41–50 of 62 posts
Is this guy a, genius?
Every number has special properties :) Edit: In fact, I'd be astounded to encounter a number that did not exhibit any special properties. Until, of course, one makes "having no special properties" a special property. In that case, I would no longer be astounded.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We proceed by induction. Clearly n =1 is special, as it divides every integer. Assume k is special. If k +1 is not special, then it is special, as it is the first non-special number to come after a special number. This is a contradiction; then k +1 is special. ■
Can you categorize the next non-special number in the same way? Now k+1 is no longer non-special, but the reason why it is special still exists, so you can't use it a second time.
42, (Endo-)Fullerenes, the Omega Particle.
They actually exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullerene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=454uu96gFzU
I always thought that this was interesting... I am sure that many of you are familiar with Dr. Feynman's 7-part lecture series entitled The Character of Physical Law , which were part of the "Messenger Lectures" [1], given at Cornell University in 1964. In the first lecture, Law of Gravitation - An Example of Physical Law , Feynman states the following: "Question: what is the ratio of the gravitational force to the e…
I always thought that this was interesting... I am sure that many of you are familiar with Dr. Feynman's 7-part lecture series entitled The Character of Physical Law , which were part of the "Messenger Lectures" [1], given at Cornell University in 1964. In the first lecture, Law of Gravitation - An Example of Physical Law , Feynman states the following: "Question: what is the ratio of the gravitational force to the e…
42 digits in base 10 though, and base 10 is just an arbitrary convention. It can be more or less in other equally valid bases.
This is important because if you operate a system universally with the same base, the significant number begins to take on an objective importance intra-system.
Stated another way, it's mathematical semantics, the same as arguing an idea is not significant because you can express it in a multitude of different languages, each having an arbitrary words.
Developing via Django (Python) or Rails (Ruby) is similarly predisposed to making one think it's all relative, but when you look closely, the framework doesn't matter at all - there are universal abstractions inherent in web development.
The representation is arbitrary and insignificant, what is significant is what the number or word represents, and what you can do by unraveling it.
I always thought that this was interesting... I am sure that many of you are familiar with Dr. Feynman's 7-part lecture series entitled The Character of Physical Law , which were part of the "Messenger Lectures" [1], given at Cornell University in 1964. In the first lecture, Law of Gravitation - An Example of Physical Law , Feynman states the following: "Question: what is the ratio of the gravitational force to the e…
42 digits in base 10 though, and base 10 is just an arbitrary convention. It can be more or less in other equally valid bases.
I always thought that this was interesting... I am sure that many of you are familiar with Dr. Feynman's 7-part lecture series entitled The Character of Physical Law , which were part of the "Messenger Lectures" [1], given at Cornell University in 1964. In the first lecture, Law of Gravitation - An Example of Physical Law , Feynman states the following: "Question: what is the ratio of the gravitational force to the e…
In HHGTG, a massive computer was built to answer the Question. The computer spent millions of years calculating, and arrived at the answer "42". The problem, it said, was that the Question had never been formulated. The computer then designed another computer to calculate the Question. After millions of years of calculation, this computer was inadvertently destroyed. The last remnants of the computer were only able to provide the question "What is six times nine?"
Also, knowing the answer without knowing the question is Jeopardy!