Re: Brain-melting mathematics
 

[quote=MeridiaNx;1406313]Tried that last night, was reading the damn thing til 4.30am but when I put it down and rolled over my brain was in meltdown and I had disturbing dreams involving groups of numbers doing horrible things to me :(



I'm the other way around, had to ask my girlfriend, who's younger than me and has therefore had less time to forget, why the simplification of (x + y)² resulted in the following:

x² + y² + 2xy

Couldn't for the life of me figure out where the 2xy came from, even though I knew it to be true based on plugging numbers into the equation. Then she reminded me to put (x + y)(x + y) and multiply everything by everything. Doh! It was part of Pythagoras proof that his equation held true for all right-angles triangles without having to test them.



Iquote]

lol...his head hurts all day long, because he has to deal with it all day long, but just a few months left now and he'll have finished his final year..and yes he probably dreams of nasty number chasing too......
as for the rest its them damn bracket equation jobbies,I used to love them at school but thats as far as my maths goes, although I tried reading his calculus books once but that ended with the same zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Re: Brain-melting mathematics
 

Oh crap that didn't work, dodgy pasting of a squared symbol that I didn't know how else to make. Will try to remedy that with an edit.

Re: Brain-melting mathematics
 

I had to struggle to get my head round Schroedinger's bl**dy 'maybe it's dead, maybe it's not' cat for AS Physics. That hurt my head too!

Read the God Delusion though, good book if you can take some of the more ranty portions with a pinch of salt.

Re: Brain-melting mathematics
 

i was refering to the method of remembering how to simplify (x+y)^2

write down (x+y)(x+y)

now draw two arcs over the top of the brackets, one from x to x, the other from y to y

these are your eyebrows

now draw two arcs under the brackets, one from the x on the far left to the y on the far right, the other from the y in the left bracket to the x in the right bracket

that's your double chin

now multiply the letters on each end of each line and you have:

(x*x) + (y*y) + (x*y) + (y*x)

or x^2 + y^2 + 2xy

it honestly is very simple, i must've learned it yeeeeears ago as i'd completely forgotten about it until i saw your post...

Re: Brain-melting mathematics
 

there is no maybe, it's alive and dead until you look;)

Re: Brain-melting mathematics
 

thats right mr wolf, exactly as we were taught. Did loads of them for my G.C.S.Es years ago,

Re: Brain-melting mathematics
 

Sorry for this string of posts, just keep thinking of new things.

I liked the bit in Fermat where he gives an example of mathematical fact that can defy intuition. He explains that the probability of 2 people involved in a game of football, that is 23 people in total, sharing a birthday, is actually slightly over 50% !

Still makes no sense to me from the point of view of intuition as he is quite clearly right, but it's like an Escher or something where what you know to be the truth is so incompatible with what you naturally think.

Re: Brain-melting mathematics
 

Now I see what you mean, never learned it with that reminder, just the boring lines but it had totally slipped my mind. I did feel suitably dunce-like!

Forgotten that one too. Maths was obviously a traumatic experience for me :rolleyes:

Re: Brain-melting mathematics
 

or was it?

;)

Re: Brain-melting mathematics
 

Oh you mathematical jester you. Bet that one's a hit with the ladies!