tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post2974050804035247902..comments2024-03-28T22:45:51.014+00:00Comments on Capitalists@Work: A solution to the world's energy problemsCityUnslickerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15929544047783163175noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-39946161225070751612022-07-20T18:40:17.941+01:002022-07-20T18:40:17.941+01:00Ah, ND, I was once offered a job in OR at Shell. S...Ah, ND, I was once offered a job in OR at Shell. So you can see how far in mathitude I have sunk. Woe is me.<br /><br />I can still do the sqrt2 proof, mind. I don't think I could wave a tensor any more. I tried an Integration by Parts a few days ago - it felt like work rather than joy. Woe, woe, and thrice woe.<br /><br />Still, I tell myself to rejoice - I shall never again have anything to do with conic sections or spherical trig.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-20050696014081197152022-07-20T18:18:47.249+01:002022-07-20T18:18:47.249+01:00Wot, you mean she DOES ??!!Wot, you mean she DOES ??!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-76766576494622390332022-07-20T17:27:24.877+01:002022-07-20T17:27:24.877+01:00The most excited I ever got about Maths was the 9 ...The most excited I ever got about Maths was the 9 x table. All the answers add up to 9. Loved it! But nobody taught me logic has something to do with maths, which might have intrigued me....I remain illogical and innumerate. I do know that women don't have penises however, which is more than can be said of Penny Mordaunt. lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-46217752548775973132022-07-20T16:28:51.695+01:002022-07-20T16:28:51.695+01:00Scruton on mathematics very good. Brought his wond...Scruton on mathematics very good. Brought his wonderful Soul of the World (companion book to The Face Of God, in reality) for a re-read and his wonder at maths and the WTFness of it, and it's complete abstraction is wonderful to read.<br /><br />When he went, it felt like a personal loss. I was about to write to him (we had conversed) that he had got the Grateful Dead wrong in his wonderful collection of essays, "Confessions of a Heretic". Linked them with such as the Floyd, saying they were not for dancing to. Obvs hadn't seen thousands twirling to them at stadium gigs, in a ritual celebration right up his street. But he died :-(<br /><br />You went to see the Dead to as, the yanks say, dance your asses off :-)<br /><br />https://www.pinterest.com/pin/355995545535493369/Elby the Beserkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15060519682739666145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-40396268996141777292022-07-20T16:19:20.978+01:002022-07-20T16:19:20.978+01:00Sorry small keyboard huge fingers nightmqare
hist...Sorry small keyboard huge fingers nightmqare<br /><br />history...<br /><br />Blair => Brown (snigger) = > Miliband (You WHAT) => Corbyn (Say that again!) => Kneeler Starmer<br /><br />Brilliant. Fantastic. Bless them <br /><br />35 in Budapest. Guess 35 here is cooler than in London, no hysteria at all. Elby the Beserkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15060519682739666145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-436760541581420342022-07-20T15:20:15.401+01:002022-07-20T15:20:15.401+01:00The Dover Books edition of Euclid (in three volume...The Dover Books edition of Euclid (in three volumes) is excellent.<br /><br />DonDon Coxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06339420519741253080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-53191451367711484122022-07-20T14:57:12.160+01:002022-07-20T14:57:12.160+01:00always good to give the old grey cells a bit of ex...always good to give the old grey cells a bit of exercise!<br /><br />a bit of personal history: when I first went into business, I barely needed any maths - confident numeracy was quite sufficient, plus a basic grasp of Linear Programming: nothing much beyond 'O' level, really<br /><br />then, out of the blue, Enron transformed the energy business: and it was extremely helpful to have the wherewithal & confidence to dive into (the shallower waters of) Option Pricing Theory and stochastic simulation. Many a contemporary of mine gave up the ghost at that point and opted for quieter pastures. I was jolly grateful to have some of the more advanced stuff I could dust off, even if only to be a knowledgeable spectator as the true practitioners got their awards for exciting & original maths<br /><br />(you should always have a man to do these things for you, eh wot?)Nick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-38068434153774058332022-07-20T13:52:06.421+01:002022-07-20T13:52:06.421+01:00Sod it I'm wrong because 2 is a prime. Could ...Sod it I'm wrong because 2 is a prime. Could I save the day by saying that I'll define a prime* as being any prime except 2?<br /><br />I suppose there must be a literature on prime*s.<br /><br />Back to work: if we use primes all our products are even because they have 2 as a factor. So N is odd and, not being 2, is a candidate for being a prime. The rest follows.<br /><br />I have no memory of seeing that before but perhaps that's the fault of my memory not my (excellent) maths teacher.<br /><br />deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-29767886658025324332022-07-20T13:39:07.311+01:002022-07-20T13:39:07.311+01:00But did the girls have an attractive topology, and...But did the girls have an attractive topology, andrew?<br /><br />@ND: Google turns up this - <br /><br />"Assume there are a finite number, n, of primes, the largest being p(n)." He means 'is' but carry on.<br /><br />"Consider the number that is the product of these, plus one: N = p(1) x p(2) x ... x p(n) + 1.<br />By construction, N is not divisible by any of the p(i)."<br />TRUE<br /><br />"Hence it is either prime itself, or ..."<br /><br />Surely some mistake? N must be even so it can't be a prime. What is he on about?<br /><br />It comes to something when a codger who's not thought about primes since time out of mind can spot an error like that.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-8221195419650264882022-07-20T12:06:39.317+01:002022-07-20T12:06:39.317+01:00I did topology at college because the syllabus had...<br /><br />I did topology at college because the syllabus had the "ham sandwich theorem" in it.<br /><br />Three of the best things in life: maths, food and most of the others in the class were girls.andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993288675111834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-73568303214499632372022-07-20T10:23:30.849+01:002022-07-20T10:23:30.849+01:00Euclid's proof of 'no highest prime number...Euclid's proof of 'no highest prime number' is a school-maths gem: a nice intro to the style of reasoning in formal logicNick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-69153241075813639642022-07-20T10:14:23.384+01:002022-07-20T10:14:23.384+01:00When I found the proof that sqrt2 is irrational (a...When I found the proof that sqrt2 is irrational (a footnote in Russell's History of Western Philosophy) I was outraged that we'd not been shown it at school. Fifteen does outrage pretty well.<br /><br />The trisecting thing: I was most impressed when I learnt that secretaries ignore the impossibility and folded letters into three equal parts very neatly.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-25411330138553043522022-07-20T09:25:36.140+01:002022-07-20T09:25:36.140+01:00Totally OT, but did you know that Azerbijan invade...Totally OT, but did you know that Azerbijan invaded Armenia last year and still holds a (pretty small) chunk of Armenian territory?<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%932022_Armenia%E2%80%93Azerbaijan_border_crisis<br /><br /><i>"Azerbaijan has not withdrawn its troops from internationally recognised Armenian territory despite calls to do so by the European Parliament, United States and France – two of three Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group."</i><br /><br />I can't understand why we're not training 10,000 Armenian troops and sending them all the weapons we've got. Can't understand how our news organs don't seem to have reported it either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-4690890570559724552022-07-19T21:11:13.889+01:002022-07-19T21:11:13.889+01:00dearieme - I was always very suspicious of the imp...<b>dearieme</b> - I was always very suspicious of the impossibility of trisecting the angle (which I was <i>told about</i> in primary school) and squaring the circle<br /><br />only learned the proofs when I was about 20!Nick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-86723718981562818872022-07-19T20:59:06.437+01:002022-07-19T20:59:06.437+01:00@ND: best thing in school maths. When we were sho...@ND: best thing in school maths. When we were shown it I burst into applause. (Ah to be sixteen again.)deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-32796388636486475332022-07-19T20:32:00.444+01:002022-07-19T20:32:00.444+01:00I'm no Corbyn fan, but the Forde Inquiry shows...I'm no Corbyn fan, but the Forde Inquiry shows that senior Labour people deliberately sabotaged the 2017 campaign. Surely Starmer must resign and JC be reinstated?<br /><br />(One of the few pleasures of the Starmer reign is that I no longer hear Wes Streeting bleating. That guy is a despicable careerist, alway was since NUS days)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-61368693622825289162022-07-19T16:18:22.895+01:002022-07-19T16:18:22.895+01:00e to the i.pi = minus 1
(I could prove it once)
...<i><b>e to the i.pi = minus 1</b></i><br /><br />(I could prove it once)<br /><br />if that isn't a Grand Unifying Equation, I don't know what isNick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-47608241170668667952022-07-19T14:36:17.277+01:002022-07-19T14:36:17.277+01:00Don't mock the lad. I had lots of wild ideas l...Don't mock the lad. I had lots of wild ideas like this when I was half way through studying my Science A levels.<br /><br />A little knowledge plus a lot of imagination leads to plenty of fantasy, especially if you read SF books too.<br /><br />DonDon Coxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06339420519741253080noreply@blogger.com