Britney Gallivan Britney Gallivan Britney Crystal Gallivan (born 1985) of Pomona, California, is best known for determining the maximum number of times that paper or other materials can be folded in half. In January 2002, while a junior in high school, Gallivan demonstrated that a single piece of toilet paper 4000 ft (1200 m) in length can be folded in half twelve times. This was contrary to the popular conception that the maximum number of times any piece of paper could be folded in half was seven. She calculated that, instead of folding in half every other direction, the least volume of
How Not to Be Wrong How Not to Be Wrong How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking, written by Jordan Ellenberg, is a "New York Times Best Selling" book that connects various economic and societal philosophies with basic mathematics and statistical principles. "How Not to Be Wrong" explains the mathematics behind some of simplest day-to-day thinking. It then goes into more complex decisions people make. For example, Ellenberg explains many misconceptions about lotteries and whether or not they can be mathematically beaten. Ellenberg uses mathematics to examine real-world issues ranging from the fetishizing of straight lines in the reporting of obesity to