Euler? Anybody?



We have our first constant sign ever ! It took 34 signs for us to find a constant sign, but finally we have one. Huge fan of mathematically significant road signs, and previous winner David Slauenwhite, found this amazing sign. David was drawn to this sign not by it's mathematical beauty, but by the error that it contains. Can you see it? Stop. Examine the sign. The sign incorrectly informs people that Glen Rock is both 5 miles and 6 miles from the current location. Luckily, while they do not agree on the distance, they do agree on the direction to Glen Rock.

Weighing in with eight different numbers on three connected signs this is a grand-daddy of mathematical road signs. There are probably dozens of relationships here, but David was able to find a truly amazing combination to turn in our very first constant road sign. The sign even gives us the constant to 3 digits of precision, one more than the two digits required by the rules. It even uses a factorial in the solution, making it the first sign to use a factorial. Simply amazing!

$${ { (20 \times 12 \times 8 ) + \bigl( 8 \times ( 10 - 5 ) \bigr) - 3 } \over 6! } = $$ $${ 1920 + 40 - 3 \over 720 } = { 1957 \over 720 } \approx 2.718 \approx e $$

Is that amazing math or what?! Wow. With this amazing sign we have introduced Eulers Constant to Road Sign Math. (Some people may know this number as Napier's constant as well.)

This sign is at the intersection of 216 and 516 in the small town of Sticks, Pennsylvania.