This is SO COOL.
How do japanese multiply?? by 15XG
(via kottke)
Posts tagged math
Source youtube.com
If you ever wanted to figure out the height of a tree, there are several ways to go about it. Click through to see all of them.
I like the method below because look at the perfect application of isosceles and similar triangles!
Find a stick the length of your arm. Hold your arm out straight with the stick pointing straight up (90-degree angle to your outstretched arm). Walk backwards until you see the tip of the stick line up with the top of the tree. Your feet are now at approximately the same distance from the tree as it is high (provided the tree is significantly taller than you are, and the ground is relatively level). Old logger method. Simple.
— Answered by shirlock homes
(via Is There an Easy Way to Measure the Height of a Tree? | Lifehacker)
Source 
Below is one of the responses to the question “What is it like to have an understanding of very advanced mathematics?”
You are comfortable with feeling like you have no deep understanding of the problem you are studying. Indeed, when you do have a deep understanding, you have solved the problem and it is time to do something else. This makes the total time you spend in life reveling in your mastery of something quite brief. One of the main skills of research scientists of any type is knowing how to work comfortably and productively in a state of confusion.
(via Boing Boing)
Click through for a bunch of other cool tips.
Using this equation, Fisher found that you should dunk a cookie 3.5 to 5 seconds. That’s enough time for it to suck in liquid, but not enough time for it to dissolve.
(via Wired’s Lab-Tested, Muppet-Vetted Formulas for Smartifying Your Life | Magazine)
Source 
What is astonishing is that pigeons, who learned to peck numbers on a screen in order, performed just as well in tests as rhesus monkeys at numerical competence.
This is the first time complex math skills have been discovered in non-primates, which means birds and primates either evolved these abilities separately or share a common ancestor. The latter possibility means that both would have been around 300 million years ago.
- Via
- ilovecharts
If three hula hoops cover a common point, then a fourth hoop will cover their remaining intersections.
Source futilitycloset.com
About a year ago, I wrote a bunch of poems for a website that gave out weekly-ish prompts. Before then, I hadn’t really written much poetry…just silly, random poems I’d write for my friends and family. Anyway, I thought it would be a good exercise for my brain to write something for every prompt that was given out. The poem below is my crowning achievement. I’m very proud of it. I don’t think I’ll ever reach such heights again.
The prompt was: Pick an abstract term from the list below and relate an image to it. This should be the first thing that comes to mind, whether its directly related or not. Once you have identified an image, write a short story, poem, or prose based on that image.
1 2 3 4 5 6 rage solitude mercy peace love death order ecstasy pain war family violence justice evil hunger history gift age common gratitude god angel tragedy birth
This is what I came up with (slightly different from what I originally posted), but it’s way more entertaining if you’re into math. :D
I mostly go unnoticed.
See,
I may be smooth around the edges
but whether I get added or subtracted
the fact is
it makes no difference.
Indifferently others look at me.
Or they jeer at my lowly rank.
Or they fear they’ll disappear
if our paths should cross
and multiply.
And so, I’m avoided
as though devoid of feeling
leaving me reeling
from an emptiness
with no solution.
Then a critical contribution
compliments of you.
A straight and narrow character,
the leader of the pack
with manic fans stacked in back
attracted to the acclaim
your compact frame commands.
And I stand there stunned.
Bummed, I wonder,
“You’re not even a prime number!
You’re a toothpick! A sickly stick!
Dude, why are you so skinny??”
But under your skin I never got.
Your vertical virtue
refused to stoop to
such negativity.
A wholly positive entity
instead you were a friend to me
the first I’d ever met.
Better yet
you were atypically tickled
by my elliptical sense
and that’s when I knew
you were odd.
What I’m trying to say
in my roundabout way
is that you are a
singularity.
With crystal clarity
you helped put me on parity
with my own significance.
I learned to work it.
So us two together
we’re a perfect ten.
If we collide and divide each other
we’re either nothing or undefined.
But side by side
we can rock this ride
and take the world by storm.
We’ll form a thunderous hit
we two beautiful bits
with our brilliant binary code.
