Fun Fact Search Tips

Searching the Fun Facts archive is easy, but there are some tips you may wish to keep in mind. First, please note that behavior in different browsers may vary; some have more features and conform better to current standards. We have attempted to make the site fully usable in all popular browsers.

The first optional search criterion is the Subject. MS Internet Explorer provides the purest function here; selecting the "Search All Fun Facts" radio button will disable the checkboxes for individual subjects, while selecting the other radio button will enable them. However, Netscape does not allow the disabling of the check boxes, so if you desire a full search in Netscape, be certain that none of the boxes are checked. Note that pressing several subject boxes will yield the intersection of subjects. For example, selecting "Combinatorics" and "Probability" will find only those Fun Facts whose subjects include both Combinatorics and Probability. Finally, Lynx does not allow the checking of subjects at all; you must search all subjects.

The next optional search criterion is the Difficulty. This refers to the mathematical level of the Fun Fact as well as ease of presentation. Searching by level allows you to find Fun Facts of the ease of presentation you desire. However, bear in mind that the level is a subjective criterion chosen by the author of each Fun Fact.

The last optional search criterion is Keywords. Here you may type one or more keywords, separated by commas. Commas behave like unions: the search engine will find Fun Facts that include at least one of the keywords in their text. You can also type in phrases, but keep in mind that matching phrases may not be found if the phrase is divided on separate lines of the database file. You can avoid finding partial words by inserting a space before or after the word. For instance "pi" will locate "picture" but "pi " will not.

Finally, you can intersect each of these search criteria by making the appropriate choices from each. If you wish to see a list of all fun facts, just press "Search" without making any restrictions.

Have fun, and happy searching!