Months

September, October, November and December sound like they should be the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th months, but they're not.

They used to be - but Roman calendar reforms introduced two extra months to the year, and their names got moved along by two places.

Why did zero and two break up?

Because some one came between them.

Pythagoras

Pythagoras was vegetarian.

Compass

A compass is an instrument used for navigation.

The correct name for the instrument used to draw circles is a pair of compasses.

Life of Pi

The popular novel (and film), Life of Pi, isn't actually about maths, as you might think.

Pi is just the name of the main character!

Jurassic Park

Dr Ian Malcolm, the fictional 'rock star' mathematician character in Jurassic Park, is said to have been inspired by two real-life scientists/mathematicians - American science historian James Gleick and French mathematician Ivar Ekeland.

I got into a fight with 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.

The odds were against me.

Sudoku

The modern Sudoku number puzzle was actually invented by an American, Howard Garns, in 1979 and was called 'Number Place'. However, it didn't become widely popular until 1984, when it was published in a Japanese paper and eventually renamed 'Sudoku'.

Geralamo Cardano

The Italian Geralamo Cardano (born 1501) was one of the first mathematicians to systematically work with probability - which he did because he was a compulsive gambler!