Clik here to view.
What does it mean to expand a function “in powers of x-1”?
A recent Math Stack Excahnge post was asked to expand the function in powers of and was confused about what that meant, and what the point of it was. I wrote an answer I liked, which I am reproducing...
View ArticleI screw up buying a marker
Toph left the cap off one of her fancy art markers and it dried out, so I went to get her a replacement. The marker costs $5.85, plus tax, and the web site wanted a $5.95 shipping fee. Disgusted, I...
View ArticleZuul crurivastator
Today I learned:There is a genus of ankylosaurs named Zuul after “demon and demi-god Zuul, the Gatekeeper of Gozer, featured in the 1984 film Ghostbusters”.The type species of Zuul is Zuul...
View ArticleMore trivia about megafauna and poisonous plants
A couple of people expressed disappointment with yesterday's article, which asked were giant ground sloths immune to poison ivy?, but then failed to deliver on the implied promise. I hope today's...
View ArticleWere giant ground sloths immune to poison ivy?
The skin of the mango fruit contains urushiol, the same irritating chemical that is found in poison ivy. But why? From the mango's point of view, the whole point of the mango fruit is to get someone to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ron Graham has died
Ron Graham has died. He had a good run. When I check out I will probably not be as accomplished or as missed as Graham, even if I make it to 84.I met Graham once and he was very nice to me, as he...
View ArticleAddendum to “Weirdos during the Depression”
[ Previously ]Ran Prieur had a take on this that I thought was insightful:I would frame it like this: If you break rules that other people are following, you have to pretend to be unhappy, or they'll...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weird constants in math problems
Michael Lugo recently considered a problem involving the allocation of swimmers to swim lanes at random, ending with:If we compute this for large we get , which agrees with the Monte Carlo simulations…...
View ArticleUseful and informative article about privately funded border wall
The Philadelphia Inquirer's daily email newsletter referred me to this excellent article, by Jeremy Schwartz and Perla Trevizo.Wow!” I said. “This is way better than the Inquirer's usual reporting. I...
View Article
