OT: Happy Pi Day
- Thread starter rudedude
- Start date
I’ve never understood the point of this. There might be some applications to encryptment, dunno.
My favorite pi formula:
pi = 4 - 4/3 + 4/5 - 4/7 + 4/9 - 4/11 + …
pi = 4 - 4/3 + 4/5 - 4/7 + 4/9 - 4/11 + …
Sqrt(2) is irrational, but it is algebraic: it is a zero of the polynomial x^2 - 2. Every rational number is algebraic: 5/3 is a zero of the polynomial 3x-5. Pi was proven to be irrational by Lambert in 1761, but it was a bigger deal to prove that pi is transcendental (not algebraic), this was done by Lindemann in 1882. Why it’s a big deal: this proved once and for all that you couldn’t square the circle.
en.m.wikipedia.org
Squaring the circle - Wikipedia
Easy there, brainiac! Us numbskulls get brain freeze with all this cyphering!Sqrt(2) is irrational, but it is algebraic: it is a zero of the polynomial x^2 - 2. Every rational number is algebraic: 5/3 is a zero of the polynomial 3x-5. Pi was proven to be irrational by Lambert in 1761, but it was a bigger deal to prove that pi is transcendental (not algebraic), this was done by Lindemann in 1882. Why it’s a big deal: this proved once and for all that you couldn’t square the circle.
Squaring the circle - Wikipedia
My first granddaughter was born on Pi day 2012.
My son-in-law has his PhD in biomedical engineering from Duke, so obviously he was thrilled
My son-in-law has his PhD in biomedical engineering from Duke, so obviously he was thrilled
Bragging rights for "Biggest Nerd on the Planet" title.
From my point of view, you do mathematics for two reasons: it’s interesting or/and there are practical applications. To me, this is the mathematical equivalent of having the longest nose hair in Guinness.
But thanks for asking. You might be interested in reading Hardy’s “A Mathematician’s Apology.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematician's_Apology
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I only just now bothered to read the link and their explanation of why seems to me to be pretty reasonable. (What they’re doing ain’t cheap.)
I just figured that it was a kind of Mt Everest thing- do it because it's there.
How big was his jersey? Did he use all of the digits (all 62 trillion of them) or just the symbol π?
Just a thought ... did your friend go to Stanford by any chance? Or CAl Tech? Those are two schools I can think of where something like that is most likely to happen. Or maybe Harvey Mudd.
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I rewatched Oppenheimer and noticed all those physicists (well both Oppenheimer and Einstein anyway) said they suck at math. I’m sure it’s, ahem, relative, but noticed Oppenheimers formal education is in chemistry and later physics. I assume their level of competence is still light years above most mortals…
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Best Math-ish Movies?
1. A Beautiful Mind
2. Oppenheimer
3. Pi
4. Imitation Game
5. Good Will Hunting
1. A Beautiful Mind
2. Oppenheimer
3. Pi
4. Imitation Game
5. Good Will Hunting
some others, off the top of my head:
- Hidden Figures
- The Man Who Knew Infinity
- Stand and Deliver
- Moneyball
- Infinity
- Proof
- X+Y
- Gifted
I hate The Imitation Game. Alan Turing was not like that at all. BC winning the Oscar for this is a fraud, highway robbery. A Beautiful Mind, too. Mathematicians are not so pretentious as to have something as stupid and made up as the ceremony of the pens. For one thing, we use pencils, for God’s sake. Nash was a seriously mean person, too. That doesn’t show in the movie. More than once he ruined someone’s dissertation by walking into an empty classroom and finishing the problem on the board while the poor sap was washing his hands, they’d have to find a new problem. The movie also doesn’t mention how John Milnor was really the one responsible for keeping Nash employed. Milnor was a great friend to Nash and Alicia, no mention in the movie.
The Man Who Knew Infinity is a great, great book, beautifully written, very highly recommended. The movie doesn’t quite work for me.
I like Proof and Hidden Figures. The most realistic thing about Good Will Hunting is that Minnie Driver falls for the math nerd. Groupies, I loved them but sometimes got to be overwhelming and you’d end up breaking up a lot of hair pulling fights, it gets old.
The Man Who Knew Infinity is a great, great book, beautifully written, very highly recommended. The movie doesn’t quite work for me.
I like Proof and Hidden Figures. The most realistic thing about Good Will Hunting is that Minnie Driver falls for the math nerd. Groupies, I loved them but sometimes got to be overwhelming and you’d end up breaking up a lot of hair pulling fights, it gets old.
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