Wow, you've really mastered the power of positive giving-up.

Cordelia ,'End of Days'


Natter 36: But We Digress...  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Emily - Jun 10, 2005 11:58:49 am PDT #1173 of 10001
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola

What I did to make it work, -t (like how I fold and spindle my sentence structure to avoid the hyphen at the beginning of the line?) is the following:

There's a bar vertically down the center which is 1 by x. There's another one horizontally which overlaps, so: x + x - x^2. Then you have the 4 triangle bits, each of which have a hypotenuse of x, so you could put them all together (hypotenuses out) to form a square of side x, so: 2x - x^2 + x^2 = 2x. So the only thing outside the octagon is four more little triangles which are exactly the same, so another x^2, and that fills out the original square, so: x^2 (outer triangles) + 2x (horizontal and vertical bars) = 1 (area of original square), so x^2 + 2x - 1 = 0.

More tangrams than geometry, but there you have it.


msbelle - Jun 10, 2005 12:00:16 pm PDT #1174 of 10001
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb

the urine bus disturbs me. moreso wondering why someone came up with the idea.


Amy - Jun 10, 2005 12:00:49 pm PDT #1175 of 10001
Because books.

There's a bar vertically down the center which is 1 by x. There's another one horizontally which overlaps, so: x + x - x^2. Then you have the 4 triangle bits, each of which have a hypotenuse of x, so you could put them all together (hypotenuses out) to form a square of side x, so: 2x - x^2 + x^2 = 2x. So the only thing outside the octagon is four more little triangles which are exactly the same, so another x^2, and that fills out the original square, so: x^2 (outer triangles) + 2x (horizontal and vertical bars) = 1 (area of original square), so x^2 + 2x - 1 = 0.

That? Makes me want to run screaming. I don't know how you mathy types do it.


Emily - Jun 10, 2005 12:00:54 pm PDT #1176 of 10001
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola

Sorry, everybody. I have about a month and a half to cover linear algebra, discrete math, trigonometry, and number theory, so that's pretty much my main focus (especially since I only have the rest of the month before I'm doing two clases as well).


Amy - Jun 10, 2005 12:02:19 pm PDT #1177 of 10001
Because books.

I have about a month and a half to cover linear algebra, discrete math, trigonometry, and number theory

Oh, I think it's fascinating, don't get me wrong. Just that...if it was "Do that or equation or I'll kill you!" I'd be a very dead girl.

I'm not proud of it, but I am a math loser in every way.


Emily - Jun 10, 2005 12:03:31 pm PDT #1178 of 10001
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola

That? Makes me want to run screaming. I don't know how you mathy types do it.

It only looks bad because I'm trying to type it. If I could draw it for you, it really wouldn't. I just fiddled with the pieces like a tangram.

tan(theta/pi), on the other hand... Well, I have trig fear. Save the arccotangents!


-t - Jun 10, 2005 12:03:38 pm PDT #1179 of 10001
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

No, that's very elegant, Emily. Very nice. The kind of thing Euclid would do if he had Descartes to help him, really.

Now I feel like I should change my name so you don't have to jump through hoops to address me.


Emily - Jun 10, 2005 12:04:41 pm PDT #1180 of 10001
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola

Now I feel like I should change my name so you don't have to jump through hoops to address me.

It's okay, it was kind of fun.


Emily - Jun 10, 2005 12:07:20 pm PDT #1181 of 10001
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola

The kind of thing Euclid would do if he had Descartes to help him, really.

Except Euclid would say, "To apply to a line segment AB a parallelogram similar in area to a given rectilinear figure F and exceeding by a parallelogram similar to a given parallelogram" and I would throw my hands up in disgust and scare my cat.

Er, which is pretty much what happens at bedtime every night.


Topic!Cindy - Jun 10, 2005 12:07:49 pm PDT #1182 of 10001
What is even happening?

Oh, I think it's fascinating, don't get me wrong. Just that...if it was "Do that or equation or I'll kill you!" I'd be a very dead girl.

Yeah. When I see people do math like that, I feel sort of the same as when I look at super thin models. I *know* it's technically a possibility, but I don't know how, and have a hard time believing it's real, even when I'm looking right at it.