Amateur Mathematician. Who has a degree in maths from Cambridge.
Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover
11–20 of 23 posts
Re: Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover
#12Amateur Mathematician. Who has a degree in maths from Cambridge.
Re: Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover
#13This form of problem reminds me a little of the Sofa Problem (although there you are maximising rather than minimising).
Yes, and it has the same kind of "decades of slow incremental improvements by shaving corners off" kind of vibe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_sofa_problem
'''A computation by Philip Gibbs produced a shape indistinguishable from that of Gerver's sofa giving a value for the area equal to eight significant figures.[6] This is evidence that Gerver's sofa is indeed the best possible but it remains unproven. '''
Re: Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover
#14Amateur Mathematician. Who has a degree in maths from Cambridge.
Re: Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover
#15Amateur Mathematician. Who has a degree in maths from Cambridge.
An amateur is a person who pursues an activity independently of their source of income.
It's kind of amusing that general understanding of the term has flipped in this way - basically it implies that if you're not doing something under a capitalistic structure, you're probably doing something wrong.
A bunch of software that you use on your computer on an everyday basis was produced by amateurs.
Hobbyist might be a better term.
I have a degree in Physics. I'm not even an amateur physicist - I don't really do anything in the field at all, my time is spent moving pixels about on screens. :P
Re: Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover
#16Which immediately suggests the possibility that they are iterating towards a local minimum. Is the space of solutions smooth enough to have any confidence that there aren't better places to start?
Re: Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover
#17I find it interesting that this problem has no real application and the resulting cover seems pretty ugly given how basic and fundamental the question seems.
Yes, welcome to math.
Re: Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover
#18Amateur Mathematician. Who has a degree in maths from Cambridge.
An amateur is not a person that has no knowledge. An amateur is a person who pursues an activity independently of their source of income. It's kind of amusing that general understanding of the term has flipped in this way - basically it implies that if you're not doing something under a capitalistic structure, you're probably doing something wrong. A bunch of software that you use on your computer on an everyday basi…
Re: Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover
#19Amateur Mathematician. Who has a degree in maths from Cambridge.
Re: Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, and it has the same kind of "decades of slow incremental improvements by shaving corners off" kind of vibe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_sofa_problem
If you check the wikipedia page, it seems that Philib Gibbs has contributed to this problem as well: '''A computation by Philip Gibbs produced a shape indistinguishable from that of Gerver's sofa giving a value for the area equal to eight significant figures.[6] This is evidence that Gerver's sofa is indeed the best possible but it remains unproven. '''