nerdy retail company’s share price skyrocketed unexpectedly?
Answer: GameStop
28. Featuring Christoper Mintz-Plasse as “McLovin,’” what 2007 nerdy teen comedy starred Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and Emma Stone?
Answer: Superbad
29. When playing Dungeons & Dragons, what is the name of the role played by the game organizer who controls all aspects of the game, including the story telling, except for the other player's actions?
Answer: Dungeon Master / Game Master
30. Eight friends from a Chicago-area high school used a Kickstarter in 2011 to create what popular party game whose black-and-white cards feature politically incorrect fill-in-the-blanks?
Answer: Cards Against Humanity
31. Winning for "their synthesis of new radioactive elements" the second woman to win the Nobel prize for Chemistry was the daughter of two other Nobel prize winners. What was the family's surname?
Answer: Curie
32. What number comes next in this series: 7, 42, 210, 840, 2520, 5040, 5040...?
Answer: Zero
33. Which Italian mathematician, perhaps best known for his eponymous sequence, introduced Arabic numerals to the Western world in his work “Liber Abaci?”
Answer: Leonardo Bigollo Pisano
34. Which gas used to make dental work pain-free was discovered in 1844 by Horace Wells, who watched people volunteer to suck it in and act goofy under its effects? Bonus fact: These laughing gas events were called “frolics.”
Answer: Nitrous oxide
35. Titan is one of the few moons in the solar system known to have an atmosphere of any substance. Around which second-largest planet does Titan revolve?
Answer: Saturn
36. “Can I have a large container of coffee, thank you” is mnemonic for remembering the first 10 digits of what mathematical concept?
Answer: Pi
37. The Devil’s game? What sum do you get if you add up all the numbers on a roulette wheel?
Answer: 666
38. -459.67 Fahrenheit degrees (or 0 Kelvin) equals what two-word term for when all particles completely stop moving?
Answer: Absolute Zero
39. It's generally believed that, in the Northern Hemisphere, mosses tend to grow on what side? That is, in which cardinal direction of trees and rocks?
Answer: North
40. In mathematical physics, Minkowski space is a four-dimensional space consisting of three-dimensional Euclidean space and which other quantity?
Answer: Time
41. Iodine and Europium are two of the three chemical elements whose common English names start with two vowels. First identified in the 1950s, the third element to fit that category is named after what science guy?
Answer: Albert Einstein
42. Ferocious "owlbears," which hug players and then attack with their beak, have been part of every edition of what role-playing game since 1975?
Answer: Dungeons and Dragons
43. If an overzealous beer enthusiast asked you to pour them 10 pints of lager, how much lager would they be receiving in quarts?
Answer: 5
44. Nitrogen, Oxygen, Potassium, Tungsten, and Yttrium all have single letter chemical symbols, which can be anagrammed to form what common five-letter word?
Answer: Wonky
45. Ohm's law of electricity, expressed as "V = IR," states that voltage is directly proportional to current, represented by I, and what quantity represented by the letter R?
Answer: Resistance
46. In 2016, British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor was controversially granted exclusive artistic rights to use a special laboratory-developed pigment with total hemispherical reflectances below 1% in the visible spectrum. What color is the pigment?
Answer: Black
47. A famous thought experiment that dates back to 1935 involves a sealed box, a flask of poison, a Geiger counter, a radioactive source, and what kind of animal?
Answer: A cat
48. It is also the only two-digit prime that is not a cluster prime, and is the highest two-digit number where the sum of its digits is a square. What is it?
Answer: 97
49. Ask Han Solo: What unit, equivalent to approximately 3.26 light years, has a name derived from a portmanteau of “parallax in one second?”
Answer: Parsec
50. Which “I” word applies to atoms of the same element with the same atomic number but different mass numbers?
Answer: Isotope
51. A laminectomy is the surgical removal of the lamina, which is part of what spine bones?
Answer: Vertebra
52. What colorful word describes a special ratio (approximately equal to 1.618) that appears frequently in architecture, nature, and geometry? The number was the subject of Mario Livio's book, subtitled "The World's Most Astonishing Number."
Answer: Golden
53. Ask Buzz Lightyear! The figure known as a "lemniscate" is typically used in math and other contexts to represent what concept?
Answer: Infinity
54. The basic concepts of heredity were first described by Gregor Mendel, an Austrian-Czech monk who performed experiments on what type of edible plants?
Answer: Peas
55. Like ducks, swans, and some other birds, geese can see what form of radiation with wavelengths shorter than that of visible light?
Answer: Ultraviolet light
56. A gigaannum is a term that represents a very long time. One billion years in fact! About 3.5 gigaannums ago was when what critical process used to convert light energy into chemical energy is estimated to have begun?
Answer: Photosynthesis
57. Raising any non-zero number to the power of zero will give what result?
Answer: One
58. Represented using the previous letter in the alphabet in most other fields, the letter "j" is used to represent the square root of what number in electrical engineering?
Answer: -1
59. What is the term given to a fraction where the numerator is larger than or equal to the denominator? This term may also used for something inappropriate.
Answer: Improper Fraction
60. Acceleration is the change in an object's velocity with respect to time. The change of an object's acceleration with respect to time has what name, which it shares with some chicken dishes, and some inconsiderate people?
Answer: Jerk
61. In geometry, which C-term refers to two objects with the same shape and size—in other words, you could superimpose one on the other and they’d line up exactly or be the mirror image of one another?
Answer: Congruence
62. A planned NASA mission will be the first to land astronauts on the moon since the Apollo program, including the first woman. This program is named, appropriately enough, for what sister of Apollo?
Answer: Artemis
63. If an atom has 10 protons and 11 neutrons in its nucleus, what is its atomic number?
Answer: 10
64. A buckyball is a stable and spherical molecule made up of what very common element?
Answer: Carbon
65. A British scientist gave his name to what familiar four-by-four square, used to illustrate the probability that the offspring of two individuals will have a given genotype?
Answer: Punnett Square
66. A dermatophyte is a fungus that needs what protein found in skin to grow? It’s also great for your hair and nails!
Answer: Keratin
67. The first 3-digit number in the Fibonacci sequence is also the largest square number to appear in the sequence. What is it?
Answer: 144
68. Also a traditionally wooden cylindrical container that is usually made by a cooper, what “B” unit of measurement is equivalent to 42 gallons when measuring crude oil, and 31 gallons when measuring beer?
Answer: Barrel
69. Which ancient Greek mathematician discovered the principle of displacement, which is used to measure the volume of irregularly shaped objects?
Answer: Archimedes
70. What city in southern France's Languedoc area is the namesake of a tile-placement game in which players can turn their "meeple" into monks, knights, robbers, and farmers?
Answer: Carcassonne
71. Which popular board game has an apologetic name taken from the card you might draw that would let you send another player back to the start?
Answer: Sorry
72. What 1954 board game, known for encouraging players to make and betray alliances, was reportedly the favorite of both John F. Kennedy and Henry Kissinger?
Answer: Diplomacy
73. Tabletop role playing games often require a set of dice with different numbers of sides. How many sides are on the die mathematicians would identify as a "dodecahedron?"
Answer: Twelve
74. In 1993, Milton Bradley released a murderous board game where players attempt to off one another in pursuit of an old woman’s estate. What was the vaguely Hitchcockian name of the game? Players are also trying to outrun a detective waiting outside the mansion, and the number of steps it’ll take them to get to the door is part of the game’s name.
Answer: 13 Dead End Drive
75. "Everyone is a fan of something!" is a slogan for what pop culture collectibles company? The company's Pop! line of figurines includes thousands of items, ranging from Prince Harry to the Pillsbury Doughboy to Baby Yoda and everything in between.
Answer: Funko
76. Like a more family-friendly version of Cards Against Humanity, what popular and "fruity" 1999 board game involves judges taking turns deciding which red cards, which have nouns, best match a green card with an adjective?
Answer: Apples to Apples
77. With a name that refers to Arthurian legend, what subsidiary of Hasbro produces strategy games like HeroQuest and Axis & Allies?
Answer: Avalon Hill
78. In the classic children’s board game, you roll the dice to find out if you’ll be able to climb a ladder or be doomed to slide down which slithering creature?
Answer: Snakes
79. Scoring points by rolling five dice is the goal of which game by Milton Bradley? The name is also what you call getting a roll where all five dice are the same—it’s worth 50 points.
Answer: Yahtzee
80. Which Parker Brothers party game frazzles teams as they try to list as many things in a certain category as they can before time runs out?
Answer: Scattergories
81. What two resources, along with wool, grain, and lumber, make up the five resources in the game Settlers of Catan?
Answer: Brick and Ore
82. The popular board game Blokus includes Tetris-like pieces in four bright colors: red, yellow, blue, and what color that you can make from a combination of two of the others?
Answer: Green
83. What American publishing company is responsible for Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, as well as the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game franchise?
Answer: Wizards of the Coast
84. What two letters are worth the maximum 10 points in a regulation Scrabble bag?
Answer: Q, Z
85. The Emu and the Laughing Kookaburra are two cards added in the Oceania Expansion to what best-selling board game designed by Elizabeth Hargrave?
Answer: Wingspan
86. Which “truth or dare” inspired board game was a big hit with teen females in the ‘90s (unless you spent the game sporting a zit sticker)?
Answer: Girl Talk
87. Intrigue, Dark Ages, Renaissance, and Seaside are all expansions for what award-winning deck-building game?
Answer: Dominion
88. The legendary 2007 player-placement game "Agricola" gets its name from the Latin word for what time-honored profession?
Answer: Farmer
89. Which Milton Bradley of the ‘90s game had you try to predict if a wizard in a crystal ball at the center of the board would be able to correctly answer “yes” or “no” to your question card?
Answer: Ask Zandar
90. The James Webb Space Telescope, launched by NASA in 2022, observes deep space objects using what form of electromagnetic radiation, with wavelengths longer than those of visible light?
Answer: Infrared
91. Commonly used in horse racing and first used in 16th-century England, what “F” measurement is equivalent to one-eighth of a mile or 220 yards?
Answer: Furlong
92. "Centrifugal force" is a fictional or "pseudo" force that appears to push an object traveling in a circle outward. What other "real" force is directed toward the center of the circle of motion?
Answer: Centripetal Force
93. The distinctive call of a gull, as recorded in James Joyce's novel "Finnegan's Wake," is the source of the name of what type of subatomic particle?
Answer: Quark
94. Which famous scientist and television personality debated creationist Ken Ham in 2014 in a debate with the topic "Is Creation A Viable Model of Origins?"?
Answer: Bill Nye
95. In the late 19th Century, Hugo Hildebrand Hildebrandsson, Albert Riggenbach, and Léon Teisserenc de Bort were involved in the publication of an atlas used for training meteorologists on what objects? A 2017 edition included 12 new formations.
Answer: Clouds
96. The total amount of greenhouse gas emissions created by human activity is better known by what two-word term that originated from a concept conceived by environmentalists William E. Rees and Dr. Mathis Wackernagel during the 1990s?
Answer: Carbon footprint
97. In 1895, one week after Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen first realized a cathode ray tube could help one peer into the human body, he used this primitive x-ray to view what bejeweled body part of his wife?
Answer: Fingers
98. It sounds like he might have also had a career tending to livestock of the genus Ovis. In 1961 who became the first American in space, and then a decade later, became the oldest man in history to walk on the moon?
Answer: Alan Shepard
99. What high-flying geometric shape is defined as a quadrilateral with reflection symmetry across a diagonal?
Answer: Kite
100. In mathematics, a certain equation that includes e, i, pi, 0 and 1 is known as the "identity" of what influential 18th century Swiss mathematician?
Answer: Leonhard Euler
101. USGS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior with the motto "science for a changing world." What do the initials of this organization stand for? The group is headquartered in Reston, Virginia and is a fact-finding organization with no regulatory responsibility.
Answer: United States Geological Survey
102. What is the sum of the only number that is spelled with its letters in alphabetical order and the only number that is spelled with its letters in reverse alphabetical order?
Answer: 41
103. Mathematician Leonard Euler solved a famous problem named for seven of what kind of structures in the city of Konigsberg?
Answer: Bridges
104. You enter a room that has two pairs of twins, three sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. How many people are in the room altogether? No trickery, like the same person belonging to more than one of the listed groups. And there is nobody in the room other than those listed.
Answer: 30
105. What is the next number in this series: 0, 7, 26, 63, 124 …..?
Answer: 215
106. Also known as potential difference, electric pressure, or electric tension, what measurement of the difference in electric potential between two points is named for an Italian physicist?
Answer: Voltage
107. What "effect"—by which a rotating object experiences a force perpendicular to the direction of motion—is the reason toilets flush clockwise in the Northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern hemisphere?
Answer: Coriolis Effect
108. Famous for his description of the structure of atoms, what physicist was born in 1885 in Copenhagen, Denmark?
Answer: Niels Bohr
109. The four conic sections are the nondegenerate curves generated by the intersections of a plane with one or two nappes of a cone. A hyperbola is a conic section. An ellipse is a conic section. And some consider a circle a conic section. What conic section is missing from this list?
Answer: Parabola
110. Which Greek letter, the 10th in the alphabet, is used to denote susceptibility, coupling coefficient and thermal conductivity? It's also the name of an Italian sportswear brand.
Answer: Kappa
111. Standing for “First,” “Outside,” “Inside,” and “Last,” the FOIL method is used to figure out the product of what kind of algebraic expression containing two terms connected by a plus or minus sign?
Answer: Binomial
112. Many sports tournaments are single elimination, where a team is eliminated after a loss. Allowing for first round byes for teams not counting as games, how many games would be played in a single elimination tournament with 113 teams?
Answer: 112
113. In mathematics, e = 2.71828, a constant related to exponential growth and decay that is known as whose number?
Answer: Euler's
114. Dutch doctor Willem Kolff used orange juice cans, sausage casings, and car parts to build the prototype of a machine for which medical procedure in 1943? Nearly 500,000 Americans undergo this type of treatment every year.
Answer: Dialysis
115. Earth is the densest planet in the solar system. Which of the giant planets of the solar system is its least dense?
Answer: Saturn
116. Two consecutive elements on the periodic table have the same atomic number as the number of letters in their English names. What are they?
Answer: Boron (5) and Carbon (6)
117. Pluto may no longer be a planet, but it remains the largest of a group known as "KBOs,” which stands for what?
Answer: Kuiper Belt Object
118. In 1869, German pathological anatomist Paul Langerhans discovered a series of islets, now known as the Islets of Langerhans, in what human organ that contains the organ's hormone-producing cells?
Answer: Pancreas
119. Potassium, Nitrogen, Oxygen and Tungsten all have single letter chemical symbols. When put together in that order, what four letter word do their symbols spell out?
Answer: Know
120. The interior angle sum of a regular heptagon is how many degrees?
Answer: 900
121. What kind of "motion," the random movement of particles in a liquid or gas, is named for a Scottish botanist?
Answer: Brownian Motion
122. Originating in Mexico, the axolotl is a paedomorphic species of which order of amphibians?
Answer: Salamander
123. It has been described as the most beautiful equation of all time. Despite including two irrational numbers and one imaginary number, the equation e^(ip) + 1 counterintuitively produces what non-irrational, non-imaginary result (the concept of which is said to have been introduced to Europe by Fibonacci)?
Answer: 0 (Zero)
124. Named after the son of Poseidon, what large sea snail is protected by the Australian government because it preys on crown-of-thorns starfish which damage coral reefs?
Answer: Giant Triton
125. If someone’s mass is 100kg on Earth, what would their mass be Mercury?
Answer: 100kg
126. Which element, number 75 on the periodic table, is named after a German river and is considered a rare earth metal?
Answer: Rhenium
127. Named after the Roman goddess of agriculture, what is the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, making it the closest dwarf planet to the Sun by far?
Answer: Ceres
128. What astronomical object gets its name from the fact that it emits electromagnetic radiation from its poles?
Answer: Pulsar
129. The mathematical field now known as calculus was developed more or less independently and simultaneously by two mathematical giants: Isaac Newton and what German polymath?
Answer: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
130. According to Merriam-Webster, if you were to add the number of days in a "fortnight" to the number of days in a "quarantine," how many total days would you have?
Answer: 54
131. Ferrets, wombats, and house cats are usually active mostly at twilight. That's a rhythm known by what word that anagrams to CURL UP CARES?
Answer: Crepuscular
132. A perfect number is a positive integer equal to the sum of its divisors, not including the number itself. An unsolved problem in math is whether any perfect numbers with what parity exist?
Answer: Odd
133. There are two sets of three consecutive letters of the alphabet that are single-letter symbols for elements of the periodic table. One group is NOP, the symbols for nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), and Phosphorus (P). What is the other set of three letters?
Answer: UVW
134. What's the name of the tube of smooth muscle, about 20-30 centimeters in length, that propels urine from the kidney to the bladder?
Answer: Ureter
135. In 2014, what prestigious math award did Maryam Mirzakhani become the first woman and Iranian to win for her work on Riemann surfaces?
Answer: Fields Medal
136. Five people have won two Nobel Prizes, but Linus Pauling is the only one to have won two that were not shared with anyone else. He won the first for Chemistry, but for what other non-science field did he win his second?
Answer: Peace
137. English mathematician James Joseph Sylvester was "The One" borrowed a Latin word for "womb" to coin what mathematical term in 1850, because it can give birth to many "determinants?"
Answer: Matrix
138. Which element (number 100 on the periodic table) is the only one named after an Italian?
Answer: Fermium
139. What star, the 10-brightest in the night sky and positioned at the end of Orion's left hand, is also known as Alpha Orionis?
Answer: Betelgeuse
140. A prime number is only divisible by itself and 1. How many two-digit prime numbers are there? Hint: The answer is not a prime number!
Answer: 21
141. The only bone in the human body not connected to other bones is what horseshoe-shaped "H" bone that's also known as the lingual or tongue-bone?
Answer: Hyoid
142. What “W” is the SI unit of magnetic flux in physics, who shares its name with former “Who do you think you are? I am!” professional bowler Pete?
Answer: Weber
143. How many elements on the period table have a letter X somewhere in their name?
Answer: Two
144. The Elements Song, released by Tom Lehrer in 1959, is just him reciting different elements from the periodic alongside a tune written in the 19th-century by which famous British musical-writing duo?
Answer: Gilbert and Sullivan
145. With shorter lines than you'd expect, what UNESCO World Heritage Site in southwest London claims "we house the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world?”
Answer: Kew Gardens
146. Strong winds that create sandstorms in the Sahara and Arabian Peninsula are known by what H-word aptly derived from the Arabic for "wind"?
Answer: Haboob
147. In 1905, Albert Einstein defended his doctoral thesis (“A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions”) at which university in Switzerland?
Answer: University of Zürich
148. Although it's often cultivated for sale, which two East Coast states does the infamous carnivorous plant known as the Venus Flytrap naturally grow in subtropical wetlands?
Answer: North Carolina, South Carolina
149. Not be confused with Tom Lehrer’s song, AsapSCIENCE created a Periodic Table song with the elements in the correct order. This song was done in the tune of which famous piece of music, commonly associated with a famous dance?
Answer: Can Can
150. Located in the North Atlantic and defined by ocean currents, what is the only sea without a land boundary? It was the namesake of a Jean Rhys novel that retold the origin of a "Jane Eyre" character.
Answer: Sargasso Sea
151. A famous math problem, what is the highest number of Chicken McNuggets that you cannot buy using combination of 6, 9, and 20 packs?
Answer: 43
152. What astronomy term describe the phenomenon when the Earth is farthest from the Sun during the year?
Answer: Aphelion
153. In physics, what term describes the study of motion without considering cause? So, studying the motion of a thing without thinking about the forces involved?
Answer: Kinematics
154. What is the type of number, named after an arrogant figure in Greek mythology, is equal to each of its digits raised to the same degree? For example, 153 is one of these numbers because 1 cubed + 5 cubed + 3 cubed equals 153.
Answer: Narcissistic Number
155. The Hodge conjecture, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness, P versus NP, Riemann hypothesis, and Yang-Mills existence and mass gap are the six remaining unsolved problems in what global prize that was started by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000?
Answer: Millennium Problems
156. Which element on the periodic table used to be called stibium? Its symbol comes from this Latin name.
Answer: Antimony
157. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, "Johnny B. Goode," and a Navajo Night Chant all appear on a pair of phonograph records included aboard the Voyager spacecraft in the hopes of being intercepted by extraterrestrial life. These two records are known by what name?
Answer: Golden Records
158. One of the great mysteries of the universe and puzzling questions in astronomy is why the magnetosphere of what planet in our solar system rotates at a rate close to that at which its clouds rotate?
Answer: Saturn
159. Easy as 1-2-3? What is simpler name for the Oesterlé–Masser conjecture, which some mathematicians believe is the most important unsolved problem in Diophantine analysis? Shinichi Mochizuki claimed to have a proof for the Modified Szpiro conjecture in 2012, but it didn’t satisfy the majority of math community.
Answer: abc
160. A factorial (!) of a number is the product of all numbers up to that number. So 5! = 5x4x3x2x1 = 120. However, what does 5!! equal to?
Answer: 15
161. If you get this one, you’ll be all that and a…can of chips? What geometric shape is a Pringle? The shape is sometimes called a saddle.
Answer: Hyperbolic Paraboloid
162. Who is the only woman in history to win an unshared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine? She received the award in 1983 for the discovery of mobile genetic elements.
Answer: Barbara McClintock
163. What Oxford mathematician won the 2016 Abel Prize for his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, which had eluded proof for 358 years?
Answer: Andrew Wiles
164. A number that is not algebraic—meaning, more or less, not the root of a finite polynomial with rational coefficients—is known by what term?
Answer: Transcendental Number
165. The Aleiodes shakirae, an animal found in the Andes mountain range named the singer Shakira, is what sort of insect?
Answer: Wasp
166. Which mathematical conjecture states that every even integer greater than two is the sum of two prime numbers? It’s one of the oldest unsolved problems in math, having stumped nerds since 1742.
Answer: Goldbach's Conjecture
167. What is the name of an as-yet-undiscovered perfect rectangular cuboid with edges and face diagonals that all have integer lengths? It’s one of the most puzzling unsolved problems in math
Answer: Euler's Brick
168. What mathematician’s weak conjecture supposes that every odd number greater than 5 can be expressed as the sum of three primes?
Answer: Christian Goldbach
169. French mathematician Claire Voisin won the Ruth Lyttle Satter Prize in Mathematics after solving what case of Green's conjecture, which had puzzled mathematicians for more than 20 years? Here’s a hint: We still haven’t solved for arbitrary ones.
Answer: Generic
170. It's math time—literally! At least how many eras can you fit in an eon?
Answer: 2
If you’re a fan of technology, science, comic books, or popular culture in general, nerdy trivia questions are the perfect way to challenge your knowledge.
Whether you’re looking for an exciting way to shake up a party or just curious about how much you know, these questions will give your brain a workout.
You can find nerdy trivia questions online, in books, or even on TV game shows.
For a comprehensive list of questions suitable for any tech-savvy individual, check out Water Cooler Trivia's selection of fun yet challenging trivia quizzes.
Creating a nerdy trivia quiz is easy with Water Cooler Trivia.
All you need to do is sign up for our four-week free trial.
After signing up, you can choose from our wide variety of trivia questions.
The whole process is super straightforward and hassle-free.
Get started with a free four-week trial today!
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We do everything we can to ensure that Water Cooler Trivia's questions are appropriate, relevant, and accurate. Our database has tens of thousands of questions, so we don't always get it right. If you see a question that needs editing, we would love if you let us know here or email [email protected].
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