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Math Awareness Month
An anonymous reader writes: April is Mathematics Awareness Month. Mathematics of the Cosmos is the 2005 theme: Mathematics is at the core of our attempts to understand the cosmos at every level: Riemannian geometry and topology furnish models of the universe, numerical simulations help us to understand large-scale dynamics, celestial mechanics provides a key to comprehending the solar system, and a wide variety of mathematical tools are needed for actual exploration of the space around us."
Can we come out now?
The Braying and Neighing of Barnyard Animals Follows.
You can stop posting the April Foo---oh. It's real.
I think I will spend math awareness month counting. I've never tried to count as high as I could. I could keep a tally each night before sleep. Spend the month trying to count to however high a number as possible...
We all know there is no need for math.
There is no sig
Popular Internet website "Slashdot" has ceased and desisted its run of distressingly unfunny April Fool's news entries. Trolls everywhere have reported repeated bouts of jealousy at the power of CmdrTaco to shit all over Slashdot - a capacity whose unhindered, total form had eluded them.
Well, the date shows 2 April. Dare I consider the madness over by posting?
Oops. Too late.
Will it ever stop?
Didn't I see you on Sesame Street? here?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
even if you're running Firefox.
nothing to see... oh wait, nevermind.
a simple adblock of "nimp.org" deals handsomely with this troll.
Bullshit v2.0 No one would give Math a whole month.
I thought April was Poetry month. Also, Mathematicians of the Cosmos? Where I'm from we call those physicists (either astro- or cosmologists).
math makes me hard! math chicks make me harder. I think we need a math apreciator appreciation month where math chicks are all over us, yeah...
see... now that really is funny... what do all you firefox running people think?
flashblock.mozdev.org
my browser is 100% nigger-proof.
Most models of the universe are mixed signature, (normally Lorentzian), so they can approximate special relativity in the limiting cases.
In soviet russia math is aware of you!
what with pi day and all?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
even in Opera.
One, two, three, four, you disgrace three-point-one-four!
Applets and other software that demonstrates mathmatical principles.
h .html
l ash/
http://www.edinformatics.com/il/il_math.htm
http://smard.cqu.edu.au/Database/Teaching/JavaMat
[Physics]
http://faraday.physics.utoronto.ca/PVB/Harrison/F
How about pointing out that math is needed to balance your checkbook? That would make people more aware, doncha think?
We think "What pop-up blocker?", but not at first.
The first thing we think is "I hate the whole fucking human race."
Can anyone express Slashdot as an equation?
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!" - Alfred E. Neuman
Ha ha ha, good one! Who in the world would wana appreciate math?
Finally some real news. Thank you slashdot gods.
"The exponential loss of readership due to posting crappy April Fool's day stories"
http://request-header.info
...can we mention something else?
n ess_theorem
I'm really very glad that the onslaught of gags is over, but if that's all anybody will talk about, there should be a "Slashdot ain't broken no more!!" topic.
Instead, if you care about mathematics appriciation, go look up something really facinating, like Godel's Incompleteness Theorem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%F6del's_incomplete
I'm tired of jokes today.
Math+Awareness=null
This signature is part of a balanced post.
Open a new window or tab, enter "about:config" to get to the configuration settings.
Right-click, select "New", then "Integer", and for the name of the value type in "privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins".
Set this to 2.
Voilà! The problem seems to be caused by Flash content that launches popups, and this disables that function.
I've been aware of mathematics the entire month... at this rate, I'll be aware of mathematics for the entire year, with a possiblity of it extending into '06.
let's start off by counting the number of people who after todays idiotfest "fuck you readers" will not be returning to slashdot. :)
Hm, I already ran out of fingers...
Whois says it's not commander taco (unless he went to hella trouble):
Server Used: [ whois.pir.org ]
http://www.mathaware.org/ = [ 130.44.204.33 ]
Domain ID: D68151192-LROR
Domain Name: MATHAWARE.ORG
Created On: 22-Mar-2001 18: 07: 59 UTC
Last Updated On: 22-Oct-2004 22: 18: 24 UTC
Expiration Date: 22-Mar-2008 18: 07: 59 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar: Network Solutions LLC (R63-LROR)
Status: CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID: 6075150-NSI
Registrant Name: American Mathematical Society
Registrant Organization: American Mathematical Society
Registrant Street1: 201 CHARLES ST
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City: PROVIDENCE
Registrant State/Province: RI
Registrant Postal Code: 02904-2213
It always seems like such a 12 year old thing to say "hella".
I take it that its generally a shortened "hellacious", but in this case you mean it as "heluva".
In either event, its just....so.....12.
Can anyone go to http://abc.go.com/video/player.html, click the Episode 19 recap for Lost, and figure out the direct URL for the Windows Media stream? I know this is offtopic, but I don't know where else to ask. The WMV plugin's not working on my (Mac OS X) computer, and I'd like to see the video. Thanks.
I had this really funny thing I was gonna post if I saw another April Fools post. Well, thanks for ruining it. I'll find something else to post...
Uhhh why April?
You have been warned.
Seriously, is it an acronym or something? "Today we're going to apply a lot of science and maths to this problem." That sentence is incorrect, but I keep seeing `maths' with such usage.
What is going on? Am I senile?
"CERT team notices amazing drop in internet traffic this April 1, goes into panic mode until it is determined that the traffic drop is due to lack of Slashdot clickthroughs. Apparently, no one clicks on links to article posts on April "Fools Day." Meanwhile, Vegas bookies giving odds on first site to be slashdotted when normal posts resume, give 2 to 1 that it will be site linked by slashdot sometime in the last two weeks."
"Lack of technical competence coupled with the arrogance of power, as usual, leads to no good end."
I plan to celebrate April (and May, and possibly June) by reading Roger Penrose's The Road to Reality an entertaining tome of but 1100 pages that purports to teach the reader all the math he needs to understand modern physics. Penrose is the ultimate optimist, but I must confess, I'm having difficulty after only chapter 8 (Riemann surfaces and complex mappings) of 34. Maybe, if I don't pay too much attention to the math, I'll breeze right through it. But then, that would defeat the whole purpose of Math Awareness Month.
Any suggestions on what to tackle next? I really liked set theory, Boolean calculus, and so on (which means the topology book has been really enjoyable so far). My main goal is to be able to read the occasional article on higher math that filters through Slashdot, and the various interesting-looking physics books I find when I make it in to a city with a real bookstore (the best my town has to offer is a Hastings).
I know that the real answer is "whatever I'm interested in", but I haven't been exposed to enough math beyond multivariate calculus to know what I'm interested in. Was there any class you took or book you read that made you look at the world differently or left you hungry for more?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Ha! April Fool's! That's obviously not true.
If aspiration is a virtue, achievement cannot be a vice.
Are there any books/sites/et al that start from "simple" math like advanced trig and go to the highest forms? So far most places I go start at a certain place, like Wolfram's site, and go up.
If you don't know exactly what they mean it is basically useless. I even know the general ideas of stuff but then they add more.
E.g. they give a page on conic sections. We all know that. But then they add stuff like R and sets and other things but miss the stuff in between.
It's like they have high school stuff and doctorate stuff with nothing in between.
Even some college books I have either stop too short or start too high. It's like trying to learn relativity with only simple calculus.
Why don't you guys have friends or journals?
Oh, God. Have you seen this one?
The evolution/creationism debate has gone to the next level in a small Pennsylvania town
Summary for the link deprived: Parents are furious with a math teacher for refusing to present Biblical cubit-based mathematics alongside higher math concepts, and not allowing children with strong faith objections to opt out of certain classes. They also want textbooks to carry warning stickers: Calculus is just a theory and not mentioned anywhere in the Bible.
April is Math Month?
Huh. That figures.
Cosmologists have no idea what is keeping galaxies from flying apart, since the 400 billion stars in a typical galaxy don't provide sufficient mass to generate enough gravity. Rather than the mathematical solution of MOND (MOdified Newtonion Dynamics) being the dominant theory in cosmology, cosmologists prefer dark matter voodoo.
in last year's topic on the mathematics of (mostly large scale) networks. http://www.mathaware.org/mam/04/index.html
If you're really interested, and have a little more background, you should read Hatcher's "Algebraic Topology." It's available free at his home page.
Sure to add a touch of class to any web site.
I don't keep a lid on my coffee so when I walk around I look busy -me
Only here the corporations filter data derived from spying on its citizens before passing it on to the goverment (for a tiddy profit on no bid contracts of course).
./ = BS * .9995
Merlot
SMETE
["An Agent-Based Architecture
for Supporting High-Level Search Activities
in Federated Digital Libraries
for Computer Science"]
Daffodil*
*Just a fancy way of saying a front-end to online libraries.
thanks
A large group of Irrational Numbers picketed this month's Math Awareness Parade. Waving reams of perforated computer paper, they screamed "We're here, we're queer, get used to it!" and spitting on passing integers.
... and then they built the supercollider.
What if, deep down, it's just completely arbitrary?
I haven't seen any compelling proof that the cosmos IS mathematical. I've seen math able to model things to a great degree of precision, but it never seems "perfect", and there always seems to be someone coming along every so often and spins everything upside down.
I have more sense than to think this is an opening for metaphysics - on the contrary - that said, I do frequently wonder what will happen in a post-mathematical phase of human understanding ofthe cosmos.
I'm so wrapped up in and surrounded by the mathematical model, that it seems irrefutable. But a look at history provides a proud narrative of ingenious folly.
It's an interesting question....
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
For some reason, I was the only person in my math class who thought that was even remotely kickass. Hmm.
*****
Dear Mary,
I yearn for you tragically,
A.T. Tappman, Chaplain, U.S. Army.
lol
Be aware it's MATHS not Math!
at least on this side of the pond.
Artificial intelligence is the study of how to make real computers act like the ones in the movies.
The Live Linux CDs run under Windows, too, like 'winknoppix' does. All enhancing choices !
Analysis, Number Theory and Function Theory
Like any other discipline, once you grasp the basics , admiring the cleverness and hacks of the people in that discipline can be very awe inspiring.
Math is an intimidating discipline, usually because many things have to be thought out thoroughly. Proofs can sometimes be very long. An incredible part is when you find or learn about alternative proofs. The ones that are only a few lines, that at the core contain a clever new idea that for some strange reason had eluded everyone for ages.
In a way math and mathematical proofs are like lock-picking. In the worst case you have to use a drill or explosives, in the best cases - the cases that are always hoped to be found - the are ways to open the vault by listening, maybe using a magnet or string and giving it a final kick.
______________________________________________
sigamajig...
Calculus and alcohol don't mix: don't drink and derive.
Long answer: Mathematics is based on the basic rules we have inferred from observing reality. If somehow reality changed, then we would infer other basic rules.
IOW Mathematics is about inferring basic rules and then building on top of these rules to come to (interesting) conclusions.
There will always be certain basic rules as long as you are in a system where you can make differenciable observations.
What you asked is a bit philosophy and a bit silly and unfortunately in the tone of anti-science ideologues (sorry).
I'll explain:
-
I haven't seen any compelling proof that the cosmos IS mathematical.
-
... happen in a post-mathematical phase of human understanding ofthe cosmos.
-
I'm so wrapped up in and surrounded by the mathematical model, that it seems irrefutable. But a look at history provides a proud narrative of ingenious folly.
Netwons models of force and gravity turned out to not always work. We still use them because they usually work well enough. In the extreme cases Einsteins modifications of his models are used.What is that supposed to mean?!
Mathematics is not a religious ideology or cult. It is a though process. Reality simply "is". No matter what you're compelled to believe in, reality will not change.
what is that supposed to mean!? .... I already explained the basics on the top. As long as people will be setting up rules to live with reality, they will be practicing math. After that, it's all just a matter of who has the better math.
"post-mathematical" phase... that might be something somebody would say that has no idea what math is
If someone always gets shortchanged at the market-place of reality because their "post-mathematical" view of the reality of counting credits is farther advanced than the grocers, then they aren't going to get very much farther on the enlightment road. They also aren't going to get very far in a space ship in cold vacuum if they can't model harsh reality well. There is no such thing as debating, convincing or coming to a consensus with reality. It is does what it does and doesn't care what you think.
I really don't know what to think... are you being pleasantly open-minded and just wondering out loud or (I've heard this kind of talk before) do you have an anti-scientific agenda to push here?
If our models or reality are wrong, then they will simply be adjusted to fit reality better. But the though process, the process of trying, testing, proposing, refuting, accepting or even simply calling BS will always stay.
Did science change after modifying the models? No. The process of science was to change the models because the modifications worked better.
______________________________________________
sigamajig...
When does the fun start?
Please stop stalking me, bro.
So does 2+2=5 this month? or is it 4.0004020340654050345?
Your skill in reading has increased by one point!
The best hands-on mathematics experience, hands down, is at
http://www.cut-the-knot.org/
The topics are accessible, and often accompanied with applets.
I've used this material to give math talks to high school kids - they love it.
Here is a real favourite:
Make a polygon by picking a bunch of points on graph paper (just the grid intersection points) and connecting these points by straight lines. The spiky looking thing is technically called a lattice polygon. A really cool way to calculate the area is to (A) count the grid points strictly inside the polygon (B) count the grid points lying exactly on the edges and vertices, then do (A)+(B)/2-1 Voila!
The applet and explanation is here:
http://www.cut-the-knot.org/ctk/Pick.shtml
(However, the so-inclined may prefer to fool around with this by themselves, first!)
There are many^(many) phenomena out there like pick's theorem. Call them math paradoxes, or theorems, or whatever, but there's lots of mathematics that is easy to perceive and is mysterious as anything. Mathematics awareness can begin by first learning about and experiencing these brain bending phenomena, and then SEEKING an explanation.
There were a lot of irrational nrs there. But, they were nothing compared to all the new-age transcedental hippy nrs hanging around. Woowee they'd never stop spouting of their nrs and flashing you their digits.
______________________________________________
sigamajig...
I really appreciate the suggestions. They all sounded intresting and look like good jumping-off points for further study. Thanks for taking the time to reply, and extra thanks for the fact that no one commented about me keeping math textbooks for nighttime reading.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
I'd love to audit some classes, and if I lived somewhere that I could, I certainly would. So, I'm in the position that if I'm going to learn something, it's pretty much up to me to take the initiative and start doing it. I'm pretty sure that other people are in the same boat.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
1) Mathematics does not study nature
2) Astronomy, astrophysics, astrochemistry, astrobiology, etc study the cosmos. Of course, these sciences do use mathematics as a tool (just as a tool) for studying cosmos. The right heading should be 'Mathematical tools used by astro- sciences for studying cosmos'
We owe a great deal of respect to mathematics, which is an important branch of human knowledge. However, mathematics is not a science because:
1) It does not study nature
2) It does not make use of the scientific method.
No mathematical curriculum contains a topic named 'mathematics of the cosmos'. No university in the world has a class named 'mathematics of the cosmos'. The usual topics are abstract algebra, real and complex analyasis, topology, functional analysis, combinatorics, measure theory, probability, stochastic processes, differential geometry,number theory, asymptotic evaluations, numerical methods, applied mathematics, etc.
Note that the whole year 2000 was dedicated to Math...
....metric conversions.
http://www.newpath4.com/formulaeperpetual_perpetua ltimeperpetualspaceperpetualpowerperpetualmomentum perpetualmotion_3plus4equals5.gif . 3 + 4 = 5 ...
http://tinyurl.com/4sjmu