Solved cryptogram
One curve climbs at exactly the rate of its own height, and that pins down the number e.
Mathematics Facts, sourced to Wolfram MathWorld.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 69 letters over 22 different ones, graded hard.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
Take any base and plot its powers, and the steepness of the graph at each point is proportional to the height there. For exactly one base the constant of proportionality is one, so the slope equals the height, and that base is e. This is why e appears wherever something grows or decays at a rate set by how much of it there is: interest, radioactive decay, cooling coffee and charging capacitors are all the same equation.
The claim comes from Wolfram MathWorld.
- SourceWolfram MathWorld
- CollectionMathematics Facts
- Difficultyhard
- Length69 letters, 22 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
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