Mathematical Bridge

2023-07-07

The Mathematical Bridge, as seen above, is a wooden bridge in Cambridge, England built in 1749. The bridge is made completely out of straight pieces of wood.

A popular fable told about the bridge is that it was built by Issac Newton. This is of course impossible, because Newton died in 1727. The fable states that the bridge was originally built without any nuts or bolts and one day some students wanted to figure out how Newton did it. The students took the bridge apart and tried to rebuild it but could not figure out how to put it back together which is why nuts and bolts are seen today.