As more people ascend to heaven, or whatever, while photographing themselves, more researchers try to measure the what, where, and how of it. Picture, if you will, this new study done by scientists in India and the USA: “Me, Myself and My Killfie: Characterizing and Preventing Selfie Deaths,” Hemank Lamba, Varun Bharadhwaj, Mayank Vachher, Divyansh Agarwal, Megha […]
Tag: math
Unresolvable human mental states (based on a parallel universe theory)
“A mental state with respect to a situation composed by multiplying two situations equals the sum of mental states for each situation. A mental state with respect to a situation composed by dividing two situations equals the difference between mental states for each situation.” So explain professor Changsoo Shin and colleagues at the Department of […]
Is God dead? – the math(s)
Friedrich Nietzsche [pictured] caused a considerable stir in 1882 when he pronounced (via his book Die fröhliche Wissenschaft) that “God is dead”. Since then, a great number of philosophers and theologians have analysed his provocative statement – but not all that many mathematicians. One exception is Changsoo Shin who is a professor at the Department […]
Polish mine shaft math exercise
Today’s Math Estimation Exercise involves this short video. Estimate the maximum speed attained by the man as he hurtles through the mineshaft. Then estimate the precision of your estimate: [vimeo]26618119[/vimeo] BONUS EXERCISE: Estimate how much salt was removed from the section of the salt mine visible in this video.
Many, many kinds of infinity
Vi Hart, in this video, explains and plays with many kinds of infinity: BONUS QUESTION (for mathematicians): Are there infinitely many kinds of infinity?
Spin, twin, min, fin, free will, and all that…
John Conway writes the words SPIN, TWIN, MIN and FIN on a blackboard. Watch him do it, if you will (so to speak), in this video: He then goes on to lecture for an hour (more or less) about his study: “The Strong Free Will Theorem,” John H. Conway and Simon Kochen, Notices of the […]
Hey Maths! (Beatles studies)
Improbable recently drew attention to ‘Why the Beatles Succeeded but Broke Up: the Math(s)’, now we turn instead to mathematical considerations of the band’s music (rather than of the band itself). In particular, a paper in a Special Beatles Studies issue of the journal Volume !, 2016/1 (12:2) entitled ‘Hey Maths! Modèles formels et computationnels […]
Why the Beatles Succeeded but Broke Up: the Math(s)
Over the years, many investigators have examined possible factors which might have led to the breakup of The Beatles, but Professor Tadashi Yagi (Faculty of Economics, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan) is one of the few* scholars to have approached the subject from a mathematical standpoint. The professor takes the view that incentives for collaborating within […]
Throwing glass balls from tall buildings
At last, a mathematics monograph for people who like tall buildings, glass balls, windows, and long titles: “The Maximal number of floors a Building can have where you can tell the highest floor from where you can throw a glass ball without breaking it, if you have b glass balls and are allowed t throws“, […]
Professor Povey’s Puzzling Problems
What happens when a 747 collides with a mallard duck? That’s one of the puzzles in the book Professor Povey’s Puzzling Problems. I have not yet read the book, but the promotional video (which you see here) is possibly perfect: Professor Povey practices from a perch, and teaches tutorials, at Oxford University. Fluid dynamics is his game […]