Teen Discovers Math Flaw in 34-Year-Old Exhibit at Boston's Museum of Science

A teenage boy passing through Boston’s Museum of Science discovered a mathematical in the Golden Ratio at a 34-year-old exhibit known as “Mathematica: A World of Numbers...and Beyond”, according to Boston.com.

Joseph Rosenfield, 15, of Virginia, was strolling through the museum with his family on a recent trip when an error within the exhibit’s equation jumped out to him.

For those who may be unsure, the Golden Ratio is “a special number found by dividing a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part.”

Rosenfeld, who was familiar with the proper mathematical layout of the ratio, immediately pointed out three places were minus signs should have been plus signs.

Before leaving the Museum, Rosenfeld left a note at the front desk noting the errors.

The museum’s exhibit content developer, Alana Parkes, responded to him with a letter. In the letter, Parkes indicated that Rosenfeld was indeed correct and that the exhibit would be fixed.

According to Parkes’ letter, the mistake had been present for a”very long time” with Rosenfeld being the only person to notice it.

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