Mathman! Mathman!

[ParadigmShifter]

This is the non-serious maths thread. We have one in Sci/Tech and one in the old OT, opened by my friend and colleague IdiotsOpposite.

I DON'T want a maths thread in SRSBZNS OT, so here is your place to discuss anything mathematical. Obvious spammers (e.g why is 1+1 = 2?????, why is 0.999.... = 1????? repeatedly) will be ignored or discouraged in the gob.

 

[_random_]

maths

Why is this typo so common among Britons?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

That's not a good start.

 

[Ayn Rand]

Why is this typo so common among Britons?

It's our language so we make the rules, k?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Are you going to comment about maths or just be snarky?

 

[classical_hero]

Why is this typo so common among Britons?

Well the subject is called Mathematics, so since it is technically a plural subject, it should remain plural, unlike the thinking of Americans.

 

[_random_]

Okay, serious question. What is it about math that interests you so much?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

OH COCK THIS OFF THEN.

This isn't a thread about whether maths should drop the S or not.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Okay, serious question. What is it about math that interests you so much?

purity (of thought).

 

[Antilogic]

Are you going to comment about maths or just be snarky?

Did you seriously expect anything different from an intentionally-not-serious math [sic] thread?

If one train leaves the mathemagics thread in Sci/Tech at the rate of 3 posts/day and a SRSBZNS factor of 0.1, while another train leaves OT-Chamber at the rate of 5 posts/day and SRSBZNS at 0.25, how long before this thread becomes overrun with trolls?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Fair enough...

'Pooh', said the Wizard, 'is where we are now. The railway starts here and runs in a straight line via 39 intermediate and equally spaced stations to the terminus at Oz.

'Unfortunately, the railwaymen are on strike, so you'll have to go by bus. The bus goes along the Yellow Brick Road, which runs in a straight line from here to the outlying village of Bah, where it turns through a right-angle and goes in a straight line back to first railway station after Pooh. From there it goes in a straight line to the next outlying village, where it again turns through a right-angle and proceeds in a similar zig-zag fashion all the way to Oz, alternately calling at railway stations and outlying villages. Each of the 80 straight stretches of road is a different whole number of miles long. Rail distances are also whole numbers of miles.

'The fare is on ozzle per mile, but you needn't be alarmed, as all distances are as short as they can possibly be.'

I was alarmed, and it turned out I had good reason to be. My money was running short, for the Wizardry of Oz had been suffering from hyper-inflation recently.

Unfortunately the Wizard had vanished before I could ask him the vital question, HOW LONG IS THE Yellow Brick ROAD?

Someone solved this BTW (I think it was Truronian?)

 

[Leoreth]

Okay, not related to maths (I'm supporting the Brits on this one ) itself, but why do you think it's such an unpopular subject among students? Does the majority of people just don't "get" maths? Is it too abstract to catch their interest? Or is it just taught poorly?

And if so, what would you improve in the way it is taught?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Dunno. My maths teachers were pretty cool.

Gangsta maths is quite good though (Abe has 10 ho's, he pimps them out for $15 an hour, etc.), and druggie maths (Bob rolls a conical spliff, the density of pot is equal to rho, he passes it on when he has smoked halfway down, how much more stoned does he get than Alice?).

 

[caketastydelish]

Be honest: Is the main reason you've studied math so much is because you're a program (it's your living) or is it, "for the love" of the math?

 

[gangleri2001]

Are you going to post an onomatopeya like this one in your answers?

you're a program

O_O

I've been talking to a program all this time.

 

[W|M]

Fair enough...

'Pooh', said the Wizard, 'is where we are now. The railway starts here and runs in a straight line via 39 intermediate and equally spaced stations to the terminus at Oz.

'Unfortunately, the railwaymen are on strike, so you'll have to go by bus. The bus goes along the Yellow Brick Road, which runs in a straight line from here to the outlying village of Bah, where it turns through a right-angle and goes in a straight line back to first railway station after Pooh. From there it goes in a straight line to the next outlying village, where it again turns through a right-angle and proceeds in a similar zig-zag fashion all the way to Oz, alternately calling at railway stations and outlying villages. Each of the 80 straight stretches of road is a different whole number of miles long. Rail distances are also whole numbers of miles.

'The fare is on ozzle per mile, but you needn't be alarmed, as all distances are as short as they can possibly be.'

I was alarmed, and it turned out I had good reason to be. My money was running short, for the Wizardry of Oz had been suffering from hyper-inflation recently.

Unfortunately the Wizard had vanished before I could ask him the vital question, HOW LONG IS THE Yellow Brick ROAD?

1 mile, it stops being Yellow Brick Road when it turns at a right-angle, and becomes a different one.

 

[G-Max]

Okay, not related to maths (I'm supporting the Brits on this one ) itself, but why do you think it's such an unpopular subject among students? Does the majority of people just don't "get" maths? Is it too abstract to catch their interest? Or is it just taught poorly?

It's boring as hell, organic brains suck at it, and we have calculators and stuff now. Geometry, however, is awesome:

And if so, what would you improve in the way it is taught?

More geometry, less screwing around with numbers.

 

[_random_]

I find I generally prefer the more abstract stuff to the extent I tolerate math at all. Screw spatial reasoning.

 

[cardgame]

If we acknowledge the existence of imaginary numbers, why are they still imaginary?

 

[G-Max]

I find I generally prefer the more abstract stuff to the extent I tolerate math at all. Screw spatial reasoning.

But in geometry, you can actually see what you're doing. If you want to prove that dodecahedra cannot tesselate space, and you don't want to screw around with numbers, you can just glue a bunch of dodecahedra together. That's over nine thousand times better than trying to calculate when two trains will collide.

If we acknowledge the existence of imaginary numbers, why are they still imaginary?

We don't acknowledge their existence except in a fictional context, kind of like how we describe fictional stories as if they actually happened.