Ulam’s spiral: a spiral showing a neat (perhaps coincidental) pattern regarding prime numbers. Starting with 1 in the center, then spiral outwardly, increasing 1 for every dot. Circle the dots which are prime (black dots in this picture). The prime numbers will tend to appear along the diagonals.
Troll pi explained
Ever seen this image?
If so, you may have found yourself wondering how exactly this conclusion is false. Over at qntm.org, the reasoning behind why this approach is fallacious is explained through a mathematical proof. To summarize extremely, making an infinite amount of jagged edges never makes a circle. The edges should all be reduced to a straight line wrapped around a circle for the perimeter to be the correct number, which is pi.
Read more by following the link!
I discovered that MIT posted over a thousand videos of their lectures on YouTube, with lots of the videos being science and physics related. I wish I was less tired so that I could watch them, but here’s a video for you guys to watch.
No, really, pi is wrong. Tau is the circle constant.
Michael Hartl writes a convincing manifesto which posits that the mathematical constant pi (π) is not the true circle constant. He proposes a new constant, tau (τ), to be used in equations where pi was previously used. Here is the defining difference between π and τ:
π = C / d , where C is the circumference of a circle, and d is the diameter of the circle.
τ = C / r , where C is the circumference of a circle, and r is the radius of the circle.
Since r is half of d, this means that τ is effectively 2π. Where is this number seen? Oh, right, 2π is the amount of radians it takes to complete a circle, equivalent to 360 degrees. τ is a turn of a circle.
Read the Tau Manifesto to learn more of the reasoning behind using tau instead of pi in the math world.
How light cones work and how to build a spacetime
I’m trying to understand general/special relativity a bit more.. it might be a bit too much for me.
Calculating the nth digit of pi in base 2
I think my brain just exploded.
Jared Explains: Egyptian Multiplication
As seen in my previous post, it’s possible to multiply and divide numbers without using a times table! This is how the ancient Egyptians and the ancient Chinese worked with numbers, and it’s also how your computer handles multiplying numbers inside its processor. The Egyptian method of multiplication and division is important in computers so that they do not have to store an internal multiplication table.
How to multiply using binary numbers! Much easier to mutiply in base 2 than in base 10.
I'm a thoughtful seventeen-year-old guy with an affinity for learning. My interests include computer science, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, philosophy, tech policy, and physics. I also enjoy sports, competing in basketball, bowling, and cross-country. You can expect me to stay up-to-date with current events, science discoveries, and tech tricks.
