At my university there are only a handful of people studying mathematics (literally). I now do not consider other courses containing a few math modules, I mean majoring in it.
So now I ask myself why? Are people scared, afraid? Do they have other plans? (That’s a good solid reason). Do they think they’re to dumb? (That’s just plain dumb, no pun intended.)
I always get the “WOW”-effect. Some people immediately place you outside the ‘normal’ students. Now what I want to know is where exactly are we put? And why?
An elite, not to-be-touched-and-get-into-conversation-with group?
Or an outcast, not to-be-touched-and-get-into-conversation-with group?
Neither sounds any good.
Why is different wrong in some people’s minds?
Go with the flow? I don’t think so.
Upstream is where all the gold is.
Now don’t get me wrong here, I don’t judge anyone by what they’re studying or by their career, all I’m asking is why I, as Applied Mathematics student, are often seen in a different light than others?
15 March 2008
12 March 2008
Working the night-shift
So I have this amazing increase of concentration at night time.
I also have the need for eight hours of sleep per night.
On weekdays I usually get up at 5:30.
This math just doesn't add up?
08 March 2008
The words 'Algebra' and 'Algorithm'
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780-850) was an Arabic mathematician whose book Hisab al-jabr w'al muqabalah (c.825) described the use of Hindu-Arabic numerals and the rules of basic arithmetic.
The second word of the book's title gives rise to the English word Algebra, and the word Algorithm is derived from al-Khwarizmi's name.
(Taken from: Poole, D. Linear Algebra: A Modern Introduction. (Second Edition), p.87)
The second word of the book's title gives rise to the English word Algebra, and the word Algorithm is derived from al-Khwarizmi's name.
(Taken from: Poole, D. Linear Algebra: A Modern Introduction. (Second Edition), p.87)
In a Nutshell
This is Scratch from Ice Age™, probably one of the most adorable animation characters ever. Your heart just goes out to this little squirrel as he struggles to collect nuts. He is definitely nuts about nuts.
Similarly, I am nuts about math. Luckily I don’t run around trying to get or catch it, but in a different way so many of it is indeed out of reach.
Considering what I know and what is yet to be learned and discovered, I almost feel like Scratch.
It’s kind of overwhelming (the amount unknown, not feeling like Scratch).
Yet, the ending may differ. Perhaps Scratch will one day collect all of his nuts (no pun intended!), but I don’t think that I’ll ever know EVERYTHING about mathematics.
And since it’s infinite, who does?
Similarly, I am nuts about math. Luckily I don’t run around trying to get or catch it, but in a different way so many of it is indeed out of reach.
Considering what I know and what is yet to be learned and discovered, I almost feel like Scratch.
It’s kind of overwhelming (the amount unknown, not feeling like Scratch).
Yet, the ending may differ. Perhaps Scratch will one day collect all of his nuts (no pun intended!), but I don’t think that I’ll ever know EVERYTHING about mathematics.
And since it’s infinite, who does?
06 March 2008
Time Flies (Continued)
Where are the wings? I’m thinking.
What would we have done without time? Maybe it’s just one of those things that had to be discovered/found/created sooner or later.
Maybe you’re thinking: This is irrelevant to this blog, well think again.
What’s the mathematics behind time? Can time be captured into an equation or is it too vast (immeasurable, incalculable)?
After consulting a few sources I found the following:
What would we have done without time? Maybe it’s just one of those things that had to be discovered/found/created sooner or later.
Maybe you’re thinking: This is irrelevant to this blog, well think again.
What’s the mathematics behind time? Can time be captured into an equation or is it too vast (immeasurable, incalculable)?
After consulting a few sources I found the following:
The Question(Submitted January 16, 1998)
I have a question regarding sunrise and sunset. I realize that the winter solstice on 21Dec is the shortest day of the year. Since this date, the days have been gradually getting longer. Sunset has been getting gradually later as expected, however, sunrise continued to come later until the first week in Jan. My question is: what is the cause of this asymmetrical distribution of daylight between sunrise and sunset?
The Answer
I have a question regarding sunrise and sunset. I realize that the winter solstice on 21Dec is the shortest day of the year. Since this date, the days have been gradually getting longer. Sunset has been getting gradually later as expected, however, sunrise continued to come later until the first week in Jan. My question is: what is the cause of this asymmetrical distribution of daylight between sunrise and sunset?
The Answer
This is due to a phenomenon called "the equation of time".
Solar day is the length of time between one local noon (when the Sun is highest in the sky) to the next. As it turns out, the length of the solar day is not always 24 hrs (its average over the course of a year defines 24 hrs). The solar day would always be 24 hrs if the Sun 'moves' east against the background of fixed stars at a constant rate (for convenience, astronomers have invented 'Mean Sun' to do exactly that). The real Sun moves at a variable rate, however,
Because of the tilt of the Earth rotation axis relative to its orbit around the Sun (the obliquity), the same reason as for the changing length of daytime hours.
Because the Earth's orbit is elliptical and so it moves faster at perihelion (around Jan 2) than at aphelion (Jul 3).
Both effects combine to create an offset in the time of local noon (and those of sunrise and sunset) by as much as +/- 16 min: this is the equation of time. Around winter solstice, the daily change in the equation of time happens to be more important than the daily change in the length of the day, causing the phenomenon you so keenly observed.
The equation of time is often represented by a figure 8. That figure is called an 'analemma'. There is an actual photograph of an analemma at http://sundials.org/links/local/pages/dicicco.htm, which was taken by Dennis di Cicco.
Koji Mukai, David Palmer, and Tim KallmanFor the Ask an Astrophysicist Team
Solar day is the length of time between one local noon (when the Sun is highest in the sky) to the next. As it turns out, the length of the solar day is not always 24 hrs (its average over the course of a year defines 24 hrs). The solar day would always be 24 hrs if the Sun 'moves' east against the background of fixed stars at a constant rate (for convenience, astronomers have invented 'Mean Sun' to do exactly that). The real Sun moves at a variable rate, however,
Because of the tilt of the Earth rotation axis relative to its orbit around the Sun (the obliquity), the same reason as for the changing length of daytime hours.
Because the Earth's orbit is elliptical and so it moves faster at perihelion (around Jan 2) than at aphelion (Jul 3).
Both effects combine to create an offset in the time of local noon (and those of sunrise and sunset) by as much as +/- 16 min: this is the equation of time. Around winter solstice, the daily change in the equation of time happens to be more important than the daily change in the length of the day, causing the phenomenon you so keenly observed.
The equation of time is often represented by a figure 8. That figure is called an 'analemma'. There is an actual photograph of an analemma at http://sundials.org/links/local/pages/dicicco.htm, which was taken by Dennis di Cicco.
Koji Mukai, David Palmer, and Tim KallmanFor the Ask an Astrophysicist Team
(Taken from: NASA's Imagine the Universe)
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