[PenultimateManStanding]

I enjoyed a good day at school on Friday. An upscale school with 8th grade classes in algebra. Usually I'm not much more than a babysitter, but sometimes I get the opportunity to lecture to smart kids. I presented the material on radicals, square roots, determinants, etc and then gave an impromptu lecture on irrational numbers. They all knew about pi, but they didn't know the profound mystery of it, the fact that there is no numerical exact value of pi. The context was how they are supposed to write the value of the square root of 5. I told them that the number which multiplies times itself to give five doesn't exist. That's right, there isn't one. They can enter 5 on a calculator and press the square root button and get a result so there were some skeptics. They brought their calculator to me and showed me the square root of 5 and squared it. The calculator show the answer to be 5. I said, OK, do it on paper, it won't be 5. The calculator only gives an approximate value. That's why, I said, that they have to write it as a 5 under a radical sign. It is an abstract representation of a concept that cannot be written using numbers alone. Same thing goes for pi: it's a symbol for a number that doesn't exist. It is a very important ratio but it can't be written with numbers. Weird notion, but true. I told them about how the Greek mathematicians who discovered this were freaked out and couldn't believe it. Same thing went for some of these kids. There was a time when the idea of a negative number wasn't accepted either. Math is fascinating and bizarre.

[cynicalheretic]

I get 4.9999999999999999999999999999994 which is good enough for me.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cynicalheretic', 'I') get 4.9999999999999999999999999999994 which is good enough for me.

[mekrob]

No Fourier Series? They're missing out.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'N')o Fourier Series? They're missing out.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'N')o Fourier Series? They're missing out.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'N')o Fourier Series? They're missing out.

[PenultimateManStanding]

I suppose my statement about how the kids wanted me for their teacher sounds self-serving. But that's what they told me and I knew why they said it. It was sad to me because I'm moving on to another school and I will go back to babysitting. I'm not Jaime Escalante or Sidney Portier in "To Sir With Love" I can't take a bunch of ineducable teenagers and find the key to unlock their intellectual potential if they are already disgusted with everything that adults have to offer. That's what I mean about the sad situation.

[cynicalheretic]

Well, it must be bad if they prefer to have you for a teacher. The mind boggles

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cynicalheretic', 'W')ell, it must be bad if they prefer to have you for a teacher. The mind boggles

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'w')here is he?

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'w')here is he?

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'w')here is he?

[cynicalheretic]

Hey Pen, I was just teasing

[Free]

Show them the most beautiful mathematical formula in the world:

e^(pi*i) + 1 = 0

Has anyone of you read "Prime Obsession" about Riemanns Zeta function? Totally recommended, gripping like a thriller!

Unfortunately I was always mathematically challenged while at the same time understanding at least partially the beauty of math...

On edit: is it possible to say that irrational numbers "don't exist"?? I am not so sure about that - I mean you obviously can't write them down, but the squareroot of 5 nevertheless is always uniquely and clearly defined??

Oh and about the greeks freaking out, there's a great story how they killed the guy who showed them (I think his name was Hippasus or something like that), threw him allegedly over board on the sea...

The proof that squareroot of 2 etc. isn't a rational number isn't that difficult by the way, I think even kids could get that easy, because you get a nice contradiction by assuming squrt(2) = a/b with gcd(1) etc...

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'I')'m a bit slow sometimes on the uptake. Are you telling us that NEO was banned for a week?

[Carlhole]

http://zappinternet.com/index.php?video=FuMkVebYot

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'h')ttp://zappinternet.com/index.php?video=FuMkVebYot

[Andrew_S]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', ' ')Same thing goes for pi: it's a symbol for a number that doesn't exist. It is a very important ratio but it can't be written with numbers.