This Week's Meaningless Topic (#91)(June 4)

[Rodger Pettichord]

Hi all. We all have some mathematical literacy. Almost all of us can speak addition/subtraction/multiplication/division. Many of us are conversant in algebra/trigonometry. Some are fluent in calculus. A very few can sing the music of advanced mathematics--differential equations, mathematical physics, game theory, statistics and probability, combinatorics, number theory, and other complex forms of mathematical expression. Let's see what we know.

 

THIS WEEK'S MEANINGLESS TOPIC:  What forms of mathematics do you speak and what do  you use them for? (Don't be ashamed to admit you remain at the fingers and toes stage--me too.)

[Stillwater]

When I was young… long time ago… I was able to set up Schrödinger equations. Now I’m fine with assuming sums up to ten , and that’s fine!

[Ken Q]

As a Navy Quartermaster I used trigonometry in celestial navigation.  That's not to say I "did" trigonometry - others "did" the trig and laid it out in nice convenient tables in  sets of books.  To make it work I had to understand the basics, but not necessarily be able to do the calculations as described in Bowditch.  But that was a long time ago, and I know I'd struggle now.

 

When in high school all my friends said how difficult they found geometry.  When I got to it I found it pretty easy because just looking at a picture of a geometric form I could usually visualize the answer.  On the other hand algebra defeated me.  I failed it twice before finally passing (65 was passing, I scored 66) on the third try.

 

Now, not much call to do more than simple sums, and like everyone I'm spoiled by the electronic calculator.

 

Ken

[gumbypickett]

Ummm 

cheers

Gumby

[flyingleaf]

Hmm. Three plus three, uh is it five? Naw, gotta be six. Yeah six is good. Ah man that makes it a "six pack". Lol. Amirite?

[Ken Q]

14 minutes ago, flyingleaf said:

Hmm. Three plus three, uh is it five? Naw, gotta be six. Yeah six is good. Ah man that makes it a "six pack". Lol. Amirite?

Aw come on!  My cat Chessie doesn't drink beer, but he can count! He knows that 2+2+2+2+2+2 = his treat allotment.  He knows how to count, and he keeps us honest.  Six from each of us, 2 at a time!  And don't try to cheat!

 

Ken

[adambar]

According to my calculations..I need two cases of beer and a pie at the store today.

 

 

It's Gumby's fault Rodger.

[W2DR]

This is as much math as I can handle. (And, it explains why all the girls get prettier at closing time). Credit to HowStuffWorks.

Many of us have heard of the so-called "beer goggle" effect. It's the phenomenon that occurs when someone's had a few alcoholic drinks and suddenly, all of those people who looked semi-attractive on entering the bar look really, really appealing. Scientists have shown that it's not just a lowering of standards -- alcohol actually stimulates the part of the brain that judges facial attractiveness

 

"The effect can reportedly be traced to the nucleus accumbens. When you're looking at another human being, the nucleus accumbens is the area of the brain that decides how attractive that human being's face is. If you look at, say, George Clooney or Angelina Jolie, this area of your brain probably experiences increased neural firing. In other words, it's stimulated. As it turns out, alcohol, all by itself, stimulates the nucleus accumbens. So when you've have a few drinks, and you look at a face you may have judged as unattractive when you were sober, your brain, under the influence of alcohol, tells you that this face is in fact somewhat attractive. And the increase in perceived attractive seems to be directly proportional to the amount of alcohol consumed.

In a recent study conducted by researchers at England's Manchester University, scientists actually came up with a mathematical formula to calculate the extent of the "beer goggle" effect on a given individual in a given situation. Their reasoning for creating this formula is that alcohol is not really the only factor affecting the drunken perception of beauty. Other factors, according to their research, include:

• How brightly lit the area is
• The observer's eye-sight quality
• The amount of smoke in the air
• The distance of the observer from the observed

The formula goes like this:

 

where:

• An is the number of servings of alcohol
• S is the smokiness of the area on a scale of 0 - 10
• L is the lighting level of the area, measured in candelas per square meter, in which 150 is normal room lightning
• Vo is Snellen visual acuity, in which 6/6 is normal and 6/12 is the lower limit at which someone is able to drive
• d is the distance between the observer and the observed, measured in meters [source: BBC News]

The formula works out a "beer goggle" score ranging from 1 to 100+. When ø = 1, the observer is perceiving the same degree of beauty he or she would perceive in a sober state. At 100+, everybody in the room is a perfect 10."

Edited June 4, 2022 by W2DR
Kant spel

[W2DR]

For the Mickey Gilley fans................  

 

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

while I appreciate that a few beers is for many people a good thing, perhaps we can move on a bit as

the world doesn't revolve around drink all the time and beer really doesn't have much to do with Rodger's topic of this week,

or last week or the week before, or the week before that or the week before that etc, etc.

Thanks.

[W2DR]

Party pooper............

[Matt McGee]

To quote Chevy Chase, "I was told there would be no math." 

 

[TerribleT]

Straight "A's" in Maths to calculus level - working careers in marine, aviation and civil engineering where some of that maths learning came in handy  - now I sometimes feel that I might be able to be a stand-in for the Count on Sesame Street

[gumbypickett]

22 hours ago, adambar said:

According to my calculations..I need two cases of beer and a pie at the store today.

 

 

It's Gumby's fault Rodger.

Nick's on to us you can't mention beer again Adam.

I'm really just a Herbal Tea man.

cheers

Gumby

[flyingfish55]

My limit is this equation - money in during the month minus expenditure during the month = oops, overdrawn again.

[adambar]

3 hours ago, gumbypickett said:

Nick's on to us you can't mention beer again Adam.

I'm really just a Herbal Tea man.

cheers

Gumby

It's tea and crumpets for me from now on Gumby. 

 

As for Rodgers question. I took algebra and geometry in high school. Back in the day we used a slide rule before computers to solve math problems which came in handy when I went to tech school for mechanical drafting. As it turned out I ended up building and high speed balancing large turbines and compressors anywhere from 200 hundred lbs up to 80,000lbs and 30ft in length. 

[Sniper31]

I suck at math.

[Rob Abernathy]

I'm not great at math but when presented a math problem I always try to figure it out in my head before going for the calculator.  Love being at least close!

[wain71]

pretty good at your basic maths in your head, adding subtraction etc....I think it's because as a kid I played a lot of darts at home...also in the military part of my job required a lot of long division and stuff I was good at that, now probably forgot most, however I get told by one of my daughters that I do it all wrong compared to the way her kids do it, still get same result though...

[John York]

I was taught Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry at school. But failed my exams. However, when I was working I needed them all and strangely, found I could do them.  But that was a long time ago.  Now, I simply look at my bank statement every month and assume it's right!