h a l f b a k e r yPoint of hors d'oevre
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An idea sent me sprawling to the Wikipedia website, where I read about Terminal Velocity. The article mentioned that the equations to calculate how fast a Penny would fall can become very complex. I imganined a penny falling against a cloudless sky, when and I could see the wind being pushed out of the
way as the Penny tumbled. Well, on my way home today I'm looking up at the Clouds and think "and then the mathematician said... let there be wind!" and a cross breeze struck the Penny, sending it swirling towards the ground in an ever more chaotic tumble.
I dub these books Math stories. A Math story, is a story expressed through Mathematical equations. A penny is flicked off the Empire state building, sending it into a tumble, and begins a catalyst story, adventuring through the streets of Manhattan.
Join us in a crazy unpredictable adventure through the solar system(s) as... a microbe! Yes, a Microber, trapped on a small asteroid, tumbling through the Universe encountering the known and unknown. The possibilites are endless.
Wolfram's A New Kind Of Science
http://www.amazon.c...46&s=books&v=glance
[theircompetitor, Nov 24 2005]
The best table in the house
The_20best_20table_20in_20the_20house
I got the name wrong. [wagster, Nov 25 2005]
Mathematicians In Love
http://www.amazon.c...ucker/dp/076531584X
recommended reading [jaksplat, Jan 19 2008, last modified Feb 01 2009]
[link]
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Math can express a story better than Words ever could. |
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This doesn't seem to add up to much. |
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...and then said Heisenberg, let there be uncertainty... |
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Story problems, done inside out. |
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And the moral of this story is <insert mathematical proof here> |
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And the children all learned a valuable lesson, E does actually equal mc squared. |
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You can do much with mathematical stories: |
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"See kids, we know that the Velociraptor existed because of Jurassic Park. And since the velociraptor evolved, that indicates his velocity increased...and eventually, he could go the speed of light. And since E=mc^2, that means at some point, a square velociraptor actually became E/m. Now E/m probably means Einstein/man, indicating that Einstein was the first human, and we are all made of parts of him. The end." |
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I spent half a day doing terminal velocity calculations for "The best seat in the house" and had to give up. It was just too complex, even without the wind. |
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//best seat in the house// |
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The 35 degree viewing angle? |
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No, the 90 degree viewing angle. |
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Now kids, the terminal velocity for light in a vacuum is "C". That is the fastest you can go! That terminal velocity decreases when it enters our atmosphere as the index of refraction makes it so. Then, even moreso it decreases upon entering your swimming pool. |
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Oh wait, you meant for a penny: |
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(Drag) = (1/2) (Drag Coeff) (area) (air density) (vel)^2 |
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It's in finding the drag coefficient that is the mathematical hardship and is easier with a wind tunnel. |
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"What?" The pilot glanced at his Co-pilot not quite sure he had heard him correctly. |
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"Yes...I'm sure of it. We're falling." The calm voice of the Co-pilot announcing such a disasterous thing seemed incongrous to the Pilot. |
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"Ha!" barked the pilot, his voice filled with revelation. "Another one of your silly math jokes. You know, some day, someone might actually take you seriously...you really are a card, Wilson." |
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Wilson kept his green light tinged face aimed at the instrument panel...there was nothing to see through the black stained windows, anyway. |
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"We're at thirty-five thousand feet, and all instruments are telling me everything is fine...but I sense it...I know it. We are falling...and at a rather alaarming rate, I might add. We are falling straight as an arrow, nose first....directly toward the firmament....and there is not one bloody thing we can do about it." |
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"Wilson, you need to come to your senses...if we were falling, we certainly would know it...both of us would know it. Look, there..." Captain Corruthers stabbed a finger straight at the attitude indicator. "You can see, wings level, on altitude....Here..." He moved his finger with a snap and again pointed.."The rate of climb or descent indicator...steady!
" Here...one more....Look, Damn you...altitude indicaor steady....we are flying straight and level at thirty-five angels and that's that. Now stop your silly nonsense...you're creeping me out." |
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Wilson continued to stare at the instruments and slowly raised his hand...his finger slowly extending toward one specific instrument. |
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"You may say what you like...your instruments can fool you all you want...but this one...this lonely little dial just here....and he pointed deliberately at the ...." |
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They never heard the sound of the crash. They struck the soild material at terminal velocity...in thier case, considering the frontal signature of the air frame, the thrust of the PW-19-7500's, the air temperature, the humidity, the wind, the altitude - was 720.34 feet per second. Wilson was right. They were falling, but not vertically as poor Captain Corruthers had disputed so vehemently...they had been falling horizontally all along....their bodies had vaporized in less than 8 milliseconds against the tallest peak of the Mid-Continent Mathmatical Range. It would be weeks before their crash site was discovered...but, then, they didn't mind the wait at all. If only Captain corruthers had noticed the Mountain proximity indicator in time...as the now-bodyless Wilson had. |
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This might make for an interesting teenage expansion onto my Overtly Scientific Bedtime Stories. |
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sp: "incongruous", "indicator," "solid," "their," "Mathematical" [BB] |
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Excellent, Rayfordsteele...you have passed the test...you may now progress to the next level. |
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Oddly, I find most pedantry comments utterly painfully boring to read--annotative litter that pollutes an otherwise interesting conversation nearly as much as badly spelled words. |
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