Intuitive math (1 Viewer)

Uncle Gizmo

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A very interesting and easy to read article on a mathematics idea from around 100 years ago, being brought into the modern day to hopefully solve the problems with quantum & everyday objects.

 

Galaxiom

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Looks like click bait to me.

Anyone who understands General Relativity already knows that the only time travel possible is into the future. By travelling at relativistic velocities you can slow down your own time relative to others. But there is no way to go back in time.
 

Steve R.

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I read a very interesting time travel story. A short summary that does not do the story justice.

The scientist races into the throne room to tell fearless leader that he solved time travel but gave the secret to the enemy. Of course the leader was livid and demanded to know why the scientist had done that treasonous act. The scientist explained that (based on science) anyone attempting to actually use a time travel device would be destroyed in an explosion equal to hundreds of nuclear devices!
 

The_Doc_Man

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G., read the article. It agrees with you that you can't go backwards in time. It merely points out that there are other viewpoints than classical physics or general relativity physics. I've heard many lecturers who point out that our model of reality has issues. If this viewpoint helps resolve some of those issues, that will be its test. I'm open-minded on this one. Not fully in favor, but definitely consider it "food for thought."
 

Micron

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It agrees with you that you can't go backwards in time.
Agreed. Seems to be saying that you can't go forward in time either, seeing as how it hasn't happened yet. I don't consider the relativity thing to be a means of going forward. It's more like hanging back while the "present" of everyone else progresses at its natural rate.

Velocity isn't the only way to slow down time relative to you. The affect of gravity on time has been proven as well. That's why it's best that you don't live at the top of a really tall high rise building. You'll age faster! ;)
 

ColinEssex

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Why do Americans say 'math' and not 'maths'? They seem to say 'mathematics' (with an 's'). Is it another example of American laziness?
Col
 

The_Doc_Man

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Americans abbreviate anything they can, Col. When I worked with the U.S. Navy, the abbreviations and acronyms took me a couple of years to figure out. And when they start pronouncing the acronyms... horrendous. And then... the LAYERED acronyms are enough to make you cry. I.e. an acronym that is formed from a longer phrase that itself contains an acronym.

I'm as guilty as the rest, though in the specific case you names, we see a nuance of difference. For us, "mathematics" is the name of the subject you study in school. However, "math" is more specific or perhaps you would prefer, "narrower in scope." For example, this phrase is absolutely correct in USA usage: "If the observation disagrees with the theory, the math is always wrong." Here, we do not say that all of mathematics is wrong, but that subset that relates to the given theory - the math inherent in the theory - is erroneous.

But then again, blame old computers with limited memory. When considering a course catalog many moons ago when I was a college lad, you didn't have Terabyte memories or even Gigabyte memories. You considered yourself DAMNED lucky to be able to talk about Megabyte memories. So course catalogs became MATH 101 or FREN 200 or ENGL or SPAN or ENGR or PHYS or PSYC or HIST or etc.etc.etc. because old computers didn't have that much memory. Abbreviations became commonplace.

So when college kids started talking about their schedule for the semester, it was "Oh, I've got MATH 102 with Dr. Schmidlap on ..." And somewhere in there, we gained the habit.
 

Micron

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Same reason that you say brolly, cossie and cuppa I guess. Too lazy to say the rest of it?
 

deletedT

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@Uncle Gizmo Sorry to go off topic.
Now that it's about the differences between US English and UK English, There was a scene in Bohemian Rhapsody when Freddie tells his family that Queen will do the live, and his father says : Kashi, Put on the telly.
I had to look it up to understand. First time to hear TV is called telly in UK.
 

Micron

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Telly! Good one Tera. Just proves that when you point a finger there are 3 pointing back at you. 😉
 

Isaac

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One thing I've noticed online is that I can usually tell when someone is from the UK (and I think this has seeped into most of Europe where english is spoken), is just the spelling differences. Primarily, the use of "s" where we in the US would use "z". Since it comes up quite a lot.
And I assume they probably notice the same thing about us.
 

ColinEssex

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Micron, I wasn't saying the UK was exempt from abbreviations in language. It's just that I have heard some Americans say 'math' of late (on the telly).
My apologies for daring to question the USA version of English. So that's another thing I shall avoid to say for fear of upsetting the Yanks.
Col
 

Isaac

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You'd have a hard time convincing me that someone who says " Is it another example of American laziness? " has a, fear of upsetting the Yanks.
Haven't seen much of that alleged "fear" in most of your posts LOL
 

Micron

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Colin, personally I don't care if you upset the Yanks. You wouldn't be you if you weren't making ripples in the pond. AFAIC it's all in good fun. No malice intended but if you're gonna throw stones be prepared to get some lobbed back!
 

The_Doc_Man

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Gotta agree with Micron. Col, the USA is going through a difficult time between corona virus and the race issues. But at least some of us can still laugh at our own strangeness of language.

I still have to point to George Carlin's comment that we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway. How much more upside down do we have to get?
 

Micron

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I wonder if GC would find any humour in what's going on in USA. If anyone could, he could. Would probably be satire mostly but he might have some competition in Lewis Black.
 

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