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Pure Math, Pure Joy

Posted by michael on from the msri-loves-company dept.

e271828 writes "The New York Times is carrying a nice little piece entitled Pure Math, Pure Joy about the beauty and applicability of pure math as carried out at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. There is an accompanying slideshow of pictures of mathematicians in action; I particularly loved the picture titled Waging Mental Battle with a Proof."

22 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. Ah yes... by Joel+Bruick · · Score: 5, Funny

    The joy of pure math. Second only to the joy of pure self-mutilation.

    1. Re:Ah yes... by martin-boundary · · Score: 2, Funny

      The joy of pure math. Second only to the joy of pure self-mutilation.

      Interesting, can you write down a proof for that?
    2. Re:Ah yes... by Bush+Pig · · Score: 2, Funny

      Some of them must ... otherwise where do the little mathematicians come from?

      --
      What a long, strange trip it's been.
  2. What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    What? I don't understand. No registration? OMG.

  3. Waging mental battle with a proof by pytheron · · Score: 4, Funny

    What this picture doesn't show is the analogue clock just above the blackboard.. they aren't thinking.. just clock-watching !

    --
    "I am not bound to please thee with my answers" [William Shakespeare]
    1. Re:Waging mental battle with a proof by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Bill: so Bob, have you noticed that cute blonde in your 10:00 am Algebra class ?
      .
      Bob: Oh yeah ! I am going to try and convince her that .5" is actually equal to 1".
      .
      Frank: You guy's are so childish - lets smoke another bowl.

  4. Fish by Scrameustache · · Score: 3, Funny

    I like the picture where someone is drawing a fish on the blackboard while others are doing math.

    Who knew that I had a future in advance mathematics when I was doodling in my math notebook during class? : )

    They took the pic just as he was about to draw the eye...

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  5. Re:Slahsdot reproduces NYT in it's entirety. by Joel+Bruick · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashdot: News for Nerds. Stuff that matters. NYTimes.com mirror.

  6. Re:Visualizing the solution... by drooling-dog · · Score: 5, Funny
    Speaking of prime numbers & slightly off-topic, on 5/31/2003 there was an eclipse (solar) over Norway from 4:43AM to 6:41AM. 5, 31, 2003, 443 & 641 are all prime...

    Heh heh... If you noticed that then you would've failed this too. A while back my girlfriend showed me a question from a Mensa test that clued me in to what that organization is all about:

    Which is the odd one out: (a) 4 (b) 15 (c) 9 (d) 12 (e) 5 (f) 8 (g) 30 (h) 18 (i) 24 (j) 10

    Well, anyone who knows a prime from a hole in the ground would choose (e), but the correct answer was (f), 8. And why? Because it is the only "symmetrical" number, as printed on the page!

  7. Re:It's not that obvious by wfberg · · Score: 2, Funny

    Actually, you do need to tell me just how useful a 100-digit prime number is. Beyond the supposed beauty of such a number (I personally don't see the beauty of it, but then again beauty is a really subjective term), what's the point? What are prime numbers useful for in daily life?

    Nothing. Ab-so-lutely nothing. Promise never to use them??

    (installing a network sniffer right now)

    --
    SCO employee? Check out the bounty
  8. Re:It's not that obvious by wfberg · · Score: 3, Funny

    What are prime numbers useful for in daily life?


    Searching 1976 to present...


    Results of Search in 1976 to present db for:
    "prime number": 1238 patents.

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  9. I also love the last picture.... by greppling · · Score: 2, Funny
    i.e. this one.

    Look how seriously the guy on the right side is watching a fish being drawn...

  10. Re:Visualizing the solution... by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sounds like you've been working in Domino's longer than you've been working in binary. :)

  11. Re:It's not that obvious by Alsee · · Score: 3, Funny

    Results of Search in 1976 to present db for:
    "prime number": 1238 patents. [uspto.gov]

    Ah! So prime numbers are useful for getting patents.

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  12. Are the spooks running out of mathematicians?! by carstenkuckuk · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why else would a major newspaper have a piece that describes maths in a positive light?

  13. What about Dr. Evil? by dark_revenant · · Score: 5, Funny

    You ever hear of an evil or mad Mathematician? Nope, only evil or mad scientists.While they may not be philanthropists, they are not super weapon packing misanthropes. Oh well, back to the lab...

    1. Re:What about Dr. Evil? by TedCheshireAcad · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ha, you laugh now, but wait until Wile's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem becomes self-aware. THEN who's laughing?

      ;-)

  14. Math is cool now? by Sanity · · Score: 2, Funny
    The sweat glistened on his brow as he bravely hammered away at the keyboard - it was a life or death situation, Travolta's character had set the good-looking well-built computer geek an impossible challenge - factorize a large prime number while receiving a blow-job from a beautiful woman, all within sixty seconds...

    ...nope, I guess if John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, and Halle Berry can't make hacking sound exciting, then a few photos of geeks staring at blackboards are unlikely to make mathematicians the new sex-symbols either.

  15. Re:You can trust the NYT by dracken · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yep and ofcourse everybody knows that mathematicians do it smoothly and continuously or discretely in groups and in fields. Interesting lifestyle :P

  16. Nobody takes notes like those!! by haruchai · · Score: 3, Funny
    In photo 3 of the slideshow. What is he - an honors calligraphy student taking an elective Math course. I can't be that neat when writing greeting cards, let alone taking notes in class.
    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  17. (j) is correct! by Evil+Pete · · Score: 3, Funny

    It is clearly the only answer written in binary.

    --
    Bitter and proud of it.
  18. Mathturbation by cbare · · Score: 3, Funny

    Pure math has been described by one friend of mine as "mathturbation", while another observed that the entire field of computer science has a severe case of "Math Envy". I'm more down with the later opinion.

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    -cbare