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why are you an atheist?

Started by randomvim, September 11, 2016, 03:14:56 AM

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trdsf

Quote from: Unbeliever on February 04, 2019, 01:25:15 PM
I like numberphile and mathologer on youtube. They explain things really well, and make it interesting where it otherwise might not be if explained by a math teacher. I think the job of people who teach math in school is to make it as boring as possible.

I've been watching a lot of Numberphile lately -- after listening to an audiobook of Clarke and Pohl's The Final Theorem, I've wandered back into looking for patterns in the changes in the Collatz Conjecture.

Although today was spent mostly listening to Periodic Videos.  If I could change places with one person on the planet, it would be Brady Haran.  :)
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Unbeliever

God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Unbeliever

God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Unbeliever

I like watching people do math the way I like watching people dance - I can't do it, but it's very entertaining!
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

trdsf

Quote from: Unbeliever on February 04, 2019, 06:44:27 PM
Here's the sequence at OEIS:


https://oeis.org/search?q=1%2C4%2C4%2C0%2C4%2C8%2C0&language=english&go=Search

I really like this site!
The OEIS is bittersweet to me.  I was messing with the Pythagorean Theorem (a2+b2=c2) and noticed a pattern in the integer solutions where b=a+1 and submitted it to an 'Ask a Mathematician' site.  The initial response I got was that the pattern might be novel and I might have genuinely discovered something.

A quick glance at the OEIS showed that I had been beaten to the punch... by only two years out of the roughly 2500 years since Pythagoras.  Still, not bad for an amateur.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Unbeliever

Missed it by...that much!

An independent discovery is nothing to be sorry about! I know, though, it would be nice to find something no one else has ever found.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

trdsf

Quote from: Unbeliever on February 04, 2019, 08:13:20 PM
Missed it by...that much!

An independent discovery is nothing to be sorry about! I know, though, it would be nice to find something no one else has ever found.
I do have one planet to my credit, at least â€" shared credit, anyway.  I'm not the only one to have spotted it.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Cavebear

Quote from: trdsf on February 04, 2019, 07:59:53 PM
The OEIS is bittersweet to me.  I was messing with the Pythagorean Theorem (a2+b2=c2) and noticed a pattern in the integer solutions where b=a+1 and submitted it to an 'Ask a Mathematician' site.  The initial response I got was that the pattern might be novel and I might have genuinely discovered something.

A quick glance at the OEIS showed that I had been beaten to the punch... by only two years out of the roughly 2500 years since Pythagoras.  Still, not bad for an amateur.

An independent discovery is not diminished for it being found before.  If you learn something YOU didn't know before, it still counts.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on July 20, 2019, 04:36:13 AM
An independent discovery is not diminished for it being found before.  If you learn something YOU didn't know before, it still counts.

Some things have been discovered more than once, mostly because the research literature is too hard to keep up with.  Or in a foreign language.

Everyone has a unique technique to learn things.  I agree that the journey is worth something too, not just the destination.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Quote from: Baruch on July 20, 2019, 06:19:22 AM
Some things have been discovered more than once, mostly because the research literature is too hard to keep up with.  Or in a foreign language.

Everyone has a unique technique to learn things.  I agree that the journey is worth something too, not just the destination.

I was thinking of more basic stuff.  Have you ever wondered WHY spaceship slingshot pass-bys increase speed?  I figured out why on my own, though it was certainly known before.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on July 20, 2019, 06:42:01 AM
I was thinking of more basic stuff.  Have you ever wondered WHY spaceship slingshot pass-bys increase speed?  I figured out why on my own, though it was certainly known before.

Yes, and I rediscovered the law of optics reflection in Junior High ... by deduction.  But not Snells law of refraction ;-(
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Quote from: Baruch on July 20, 2019, 11:25:59 AM
Yes, and I rediscovered the law of optics reflection in Junior High ... by deduction.  But not Snells law of refraction ;-(

OK, explain why the gravity that speeds the ship coming in around a planet doesn't slow it down equally going away.  I figured out why.  Can you without asking experts?  Just on your own?  There actually isn't any real math involved.  It's a logic question.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

aitm

A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Baruch

Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

It's time.

When a body enters a planetary gravity, it speeds up.  So it is in the approach longer than the escape.  Therefore, more escape velocity.  As simple as that may seem, I never heard it explained.  And it bothered the hell out of me.  So one night, I just sat down an thought about it. 

I didn't get it while awake.  I went to bed.  And in the night (brain sorting out questions), it hit me like a wet mackerel to the cheek...

I woke up the next morning and understood what was happening in a flyby maneuver.  My one great conception.  (hey, no children jokes, OK)?
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!