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Math trivia questions are an excellent way to test your math knowledge.
Whether you are a student studying for an exam or a teacher looking for classroom game ideas, these questions will help you learn about mathematics and its various topics.
From calculus to algebra, there are plenty of questions to challenge even the most mathematically inclined minds.
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1. What popular mathematics software program is named after the type of tree whose leaf appears on the flag of Canada?
Answer: Maple
2. 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
3. The sum of the internal angles always equals 180 degrees and the side opposite to the largest angle is the largest side are both properties of what type of shape?
Answer: Triangle
4. What is the somewhat rude term for an angle greater than 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees?
Answer: Obtuse
5. Based on the legend of how his discovery of submerged objects causing water displacement helped him figure out how to measure the purity of gold, Greek mathematician Archimedes is famously known for shouting what word originating from a Greek word meaning “I have found it!”?
Answer: Eureka
6. In algebra, what C-word means a number or constant placed in front of a variable to multiply that variable, such as the 4 in 4x + y?
Answer: Coefficient
7. 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, this tool is still in use for teaching arithmetic to children in many parts of the world. What is it?
Answer: Abacus
8. In the commonly taught order-of-operations acronym PEMDAS, the “E” stands for what “powerful” type of numbers?
Answer: Exponents
9. In degrees, what is the sum of the interior angles of a regular pentagon?
Answer: 540
10. If I were to multiply all the numbers on my telephone’s keypad, what number would I get?
Answer: 0
11. 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, according to Allrecipes.com?
Answer: Pinch
12. What do you call the longest side of a right triangle (that is, the side that’s opposite the right angle)?
Answer: Hypotenuse
13. There are three basic trigonometric functions taught in high schools: sine, cosine, and what third function?
Answer: Tangent
14. What 2016 film starred Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae as real-life NASA mathematicians from the 1960s?
Answer: Hidden Figures
15. What is the ten-letter term for the longest side on a right triangle?
Answer: Hypotenuse
16. Which natural number is not just a favorite of the Internet (...nice) but special because it’s the only number that’s square (4761) and cube (328509) and uses every decimal digit from 0 to 9 exactly once?
Answer: 69
17. What branch of mathematics, often taught in high school, gets its name from an Arabic word meaning “reunion of broken parts,” and was coined in the book “The Science Of Restoring And Balancing” by the 1st century AD mathematician al-Kwarizmi?
Answer: Algebra
18. SQL is based on the relational form of which kind of math that starts with A?
Answer: Algebra
19. The question stinks! I'll give you some chemical elements in order, and you add their chemical symbols together to spell the five-letter answer. Iron + Carbon + Aluminum = A type of matter
Answer: Fecal
20. Since it was first announced in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium, March 14 is the annual celebration of what 'tasty' mathematical constant?
Answer: Pi
21. What number comes next in this series: 7, 42, 210, 840, 2520, 5040, 5040,…….?
Answer: Zero
22. 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
23. The Devil’s game? What sum do you get if you add up all the numbers on a roulette wheel?
Answer: 666
24. What 18th-century Swiss mathematician, the founder of topology and graphology, is the namesake of the number “e”, roughly 2.71828, which is the base of the natural logarithm?
Answer: Leonhard Euler
25. -459.67 Fahrenheit degrees (or 0 Kelvin) equals what two-word term for when all particles completely stop moving?
Answer: Absolute Zero
26. In mathematical physics, Minkowski space is a four-dimensional space consisting of three-dimensional Euclidean space and which other quantity?
Answer: Time
27. 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
28. It is also the only two-digit prime that is not a cluster prime, as well as the highest two-digit number where the sum of its digits is a square. What is the highest two-digit prime number?
Answer: 97
29. When Abe Lincoln famously quoted "Four score and seven years ago" he meant how many years in the past?
Answer: 87
30. 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
31. In Excel, you can use the FIXED function to convert a number to text and round it to a fixed number of what mathematical “places” between wholes and fractions?
Answer: Decimals
32. What colorful word is used to describe 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
33. Ask Buzz Lightyear: the figure known as a "lemniscate" is typically used in math, and other contexts, to represent what concept?
Answer: Infinity
34. Common in mathematics along with the toolbar in Microsoft Excel, what two letters are collectively used to represent the word "function?"
Answer: Fx
35. 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
36. "Liber Abaci," or "Book of the Abacus" introduced European audiences to the golden ratio-like sequence of what Italian math dude?
Answer: Fibonacci
37. What is the term given to a fraction where the numerator is larger or equal to the denominator? This term may also be used for something is inappropriate.
Answer: Improper Fraction
38. A box and what plot shows data in quartiles, with a vertical line splitting the box at the median. (Hint: The name makes it sound like something a math-savvy cat would use).
Answer: Whisker
39. Acceleration is the change in an object's velocity with respect to time. The change of an object's acceleration with respect to time is called what, a name it shares with some chicken dishes and some inconsiderate people?
Answer: Jerk
40. In degrees, what is the measure of the interior angle of one vertex of a regular dodecagon?
Answer: 150 Degrees
41. In geometry, which C-term refers to two objects that are 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
42. What number did Michael Jordan wear when he came back from his first retirement? Hint: it was nearly double his original, more famous, number.
Answer: 45
43. Also known as mean-variance analysis, MPT is a mathematical framework for assembling a range of investments whereby the expected return is maximized for a certain level of risk. For what does “P” stand for in the acronym MPT?
Answer: Portfolio
44. In logical argument and mathematical proof, a symbol consisting of three dots placed to form an upright triangle is used to represent which word?
Answer: Therefore
45. If an atom has ten protons and eleven neutrons in its nucleus, what is its atomic number?
Answer: 10
46. The square root of two—root 2 or radical 2—also gets its own nickname: what constant? Which theorem-spouting polymath from ancient Greece was it named for?
Answer: Pythagoras
47. 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
48. What is the next number in this sequence of triangular numbers: 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, …?
Answer: 45
49. In math, what letter is used to represent the difficult to express the unit that occurs when one takes the square root of -1?
Answer: I
50. What 19th and 20th century Italian mathematician was a founder of mathematical logic and set theory? This man with a “P” name developed a systematic approach to mathematical induction while teaching at the University of Turin.
Answer: Giuseppe Peano
51. What unique unit of measurement is equal to 1/100th of a second and is also the partial name of a famous snack brand invented in 1958 by chemist Frederick C. Mennen that is “as much fun to make as it is to eat”?
Answer: Jiffy
52. Which conjecture states that every even whole number greater than two is the sum of two prime numbers?
Answer: Goldbach's conjecture
53. "Mathman," a parody of the arcade game of Pac-Man, was a recurring segment on what educational TV show produced by the Children's Television Workshop?
Answer: Square One
54. What mathematical term refers to hard deposits of mineralized material that adhere to a tooth’s crowns or roots? The type of math had its rules defined by Leibniz.
Answer: Calculus
55. 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
56. If you want to round down toward zero to the nearest number of significance you’ve specified in Excel, which math function can you use? (Hint: It sounds like something under your feet.)
Answer: Floor
57. In Excel, using the math MOD function returns which value in division?
Answer: Remainder
58. Performing a mathematical function that is sometimes used in probability, what numerical value will appear as =FACT(6) is typed into a cell?
Answer: 720
59. In Excel, the “GEOMEAN” function isn’t for generating location-based insults. It’s actually to get the mean of what mathematical term that pertains to shapes?
Answer: Geometric
60. What 20th century American mathematician made fundamental contributions to game theory and partial differential equations, all while overcoming his personal issues with schizophrenia? The story was famously told in the 2001 film “A Beautiful Mind.”
Answer: John Nash
61. Also called a tetrakaidecagon, a tetradecagon is a polygon with how many sides?
Answer: 14
62. What high-flying geometric shape is defined as a quadrilateral with reflection symmetry across a diagonal?
Answer: Kite
63. In "The Martian," a stranded Mark Watney communicates with NASA using what base 16 numeral system?
Answer: Hexadecimal
64. 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
65. Mathematician Leonard Euler solved a famous problem named for seven of what kind of structures in the city of Konigsberg?
Answer: Bridges
66. 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? To make it clear, there is no trickery here in terms of 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
67. What "flawless" two-word phrase means a positive integer that is equal to the sum of its positive divisors (excluding the number itself), such as 6, 28, or 496?
Answer: Perfect number
68. 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
69. In math, how many radians make up a complete revolution of a circle?
Answer: 2π radians
70. 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
71. What “P” math term describes expressions consisting of indeterminates and coefficients, involving only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and exponentiation?
Answer: Polynomial
72. In mathematics, e = 2.71828, a constant related to exponential growth and decay that is known as whose number?
Answer: Euler's
73. Take the number of rocky planets in our solar system plus the number of teaspoons in a tablespoon. What's the sum?
Answer: Seven
74. In geometry, what "distorted" term describes two lines that are not parallel, yet do not intersect with each other?
Answer: Skew
75. German mathematician Felix Klein was the first to describe the object seen here, a "non-orientable" surface that, despite appearances, has only one side. This object is usually referred to as a Klein what? It’s a kind of common household object?
Answer: Bottle
76. 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 it is said was introduced to Europe by Fibonacci)?
Answer: 0 (Zero)
77. If someone’s mass is 100kg on Earth, what would the same person’s mass be on Mercury? Answer to the nearest 10kg.
Answer: 100Kg
78. 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
79. A perfect number is a positive integer that is 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
80. An ancient algorithm for finding prime numbers is known as the what of Eratosthenes? It’s a tool you might find in your kitchen?
Answer: Sieve
81. William Elwood Byerly was the first-ever Graduate student to graduate from Harvard. In 1873, he was awarded a PhD in what core academic subject?
Answer: Math
82. What was the name of the franchise of educational video games from the 1990s that featured a green protagonist and titles such as "Episode I: In Search of Spot" and "Episode II: Secret of the Lost City"?
Answer: Math Blaster!
83. A prime number is only divisible by itself and 1. How many two digit prime numbers are there? The answer is not a prime number!
Answer: 21
84. Harvard alumni have won the most of what mathematical prize, awarded to mathematicians under 40 every four years at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union?
Answer: Fields Medal
85. What French mathematician and child prodigy exchanged a series of influential letters with Pierre de Fermat on probability theory which strongly influenced the development of modern economics and social science?
Answer: Blaise Pascal
86. What is the type of number, named after an arrogant figure in Greek mythology, is where the number 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
87. Which element on the periodic table used to be called stibium? Its symbol comes from this Latin name.
Answer: Antimony
88. Because they are 1 less than a power of 2, the numbers 31, 8191, and 2305843009213693951 are all what specific kind of prime numbers, which are named for a French friar?
Answer: Mersenne Primes
89. If you get this one, you’ll be all that and a…can of chips? What geometric shape is a Pringle? (Hint: The shape is sometimes called a saddle.)
Answer: Hyperbolic Paraboloid
90. 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
91. 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
Math trivia is engaging because it provides a fun and challenging way to test and improve your knowledge of mathematical concepts and principles.
Learning about different mathematical ideas and applications can help you develop your problem-solving skills and improve your ability to think logically and critically.
Many math trivia questions involve interesting historical, cultural, and scientific references that can make the subject more engaging and relevant.
You can find math trivia questions in many different sources.
Many math teachers and educators create their own trivia quizzes as part of their lesson plans.
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To create a math trivia quiz, start by choosing a specific math topic or concept that you want to focus on.
From a specific mathematical operation, a geometric shape, a historical figure, or any other topic that you think would be interesting to learn about.
Next, research the topic to find interesting facts and details that you can use as the basis for your trivia questions. You can also include questions that ask about the different applications and uses of the concept in real-world situations.
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