Is paper money that has no value of no value? The zero-rupee note, issued in India by non-governmental volunteers, is a way to study that question. The organization behind the zero-rupee note sees it as a way to fight corruption. The Wikipedia description boils that down: “The notes are ‘paid’ in protest by angry citizens […]
Tag: zero
What happens when one divides by zero on this mechanical calculator
Mathematics students learn (unless they are not really students) why people should not try to divide by zero. In this video, CuriousMarc tries to divide by zero on a big, old mechanical calculator: (Thanks to Mason Porter for bringing this to our attention.) In this video, Khan Academy explains, for those who don’t know or […]
Maybe no data? Maybe no problem? (statistics)
“Applied statisticians are often confronted with statistical inference problems dealing with situations in which there appear to be no data, or data of only limited usefulness.” An example of ‘Sparsity‘ – in which statisticians find themselves having to deal with datasets which are primarily populated with zeros. That’s to say, they’re ‘sparse’. In such cases, […]
The math controversy that, they say, led to a mental breakdown
In an essay called “The Root of Infinity: It’s Surreal!“, the ThatsMath blog writes about a dark side to the power of numbers. The Cantor mentioned here is George Cantor [pictured here], who pretty much created large subsets of certain branches of mathematics : … But the extended system was hugely controversial, and for good […]
Curiosity: “ZERO margin of error”?
The NASA Jet Propulsion Lab produced this music-thumping action video to explain the wondrously complicated plan for the new machine (which is called “Curiosity”) to enter the Martian atmosphere and make it safely to the planet’s surface. There is one teensy line of text, near the start, that is fun for starting arguments with any […]
The evolution of the billion
David Bradley explains a dramatic, historic passage in the evolution of the meaning of “billion”: …In the issue of Nature dated 2nd July 1992, the journal stated: “…from now on, the English word “billion” will be understood as meaning 10^9 rather than 10^12. It is earnestly hoped that readers will not mistake this upheaval in editorial practice […]