Math – Odd STEM

A Quick Look at Unlucky 13

“Maybe it’s nothing so deep or analytical.”

With Friday the 13th coming up, it’s hard not to wonder about the number 13. Is that number really a source of bad luck, or is that just in the imagination? Various reasons have been given for 13’s reputation, some of which are related to Christianity and the Christian Bible[1]. Also there are various discussions of “perfect” 12 being more common, like for the number of months. But the calendar is more of a long-term thing. I’m looking for a more practical everyday reason.

Santa’s Flight-Path Challenge

“This might take some trickery.”

Though there has been much speculation, no one really knows how Santa Claus does it all. Traditionally, he and his crew spend most of the year making and gathering toys for children all over the world. Then he delivers them all on Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning. The delivery itself creates some alarming statistics for how fast Santa’s sleigh must travel and how much time Santa has at each house, for delivering presents and consuming whatever milk and cookies the children leave for him. But I’m wondering, how can Santa even figure out a flight path? How does he choose the first house or the last house or any of them in between?

Continue reading “Santa’s Flight-Path Challenge”

The Logically Unknowable (Part 2)

“Still, they’re just counting numbers. Even a young child knows something about counting.”

I have already written about it being impossible to create a single fixed nonrandom computer program for determining the correctness of all existing software or future software.[1] One consequence is that antivirus software can never be perfect. So at a given time, we can’t know which software is correct out of all existing software, whether the procedure to check the software is correct, or whether we caught all the viruses that might be infecting a given computer. Yes, there’s logical computer stuff that is theoretically unknowable. With computer technology being a human invention, maybe we can find some comfort in math, which is thought to be universal. But don’t get your hopes up too much. Continue reading “The Logically Unknowable (Part 2)”

The Physically Unknowable

“The universe is keeping secrets from us….”

People say that no one has all the answers. In fact, no one can have all the answers, even if they have some place to store all that information. Some things are simply unknowable. This isn’t just my opinion – this is according to accepted theory. Strangely, some unknowable information occurs in physics, which is contrary to the idea that we can learn as much as we want about something, as long as we have adequate technology. Continue reading “The Physically Unknowable”

The Hidden Circle in a Simple Harmonic Oscillator

“Yes, there is definitely a circle there.”

When I was in college, it didn’t make sense to me that the position of an object on the end of a spring should be described by a function like sine or cosine, as in:

It’s just a simple harmonic oscillator. All the thing does is move back and forth. Why is there a function from trigonometry when I don’t see any circles or angles involved? Continue reading “The Hidden Circle in a Simple Harmonic Oscillator”

Astrology Ain’t So Bad, In Theory

“It’s like a giant slide rule in the sky.”

From my layman point of view, astrology seems to be about making predictions in people’s lives, based on the positions of stars and planets. In various newspapers, I have seen astrological predictions called horoscopes. Using my date of birth, I can determine my particular Zodiac sign, which corresponds to one of the twelve Zodiac constellations. I can then read the prediction – typically covering the current or next day – for the group of people born in the same fraction of the year as that Zodiac sign. I also recall seeing posters for each sign of the Zodiac in one or more gift shops, supposedly telling what someone born under that sign is like and maybe what they might encounter in their life.

Many people regard astrology as just a bunch of superstitious nonsense. Is it? Continue reading “Astrology Ain’t So Bad, In Theory”