From verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Wed Apr 26 07:49:57 1995 Newsgroups: rec.humor,sci.math,sci.physics,sci.chem Path: ronneby.hk-r.se!news.lu.se!news.lth.se!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.kth.se!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!sun4nl!cs.ruu.nl!tijger.fys.ruu.nl!verhagen From: verhagen@fys.ruu.nl (Joachim Verhagen) Subject: science jokes (1/8) X-Nntp-Posting-Host: ruunat.fys.ruu.nl Message-ID: Sender: usenet@fys.ruu.nl (News system Tijgertje) Organization: Physics and Astronomy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #3 (NOV) Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 13:32:40 GMT Lines: 923 Xref: ronneby.hk-r.se rec.humor:105743 sci.math:72225 sci.physics:84740 sci.chem:30270 SCIENCE JOKES ver 6.10 april 22, 1995 Collected by Joachim Verhagen (verhagen@fys.ruu.nl) Includes collection by Lars Olofsson (larso@wmute.trillium.se) of april 1994 Includes math jokes collection by Michael Cook (mlc@iberia.cca.rockwell.com) of june 1994 Includes collection by Chris Bradfield (ph2008@bris.ac.uk) of oktober 1994 Includes collection by Richard D. LeBreton (S5100101@nickel.laurentian.ca) of februari 1995 Codes for subjects: M mathematics ; P physics ; C chemistry ; B biology ; E engineering A computer science. * New or changed entry I am still collecting, so if you know any jokes, post or e-mail them to me. Especially biology jokes are welcome, as I have only a few of those. Contents =1. The mathematician, the physicist and the engineer (and others) =2. Mathematics =2.1 proofs =2.2 statistics and statisticans =2.3 mathematicians =2.4 poetry =2.5 quotes =3. physics =3.1 poetry =3.2 quotes =4. chemistry =4.1 poetry =4.2 quotes =5. miscellany =5.1 rules for research =5.2 rules for writing an article =5.3 poetry =5.4 quotes =6. anecdotes about scientists =7. mnemonics =7.1 mnemonics =7.2 mathematics =7.3 computer science =7.4 physics =7.5 chemistry =7.6 biology and medicine =7.7 miscellany =8. pranks ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =1. THE MATHEMATICIAN, THE PHYSICIST AND THE ENGINEER (AND OTHER PROFESSIONS) MPE________________________________________________________________________ jwest@jwest.ecen.okstate.edu: A mathmatician, a physicist, and an engineer were all given a red rubber ball and told to find the volume. The mathmatician carefully measured the diamaeter and evaluated a triple integral. The physicist filled a beaker with water, put the ball in the water, and measured the total displacement. The engineer looked up the model and serial numbers in his red-rubber-ball table. If it was my company: The engineer tried to look up the model and serial numbers, couldn't find them, so told his manager that it's just not going to work. MP_________________________________________________________________________ A mathematician and a physicist agree to a psychological experiment. The mathematician is put in a chair in a large empty room and a beautiful naked woman is placed on a bed at the other end of the room. The psychologist explains, "You are to remain in your chair. Every five minutes, I will move your chair to a position halfway between its current location and the woman on the bed." The mathematician looks at the psychologist in disgust. "What? I'm not going to go through this. You know I'll never reach the bed!" And he gets up and storms out. The psychologist makes a note on his clipboard and ushers the physicist in. He explains the situation, and the physicist's eyes light up and he starts drooling. The psychologist is a bit confused. "Don't you realize that you'll never reach her?" The physicist smiles and replied, "Of course! But I'll get close enough for all practical purposes!" MP_________________________________________________________________________ Dean, to the physics department. "Why do I always have to give you guys so much money, for laboratories and expensive equipment and stuff. Why couldn't you be like the math department - all they need is money for pencils, paper and waste-paper baskets. Or even better, like the philosophy department. All they need are pencils and paper." MPE________________________________________________________________________ An engineer, physicist, and mathematician are all challenged with a problem: to fry an egg when there is a fire in the house. The engineer just grabs a huge bucket of water, runs over to the fire, and puts it out. The physicist thinks for a long while, and then measures a precise amount of water into a container. He takes it over to the fire, pours it on, and with the last drop the fire goes out. The mathematician pores over pencil and paper. After a few minutes he goes "Aha! A solution exists!" and goes back to frying the egg. Sequel: This time they are asked simply to fry an egg (no fire). The engineer just does it, kludging along; the physicist calculates carefully and produces a carefully cooked egg; and the mathematician lights a fire in the corner, and says "I have reduced it to the previous problem." PEA________________________________________________________________________ From: pascual@tid.es (Pascual de Juan Nuqez) Three men, a physican, a engineer and a computer scientist, are travelling in a car. Suddenly, the car starts to smoke and stops. The three atonished men try to solve the problem: - Physican says: This is obviously a classic problem of torque. It has been overloaded the elasticity limit of the main axis. - Engineer says : Let's be serious! The matter is that it has been burned the spark of the connecting rod to the dynamo of the radiator. I can easily repair it by hammering. - Computer scientist says : What if we get off the car, wait a minute, and then get in and try again? MEA________________________________________________________________________ An engineer, a mathematician, and a computer programmer are driving down the road when the car they are in gets a flat tire. The engineer says that they should buy a new car. The mathematician says they should sell the old tire and buy a new one. The computer programmer says they should drive the car around the block and see if the tire fixes itself. MPEA_______________________________________________________________________ Several students were asked the following problem: Prove that all odd integers higher than 2 are prime. Well, the first student to try to do this was a math student. Hey says "Hmmm... Well, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, and by induction, we have that all the odd integers are prime." Of course, there are some jeers from some of his friends. The physics student then said, "I'm not sure of the validity of your proof, but I think I'll try to prove it by experiment." He continues, "Well, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is ... uh, 9 is an experimental error, 11 is prime, 13 is prime... Well, it seems that you're right." The third student to try it was the engineering student, who responded, "Well, actually, I'm not sure of your answer either. Let's see... 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is ..., 9 is ..., well if you approximate, 9 is prime, 11 is prime, 13 is prime... Well, it does seem right." Not to be outdone, the computer science student comes along and says "Well, you two sort've got the right idea, but you'd end up taking too long doing it. I've just whipped up a program to REALLY go and prove it..." He goes over to his terminal and runs his program. Reading the output on the screen he says, "1 is prime, 1 is prime, 1 is prime, 1 is prime...." Computer scientist using Unix: 3's a prime, 5's a prime, 7's a prime, segmentation fault Software tech support operator: Well, we haven't had any reports of composite odd numbers... do you have the latest version of ZFC? Logician: Hypothesis: All odd numbers are prime Proof: 1) If a proof exists, then the hypothesis must be true 2) The proof exists; you're reading it now. From 1 and 2 follows that all odd numbers are prime From: chrisman@ucdmath.ucdavis.edu (Mark Chrisman) Confused undergraduate: Yes, it's true. Proof: Let p be any prime number larger than 2. Then p is not divisible by 2, so p is odd. QED From: chris@labtam.labtam.oz.au (Chris Taylor) Wouldn't a modern physicist employ something like renormalization? 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is ... 9/3 is prime 11 is prime, 13 is prime, 15 is ... 15/3 is prime 17 is prime, 19 is prime, 21 is ... 21/3 is prime Quantum Physics: All numbers are equally prime and non-prime until observed. From: barry@numetrix.com (Barry Fruitman) English Major: 1 is prime, 2 is prime, 3 is prime, 4 is prime... Any fool could prove that the above is wrong... After all, no English major can count that high! ;-) P.S. And I should know...I've done^H^H^H^H spent time in the English army! biologist or accountant or doctor or ... Duh, what's a prime ? MBA________________________________________________________________________ A biologist, a statistician, a mathematician and a computer scientist are on a photo-safari in Africa. They drive out into the savannah in their jeep, stop and scour the horizon with their binoculars. The biologist: "Look! There's a herd of zebras! And there, in the middle: a white zebra! It's fantastic! There are white zebras! We'll be famous!" The statistician: "It's not significant. We only know there's one white zebra" The mathematician: "Actually, we know there exists a zebra which is white on one side" The computer scientist: "Oh no! A special case!" MPA________________________________________________________________________ A philosopher, a physicist, a mathematician and a computer scientist were travelling through Scotland when they saw a black sheep through the window of the train. "Aha," says the philosopher, "I see that Scottish sheep are black." "Hmm," says the physicist, "You mean that some Scottish sheep are black." "No," says the mathematician, "All we know is that there is at least one sheep in Scotland, and that at least one side of that one sheep is black!" "Oh, no!" shouts the computer scientist, "A special case!" Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were travelling on the same train when they passed the same field full of sheep. "Look at that solitary black sheep among all those white ones" said Watson to Holmes. "Yes Watson, the ratio of black sheep to white in that field is one black to three hundred and seventeen white" replied Holmes. "But how can you be so precise" said Watson, flabbergasted. "Elementary, my dear Watson" replied Holmes, "I counted all of the legs and divided by four!" MEA________________________________________________________________________ The problem with engineers is that they tend to cheat in order to get results. The problem with mathematicians is that they tend to work on toy problems in order to get results. The problem with program verifiers is that they tend to cheat at toy problems in order to get results. ME_________________________________________________________________________ From: levd@alien (Lev Desmarais) The difference between an Engineer and a Mathematician : The Engineer walks in her office and finds her trash can on fire. She gets the fire extinguisher and puts out the fire. The Mathematician walks in his office and finds his trash can on fire. He gets the fire extinguisher and puts out the fire. The following day : The Engineer walks in her office and finds the trash can on fire on top of her desk. She gets the fire extinguisher and put out the fire. The Mathematician walks in his office and finds the trash can on fire on top of his desk. He takes the trash can and puts it on the floor. He has reduced the problem to a previously solved state. Too solve it again would be redundant. MP_________________________________________________________________________ A physicist and a mathematician setting in a faculty lounge. Suddenly, the coffee machine catches on fire. The physicist grabs a bucket and leaps towards the sink, fills the bucket with water and puts out the fire. The second day, the same two sit in the same lounge. Again, the coffee machine catches on fire. This time, the mathematician stands up, gets a bucket, hands the bucket to the physicist, thus reducing the problem to a previously solved one. MPE________________________________________________________________________ An engineer, a mathematician, and a physicist are staying in three adjoining cabins at a decrepit old motel. First the engineer's coffee maker catches fire on the bathroom vanity. He smells the smoke, wakes up, unplugs it, throws it out the window, and goes back to sleep. Later that night the physicist smells smoke too. He wakes up and sees that a cigarette butt has set the trash can on fire. He says to himself, "Hmm. How does one put out a fire? One can reduce the temperature of the fuel below the flash point, isolate the burning material from oxygen, or both. This could be accomplished by applying water." So he picks up the trash can, puts it in the shower stall, turns on the water, and, when the fire is out, goes back to sleep. The mathematician, of course, has been watching all this out the window. So later, when he finds that his pipe ashes have set the bedsheet on fire, he is not in the least taken aback. He immediately sees that the problem reduces to one that has already been solved and goes back to sleep. MPE________________________________________________________________________ From: dhein@onramp.net An Engineer, a Physicist, and a Mathematician all go the same Conference. University budgets being what they are, they all stay in the same cheap hotel. Each room has the same floor plan, has the same cheap TV, the same cheap bed, and a small bathroom. Instead of a sprinkler system, the hotel has opted for Fire Buckets. The Engineer, Physicist, and Mathematician are all asleep in bed. At about 2AM, the Engineer wakes up because he smells smoke. He looks in the corner of the room and sees that the TV set is on fire! He dashes into the bathroom, fills the Fire Bucket to overflowing with water, and drenches the TV set. The fire goes out, and the Engineer goes back to sleep. A little while later, the Physicist wakes because he smells smoke. He looks in the corner and sees that the TV set is on fire. He grabs a handy envelope, estimates the BTU output of the fire, scribbles a quick calculation, then dashes into the bathroom and fills the Fire Bucket with just enough water to douse the flames. He puts the fire out and goes back to sleep. In a little while, the Mathematician wakes up to the smell of smoke. He looks in the corner and sees the TV on fire. He looks into the bathroom and sees the Fire Bucket. Having determined that a solution exists, he goes back to sleep. MPE________________________________________________________________________ A physicist, an engineer and a mathematician were all in a hotel sleeping when a fire broke out in their respective rooms. The physicist woke up, saw the fire, ran over to his desk, pulled out his CRC, and began working out all sorts of fluid dynamics equations. After a couple minutes, he threw down his pencil, got a graduated cylinder out of his suitcase, and measured out a precise amount of water. He threw it on the fire, extinguishing it, with not a drop wasted, and went back to sleep. The engineer woke up, saw the fire, ran into the bathroom, turned on the faucets full-blast, flooding out the entire apartment, which put out the fire, and went back to sleep. The mathematician woke up, saw the fire, ran over to his desk, began working through theorems, lemmas, hypotheses , you -name-it, and after a few minutes, put down his pencil triumphantly and exclaimed, "I have *proven* that I *can* put the fire out!" He then went back to sleep. MPE________________________________________________________________________ A mathematician, an engineer, and a physicist are being interviewed for a job. In each case, the interview goes along famously until the last question is asked: "How much is one plus one?" Each of them suspects a trap, and is hesitant to answer. The mathematician thinks for a moment, and says "I'm not sure, but I think it converges". THe physicist says "I'm not sure, but I think it's on the order of one" THe engineer gets up, closes the door to the office, and says "How much do you want it to be?". MP_________________________________________________________________________ A mathematician and a physicist were asked the following question: Suppose you walked by a burning house and saw a hydrant and a hose not connected to the hydrant. What would you do? P: I would attach the hose to the hydrant, turn on the water, and put out the fire. M: I would attach the hose to the hydrant, turn on the water, and put out the fire. Then they were asked this question: Suppose you walked by a house and saw a hose connected to a hydrant. What would you do? P: I would keep walking, as there is no problem to solve. M: I would disconnect the hose from the hydrant and set the house on fire, reducing the problem to a previously solved form. MPE________________________________________________________________________ An engineer, a physicist, a mathematician and a statistician are taken , one at a time, into a room to undergo a psychological test. In the room is a table (upon which is a pad and pencil), a chair, a bucket of water, and a waste basket rigged so that it can be set ablaze from an adjacent room in which the psychologists watch. THe engineer is first, and the basket is set ablaze. The engineer immediately jumps up, grabs the bucket of water and dashes the entire thing onto the fire, flooding the entire room and extinguishing the fire. THe physicist is next. THe basket ignites, the physicist quickly calculates exactly how much water is required to extinguish the flames and pours exactly that amount, neatly extinguishing the flames. THe mathematician next. THe basket blazes up, the mathematician calculates exactly how much water is required to put out the fire, and then walks out of the room. THe statistician is last. THe basket is ignited. He grabs the bucket, pours half on one side, half on the other, and announces "it's out". E__________________________________________________________________________ The graduate with a Science degree asks, "Why does it work?" The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "How does it work?" The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?" The graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, "Do you want mustard with that?" MPCE_______________________________________________________________________ A lecturer tells some students to learn the phone-book by heart. The mathematicians are baffled: `By heart? You kidding?' The physics-students ask: `Why?' The engineers sigh: `Do we have to?' The chemistry-students ask: `Till next Monday?' The accounting-students (scribbling): `Till tomorrow?' The laws-students answer: `We already have.' The medicine-students ask: `Should we start on the Yellow Pages?' MPE________________________________________________________________________ The engineer thinks of his equations as an approximation to reality. The physicist thinks reality is an approximation to his equations. The mathematician doesn't care. MPB________________________________________________________________________ Three men with degrees in mathmatics, physics and biology are locked up in dark rooms for research reasons. A week later the researchers open the a door, the biologist steps out and reports: `Well, I sat around until I started to get bored, then I searched the room and found a tin which I smashed on the floor. There was food in it which I ate when I got hungry. That's it.' Then they free the man with the degree in physics and he says: `I walked along the walls to get an image of the room's geometry, then I searched it. There was a metal cylinder at five feet into the room and two feet left of the door. It felt like a tin and I threw it at the left wall at the right angle and velocity for it to crack open.' Finally, the researchers open the third door and hear a faint voice out of the darkness: `Let C be an open can.' M__________________________________________________________________________ A doctor, a lawyer and a mathematician were discussing the relative merits of having a wife or a mistress. The lawyer says: "For sure a mistress is better. If you have a wife and want a divorce, it causes all sorts of legal problems. The doctor says: "It's better to have a wife because the sense of security lowers your stress and is good for your health. The mathematician says: " You're both wrong. It's best to have both so that when the wife thinks you're with the mistress and the mistress thinks you're with your wife --- you can do some mathematics. MPB________________________________________________________________________ A Mathematician, a Biologist and a Physicist are sitting in a street cafe watching people going in and coming out of the house on the other side of the street. First they see two people going into the house. Time passes. After a while they notice three persons coming out of the house. The Physicist: "The measurement wasn't accurate.". The Biologists conclusion: "They have reproduced". The Mathematician: "If now exactly 1 person enters the house then it will be empty again." ME_________________________________________________________________________ There were two men trying to decide what to do for a living. They went to see a counselor, and he decided that they had good problem solving skills. He tried a test to narrow the area of specialty. He put each man in a room with a stove, a table, and a pot of water on the table. He said "Boil the water". Both men moved the pot from the table to the stove and turned on the burner to boil the water. Next, he put them into a room with a stove, a table, and a pot of water on the floor. Again, he said "Boil the water". The first man put the pot on the stove and turned on the burner. The counselor told him to be an Engineer, because he could solve each problem individually. The second man moved the pot from the floor to the table, and then moved the pot from the table to the stove and turned on the burner. The counselor told him to be a mathematician because he reduced the problem to a previously solved problem. E__________________________________________________________________________ Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the possible designers of the human body. One said, ``It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints.'' Another said, ``No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections.'' The last said, ``Actually it was a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?'' MPE________________________________________________________________________ An engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician are shown a pasture with a herd of sheep, and told to put them inside the smallest possible amount of fence. The engineer is first. He herds the sheep into a circle and then puts the fence around them, declaring, "A circle will use the least fence for a given area, so this is the best solution." The physicist is next. She creates a circular fence of infinite radius around the sheep, and then draws the fence tight around the herd, declaring, "This will give the smallest circular fence around the herd." The mathematician is last. After giving the problem a little thought, he puts a small fence around himself and then declares, "I define myself to be on the outside!" MPE________________________________________________________________________ One day a farmer called up an engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician and asked them to fence of the largest possible area with the least amount of fence. The engineer made the fence in a circle and proclaimed that he had the most efficient design. The physicist made a long, straight line and proclaimed 'We can assume the length is infinite...' and pointed out that fencing off half of the Earth was certainly a more efficient way to do it. The Mathematician just laughed at them. He built a tiny fence around himself and said 'I declare myself to be on the outside.' EC_________________________________________________________________________ Four men were sitting one day discussing how smart their dog's were. The first man was an Engineer, who said his dog could do math. His dog was named T-Square, and he told him to get some paper and draw a square, a circle, and a triangle, which the dog did with no sweat. The Accountant said that his dog was better. His dog, Slide Rule, was told to fetch a dozen cookies, bring them back, and divide them into piles of 3, which Slide Rule did with no problem. The Chemist said his dog was smarter, his dog named Measure, was told to get a quart of milk, and pour 7 ounces into a 10 ounce glass. The dog did this with no trouble at all, and all three men agreed that their dog's were equally smart. Then they turned to the Union Member and asked, what can your dog do? The Union Member called his dog, who was named Coffee Break, and said, "Show the fellows what you can do". Coffee Break went over and ate the cookies, drank the milk, shit on the paper, fucked the other dogs, and claimed he injured his back while doing so, filed a grievence report for unsafe working conditions, put in for Workmens Compensation, and left for home on sick leave. MP_________________________________________________________________________ A mathematician and a physicist are given the task of describing a room. They both go in, and spend hours meticulously writing down every detail, each turning in nearly a ream of paper. The next day, the room is changed, and they are again given the task. The physicist spends the better part of the day, but the mathematician, amazingly enough, leaves within a minute. he hands in a single sheet of paper with the following description: Put picture back on wall to return to previously solved state. ME_________________________________________________________________________ To tell a difference between a mathematician and an engineer, perform this experiment. Put an empty kettle in the middle of the kitchen floor and tell your subjects to boil some water. The engineer will fill the kettle with water, put it on the stove, and turn the flame on. The mathematician will do the same thing. Next, put the kettle already filled with water on the stove, and ask the subjects to boil the water. The engineer will turn the flame on. The mathematician will empty the kettle and put it in the middle of the kitchen floor... thereby reducing the problem to one that has already been solved! MPE________________________________________________________________________ So a mathematician, an engineer, and a physicist are out hunting together. They spy a deer(*) in the woods. The physicist calculates the velocity of the deer and the effect of gravity on the bullet, aims his rifle and fires. Alas, he misses; the bullet passes three feet behind the deer. The deer bolts some yards, but comes to a halt, still within sight of the trio. "Shame you missed," comments the engineer, "but of course with an ordinary gun, one would expect that." He then levels his special deer-hunting gun, which he rigged together from an ordinary rifle, a sextant, a compass, a barometer, and a bunch of flashing lights which don't do anything but impress onlookers, and fires. Alas, his bullet passes three feet in front of the deer, who by this time wises up and vanishes for good. "Well," says the physicist, "your contraption didn't get it either." "What do you mean?" pipes up the mathematician. "Between the two of you, that was a perfect shot!" (*) How they knew it was a deer: The physicist observed that it behaved in a deer-like manner, so it must be a deer. The mathematician asked the physicist what it was, thereby reducing it to a previously solved problem. The engineer was in the woods to hunt deer, therefore it was a deer. MPE________________________________________________________________________ A Mathematician (M) and an Engineer (E) attend a lecture by a Physicist. The topic concerns Kulza-Klein theories involving physical processes that occur in spaces with dimensions of 9, 12 and even higher. The M is sitting, clearly enjoying the lecture, while the E is frowning and looking generally confused and puzzled. By the end the E has a terrible headache. At the end, the M comments about the wonderful lecture. The E says "How do you understand this stuff?" M: "I just visualize the process." E: "How can you POSSIBLY visualize something that occurs in 9-dimensional space?" M: "Easy, first visualize it in N-dimensional space, then let N go to 9." MPE________________________________________________________________________ What is "pi"? Mathematician: Pi is the number expressing the relationship between the circumference of a circle and its diameter. Physicist: Pi is 3.1415927 plus or minus 0.000000005 Engineer: Pi is about 3. MPE________________________________________________________________________ When considering the behaviour of a howitzer: A mathematician will be able to calculate where the shell will land. A physicist will be able to explain how the shell gets there. An engineer will stand there and try to catch it. MPE________________________________________________________________________ There was a mad scientist ( a mad ...social... scientist ) who kidnapped three colleagues, an engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician, and locked each of them in seperate cells with plenty of canned food and water but no can opener. A month later, returning, the mad scientist went to the engineer's cell and found it long empty. The engineer had constructed a can opener from pocket trash, used aluminum shavings and dried sugar to make an explosive, and escaped. The physicist had worked out the angle necessary to knock the lids off the tin cans by throwing them against the wall. She was developing a good pitching arm and a new quantum theory. The mathematician had stacked the unopened cans into a surprising solution to the kissing problem; his desiccated corpse was propped calmly against a wall, and this was inscribed on the floor in blood: Theorem: If I can't open these cans, I'll die. Proof: assume the opposite... MPCB_______________________________________________________________________ The USDA once wanted to make cows produce milk faster, to improve the dairy industry. So, they decided to consult the foremost biologists and recombinant DNA technicians to build them a better cow. They assembled this team of great scientists, and gave them unlimited funding. They requested rare chemicals, weird bacteria, tons of quarantine equipment, there was a horrible typhus epidemic they started by accident, and, 2 years later, they came back with the "new, improved cow." It had a milk production improvement of 2% over the original. They then tried with the greatest Nobel Prize winning chemists around. They worked for six months, and, after requisitioning tons of chemical equipment, and poisoning half the small town in Colorado where they were working with a toxic cloud from one of their experiments, they got a 5% improvement in milk output. The physicists tried for a year, and, after ten thousand cows were subjected to radiation therapy, they got a 1% improvement in output. Finally, in desperation, they turned to the mathematicians. The foremost mathematician of his time offered to help them with the problem. Upon hearing the problem, he told the delegation that they could come back in the morning and he would have solved the problem. In the morning, they came back, and he handed them a piece of paper with the computations for the new, 300% improved milk cow. The plans began: "A Proof of the Attainability of Increased Milk Output from Bovines: Consider a spherical cow......" MPCE_______________________________________________________________________ An assemblage of the most gifted minds in the world were all posed the following question: "What is 2 * 2 ?" The chemist says immediately circa 10 to the power 1. The engineer whips out his slide rule (so it's old) and shuffles it back and forth, and finally announces "3.99". The physicist consults his technical references, sets up the problem on his computer, and announces "it lies between 3.98 and 4.02". The mathematician cogitates for a while, oblivious to the rest of the world, then announces: "I don't what the answer is, but I can tell you, an answer exists!". Philosopher: "But what do you _mean_ by 2 * 2 ?" Logician: "Please define 2 * 2 more precisely." Accountant: Closes all the doors and windows, looks around carefully, then asks "What do you _want_ the answer to be?" Computer Hacker: Breaks into the NSA super-computer and gives the answer. MP_________________________________________________________________________ From: MARTIN.VIETOR@HEIDEBOX.HEIDE.DE (Translation to blame on Joachim) A mathematician, a physicist and a doctor were posed the questin 2*2. The physicist takes a notebook and starts scribbling. After 3 days of the most complex calculations he finds with use of the Earth radius, the gravitation constant : "Somewhere between pi and 2 times the square root of 3." The mathematican comes back after a week with dark rings under his eyes and proclaims: "Colleges, their is a solution." The doctor says simple :"4" The others answer: "Oh well you memorized it." MPA________________________________________________________________________ Philosopher: "Resolution of the continuum hypothesis will have profound implications to all of science." Physicist: "Not quite. Physics is well on its way without those mythical `foundations'. Just give us serviceable mathematics." Computer Scientist: "Who cares? Everything in this Universe seems to be finite anyway. Besides, I'm too busy debugging my Pascal programs." Mathematician: "Forget all that! Just make your formulae as aesthetically pleasing as possible!" PE_________________________________________________________________________ From: "F. Ted Tschang" An economist, an engineer, and a physicist are marooned on a deserted island. One day they find a can of food washed up on the beach and contrive to open it. The engineer said: "let's hammer the can open between these rocks". The physicist said: "that's pretty crude. We can just use the force of gravity by dropping a rock on the can from that tall tree over there". The economist is somewhat disgusted at these deliberations, and says: "I've got a much more elegant solution. All we have to do is assume a can-opener." E__________________________________________________________________________ In some foreign country a priest, a lawyer and an engineer are about to be guillotined. The priest puts his head on the block, they pull the rope and nothing happens -- he declares that he's been saved by divine intervention -- so he's let go. The lawyer is put on the block, and again the rope doesn't release the blade, he claims he can't be executed twice for the same crime and he is set free too. They grab the engineer and shove his head into the guillotine, he looks up at the release mechanism and says, "Wait a minute, I see your problem......" MP_________________________________________________________________________ Einstein dies and goes to heaven only to be informed that his room is not yet ready. "I hope you will not mind waiting in a dormitory. We are very sorry, but it's the best we can do and you will have to share the room with others." he is told by the doorman (say his name is Pete). Einstein says that this is no problem at all and that there is no need to make such a great fuss. So Pete leads him to the dorm. They enter and Albert is introduced to all of the present inhabitants. "See, Here is your first room mate. He has an IQ of 180!" "Why that's wonderful!" Says Albert. "We can discuss mathematics!" "And here is your second room mate. His IQ is 150!" "Why that's wonderful!" Says Albert. "We can discuss physics!" "And here is your third room mate. His IQ is 100!" "That Wonderful! We can discuss the latest plays at the theater!" Just then another man moves out to capture Albert's hand and shake it. "I'm your last room mate and I'm sorry, but my IQ is only 80." Albert smiles back at him and says, "So, where to you think interest rates are headed?" MPE________________________________________________________________________ An engineer, a mathematician, and a physicist went to the races one Saturday and laid their money down. Commiserating in the bar after the race, the engineer says, "I don't understand why I lost all my money. I measured all the horses and calculated their strength and mechanical advantage and figured out how fast they could run..." The physicist interrupted him: "...but you didn't take individual variations into account. I did a statistical analysis of their previous performances and bet on the horses with the highest probability of winning..." "...so if you're so hot why are you broke?" asked the engineer. But before the argument can grow, the mathematician takes out his pipe and they get a glimpse of his well-fattened wallet. Obviously here was a man who knows something about horses. They both demanded to know his secret. "Well," he says, between puffs on the pipe, "first I assumed all the horses were identical and spherical..." MPE________________________________________________________________________ A group of scientists were doing an investigation into problem-solving techniques, and constructed an experiment involving a physicist, an engineer, and a mathematician. The experimental apparatus consisted of a water spigot and two identical pails, one of which was fastened to the ground ten feet from the spigot. Each of the subjects was given the second pail, empty, and told to fill the pail on the ground. The physicist was the first subject: he carried his pail to the spigot, filled it there, carried it full of water to the pail on the ground, and poured the water into it. Standing back, he declared, "There: I have solved the problem." The engineer and the mathematician each approached the problem similarly. Upon finishing, the engineer noted that the solution was exact, since the volumes of the pails were equal. The mathematician merely noted that he had proven that a solution exists. Now, the experimenters altered the parameters of the task a bit: the pail on the ground was still empty, but the subjects were presented with a pail that was already half-filled with water. The physicist immediately carried his pail over to the one on the ground, emptied the water into it, went back to the spigot, *filled* the pail, and finally emptied the entire contents into the pail on the ground, overflowing it and spilling some of the water. Upon finishing, he commented that the problem should have been better stated. The engineer, in turn, thought for some time before going into action. He then took his half-filled pail to the spigot, filled it to the brim, and filled the pail on the ground from it. Again he noted that the problem had an exact solution, which of course he had found. The mathematician thought for a long time before stirring. At last he stood up, emptied his pail onto the ground, and declared, "The problem has been reduced to one already solved." A__________________________________________________________________________ A doctor, an architect, and a computer scientist were arguing about whose profession was the oldest. In the course of their arguments, they got all the way back to the Garden of Eden, whereupon the doctor said, "The medical profession is clearly the oldest, because Eve was made from Adam's rib, as the story goes, and that was a simply incredible surgical feat." The architect did not agree. He said, "But if you look at the Garden itself, in the beginning there was chaos and void, and out of that, the Garden and the world were created. So God must have been an architect." The computer scientist, who had listened to all of this said, "Yes, but where do you think the chaos came from?" MPBE_______________________________________________________________________ From: mstueben@pen.k12.va.us (Michael A. Stueben) The biologist says "I study the principles of life." The psychologist says "You are controlled by the principles of life." The businessman says "My business can use its force to control the economy." The economist says "The forces of the economy will control your business." The engineer says: "My equations are a model of the universe." The physicist says: "The universe is a model of my equations." The mathematician says: "I don't care." PCE________________________________________________________________________ From: chemistrwb@aol.com (ChemistRWB) A chemist, a physicist and an Engineer went on a camping trip, accompanied by a guide. The were brought to a cabin in the deep Canadian wilderness. Inside the cabin was a wood-burning stove, but it was set up on bricks about 60 cm above the floor of the cabin. The three scientists speculated about the function of the high placement of the stove. The chemist said, "Obviously, the guide has anticipated the convection currents of the heat an placed the stove in a raised position to maximize the heat flow in the semi-adiabatic system." The Physicist believed, "No, it's far simpler than that, the guide placed the stove higher so movement from the countertops to the stove would be minimized and energy conserved." The engineer believed he had the true answer, "Obviously, you fellows don't do much camping. The stove is place higher so we can bring in wood and put it under the stove to dry." The guide soon returned and all three scientists were eager to find out who was right. The guide replied, "Well, we was bringin' the dang thing up the river and part of the chimney pipe fell off the boat, so we had to put it up for the pipe to reach the ceiling." PS: If you know all the words in this essay, your English is better than 99% of native Americans. MPE________________________________________________________________________ From: grayd@is.dal.ca (James D. Gray) An Engineering Student, a Physics Student, and a Mathematics student were each given $150 dollars and were told to use that money to find out exactly how tall a particular hotel was. All three ran off, extremely keen on how to do this. The Physics student went out, purchased some stopwatches, a number of ball bearings, a calculator, and some friends. He had them all time the drop of ball bearings from the roof, and he then figured out the height from the time it took for the bearings to accelerate from rest until they impacted with the sidewalk. The Math student waited until the sun was going down, then she took out her protractor, plumb line, measuring tape,and scratch pad, measured the length of the shadow, found the angle the buildings roof made from the ground, and used trignometry to figure out the height of the building. These two students bumped into the Engineering student the next day, who was nursing a really bad hangover. When asked what he did to find the height of the building he replied: "Well, I walked up to the bell hop, gave him 10 bucks, asked him how tall the hotel was, and hit the bar inside for happy hour!" *MP________________________________________________________________________ From: arkoff@sun.lclark.edu (Gary Arkoff) A math student and a physics student are camping. The physics students takes his turn to do the cooking first. He makes a tasty stew, but in so doing, uses up all the water. The next day, it is the math student's turn to do the cooking. The physics student watches him go to the creek to fetch the water. He puts the water into the pot and then stops and goes off to do something else. Puzzled, the physics student asks the math student when he is going to finish making dinner. The math student tells him that there is nothing left to do as now it has been reduced to a problem which has already been solved. MPE________________________________________________________________________ An engineer, a physicist and a mathematician find themselves in an anecdote, indeed an anecdote quite similar to many that you have no doubt already heard. After some observations and rough calculations the engineer realizes the situation and starts laughing. A few minutes later the physicist understands too and chuckles to himself happily as he now has enough experimental evidence to publish a paper. This leaves the mathematician somewhat perplexed, as he had observed right away that he was the subject of an anecdote, and deduced quite rapidly the presence of humour from similar anecdotes, but considers this anecdote to be too trivial a corollary to be significant, let alone funny. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -- Joachim Verhagen Email:J.C.D.Verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Department of molecular biofysics, University of Utrecht Utrecht, The Netherlands. From verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Wed Apr 26 07:50:02 1995 Newsgroups: rec.humor,sci.math,sci.physics,sci.chem Path: ronneby.hk-r.se!news.lu.se!news.lth.se!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.kth.se!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!sun4nl!cs.ruu.nl!tijger.fys.ruu.nl!verhagen From: verhagen@fys.ruu.nl (Joachim Verhagen) Subject: science jokes (2/8) X-Nntp-Posting-Host: ruunat.fys.ruu.nl Message-ID: Sender: usenet@fys.ruu.nl (News system Tijgertje) Organization: Physics and Astronomy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #3 (NOV) Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 13:35:15 GMT Lines: 1629 Xref: ronneby.hk-r.se rec.humor:105744 sci.math:72226 sci.physics:84741 sci.chem:30271 =2. MATHEMATICS M__________________________________________________________________________ From: guest@se.alcbel.be: rafy@cairo.anu.edu.au (Rafy Marootians): Logic is a systematic method for getting the wrong conclusion... with confidence. Surely _statistics_ is a systematic method for getting the wrong conclusion... with 95% confidence. From: phk@data.fls.dk (Poul-Henning Kamp/P-HK) Mathematics is the systematic misuse of a nomenclature developed for that specific purpose. M__________________________________________________________________________ A topologist is a man who doesn't know the difference between a coffee up and a doughnut. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: chrisman@ucdmath.ucdavis.edu (Mark Chrisman) Most prime numbers are even. Proof: pick up any math text and look for a prime number. The first one you find will probably be even. M__________________________________________________________________________ Once upon a time, when I was training to be a mathematician, a group of us bright young students taking number theory discovered the names of the smaller prime numbers. 2: The Odd Prime -- It's the only even prime, therefore is odd. QED. 3: The True Prime -- Lewis Carroll: "If I tell you three times, it's true." 31: The Arbitrary Prime -- Determined by unanimous unvote. We needed an arbitrary prime in case the prof asked for one, and so had an election. 91 received the most votes (well, it *looks* prime) and 3+4i the next most. However, 31 was the only candidate to receive none at all. Since the composite numbers are formed from primes, their qualities are derived from those primes. So, for instance, the number 6 is "odd but true", while the powers of 2 are all extremely odd numbers. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Tpotter@voyager.cris.com (Tom_Potter) Tom Potter: Life is complex. It has real and imaginary components. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Erland.Gadde@sm.luth.se (Erland Gadde) Trigonometry for farmers: swine and cowswine. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: mstueben@pen.k12.va.us (Michael A. Stueben) I liked the PI-ous one best. M__________________________________________________________________________ Q: What does an analytic number theoriest say when he is drowning? A: Log-log, log-log, log-log, . . . M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Alan Craig Mathematicians have announced the existence of a new whole number which lies between 27 and 28. "We don't know why it's there or what it does," says Cambridge mathematician, Dr. Hilliard Haliard, "we only know that it doesn't behave properly when put into equations, and that it is divisible by six, though only once." M__________________________________________________________________________ From: chrisman@ucdmath.ucdavis.edu (Mark Chrisman) "The number you have dialed is imaginary. Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and try again." M__________________________________________________________________________ From: david_gonda@qm.yale.edu A student was doing miserably on his oral final exam in General Toplogy (yes, this guy _really_ did give oral finals in topology). Exasperated by the student's abysmal performance up to that point, the professor asked the student "So, what _do_ you know about topology?" The student replied, "I know the definition of a topologist." The professor asked him to state the definition, expecting to get the old saw about someone who can't tell the difference between a coffee cup and a doughnut. Instead, the student replied: "A topologist is someone who can't tell the difference between his ass and a hole in the ground, but who can tell the difference between his ass and _two_ holes in the ground." The student passed. M__________________________________________________________________________ Definitions of Terms Commonly Used in Higher Math The following is a guide to the weary student of mathematics who is often confronted with terms which are commonly used but rarely defined. In the search for proper definitions for these terms we found no authoritative, nor even recognized, source. Thus, we followed the advice of mathematicians handed down from time immortal: "Wing It." CLEARLY: I don't want to write down all the "in- between" steps. TRIVIAL: If I have to show you how to do this, you're in the wrong class. OBVIOUSLY: I hope you weren't sleeping when we discussed this earlier, because I refuse to repeat it. RECALL: I shouldn't have to tell you this, but for those of you who erase your memory tapes after every test... WLOG (Without Loss Of Generality): I'm not about to do all the possible cases, so I'll do one and let you figure out the rest. IT CAN EASILY BE SHOWN: Even you, in your finite wisdom, should be able to prove this without me holding your hand. CHECK or CHECK FOR YOURSELF: This is the boring part of the proof, so you can do it on your own time. SKETCH OF A PROOF: I couldn't verify all the details, so I'll break it down into the parts I couldn't prove. HINT: The hardest of several possible ways to do a proof. BRUTE FORCE (AND IGNORANCE): Four special cases, three counting arguments, two long inductions, "and a partridge in a pair tree." SOFT PROOF: One third less filling (of the page) than your regular proof, but it requires two extra years of course work just to understand the terms. ELEGANT PROOF: Requires no previous knowledge of the subject matter and is less than ten lines long. SIMILARLY: At least one line of the proof of this case is the same as before. CANONICAL FORM: 4 out of 5 mathematicians surveyed recommended this as the final form for their students who choose to finish. TFAE (The Following Are Equivalent): If I say this it means that, and if I say that it means the other thing, and if I say the other thing... BY A PREVIOUS THEOREM: I don't remember how it goes (come to think of it I'm not really sure we did this at all), but if I stated it right (or at all), then the rest of this follows. TWO LINE PROOF: I'll leave out everything but the conclusion, you can't question 'em if you can't see 'em. BRIEFLY: I'm running out of time, so I'll just write and talk faster. LET'S TALK THROUGH IT: I don't want to write it on the board lest I make a mistake. PROCEED FORMALLY: Manipulate symbols by the rules without any hint of their true meaning (popular in pure math courses). QUANTIFY: I can't find anything wrong with your proof except that it won't work if x is a moon of Jupiter (Popular in applied math courses). PROOF OMITTED: Trust me, It's true. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: mstueben@pen.k12.va.us (Michael A. Stueben) WHAT'S OUT AND WHAT'S IN FOR MATHEMATICAL TERMS by Michael Stueben (November 7, 1994) --------------------------------------------------------- Today it is considered an egregious faux pas to speak or write in the crude antedated terms of our grandfathers. To assist the isolated student and the less sophisticated teacher, I have prepared the following list of currently fashionable mathematical terms in academia. I pass this list on to the general public as a matter of charity and in the hope that it will lead to more refined elucidation from young scholars. OUT IN thinking: hypothesizing. proof by contradiction or indirect proof: reductio ad absurdum. mistake: non sequitur. starting place: handle. with corresponding changes: mutatis mutandis. counterexample: pathological exception. consequently: ipso facto. swallowing results: digesting proofs. therefore: ergo. has an easy-to-understand, but hard-to-find solution: obvious. has two easy-to-understand, but hard-to-find solutions: trivial. truth: tautology. empty: vacuous. drill problems: plug-and-chug work. criteria: rubric. example: substantive instantiation. similar structure: homomorphic. very similar structure: isomorphic. same area: isometric. arithmetic: number theory. count: enumerate. one: unity. generally/specifically: globally/locally. constant: invariant. bonus result: corollary. distance: metric measure. several: a plurality. function/argument: operator/operand. separation/joining: bifurcation/confluence. fourth power or quartic: biquadratic. random: stochastic. unique condition: a singularity. uniqueness: unicity. tends to zero: vanishes. tip-top point: apex. half-closed: half-open. concave: non-convex. rectangular prisms: parallelepipeds. perpendicular (adj.): orthogonal. perpendicular (n.): normal. Euclid: Descartes. Fermat: Wiles. path: trajectory. shift: rectilinear translation. similar: homologous. very similar: congruent. whopper-jawed: skew or oblique. change direction: perturb. join: concatenate. approximate to two or more places: accurate. high school geometry or plane geometry: geometry of the Euclidean plane under the Pythagorean metric. clever scheme: algorithm. initialize to zero: zeroize. * : splat. { : squiggle. decimal: denary. alphabetical order: lexical order. a divide-and-conquer method: an algorithm of logarithmic order. student ID numbers: witty passwords. that bitch secretary in the math dept: the witch of Agnesi numerology and number sophistry: descriptive statistics Special thanks to Peter Braxton who got me started writing this stuff and who contributed five of the items above. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: goddard@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu (Bart E. Goddard) & rja093@nwu.edu (Rajan Jain) mathematician's PICK UP LINE Hey baby, How would you like to join me in some math? We'll add you and me, subtract our clothes, divide your legs, and multiply! Of course, we'll be entirely discrete. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: hammond@cs.utk.edu (James Michael Hammond) When Mathematicians Go Bad "Psst, c'mere," said the shifty-eyed man wearing a long black trenchcoat, as he beckoned me off the rainy street into a damp dark alley. I followed. "What are you selling?" I asked. "Geometrical algebra drugs." "Huh!?" "Geometry drugs. Ya got your uppers, your downers, your sidewaysers, your inside-outers..." "Stop right there," I interrupted. "I've never heard of inside- outers." "Oh, man, you'll love 'em. Makes you feel like M.C. ever-lovin' Escher on a particularly weird day." "Go on..." "OK, your inside-outers, your arbitrary bilinear mappers, and here, heh, here are the best ones," he said, pulling out a large clear bottle of orange pills. "What are those, then?" I asked. "Givens transformers. They'll rotate you about more planes than you even knew existed." "Sounds gross. What about those bilinear mappers?" "There's a whole variety of them. Here's one you'll love -- they call it 'One Over Z' on the street. Take one of these little bad boys and you'll be on speaking terms with the Point at Infinity." M__________________________________________________________________________ From: v090nlb4@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Mark J. VanDerwater) halloween math Q: Wadaya get when you take the circumference of your jack-o-lantern and divide it by its diameter? A: Pumpkin Pi M__________________________________________________________________________ UR 2 Good 2 Me 2 Be 4 Got == 10 "You are too good to me to be forgotten" M__________________________________________________________________________ A lazy dog is a slow pup. A slope up is an inclined plane. An ink-lined plane is a sheet of writing-paper. Therefore lazy dog is a sheet of writing-paper. M__________________________________________________________________________ Complete the next two terms of this sequence: O T T F F S S E .. .. (A. N T - Nine Ten) Likewise here: 3 3 5 4 4 3 5 5 (A. 4 3 -number of letters in the words "nine" and "ten"). M__________________________________________________________________________ The four branches of arithmetic - ambition, distraction, uglification and derision. (Lewis Caroll: "Alice in Wonderland") ME_________________________________________________________________________ The first law of Engineering Mathematics: All infinite series converge, and moreover converge to the first term. M__________________________________________________________________________ Numb, adj., devoid of sensation... Number, comparative of numb. [Webster's Third New international Dictionary] M__________________________________________________________________________ Patageometry, n.: The study of those mathematical properties that are invariant under brain transplants. M__________________________________________________________________________ kcarver@fox.nstn.ns.ca (Kevin Carver) writes: I know most of you people who are "into" math have heard the pun (over and over and over ...) about knowing the difference between your "asymptote and a hole in the graph" but here's one you may not have heard. IT'S A TRUE STORY! A student at our high school a few years back, having had his fill with drawing graph after graph in senior high math class, told his teacher: Mrs. ___, I'll do algebra, I'll do trig, and I'll even do statistics, but graphing is where I draw the line! M__________________________________________________________________________ This one can better be told in a pub. First three points on the table: a b c On a lies a beermat and on c stands a glass. The mathematican has to move the c to a. He takes the glas and puts it on the beermat. Now the glas is put on point b and the mathematican has to move it to a. The mathematican takes the glas and puts it on c - the problem has been reduced to one already solved. M__________________________________________________________________________ A bunch of Polish scientists decided to flee their repressive government by hijacking an airliner and forcing the pilot to fly them to a western country. They drove to the airport, forced their way on board a large passenger jet, and found there was no pilot on board. Terrified, they listened as the sirens got louder. Finally, one of the scientists suggested that since he was an experimentalist, he would try to fly the aircraft. He sat down at the controls and tried to figure them out. The sirens got louder and louder. Armed men surrounded the jet. The would be pilot's friends cried out, "Please, please take off now!!! Hurry!!!!!!" The experimentalist calmly replied, "Have patience. I'm just a simple pole in a complex plane." M__________________________________________________________________________ A group of Polish tourists is flying on a small airplane through the Grand Canyon on a sightseeing tour. The tour guide announces: "On the right of the airplane, you can see the famous Bright Angle Falls." The tourists leap out of their seats and crowd to the windows on the right side. This causes a dynamic imbalance, and the plane violently rolls to the side and crashes into the canyon wall. All aboard are lost. The moral to this episode is: always keep your poles off the right side of the plane. Caveat: While this joke mentions Polish people, it is not, in my opinion, in the category of the infamous Polish jokes. I hope no one is offended but only humored. M__________________________________________________________________________ Three standard Peter Lax jokes (heard in his lectures) : 1. What's the contour integral around Western Europe? Answer: Zero, because all the Poles are in Eastern Europe! Addendum: Actually, there ARE some Poles in Western Europe, but they are removable! 2. An English mathematician (I forgot who) was asked by his very religious colleague: Do you believe in one God? Answer: Yes, up to isomorphism! 3. What is a compact city? It's a city that can be guarded by finitely many near-sighted policemen! M__________________________________________________________________________ "Algebraic symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about." M__________________________________________________________________________ Q: What quantity is represented by this ? /\ /\ /\ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ /______\ /______\ /______\ || || || || || || A: 9, tree + tree + tree Q: A dust storm blows through, now how much do you have ? A: 99, dirty tree + dirty tree + dirty tree Q: Some birds go flying by and leave their droppings, one per tree, how many is that ? A: 100, dirty tree and a turd + dirty tree and a turd + dirty tree and a turd M__________________________________________________________________________ Asked how his pet parrot died, the mathematician answered "Polynomial. Polygon." M__________________________________________________________________________ Lumberjacks make good musicians because of their natural logarithms. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Dr. David Batchelor batchelor@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov: Theorem: Consider the set of all sets that have never been considered. Hey! They're all gone!! Oh, well, never mind... M__________________________________________________________________________ Pie are not square. Pie are round. Cornbread are square. M__________________________________________________________________________ This was made by Mike Bender and Sarah Herr: MATHEMATICS PURITY TEST Count the number of yes's, subtract from 60, and divide by 0.6. The Basics 1) Have you ever been excited about math? 2) Had an exciting dream about math? 3) Made a mathematical calculation? 4) Manipulated the numerator of an equation? 5) Manipulated the denominator of an equation? 6) On your first problem set? 7) Worked on a problem set past 3:00 a.m.? 8) Worked on a problem set all night? 9) Had a hard problem? 10) Worked on a problem continuously for more than 30 minutes? 11) Worked on a problem continuously for more than four hours? 12) Done more than one problem set on the same night (i.e. both started and finished them)? 13) Done more than three problem sets on the same night? 14) Taken a math course for a full year? 15) Taken two different math courses at the same time? 16) Done at least one problem set a week for more than four months? 17) Done at least one problem set a night for more than one month (weekends excluded)? 18) Done a problem set alone? 19) Done a problem set in a group of three or more? 20) Done a problem set in a group of 15 or more? 21) Was it mixed company? 22) Have you ever inadvertently walked in upon people doing a problem set? 23) And joined in afterwards? 24) Have you ever used food doing a problem set? 25) Did you eat it all? 26) Have you ever had a domesticated pet or animal walk over you while you were doing a problem set? 27) Done a problem set in a public place where you might be discovered? 28) Been discovered while doing a problem set? Kinky Stuff 29) Have you ever applied your math to a hard science? 30) Applied your math to a soft science? 31) Done an integration by parts? 32) Done two integration by parts in a single problem? 33) Bounded the domain and range of your function? 34) Used the domination test for improper integrals? 35) Done Newton's Method? 36) Done the Method of Frobenius? 37) Used the Sandwich Theorem? 38) Used the Mean Value Theorem? 39) Used a Gaussian surface? 40) Used a foreign object on a math problem (eg: calculator)? 41) Used a program to improve your mathematical technique (eg: MACSYMA)? 42) Not used brackets when you should have? 43) Integrated a function over its full period? 44) Done a calculation in three-dimensional space? 45) Done a calculation in n-dimensional space? 46) Done a change of bases? 47) Done a change of bases specifically in order to magnify your vector? 48) Worked through four complete bases in a single night (eg: using the Graham-Schmidt method)? 49) Inserted a number into an equation? 50) Calculated the residue of a pole? 51) Scored perfectly on a math test? 52) Swallowed everything your professor gave you? 53) Used explicit notation in your problem set? 54) Purposefully omitted important steps in your problem set? 55) Padded your own problem set? 56) Been blown away on a test? 57) Blown away your professor on a test? 58) Have you ever multiplied 23 by 3? 59) Have you ever bounded your Bessel function so that the membrane did not shoot to infinity? 69) Have you ever understood the following quote: "The relationship between Z^0 to C_0, B_0, and H_0 is an example of a general principle which we have encountered: the kernel of the adjoint of a linear transformation is both the annihilator space of the image of the transformation and also the dual space of the quotient of the space of which the image is a subspace by the image subspace." (Shlomo & Bamberg's _A "Course" in Mathematics for Students of Physics_) M__________________________________________________________________________ From: RVFT60@email.sps.mot.com (Mike Scott) A Cherokee indian chief had three wives, each of whom was pregnant. The first squaw gave birth to a boy, and the chief was so elated he built her a teepee made of buffalo hide. A few days later, the second squaw gave birth, and also had a boy. The chief was extremely happy; he built her a teepee made of antelope hide. The third squaw gave birth a few days later, but the chief kept the birth details a secret. He built the woman a teepee out of hippopotamus hide, and challenged the people in the tribe to guess the most recent birth details, the correct guesser receiving a fine prize. Several of his people tried, but were unsuccessful in their guesses. Finally, a young brave came forth and declared that the third wife had delivered twin boys. "Correct"!, cried the chief. "How did you know"? "It's simple", replied the warrior. "The value of the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides." M__________________________________________________________________________ A tribe of Native Americans generally referred to their woman by the animal hide with which they made their blanket. Thus, one woman might be known as Squaw of Buffalo Hide, while another might be known as Squaw of Deer Hide. This tribe had a particularly large and strong woman, with a very unique (for North America anyway) animal hide for her blanket. This woman was known as Squaw of Hippopotamus hide, and she was as large and powerful as the animal from which her blanket was made. Year after year, this woman entered the tribal wrestling tournament, and easily defeated all challengers; male or female. As the men of the tribe admired her strength and power, this made many of the other woman of the tribe extremely jealous. One year, two of the squaws petitioned the Chief to allow them to enter their sons together as a wrestling tandem in order to wrestle Squaw of the Hippopotamus hide as a team. In this way, they hoped to see that she would no longer be champion wrestler of the tribe. As the luck of the draw would have it, the two sons who were wrestling as a tandem met the squaw in the final and championship round of the wrestling contest. As the match began, it became clear that the squaw had finally met an opponent that was her equal. The two sons wrestled and struggled vigorously and were clearly on an equal footing with the powerful squaw. Their match lasted for hours without a clear victor. Finally the chief intervened and declared that, in the interests of the health and safety of the wrestlers, the match was to be terminated and that he would declare a winner. The chief retired to his teepee and contemplated the great struggle he had witnessed, and found it extremely difficult to decide a winner. While the two young men had clearly outmatched the squaw, he found it difficult to force the squaw to relinquish her tribal championship. After all, it had taken two young men to finally provide her with a decent match. Finally, after much deliberation, the chief came out >from his teepee, and announced his decision. He said... "The Squaw of the Hippopotamus hide is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides" M__________________________________________________________________________ A guy decided to go to the brain transplant clinic to refreshen his supply of brains. The secretary informed him that they had three kinds of brains available at that time. Doctors' brains were going for $20 per ounce and lawyers' brains were getting $30 per ounce. And then there were mathematicians' brains which were currently fetching $1000 per ounce. "A 1000 dollars an ounce!" he cried. "Why are they so expensive?" "It takes more mathematicians to get an ounce of brains," she explained. M__________________________________________________________________________ A topologist walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender, being a number theorist, says, "I'm sorry, but we don't serve topologists here." The disgruntled topologist walks outside, but then gets an idea and performs Dahn surgery upon herself. She walks into the bar, and the bartender, who does not recognize her since she is now a different manifold, serves her a drink. However, the bartender thinks she looks familiar, or at least locally similar, and asks, "Aren't you that topologist that just came in here?" To which she responds, "No, I'm a frayed knot." M__________________________________________________________________________ There are three kinds of people in the world; those who can count and those who can't. And the related: There are two groups of people in the world; those who believe that the world can be divided into two groups of people, and those who don't. M__________________________________________________________________________ The world is divided into two classes: people who say "The world is divided into two classes", and people who say The world is divided into two classes: people who say: "The world is divided into two classes", and people who say: The world is divided into two classes: people who say ... M__________________________________________________________________________ What follows is a "quiz" a student of mine once showed me (which she'd gotten from a previous teacher, etc...). It's multiple choice, and if you sort the letters (with upper and lower case disjoint) questions and answers will come out next to each other. Enjoy... S. What the acorn said when he grew up N. bisects u. A dead parrot g. center F. What you should do when it rains R. hypotenuse m. A geometer who has been to the beach H. coincide h. The set of cards is missing y. polygon A. The boy has a speech defect t. secant K. How they schedule gym class p. tangent b. What he did when his mother-in-law wanted to go home D. ellipse O. The tall kettle boiling on the stove W. geometry r. Why the girl doesn't run a 4-minute mile j. decagon M__________________________________________________________________________ ___ 1. That which Noah built. ___ 2. An article for serving ice cream. ___ 3. What a bloodhound does in chasing a woman. ___ 4. An expression to represent the loss of a parrot. ___ 5. An appropriate title for a knight named Koal. ___ 6. A sunburned man. ___ 7. A tall coffee pot perking. ___ 8. What one does when it rains. ___ 9. A dog sitting in a refrigerator. ___ 10. What a boy does on the lake when his motor won't run. ___ 11. What you call a person who writes for an inn. ___ 12. What the captain said when the boat was bombed. ___ 13. What a little acorn says when he grows up. ___ 14. What one does to trees that are in the way. ___ 15. What you do if you have yarn and needles. ___ 16. Can George Washington turn into a country? A. hypotenuse I. circle B. polygon J. axiom C. inscribe K. cone D. geometry L. coincide E. unit M. cosecant F. center N. tangent G. decagone O. hero H. arc P. perpendicular M__________________________________________________________________________ A team of engineers were required to measure the height of a flag pole. They only had a measuring tape, and were getting quite frustrated trying to keep the tape along the pole. It kept falling down, etc. A mathematician comes along, finds out their problem, and proceeds to remove the pole from the ground and measure it easily. When he leaves, one engineer says to the other: "Just like a mathematician! We need to know the height, and he gives us the length!" M__________________________________________________________________________ There was once a very smart horse. Anything that was shown it, it mastered easily, until one day, its teachers tried to teach it about rectangular coordinates and it couldn't understand them. All the horse's acquaintances and friends tried to figure out what was the matter and couldn't. Then a new guy (what the heck, a computer engineer) looked at the problem and said, "Of course he can't do it. Why, you're putting Descartes before the horse!" M__________________________________________________________________________ "The integral of e to the x is equal to f of the quantity u to the n." / x n | e = f(u ) / M__________________________________________________________________________ TOP TEN EXCUSES FOR NOT DOING THE MATH HOMEWORK 1. I accidentally divided by zero and my paper burst into flames. 2. Isaac Newton's birthday. 3. I could only get arbitrarily close to my textbook. I couldn't actually reach it. 4. I have the proof, but there isn't room to write it in this margin. 5. I was watching the World Series and got tied up trying to prove that it converged. 6. I have a solar powered calculator and it was cloudy. 7. I locked the paper in my trunk but a four-dimensional dog got in and ate it. 8. I couldn't figure out whether i am the square of negative one or i is the square root of negative one. 9. I took time out to snack on a doughnut and a cup of coffee. I spent the rest of the night trying to figure which one to dunk. 10. I could have sworn I put the homework inside a Klein bottle, but this morning I couldn't find it. M__________________________________________________________________________ The guy gets on a bus and starts threatening everybody: "I'll integrate you! I'll differentiate you!!!" So everybody gets scared and runs away. Only one person stays. The guy comes up to him and says: "Aren't you scared, I'll integrate you, I'll differentiate you!!!" And the other guy says; "No, I am not scared, I am e^x." M__________________________________________________________________________ A mathematician went insane and believed that he was the differentiation operator. His friends had him placed in a mental hospital until he got better. All day he would go around frightening the other patients by staring at them and saying "I differentiate you!" One day he met a new patient; and true to form he stared at him and said "I differentiate you!", but for once, his victim's expression didn't change. Surprised, the mathematician marshalled his energies, stared fiercely at the new patient and said loudly "I differentiate you!", but still the other man had no reaction. Finally, in frustration, the mathematician screamed out "I DIFFERENTIATE YOU!" -- at which point the new patient calmly looked up and said, "You can differentiate me all you like: I'm e to the x." M__________________________________________________________________________ A function and a differentiation operator meet somewhere in Hilbert space. The differentation operator: Make place or I differentiate you. Function: Forget it buster, I am e^x. The differentation operator: Well, I am d/dy. M__________________________________________________________________________ Boy's Life, May 1973: Ralph: Dad, will you do my math for me tonight? Dad: No, son, it wouldn't be right. Ralph: Well, you could try. M__________________________________________________________________________ Mrs. Johnson the elementary school math teacher was having children do problems on the blackboard that day. ``Who would like to do the first problem, addition?'' No one raised their hand. She called on Tommy, and with some help he finally got it right. ``Who would like to do the second problem, subtraction?'' Students hid their faces. She called on Mark, who got the problem but there was some suspicion his girlfriend Lisa whispered it to him. ``Who would like to do the third problem, division?'' Now a low collective groan could be heard as everyone looked at nothing in particular. The teacher called on Suzy, who got it right (she has been known to hold back sometimes in front of her friends). ``Who would like to do the last problem, multiplication?'' Tim's hand shot up, surprising everyone in the room. Mrs. Johnson finally gained her composure in the stunned silence. ``Why the enthusiasm, Tim?'' ``God said to go fourth and multiply!'' M__________________________________________________________________________ In the bayous of Louisiana, there is a small river called the Dirac. Many wealthy people have their mansions near its mouth. One of the social leaders decided to have a grand ball. Being a cousin of the Governor, she arranged for a detachment of the state militia to serve as guards and traffic directors for the big doings. A captain was sent over with a small company; naturally he asked if there was enough room for him and his unit. The social leader replied, "But of course, Captain! It is well known that the Dirac delta function has unit area." M__________________________________________________________________________ When I was a Math/Chem grad student at Princeton in 1973-74, there was a story going around about a grad student. This guy was always late. One day he stumbled into class late, saw seven problems written on the board, and wrote them down. As the week went on he began to panic: the math department at Princeton is fiercely competitive, and here he was unable to do most of a simple homework assignment! When the next class rolled around he only had solved two of the problems, although he had a pretty good idea of how to solve a third but not enough time to complete it. When he dejectedly flung his partial assignment on the prof's desk, the prof asked him "What's that?" "The homework." "What homework?" Eventually it came out that what the prof had written on the board were the seven most important unsolved problems in the field. This is largely an academic legend, at least according to Jan Harold Brunvand, the author of a series of books on so-called Urban Legends. He talks about it in his latest book _Curses! Broiled Again!_ in the chapter entitled "The Unsolvable Math Problem." It is, however, based in some fact. The Stanford mathematician, George B. Danzig, apparently managed to solve two statistics problems previously unsolved under similar circumstances. M__________________________________________________________________________ Russell to Whitehead: "My Godel is killing me!" M__________________________________________________________________________ "The reason that every major university maintains a department of mathematics is that it is cheaper to do this than to institutionalize all those people." M__________________________________________________________________________ One attractive young businesswoman to another, over lunch: ``My life is all math. I am trying to add to my income, subtract from my weight, divide my time, and avoid multiplying.'' M__________________________________________________________________________ We use epsilons and deltas in mathematics because mathematicians tend to make errors. M__________________________________________________________________________ A mathematician decides he wants to learn more about practical problems. He sees a seminar with a nice title: "The Theory of Gears." So he goes. The speaker stands up and begins, "The theory of gears with a real number of teeth is well known ..." M__________________________________________________________________________ What keeps a square from moving ? why, square roots of course. How many square roots does it have ? why, 2 obviously. M__________________________________________________________________________ How can you tell that Harvard was layed out by a mathematician? The div school [divinity school] is right next to the grad school... M__________________________________________________________________________ First of all let me make it clear that I have nothing against contravariant functors. Some of my best friends are cohomology theories! But now you aren't supposed to call them contravariant anymore. It's Algebraically Correct to call them 'differently arrowed'!! In the same way that transcendental numbers are polynomially challenged? Manifolds are personifolds (humanifolds). Neighborhoods are neighbor victims of society. It's the Asian Remainder Theorem. It isn't PC to use "singularity" - the function is "convergently challenged" there. M__________________________________________________________________________ Godel can't prove he was here. Descartes though he was here. M__________________________________________________________________________ Mathematical Sex Wherein it is related how that Polygon of Womanly Virtue, your Polly Nomial (our heroine) is accosted by that Notorious Villain Curly Pi, and factored (oh, horror). Once upon a time ( 1/T ), Pretty Polly Nomial was strolling across a field of vectors when she came to the boundary of a singularly large matrix. Now Polly was convergent and her mother had made it an absolute condition that she never enter such an array without her brackets on. Polly, however, who had changed her variables that morning and was feeling particularly badly behaved, ignored this condition on the basis that it was insufficient, and made her way amongst the complex elements. Rows and columns closed in from all sides. Tangents approached her surface. She became tensor and tensor. Quite suddenly, two branches of a hyperbola touched her at a single point. She oscillated violently, lost all sense of directrix, and went completely divergent. As she reached a turning point, she tripped over a square root that was protruding from the erf and plunged headlong down a steep gradient. When she rounded off once more, she found herself inverted, apparently alone, in a non-Euclidian space. She was being watched, however. That smooth operator, Curly Pi, was lurking innerproduct. As his eyes devoured her curvilinear coordinates, a singular expression crossed his face. He wondered, was she still convergent? He decided to integrate improperly at once. Hearing a common fraction behind her, Polly rotated and saw Curly Pi approaching with his power series extrapolated. She could see at once by his degenerate conic and dissipative terms that he was bent on no good. "Arcsinh," she gasped. "Ho, ho," he said. "What a symmetric little asymptote you have. I can see your angles have a lot of secs." "Oh, sir," she protested, "keep away from me. I haven't got my brackets on." "Calm yourself, My Dear," said our Suave Operator. "Your fears are purely imaginary." "I, I," she thought, "perhaps he's not normal but homologous." "What order are you?" the Brute demanded. "Seventeen," replied Polly. Curly leered. "I suppose you've never been operated on." "Of course not," Polly replied quite properly. "I'm absolutely convergent." "Come, come," said Curly, "Let's off to a decimal place I know and I'll take you to the limit." "Never," gasped Polly. "Abscissa," he swore, using the vilest oath he knew. His patience was gone. Coshing her over the coefficient with a log until she was powerless, Curly removed her discontinuities. He stared at her significant places, and began smoothing out her points of inflection. Poor Polly. The algorithmic method was now her only hope. She felt his hand tending to her asymptotic limit. Her convergence would soon be gone forever. There was no mercy, for Curly was a heavyside operator. Curly's radius squared itself; Polly's loci quivered. He integrated by parts. He integrated by partial fractions. After he cofactored, he performed rungecutta on her. The complex beast even went all the way around and did a contour integration. Curly went on operating until he had satisfied her hypothesis, then he exponentiated and became completely orthogonal. When Polly got home that night, her mother noticed that she was no longer piecewise continuous, but had been truncated in several places. But is was too late to differentiate now. As the months went by, Polly's denominator increased monotonically. Finally, she went to the L'Hopital and generated a small but pathological function which left surds all over the place and drove Polly to deviation. The moral of our sad story is this: 'If you want to keep your expressions convergent, never allow them a single degree of freedom...' M__________________________________________________________________________ He thinks he's really smooth, but he's only C^1. He's always going off on a tangent. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Jim Slepicka After the earth dries out, Noah tells all the animals to 'go forth and multiply'. However, two snakes, adders to be specific, complain to Noah that this is one thing they have never been able to do, hard as they have tried. Undaunted, Noah instructs the snakes to go into the woods, make tables from the trunks of fallen trees and give it a try on the tabletops. The snakes respond that they don't understand how this will help them to procreate whereupon Noah explains: "Well, even adders can multiply using log tables!" M__________________________________________________________________________ A man camped in a national park, and noticed Mr. Snake and Mrs. Snake slithering by. "Where are all the little snakes?" he asked. Mr. Snake replied, "We are adders, so we cannot multiply." The following year, the man returned to the same camping spot. This time there were a whole batch of little snakes. "I thought you said you could not multiply," he said to Mr. Snake. "Well, the park ranger came by and built a log table, so now we can multiply by adding!" FORMULA'S: M__________________________________________________________________________ / | 1 | ----- = log cabin | cabin / M__________________________________________________________________________ / | 1 | ----- = log cabin + C = houseboat | cabin / M__________________________________________________________________________ 8 5 If lim - = oo (infinity), then what does lim - = ? x->0 x x->0 x answer: (write 5 on it's side) M__________________________________________________________________________ I saw the following scrawled on a math office blackboard in college: 1 + 1 = 3, for large values of 1 M__________________________________________________________________________ lim ---- 8-->9 \/ 8 = 3 M__________________________________________________________________________ "The integral of e to the x is equal to f of the quantity u to the n." / x n | e = f(u ) / M__________________________________________________________________________ Fuller's Law of Cosmic Irreversability: 1 pot T --> 1 pot P but 1 pot P -/-> 1 pot T M__________________________________________________________________________ lim sin(x) n --> oo ------ = 6 n Proof: cancel the n in the numerator and denominator. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: surd@apollo.hanyang.ac.kr (ps park (Seoul Univ.)) From: chrisman@ucdmath.ucdavis.edu (Mark Chrisman) (many additions) HOW TO PUT AN ELEPHANT INTO A REFRIGERATOR: Analysis: 1) Differentiate it and put into the refrig. Then integrate it in the refrig. 2) Redefine the measure on the referigerator (or the elephant). 3) Apply the Banach-Tarsky theorem. Number theory: 1) First factorize, second multiply. 2) Use induction. You can always squeeze a bit more in. Algebra: 1) Step 1. Show that the parts of it can be put into the refrig. Step 2. Show that the refrig. is closed under the addition. 2) Take the appropriate universal refrigerator and get a surjection from refrigerator to elephant. Topology: 1) Have it swallow the refrig. and turn inside out. 2) Make a refrig. with the Klein bottle. 3) The elephant is homeomorphic to a smaller elephant. 4) The elephant is compact, so it can be put into a finite collection of refrigerators. That's usually good enough. 5) The property of being inside the referigerator is hereditary. So, take the elephant's mother, cremate it, and show that the ashes fit inside the refrigerator. 6) For those who object to method 3 because it's cruel to animals. Put the elephant's BABY in the refrigerator. Algebraic topology: Replace the interior of the refrigerator by its universal cover, R^3. Linear algebra: 1) Put just its basis and span it in the refrig. 2) Show that 1% of the elephant will fit inside the refrigerator. By linearity, x% will fit for any x. Affine geometry: There is an affine transformation putting the elephant into the refrigerator. Set theory: 1) It's very easy! refrigerator = { elephant } 2) The elephant and the interior of the refrigerator both have cardinality c. Geometry: Declare the following: Axiom 1. An elephant can be put into a refrigerator. Complex analysis: Put the refrig. at the origin and the elephant outside the unit circle. Then get the image under the inversion. Numerical analysis: 1) Put just its trunk and refer the rest to the error term. 2) Work it out using the Pentium. Statistics: 1) bright statistician. Put its tail as a sample and say "Done." 2) dull statistician. Repeat the experiment pushing the elephant to the refrig. 3) Our NEW study shows that you CAN'T put the elephant in the refrigerator. M__________________________________________________________________________ Math and Alcohol don't mix, so... PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DERIVE Then there's every parent's scream when their child walks into the room dazed and staggering: OH NO...YOU'VE BEEN TAKING DERIVATIVES!! *M_________________________________________________________________________ Q: What's purple and commutes? A: An abelian grape. Q: What's purple, commutes, and is worshiped by a limited number of people? A: A finitely venerated abelian grape. Q: Why did the mathematician name his dog "Cauchy"? A: Because he left a residue at every pole. Q: Why is it that the more accuracy you demand from an interpolation function, the more expensive it becomes to compute? A: That's the Law of Spline Demand. Q: What do a mathematician and a physicist [or engineer, or musician, or whatever the profession of the person addressed] have in common? A: They are both stupid, with the exception of the mathematician. Q: What do you call a teapot of boiling water on top of mount everest? A: A high-pot-in-use Q: What do you call a broken record? A: A Decca-gone Q: What do you get when you cross 50 female pigs and 50 male deer? A: One hundred sows-and-bucks Q: Why did the chicken cross the Moebius strip? A: To get to the other ... er, um ... Q: What is the world's longest song? A: "Aleph-nought Bottles of Beer on the Wall." Q: What does a mathematician do when he's constipated? A: He works it out with a pencil. Q: What's yellow and equivalent to the Axiom of Choice. A: Zorn's Lemon. Q: What do you get if you cross an elephant with a zebra. A: Elephant zebra sin theta. Q: What do you get when you cross an elephant and a grape? A: Elephant-grape-sin(theta) Q: What do you get if you cross an elephant with a mountain climber. A: You can't do that. A mountain climber is a scalar. Q: What do you get when you cross an elephant with a banana? A: Elephant banana sine theta in a direction mutually perpendicular to the two as determined by the right hand rule. Q: What do you get when you cross a tsetse with a mountain climber? A: Nothing, you can't cross a vector with a scalar. Q: To what question is the answer "9W." A: "Dr. Wiener, do you spell your name with a V?" Q: What's non-orientable and lives in the sea? A: Mobius Dick. Q: What do you get when you put a spinning flywheel in a casket and turn a corner? A: A funeral precession Q: What's big, grey, and proves the uncountability of the reals? A: Cantor's Diagonal Elephant! Q: What do you call a young eigensheep? A: A lamb, duh!!! Q: What goes "Pieces of seven! Pieces of seven!"? A: A parroty error!! Q: What did the circle say to the tangent line? A: "Stop touching me!" From: Jos van Kan Q: What's yellow, linear, normed and complete? A: A Bananach space. From: dmc@sjfc.edu (Dan Cass) Q: What's polite and works for the phone company? A: A deferential operator. M__________________________________________________________________________ Q: What's the title of this picture ? .. .. ____ .. .. \\===/======\\== || | | || || |____| || || ( ) || || \____/ || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || (\ || || ) ) || || //||\\ || A: Hypotenuse M__________________________________________________________________________ Los Angeles High School Math Exam 1. Johnny has an AK47 with a 40 round clip. If he misses 6 out of 10 shots and shoots 15 times each drive by, how many drive by shootings must he conduct before he shoots 50 people? 2. Paul has 2 ounces of cocaine and he sells 10 grams to Jackson for $820, and 2 grams to Billy for $85 per gram. What is the street value of the balance of the cocaine if he doesn't cut it? 3. Willie gets $200 for stealing a BMW, $50 for a Chevy and $100 for a 4x4. If he has stolen two BMWs and three 4x4s, how many Chevys will he have to steal to make $800? 4. If the contents of an average can of spray paint covers 22 square feet and the average letter is eight square feet, how many letters can a teenager spray with eight cans of paint? 5. Hector got six girls in his gang pregnant. There are 27 girls in the gang. What percentage of girls in the gang has Hector knocked up? 6. Kathy gets $125 for sneaking an illegal alien across the border from Mexico. She sneaked three illegals over the border every night for six days but then one of them ripped her off for $500. How much money does she have left? 7. Byron can trade $150 worth of food stamps for two tickets to a Lakers regular season game. If a play-off game costs 20 percent more, how many play-off tickets can he get for $500 in food stamps? From: jdmcmine@coop2.b11.ingr.com (Jeff) Answers to City of Los Angeles High School Math Proficiency Exam 1. Johnny has an AK47 with a 40 round clip. If he misses 6 out of 10 shots and shoots 15 times each drive by, how many drive by shootings must he conduct before he shoots 50 people? Johnny hits 15*(4/10) people per drive by, which means that he will have to participate in 9 drive bys to shoot 50 people. However, he will have completed two drive-by shootings and be just starting the third when he has to reload. Since he only stole a single clip, he'll only have shot 16 people when the homeboys with the UZIs' make Swiss cheese out of him. 2. Pony has 2 ounces of cocaine and he sells an 8 ball to Jackson for $320 and 2 grams to Billy for $85 per gram. What is the street value of the balance of the cocaine if he doesn't cut it? At 454 grams per pound, 2oz of the rock = 56.75 grams. An "8 ball" is 8 grams, so pony has sold 10 grams total and has 46.75 grams left. If he keeps selling 8-balls, he can sell 5 more (for a total of 5*$320=$1,600) and have 6.75 grams for his own nose. If he sells 2 gram packs, he can sell (46/2-23) packs at $85 apiece = (23*$85)=$1,955. However, he could divide it into small parts, bake it up into crack and sell the rocks for an even larger profit. This problem is really more suited for the Gang Multi-Variable Economics Test. 3. Ron is pimping for 3 girls. If the price is $65 for each trick, how many tricks will each have to turn so Ron can pay for his $800 per day crack habit. 800/$64=12 tricks plus a dance. Also, Ron should consider making a deal with Pony from Question #2. 4. Susan wants to cut her 1/2 pound of heroin to make 20% more profit. How many ounces of cut will she need? If she sells the cut heroin at the same price per unit volume, she will need 20% more volume. 20% of 1/2 pound (=8oz) is 1.6oz. So, Susan will need 1.6oz of cut to add to the 8 oz of heroin to get 20% more volume. She will want a cut which looks similar to raw heroin and has approximately the same melting point. Plain sugar or laundry detergent are suggested. Laundry detergent has the added benefit of removing the possibility of customer complaints, but will sharply limit repeat business. 5. Blade gets $200 for stealing a BMW, $50 for a Chevy, and $100 for a 4x4. If he has already stolen 2BMW's and 3 4x4's, how many Chevy's will he have to steal to make $800? Blade has made 2*$200 + 3*$100=$700 dollars from his theft so far. He needs $100 more, so he needs to steal $100/$50=2 more Chevy's. However, he will probably want to steal 4 Chevy's so he can take the extra two and make a really def low-rider. 6. Little Willy is in prison for 6 years for murder. He got $25,000 for the hit. If his common law wife is spending $250 per month, how much money will be left when he gets out of prison and how many years will he get for killing the bitch that spent his money? 6 years*12 months/year*$250/month=$18,000. Little Willy will have $25,000 - $18,000 = $7,000 left when he gets out of prison. If Little Willy kills her in the USA, he should expect to get 6 years. However, if he takes her down to Mexico and buries her scrawny, track-marked butt in the desert, he can get off scott free. 7. If the average can of spray paint covers 22 square feet, and the average letter is 4 square feet, how many letters can a tagger spray with 3 cans of paint? 3 cans of paint will cover 3*22=66 square feet. 66/4=16 letters with a little paint left over to spray in the eyes of the cop who's comin' after you. Or the tagger could do 15 letters and a bitchin' skull. 8. Hector knocked up 6 girls in his gang. There are 27 girls in the gang. What percentage of the girls in the gang has Hector knocked up? 6/27=22% of the girls. However, 2 of them are lying because they've been sleeping with Pedro, Hector's lieutenant. So, in actuality, Hector only knocked up 4/27 or 14.8%. 9. Rosie's sole source of income is shoplifting. If she gets 10 cents on the dollar from her fence, how much merchandise must she shoplift each week to make $250. Solve X/10=250 for X, X=$2,500. 10. Mike carjacked a Chevy Camaro for his date Saturday night with his young 14 year old girlfriend. He was arrested that night while making his girlfriend in the backseat. How much prison time is he looking for for the carjacking and for statutory rape, even though the girl looked legal? Assume no prior convictions in arriving at your answer. Mike is only 12 so he will serve no time and will be making his girlfriend in the lot in someone else's car next Saturday. M__________________________________________________________________________ Why did the calculus student have so much trouble making Kool-Aid? Because he couldn't figure out how to get a quart of water into the little package. M__________________________________________________________________________ A somewhat advanced society has figured how to package basic knowledge in pill form. A student, needing some learning, goes to the pharmacy and asks what kind of knowledge pills are available. The pharmacist says "Here's a pill for English literature." The student takes the pill and swallows it and has new knowledge about English literature! "What else do you have?" asks the student. "Well, I have pills for art history, biology, and world history," replies the pharmacist. The student asks for these, and swallows them and has new knowledge about those subjects. Then the student asks, "Do you have a pill for math?" The pharmacist says "Wait just a moment", and goes back into the storeroom and brings back a whopper of a pill and plunks it on the counter. "I have to take that huge pill for math?" inquires the student. The pharmacist replied "Well, you know math always was a little hard to swallow." M__________________________________________________________________________ From: a94petbe@ida.his.se (Peter Bengtsson) In modern mathematics, algebra has become so important that numbers will soon only have symbolic meaning. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: sm@wf-hh.sh.sub.de (Stefan Mohr) The shortest mathematic joke: BEGIN -->"Epsilon less than zero"<-- END M__________________________________________________________________________ The law of the excluded middle either rules or does not rule, O.K.? M__________________________________________________________________________ Is the square root of ab absurd? M__________________________________________________________________________ Algebra is x-sighting. Vectors can be 'arrowing. I'm partial to fractions. I like angles ... to a degree. I could go on and on about sequences. Translations are shifty. Complex numbers are unreal. I feel positive about integers. On average, people are mean. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: c1prasad@watson.ibm.com (prasad) Klein bottle for rent -- inquire within. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: jusinkko@mail.freenet.hut.fi (jukka sinkko) In the topologic hell the beer is packed in Klein's bottles. M__________________________________________________________________________ Why did the chicken cross the road? Pierre de Fermat: I just don't have room here to give the full explanation. M__________________________________________________________________________ From:mstueben@pen.k12.va.us (Michael A. Stueben) Puns on Theorems The Royal Chain Mail Factory had received a large order for battle uniforms. Each uniform consisted of a toga and a pair of short pants. Their only problem was how long to make the pants: too short and a soldier could be exposed; too long and a uniform would be excessively heavy. So they called in a mathematician. He had a uniform made and tested. The hem on the pants proved to be too short, so he increased it a little bit, then a little more, and then a little bit more, and so on until finally he was able to derive an exact trousers-length depending on the leg-length of the soldier. The chief tailor was curious. "How did you determine this ratio?" he asked? "Easy," said the mathematician. "I just used the Wire-trousers Hem Test of Uniform Convergence." This is a pun on the "Weierstrauss M-test of uniform convergence," where M[k] is a convergent series of positive real numbers. (It was sent to me by Andrius Tamulis.) I wonder why M and not, say, N (numeric) or S (sum). M stands for . . .? From: bdillon@admin.aurora.edu (Bob Dillon) The following is from the January 23, 1995 issue of Chemical and Engineering News. Story Problems Portray Gains in Teaching Math M__________________________________________________________________________ A commentary on the teaching of mathematics, sent in by James Jackson of Carlisle, Ind., appeared in "Echoes" (winter 1994), published by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Ind. "Echoes" took it from the 1993-94 issue of "21st Century" (not otherwide identified). The commentary takes the form of a series of story problems: In 1960: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is four-fifths of this price. What is his profit? In 1970: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is four-fifths of this price, or $80. What is his profit? In 1970 (new math): A logger exchanges a set L of lumber for a set M of money. The cardinalitiy of set M is 100, and each element is worth $1.00. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set M. The set C of the costs of production contains 20 fewer points than set M. Represent the set C as a subset of M, and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set P of points? In 1980: A logger sells a truckload of wood for $100. His cost of production is $80, and his profit is $20. Your assignment: underline the number 20. In 1990 (outcome-based education): By cutting down beautiful forest trees, a logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? (Topic for class participation: How did the forest birds and squirrels feel?) M__________________________________________________________________________ From: joeshmoe@world.std.com (Jascha Franklin-Hodge) (List of Taglines) Math is the language God used to write the universe. M__________________________________________________________________________ If God is perfect, why did He create discontinuous functions? M__________________________________________________________________________ From: mstueben@pen.k12.va.us (Michael A. Stueben) THIRTEEN MISUNDERSTANDINGS IN THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS In the interest of historical accuracy let it be known that ... 1) Fibonacci's daughter was not named "Bunny." 2) Michael Rolle was not Danish, and did not call his daughter "Tootsie." 3) William Horner was not called "Little-Jack" by his friends. 4) The "G" in G. Peano does not stand for "grand." 5) Rene Descartes' middle name is not "push." 6) Isaac Barrow's middle name is not "wheel." 7) There is no such place as the University of Wis-cosine, and if there was, the motto of their mathematics department would not be "Secant ye shall find." 8) Although Euler is pronounced oil-er, it does not follow that Euclid is pronounced oi-clid. 9) Franklin D. Roosevelt never said "The only thing we have to sphere is sphere itself." 10) Fibonacci is not a shortened form of the Italian name that is actually spelled: F i bb ooo nnnnn aaaaaaaa ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. 11) It is true that August Mobius was a difficult and opinionated man. But he was not so rigid that he could only see one side to every question. 12) It is true that Johannes Kepler had an uphill struggle in explaining his theory of elliptical orbits to the other astronomers of his time. And it is also true that his first attempt was a failure. But it is not true that after his lecture the first three questions he was asked were "What is elliptical?" What is an orbit?" and "What is a planet? 13) It is true that primitive societies use only rough approximations for the known constants of mathematics. For example, the northern tribes of Alaska consider the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle to be 3. But it is not true that the value of 3 is called Eskimo pi. Incidentally, the survival of these tribes is dependent upon government assistance, which is not always forthcoming. For example, the Canadian firm of Tait and Sons sold a stock of defective compasses to the government at half-price, and the government passed them onto the northern natives. Hence the saying among these peoples: "He who has a Tait's is lost." M__________________________________________________________________________ The History of 2 + 2 = 5 by Houston Euler "First and above all he was a logician. At least thirty-five years of the half-century or so of his existence had been devoted exclusively to proving that two and two always equal four, except in unusual cases, where they equal three or five, as the case may be." -- Jacques Futrelle, "The Problem of Cell 13" Most mathematicians are familiar with -- or have at least seen references in the literature to -- the equation 2 + 2 = 4. However, the less well known equation 2 + 2 = 5 also has a rich, complex history behind it. Like any other complex quantitiy, this history has a real part and an imaginary part; we shall deal exclusively with the latter here. Many cultures, in their early mathematical development, discovered the equation 2 + 2 = 5. For example, consider the Bolb tribe, descended from the Incas of South America. The Bolbs counted by tying knots in ropes. They quickly realized that when a 2-knot rope is put together with another 2-knot rope, a 5-knot rope results. Recent findings indicate that the Pythagorean Brotherhood discovered a proof that 2 + 2 = 5, but the proof never got written up. Contrary to what one might expect, the proof's nonappearance was not caused by a cover-up such as the Pythagoreans attempted with the irrationality of the square root of two. Rather, they simply could not pay for the necessary scribe service. They had lost their grant money due to the protests of an oxen-rights activist who objected to the Brotherhood's method of celebrating the discovery of theorems. Thus it was that only the equation 2 + 2 = 4 was used in Euclid's "Elements," and nothing more was heard of 2 + 2 = 5 for several centuries. Around A.D. 1200 Leonardo of Pisa (Fibonacci) discovered that a few weeks after putting 2 male rabbits plus 2 female rabbits in the same cage, he ended up with considerably more than 4 rabbits. Fearing that too strong a challenge to the value 4 given in Euclid would meet with opposition, Leonardo conservatively stated, "2 + 2 is more like 5 than 4." Even this cautious rendition of his data was roundly condemned and earned Leonardo the nickname "Blockhead." By the way, his practice of underestimating the number of rabbits persisted; his celebrated model of rabbit populations had each birth consisting of only two babies, a gross underestimate if ever there was one. Some 400 years later, the thread was picked up once more, this time by the French mathematicians. Descartes announced, "I think 2 + 2 = 5; therefore it does." However, others objected that his argument was somewhat less than totally rigorous. Apparently, Fermat had a more rigorous proof which was to appear as part of a book, but it and other material were cut by the editor so that the book could be printed with wider margins. Between the fact that no definitive proof of 2 + 2 = 5 was available and the excitement of the development of calculus, by 1700 mathematicians had again lost interest in the equation. In fact, the only known 18th-century reference to 2 + 2 = 5 is due to the philosopher Bishop Berkeley who, upon discovering it in an old manuscript, wryly commented, "Well, now I know where all the departed quantities went to -- the right-hand side of this equation." That witticism so impressed California intellectuals that they named a university town after him. But in the early to middle 1800's, 2 + 2 began to take on great significance. Riemann developed an arithmetic in which 2 + 2 = 5, paralleling the Euclidean 2 + 2 = 4 arithmetic. Moreover, during this period Gauss produced an arithmetic in which 2 + 2 = 3. Naturally, there ensued decades of great confusion as to the actual value of 2 + 2. Because of changing opinions on this topic, Kempe's proof in 1880 of the 4-color theorem was deemed 11 years later to yield, instead, the 5-color theorem. Dedekind entered the debate with an article entitled "Was ist und was soll 2 + 2?" Frege thought he had settled the question while preparing a condensed version of his "Begriffsschrift." This condensation, entitled "Die Kleine Begriffsschrift (The Short Schrift)," contained what he considered to be a definitive proof of 2 + 2 = 5. But then Frege received a letter from Bertrand Russell, reminding him that in "Grundbeefen der Mathematik" Frege had proved that 2 + 2 = 4. This contradiction so discouraged Frege that he abandoned mathematics altogether and went into university administration. Faced with this profound and bewildering foundational question of the value of 2 + 2, mathematicians followed the reasonable course of action: they just ignored the whole thing. And so everyone reverted to 2 + 2 = 4 with nothing being done with its rival equation during the 20th century. There had been rumors that Bourbaki was planning to devote a volume to 2 + 2 = 5 (the first forty pages taken up by the symbolic expression for the number five), but those rumor remained unconfirmed. Recently, though, there have been reported computer-assisted proofs that 2 + 2 = 5, typically involving computers belonging to utility companies. Perhaps the 21st century will see yet another revival of this historic equation. M__________________________________________________________________________ THE STORY OF BABEL: In the beginning there was only one kind of Mathematician, created by the Great Mathematical Spirit form the Book: the Topologist. And they grew to large numbers and prospered. One day they looked up in the heavens and desired to reach up as far as the eye could see. So they set out in building a Mathematical edifice that was to reach up as far as "up" went. Further and further up they went ... until one night the edifice collapsed under the weight of paradox. The following morning saw only rubble where there once was a huge structure reaching to the heavens. One by one, the Mathematicians climbed out from under the rubble. It was a miracle that nobody was killed; but when they began to speak to one another, SUPRISE of all surprises! they could not understand each other. They all spoke different languages. They all fought amongst themselves and each went about their own way. To this day the Topologists remain the original Mathematicians. - adapted from an American Indian legend of the Mound Of Babel *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: kfoster@rainbow.rmii.com (Kurt Foster) First mathemetician: I know this is a group, but it's hard to study. Second mathematician: Well, I can prove it's commutative. First mathematician: Thanks abelian! *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: rrcraig@eos.ncsu.edu (Ralph Ray Craig) Q: How many numerical analysts does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: 0.9973 after the first three iterations. *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: immortal@wam.umd.edu (Immortal = Justin Wyss-Gallifent) Q: Why can't you grow wheat in Z/6Z ? A: Because it's not a field. *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: kovarik@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca (Zdislav V. Kovarik) A retired mathematician took up gardening, and is now growing carrots with square roots. *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: kovarik@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca (Zdislav V. Kovarik) (From a cartoon by J. Effel): In the Garden of Eden, God is giving Adam a geometry lesson: "Two parallel lines intersect at infinity. It can't be proved but I've been there." *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: wft@math.canterbury.ac.nz (Bill Taylor) Some say the pope is the greatest cardinal. But others insist this cannot be so, as every pope has a successor. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -- Joachim Verhagen Email:J.C.D.Verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Department of molecular biofysics, University of Utrecht Utrecht, The Netherlands. From verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Wed Apr 26 07:50:06 1995 Newsgroups: rec.humor,sci.math,sci.physics,sci.chem Path: ronneby.hk-r.se!news.lu.se!news.lth.se!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.kth.se!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!sun4nl!cs.ruu.nl!tijger.fys.ruu.nl!verhagen From: verhagen@fys.ruu.nl (Joachim Verhagen) Subject: science jokes (3/8) X-Nntp-Posting-Host: ruunat.fys.ruu.nl Message-ID: Sender: usenet@fys.ruu.nl (News system Tijgertje) Organization: Physics and Astronomy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #3 (NOV) Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 13:36:42 GMT Lines: 1224 Xref: ronneby.hk-r.se rec.humor:105745 sci.math:72227 sci.physics:84742 sci.chem:30272 =2.1 PROOFS PROOFS THAT P (attributed to Hartry Field) Davidson's proof that p: Let us make the following bold conjecture: p Wallace's proof that p: Davidson has made the following bold conjecture: p Grunbaum: As I have asserted again and again in previous publications, p. Morgenbesser: If not p, what? q maybe? Putnam: Some philosophers have argued that not-p, on the grounds that q. It would be an interesting exercise to count all the fallacies in this "argument". (It's really awful, isn't it?) Therefore p. Rawls: It would be a nice to have a deductive argument that p from self-evident premises. Unfortunately, I am unable to provide one. So I will have to rest content with the following intuitive considerations in its support: p. Unger: Suppose it were the case that not-p. It would follow from this that someone knows that q. But on my view, no one knows anything whatsoever. Therefore p. (Unger beieves that the louder you say this argument the more persuasive it becomes.) Katz: I have seventeen arguments for the claim that p, and I know of only four for the claim that not-p. Therefore p. Lewis: Most people find the claim that not p completely obvious and when I assert p they give me an incredulous stare. But the fact that they find not-p obvious is no argument that it is true; and I do not know how to refute an incredulous stare. Therefore p. Fodor: My argument for p is based on three premises: (1) q (2) r and (3) p >From these, the claim that p deductively follows. Some people may find the third premise controversial, but it is clear that if we replaced that premise by any other reasonable premise, the argument would go through just as well. Sellars's proof that p: Unfortunately, limitations of space prevent it from being included here, but important parts of the proof can be found in each of the articles in the attached bibliography. Earman: There are solutions to the field equations of general relativity in which space-time has the structure of a four-dimensional klein bottle and in which there is no matter. In each such space-time, the claim that not-p is false. Therefore p. Kripke: OUTLINE OF A "PROOF" THAT P [footnote] Saul Kripke Some philosophers have argued that not-p. But none of them seems to me to have made a convincing argument against the intuitive view that this is not the case. Therefore, p. [footnote]. This outline was prepared hastily--at the editor's insistence---from a taped transcript of a lecture. Since I was not even given the opportunity to revise the first draft before publication, I cannot be held responsible for any lacunae in the (published version of the) argument, or for any fallacious or garbled inferences resulting from faulty preparation of the typescript. Also, the argument now seems to me to have problems which I did not know when I wrote it, but which I can't discuss here, and which are completely unrelated to any criticisms that have appeared in the literature (or that I have seen in manuscript); all such criticisms misconstrue the argument. It will be noted that the present version of the argument seems to presuppose the (intuitionistically unacceptable) law of double negation. But the argument can easily be reformulated in a way that avoids employing such an inference rule. I hope to expand on these matters further in a separate monograph. Routley and Meyer: If (q & not-q) is true, then there is a model for p. Therefore p. M__________________________________________________________________________ Theorem : All positive integers are equal. Proof : Sufficient to show that for any two positive integers, A and B, A = B. Further, it is sufficient to show that for all N > 0, if A and B (positive integers) satisfy (MAX(A, B) = N) then A = B. Proceed by induction. If N = 1, then A and B, being positive integers, must both be 1. So A = B. Assume that the theorem is true for some value k. Take A and B with MAX(A, B) = k+1. Then MAX((A-1), (B-1)) = k. And hence (A-1) = (B-1). Consequently, A = B. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Benjamin.J.Tilly@dartmouth.edu (Benjamin J. Tilly) Theorem : All numbers are equal to zero. Proof: Suppose that a=b. Then a = b a^2 = ab a^2 - b^2 = ab - b^2 (a + b)(a - b) = b(a - b) a + b = b a = 0 M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Michael_Ketzlick@h2.maus.de (Michael Ketzlick) Theorem : 3=4 Proof: Suppose: a + b = c This can also be written as: 4a - 3a + 4b - 3b = 4c - 3c After reorganising: 4a + 4b - 4c = 3a + 3b - 3c Take the constants out of the brackets: 4 * (a+b-c) = 3 * (a+b-c) Remove the same term left and right: 4 = 3 M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Benjamin.J.Tilly@dartmouth.edu (Benjamin J. Tilly) Theorem: 1$ = 1c. Proof: And another that gives you a sense of money disappearing... 1$ = 100c = (10c)^2 = (0.1$)^2 = 0.01$ = 1c Here $ means dollars and c means cents. This one is scary in that I have seen PhD's in math who were unable to see what was wrong with this one. Actually I am crossposting this to sci.physics because I think that the latter makes a very nice introduction to the importance of keeping track of your dimensions... M__________________________________________________________________________ From: clubok@physics11 (Kenneth S. Clubok) Theorem: 1 = -1 . Proof: 1 -1 -- = -- -1 1 1 -1 sqrt[ -- ] = sqrt[ -- ] -1 1 sqrt[1] sqrt[-1] ------- = ------- sqrt[-1] sqrt[1] 1=-1 (by cross-multiplication) And here's my personal favorite: Use integration by parts to find the anti-derivative of 1/x. One can get the amusing result that 0=1. (Until you realize you have to put in the limits.) M__________________________________________________________________________ From: jreimer@aol.com (JReimer) Theorem: 1 = -1 Proof: 1 = sqrt(1) = sqrt(-1 * -1) = sqrt(-1) * sqrt(-1) = 1^ = -1 Also one can disprove the axiom that things equal to the same thing are equal to each other. 1 = sqrt(1) -1 = sqrt(1) therefore 1 = -1 M__________________________________________________________________________ From: kdq@marsupial.jpl.nasa.gov (Kevin D. Quitt) Theorem: 4 = 5 Proof: 16 - 36 = 25 - 45 4^2 - 9*4 = 5^2 - 9*5 4^2 - 9*4 + 81/4 = 5^2 - 9*5 + 81/4 (4 - 9/2)^2 = (5 - 9/2)^2 4 - 9/2 = 5 - 9/2 4 = 5 M__________________________________________________________________________ baez@guitar.ucr.edu (john baez) writes: Theorem: 1 + 1 = 2 Proof: n(2n - 2) = n(2n - 2) n(2n - 2) - n(2n - 2) = 0 (n - n)(2n - 2) = 0 2n(n - n) - 2(n - n) = 0 2n - 2 = 0 2n = 2 n + n = 2 or setting n = 1 1 + 1 = 2 M__________________________________________________________________________ From: magidin@uclink.berkeley.edu (Arturo Viso Magidin) Theorem: In any finite set of women, if one has blue eyes then they all have blue eyes. Proof. Induction on the number of elements. if n= or n=1 it is immediate. Assume it is true for k Consider a group with k+1 women, and without loss of generality assume the first one has blue eyes. I will represent one with blue eyes with a '*' and one with unknown eye color as @. You have the set of women: {*,@,...,@} with k+1 elements. Consider the subset made up of the first k. This subset is a set of k women, of which one has blue eyes. By the induction hypothesis, all of them have blue eyes. We have then: {*,...,*,@}, with k+1 elements. Now consider the subset of the last k women. This is a set of k women, of which one has blue eyes (the next-to-last element of the set), hence they all have blue eyes, in particular the k+1-th woman has blue eyes. Hence all k+1 women have blue eyes. By induction, it follows that in any finite set of women, if one has blue eyes they all have blue eyes. QED M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Zorro Theorem: All positive integers are interesting. Proof: Assume the contrary. Then there is a lowest non-interesting positive integer. But, hey, that's pretty interesting! A contradiction. QED I heard this one from G. B. Thomas, but I don't know whether it is due to him. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: daniel@hagar.ph.utexas.edu (James Daniel) Aren't multi-valued functions fun? Once you realize what's going on, though, you can make them into silly proofs pretty much without thinking. Here's one I just made up: Object: to prove that i < 0 ( that is, sqrt(-1) < 0 ) Well, ( .5 + sqrt(3/4)*i )^3 = (-1)^3 (most would assert this to be a false statement -- mostly cuz they'll get the math wrong. It's a true statement. It's the next statement that is false.) which means that .5 + sqrt(3/4)*i = -1 So then 1 + sqrt(3)*i = -2 sqrt(3)*i = -1 i = -1/sqrt(3) Therefore i is a negative number. QED. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: julison@cco.caltech.edu (Julian C. Jamison) Theorem: All numbers are equal. Proof: Choose arbitrary a and b, and let t = a + b. Then a + b = t (a + b)(a - b) = t(a - b) a^2 - b^2 = ta - tb a^2 - ta = b^2 - tb a^2 - ta + (t^2)/4 = b^2 - tb + (t^2)/4 (a - t/2)^2 = (b - t/2)^2 a - t/2 = b - t/2 a = b So all numbers are the same, and math is pointless. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: pfc@math.ufl.edu (P. Fritz Cronheim) This one is from Jerry King's _Art of Mathematics_ 16/64=1/4 by cancelling the 6's. Here the result is true, but the method is not. Do the ends justify the means? :)_ M__________________________________________________________________________ Methods of Mathematical Proof This is from _A Random Walk in Science_ (by Joel E. Cohen?): To illustrate the various methods of proof we give an example of a logical system. THE PEJORATIVE CALCULUS Lemma 1. All horses are the same colour. (Proof by induction) Proof. It is obvious that one horse is the same colour. Let us assume the proposition P(k) that k horses are the same colour and use this to imply that k+1 horses are the same colour. Given the set of k+1 horses, we remove one horse; then the remaining k horses are the same colour, by hypothesis. We remove another horse and replace the first; the k horses, by hypothesis, are again the same colour. We repeat this until by exhaustion the k+1 sets of k horses have been shown to be the same colour. It follows that since every horse is the same colour as every other horse, P(k) entails P(k+1). But since we have shown P(1) to be true, P is true for all succeeding values of k, that is, all horses are the same colour. Theorem 1. Every horse has an infinite number of legs. (Proof by intimidation.) Proof. Horses have an even number of legs. Behind they have two legs and in front they have fore legs. This makes six legs, which is cer- tainly an odd number of legs for a horse. But the only number that is both odd and even is infinity. Therefore horses have an infinite num- ber of legs. Now to show that this is general, suppose that somewhere there is a horse with a finite number of legs. But that is a horse of another colour, and by the lemma that does not exist. Corollary 1. Everything is the same colour. Proof. The proof of lemma 1 does not depend at all on the nature of the object under consideration. The predicate of the antecedent of the uni- versally-quantified conditional 'For all x, if x is a horse, then x is the same colour,' namely 'is a horse' may be generalized to 'is anything' without affecting the validity of the proof; hence, 'for all x, if x is anything, x is the same colour.' Corollary 2. Everything is white. Proof. If a sentential formula in x is logically true, then any parti- cular substitution instance of it is a true sentence. In particular then: 'for all x, if x is an elephant, then x is the same colour' is true. Now it is manifestly axiomatic that white elephants exist (for proof by blatant assertion consult Mark Twain 'The Stolen White Ele- phant'). Therefore all elephants are white. By corollary 1 everything is white. Theorem 2. Alexander the Great did not exist and he had an infinite number of limbs. Proof. We prove this theorem in two parts. First we note the obvious fact that historians always tell the truth (for historians always take a stand, and therefore they cannot lie). Hence we have the historically true sentence, 'If Alexander the Great existed, then he rode a black horse Bucephalus.' But we know by corollary 2 everything is white; hence Alexander could not have ridden a black horse. Since the conse- quent of the conditional is false, in order for the whole statement to be true the antecedent must be false. Hence Alexander the Great did not exist. We have also the historically true statement that Alexander was warned by an oracle that he would meet death if he crossed a certain river. He had two legs; and 'forewarned is four-armed.' This gives him six limbs, an even number, which is certainly an odd number of limbs for a man. Now the only number which is even and odd is infinity; hence Alexander had an infinite number of limbs. We have thus proved that Alexander the Great did not exist and that he had an infinite number of limbs. M__________________________________________________________________________ Theorem: a cat has nine tails. Proof: No cat has eight tails. A cat has one tail more than no cat. Therefore, a cat has nine tails. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: rmaimon@husc9.Harvard.EDU (Ron Maimon) Theorem: All dogs have nine legs. Proof: would you agree that no dog has five legs? would you agree that _a_ dog has four legs more then _no_ dog? 4 + 5 = ? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =2.2 STATISTICS AND STATISTICANS M__________________________________________________________________________ Did you hear the one about the statistician? Probably.... M__________________________________________________________________________ Statistics means never having to say you're certain. [With apologies to Erich Segal] M__________________________________________________________________________ In earlier times, they had no statistics, and so they had to fall back on lies. - STEPHEN LEACOCK M__________________________________________________________________________ "The group was alarmed to find that if you are a labourer, cleaner or dock worker, you are twice as likely to die than a member of the professional classes" [The Sunday Times 31st August 1980] M__________________________________________________________________________ From: ph2008@mail.bris.ac.uk (CJ. Bradfield) Statistics is the art of never having to say you're wrong. Variance is what any two staticticians are at. (Not that I particularly dislike statisticians... I hate all mathematicians!!) [sorry mum!] M__________________________________________________________________________ 97.3% of all statistics are made up. M__________________________________________________________________________ it's like the tale of the roadside merchant who was asked to explain how he could sell rabbit sandwiches so cheap. "Well" he explained, "I have to put some horse-meat in too. But I mix them 50:50. One horse, one rabbit." [DARREL HUFF, How to lie with statistics] M__________________________________________________________________________ Are statisticians normal? M__________________________________________________________________________ From: joeshmoe@world.std.com (Jascha Franklin-Hodge) (List of Taglines) Smoking is a leading cause of statistics. I could prove God statistically. 43% of all statistics are worthless. "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." -Mark Twain 3 out of 4 Americans make up 75% of the population. Death is 99 per cent fatal to laboratory rats. M__________________________________________________________________________ Did you know that the great majority of people have more than the average number of legs? [It's obvious really; amongst the 57 million people in Britain there are probably 5,000 people who have only got one leg. Therefore the average number of legs is (5000 * 1) + (56,995,000 * 2) ---------------------------------- = 1.9999123...... 57,000,000 Since most people have 2 legs....... ] M__________________________________________________________________________ A statistician is a person who draws a mathematically precise line from an unwarranted asumption to a foregone conclusion. M__________________________________________________________________________ A statistician can have his head in an oven and his feet in ice, and he will say that on the average he feels fine. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Chris Morton (mortoncp@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu) do it collection Statisticians do it continuously but discretely. Statisticians do it when it counts. Statisticians do it with 95% confidence. Statisticians do it with large numbers. Statisticians do it with only a 5% chance of being rejected. Statisticians do it with two-tail T tests. Statisticians do it. After all, it's only normal. Statisticians probably do it. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: Mathematics Magazine, December 1990. Subject: Statisticians ( Excerpted from "Quotes, Damned Quotes" by John Bibby ) If there is a 50-50 chance that something can go wrong, then 9 times out of ten it will. (Paul Harvey News, 1979) ``Give us a copper Guv'' said the beggar to the Treasury statistician, when he waylaid him in Parliament square. ``I haven't eaten for three days.'' ``Ah,'' said the statistician, ``and how does that compare with the same period last year?'' (Russell Lewis) ``I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic.'' (Winston Churchill) ``You haven't told me yet,'' said Lady Nuttal, ``what it is your fiance does for a living.'' ``He's a statistician,'' replied Lamia, with an annoying sense of being on the defensive. Lady Nuttal was obviously taken aback. It had not occurred to her that statisticians entered into normal social relationships. The species, she would have surmised, was perpetuated in some collateral manner, like mules. ``But Aunt Sara, it's a very interesting profession,'' said Lamia warmly. ``I don't doubt it,'' said her aunt, who obviously doubted it very much. ``To express anything important in mere figures is so plainly impossible that there must be endless scope for well-paid advice on the how to do it. But don't you think that life with a statistician would be rather, shall we say, humdrum?'' Lamia was silent. She felt reluctant to discuss the surprising depth of emotional possibility which she had discovered below Edward's numerical veneer. ``It's not the figures themselves,'' she said finally. ``It's what you do with them that matters.'' (K.A.C. Manderville, The undoing of Lamia Gurdleneck) M__________________________________________________________________________ People who do very unusual jobs: the man who counts then number of people at public gatherings. You've probably seen his headlines, "Two million flock to see Pope.", "200 arrested as police find ounce of cannabis.", "Britain #3 billion in debt". You probably wondered who was responsible for producing such well rounded-up figures. What you didn't know was that it was all the work of one man, Rounder-Up to the media, John Wheeler. But how is he able to go on turning out such spot-on statistics? How can he be so accurate all the time? "We can't" admits Wheeler blithely. "Frankly, after the first million we stop counting, and round it up to the next million. I don't know if you've ever counted a papal flock, but, not only do they look a bit the same, they also don't keep still, what with all the bowing and crossing themselves." "The only way you could do it accurately is by taking an aerial photograph of the crowd and handing it to the computer to work out. But then you'd get a headline saying "1,678,163 [sic] flock to see Pope, not including 35,467 who couldn't see him", and, believe me, nobody wants that sort of headline." The art of big figures, avers Wheeler, lies in psychology, not statistics. The public like a figure it can admire. It likes millionaires, and million-sellers, and centuries at cricket, so Wheeler's international agency gives them the figures it wants, which involves not only rounding up but rounding down. "In the old days people used to deal with crowds on the Isle of Wight principle -- you know, they'd say that every day the population of the world increased by the number of people who could stand upright on the Isle of Wight, or the rain-forests were being decreased by an area the size of Rutland. This meant nothing. Most people had never been to the Isle of Wight for a start, and even if they had, they only had a vision of lots of Chinese standing in the grounds of the Cowes Yacht Club. And the Rutland comparison was so useless that they were driven to abolish Rutland to get rid of it. "No, what people want is a few good millions. A hundred million, if possible. One of our inventions was street value, for instance. In the old days they used to say that police had discovered drugs in a quantity large enough to get all of Rutland stoned for a fortnight. *We* started saying that the drugs had a street value of #10 million. Absolutely meaningless, but people understand it better." Sometimes they do get the figures spot on. "250,000 flock to see Royal two", was one of his recent headlines, and although the 250,000 was a rounded-up figure, the two was quite correct. in his palatial office he sits surrounded by relics of past headlines - a million-year-old fossil, a #500,000 Manet, a photograph of the Sultan of Brunei's #10,000,000 house - but pride of place goes to a pair of shoes framed on the wall. "Why the shoes? Because they cost me #39.99. They serve as a reminder of mankind's other great urge, to have stupid odd figures. Strange, isn't it? They want mass demos of exactly half a million, but they also want their gramophone records to go round at thirty-three-and-a-third, forty-five and seventy-eight rpm. We have stayed in business by remembering that below a certain level people want oddity. They don't a rocket costing #299 million and 99p, and they don't want a radio costing exactly #50." How does he explain the times when the figures clash - when, for example, the organisers of a demo claim 250,000 but the police put it nearer 100,000? "We provide both sets of figures; the figures the organisers want, and the figures the police want. The public believe both. If we gave the true figure, about 167,890, nobody would believe it because it doesn't sound believable." John Wheeler's name has never become well-known, as he is a shy figure, but his firm has an annual turnover of #3 million and his eye for the right figure has made him a rich man. His greatest pleasure, however, comes from the people he meets in the counting game. "Exactly two billion, to be precise." MILES KINGTON writing in The Observer, 3 November 1986 M__________________________________________________________________________ From: goble@infonaut.com (Clark Goble) You know how dumb the average guy is? Well, by definition, half of them are even dumber than that. -- J.R. "Bob" Dobbs *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: Kirk Lindberg (kalindberg@mmm.com) Q: What is the definition of a statistician? A: Someone who doesn't have the personality to be an accountant. *M_________________________________________________________________________ Did you hear about the Statistician that couldn't get laid? He decided a simulation was good enough. *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: rogers@sasuga.Hi.COM (Andrew Rogers) "She was only the statistician's daughter, but she knew all the standard deviations." *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: en4bmhd@bs47c.staffs.ac.uk (Hendrik De Vloed) All probabilities are 50% ... either something happens, or it doesn't! From: brc2@Lehigh.EDU Correction... My doctor told me I only have a 50% chance of making it- but he said there's only a 15% of even that. *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: ahilditc@awadi.com.au & ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi) & Juhani Heino A:I'll bet that 99% of people who read the question don't! T:That's a mean thing to say. J:Yes, it was. I guess that person is too regressed. As a matter of fact, I'm 75.4 % sure about that. T:Incidentally, did you know that using non-linear regression in research is currently out of line. *M________________________________________________________________________ From: jlevine@rd.hydro.on.ca (Jody Levine) 80% of all statistics quoted to prove a point are made up on the spot. *M________________________________________________________________________ From: Sunita Saini A stats major was completely hung over the day of his final exam. It was a True/False test, so he decided to flip a coin for the answers. The stats professor watched the student the entire two hours as he was flipping the coin...writing the answer...flipping the coin...writing the answer. At the end of the two hours, everyone else had left the final except for the one student. The professor walks up to his desk and interrupts the student, saying: "Listen, I have seen that you did not study for this statistics test, you didn't even open the exam. If you are just flipping a coin for your answer, what is taking you so long? The student replies bitterly (as he is still flipping the coin): " Shhh! I am checking my answers!" ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =2.3 MATHEMATICIANS From: Hugh Robinson Okay, here's mine. I am told that it's true, but... A certain well-known pure mathematician had a wife who, while intelligent, was not into mathematics. However, by continued practice, she learnt to distinguish between the conversations of algebraists and analysts. So when he had guests to dinner who were talking about mathematics, if they were analysts, she would introduce at a suitable pause in the conversation: "But what happens at the boundary?" Whereas, if they were algebraists, she would say: "But do the roots lie in the field?" By this means she was always able to impress his visitors by her knowledge of mathematics. (No, don't write and ask for the punchline. That's all.) M__________________________________________________________________________ Three men are in a hot-air balloon. Soon, they find themselves lost in a canyon somewhere. One of the three men says, "I've got an idea. We can call for help in this canyon and the echo will carry our voices far." So he leans over the basket and yells out, "Helllloooooo! Where are we?" (They hear the echo several times.) 15 minutes later, they hear this echoing voice: "Helllloooooo! You're lost!!" One of the men says, "That must have been a mathematician." Puzzled, one of the other men asks, "Why do you say that?" The reply: "For three reasons. (1) he took a long time to answer, (2) he was absolutely correct, and (3) his answer was absolutely useless." M__________________________________________________________________________ A small, 14-seat plane is circling for a landing in Atlanta. It's totally fogged in, zero visibility, and suddenly there's a small electrical fire in the cockpit which disables all of the instruments and the radio. The pilot continues circling, totally lost, when suddenly he finds himself flying next to a tall office building. He rolls down the window (this particular airplane happens to have roll-down windows) and yells to a person inside the building, "Where are we?" The person responds "In an airplane!" The pilot then banks sharply to the right, circles twice, and makes a perfect landing at Atlanta International. As the passengers emerge, shaken but unhurt, one of them says to the pilot, "I'm certainly glad you were able to land safely, but I don't understand how the response you got was any use." "Simple," responded the pilot. "I got an answer that was completely accurate and totally irrelevant to my problem, so I knew it had to be the IBM building." M__________________________________________________________________________ Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they translate into their own language and forthwith it is something entirely different. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) M__________________________________________________________________________ Old mathematicians never die; they just lose some of their functions. From: Tim.Nelson@Canada.ATTGIS.COM (list of Old * Never Die, they just) OLD MATH TEACHERS never die, they just reduce to lowest terms OLD MATHEMATICIANS never die, they just disintegrate OLD MATHEMATICIANS never die, they just go off on a tangent OLD NUMERICAL ANALYSTS never die, they just get disarrayed OLD TRIGONOMETRY TEACHERS never die, they just lose their identities M__________________________________________________________________________ From: banghar4@studentb.msu.edu (Rick Banghart) Two math professors are in a restaurant. One argues that the average person does not know any math beyond high school. The other argues that the average person knows some more advanced math. Just then, the first one gets up to use the rest room. The second professor calls over his waitress and says, "When you bring our food, I'm going to ask you a mathematical question. I want you to answer, 'One third x cubed.' Can you do that?" The waitress says, "I don't know if I can remember that. One thurr... um..." "One third x cubed," says the prof. "One thir dex cue?," asks the waitress. "One" "One" "Third" "Third" "X" "X" "Cubed" "Cubed" "One third X cubed" "One third X cubed" The waitress leaves, and the other professor comes back. They resume their conversation until a few minutes later when the waitress brings their food. The professor says to the waitress, "Say, do you mind if I ask you something?" "Not at all" "Can you tell me what the integral of x squared dx is?" The waitress pauses, then says, "One third x cubed." As she walks away, she stops, turns, and adds, "Plus a constant!" M__________________________________________________________________________ Some famous mathematician was to give a keynote speech at a conference. Asked for an advance summary, he said he would present a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem -- but they should keep it under their hats. When he arrived, though, he spoke on a much more prosaic topic. Afterwards the conference organizers asked why he said he'd talk about the theorem and then didn't. He replied this was his standard practice, just in case he was killed on the way to the conference. M__________________________________________________________________________ How many mathematicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One, who gives it to six Californians, thereby reducing it to an earlier riddle. -- from a button I bought at Nancy Lebowitz's table at Boskone Q: How many topologists does it take to change a light bulb? A: It really doesn't matter, since they'd rather knot. From:BRIAN6@VAXC.MDX.AC.UK (who has a lightbulb collection) Q: How many mathematicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: None. It's left to the reader as an exercise. A: Just one, once you've managed to present the problem in terms he/she is familiar with. In earlier work, Wiener [1] has shown that one mathematician can change a light bulb. If k mathematicians can change a light bulb, and if one more simply watches them do it, then k+1 mathematicians will have changed the light bulb. Therefore, by induction, for all n in the positive integers, n mathematicians can change a light bulb. Bibliography: [1] Weiner, Matthew P., <11485@ucbvax>, "Re: YALBJ", 1986 Q: How many statisticians does it take to change a lightbulb ? A: This should be determined using a nonparametric procedure, since statisticians are NOT NORMAL. A: Walt Pirie to hold the bulb and one psychologist, one economist, one sociologist and one anthroplogist to pull away the ladder. A: One -- plus or minus three (small sample size). (Notes: Someone has been asking this as a bonus question on statistics exam papers for quite a while. Judging from some of his own students' exam answers, it depends on whether the lightbulb is negatively or positively screwed.) Q: How many light bulbs does it take to change a light bulb? A: One, if it knows its own Goedel number. (Could somebody please explain this one to me ! I think it's something to do with the maths/logic theories of Kurt Goedel, about it being impossible to prove things.) M__________________________________________________________________________ "A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems" -- P. Erdos M__________________________________________________________________________ Moebius always does it on the same side. Statisticians probably do it Algebraists do it in groups. (Logicians do it) or [not (logicians do it)]. From: Chris Morton (mortoncp@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu) do it collection Logicians do it consistently and completely. Mathematicians do it associatively. Mathematicians do it commutatively. Mathematicians do it constantly. Mathematicians do it continuously. Mathematicians do it discretely. Mathematicians do it exponentially. Mathematicians do it forever if they can do one and can do one more. Mathematicians do it functionally. Mathematicians do it homologically. Mathematicians do it in fields. Mathematicians do it in groups. Mathematicians do it in imaginary planes. Mathematicians do it in numbers. Mathematicians do it in theory. Mathematicians do it on smooth contours. Mathematicians do it over and under the curves. Mathematicians do it parallel and perpendicular. Mathematicians do it partially. Mathematicians do it rationally. Mathematicians do it reflexively. Mathematicians do it symmetrically. Mathematicians do it to prove themselves. Mathematicians do it to their limits. Mathematicians do it totally. Mathematicians do it transcendentally. Mathematicians do it transitively. Mathematicians do it variably. Mathematicians do it with Nobel's wife. Mathematicians do it with a Minkowski sausage. Mathematicians do it with imaginary parts. Mathematicians do it with linear pairs. Mathematicians do it with odd functions. Mathematicians do it with prime roots. Mathematicians do it with relations. Mathematicians do it with rings. Mathematicians do it with their real parts. Mathematicians do it without limit. Mathematicians do over an open unmeasurable interval. Mathematicians have to prove they did it. Set theorists do it with cardinals. M__________________________________________________________________________ A mathematician is a person who says that, when 3 people are supposed to be in a room but 5 came out, 2 have to go in so the room gets empty... M__________________________________________________________________________ My geometry teacher was sometimes acute, and sometimes obtuse, but always, he was right. MP_________________________________________________________________________ From: lyon@netcom.com (Lyman Lyon) Physics professor is walking across campus, runs into Math Professor. Physics professor has been doing an experiment, and has worked out an emphirical equation that seems to explain his data, and asks the Math professor to look at it. A week later, they meet again, and the Math professor says the equation is invalid. By then, the Physics professor has used his equation to predict the results of further experiments, and he is getting excellent results, so he askes the Math professor to look again. Another week goes by, and they meet once more. The Math professor tells the Physics professor the equation does work, "But only in the trivial case where the numbers are real and positive." M__________________________________________________________________________ From: gw@molly.informatik.Uni-Koeln.DE (Georg Wambach) What is the difference between an applied mathematician and a pure mathematician? Suppose a mathematician parks his car, locks it with his key and walks away. After walking about 50 yards the mathematician realizes that he has dropped his key somewhere along the way. What does he do? If he is an applied mathematician he walks back to the car along the path he has previously traveled looking for his key. If he is a pure mathematician he walks to the other end of the parking lot where there is better light and looks for his key there. I told this joke to my brother (he is a "pure"). He answers: "But we have not dropped our keys!" Hence, I suggest a slight modification: Suppose a _tax_payer_ parks his car, locks it with his key and walks away. After walking about 50 yards the tax payer realizes that he has dropped his key somewhere along the way. He asked a mathematician to help him. What does the mathematician do? (...) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =2.4 POETRY M__________________________________________________________________________ From: chrisman@ucdmath.ucdavis.edu (Mark Chrisman) "Aleph-0 bottles of beer on the wall, Aleph-0 bottles of beer; Take one down, pass it around, Aleph-0 bottles of beer on the wall! Aleph-0 bottles of beer on the wall..." M__________________________________________________________________________ One and one make two, But if one and one should marry, Isn't it queer- Within a year There's two and one to carry. M__________________________________________________________________________ Geometry keeps you in shape. Decimals make a point. Einstein was ahead of his time. Lobachevski was out of line. M__________________________________________________________________________ "IF" (School Maths version) =========================== If you can solve a literal equation And rationalise denominator surds, Do grouping factors (with a transformation) And state the factor theorem in words; If you can plot the graph of any function And do a long division (with gaps), Or square binomials without compunction Or work cube roos with logs without mishaps. If you possess a sound and clear-cut notion Of interest sums with P and I unknown; If you can find the speed of trains in motion, Given some lengths and "passing-times" alone; If you can play with R (both big and little) And feel at home with l (or h) and Pi, And learn by cancellation how to whittle Your fractions down till they delight the eye. If you can recognise the segment angles Both at the centre and circumference; If you can spot equivalent triangles And Friend Pythagoras (his power's immmense); If you can see that equiangularity And congruence are two things and not one, You may pick up a mark or two in charity And, what is more, you may squeeze through, my son. [Times Educational Supplement 19th July 1947] M__________________________________________________________________________ This poem was written by Jon Saxton (an author of math textbooks). ((12 + 144 + 20 + (3 * 4^(1/2))) / 7) + (5 * 11) = 9^2 + 0 Or for those who have trouble with the poem: A Dozen, a Gross and a Score, plus three times the square root of four, divided by seven, plus five times eleven, equals nine squared and not a bit more. M__________________________________________________________________________ 'Tis a favorite project of mine A new value of pi to assign. I would fix it at 3 For it's simpler, you see, Than 3 point 1 4 1 5 9. ("The Lure of the Limerick" by W.S. Baring-Gould, p.5. Attributed to Harvey L. Carter). M__________________________________________________________________________ If inside a circle a line Hits the center and goes spine to spine And the line's length is "d" the circumference will be d times 3.14159 M__________________________________________________________________________ If (1+x) (real close to 1) Is raised to the power of 1 Over x, you will find Here's the value defined: 2.718281... M__________________________________________________________________________ Here's a limerick I picked up off the net a few years back - looks better on paper. 3_ \/3 / | 2 3 X pi 3_ | z dz X cos(--------) = ln (\/e ) | 9 / 1 Which, of course, translates to: Integral z-squared dz >from 1 to the cube root of 3 times the cosine of three pi over 9 equals log of the cube root of 'e'. And it's correct, too. M__________________________________________________________________________ Not a joke, but a humorous ditty I heard from some guys in an engineering fraternity (to the best of my recollection): I'll do it phonetically: ee to the ex dee ex, ee to the why dee why, sine x, cosine x, natural log of y, derivative on the left derivative on the right integrate, integrate, fight! fight! fight! M__________________________________________________________________________ Other cheers: E to the x dx dy radical transcendental pi secant cosine tangent sine 3.14159 2.71828 come on folks let's integrate!! M__________________________________________________________________________ E to the i dx dy E to y dy cosine secant log of pi disintegrate em RPI !!! M__________________________________________________________________________ square root, tangent hyperbolic sine, 3.14159 e to the x, dy, dx, sliderule, slipstick, TECH TECH TECH! M__________________________________________________________________________ e to the u, du/dx e to the x dx cosine, secant, tangent, sine, 3.14159 integral, radical, u dv, slipstick, slide rule, MIT! M__________________________________________________________________________ E to the X D-Y, D-X E to the X D-X. Cosine, Secant, Tangent, Sine 3.14159 E-I, Radical, Pi Fight'em, Fight'em, WPI! Go Worcester Polytechnic Institute!!!!!! M__________________________________________________________________________ Hiawatha Designs an Experiment Hiawatha, mighty hunter, He could shoot ten arrows upward, Shoot them with such strength and swiftness That the last had left the bow-string Ere the first to earth descended. This was commonly regarded As a feat of skill and cunning. Several sarcastic spirits Pointed out to him, however, That it might be much more useful If he sometimes hit the target. "Why not shoot a little straighter And employ a smaller sample?" Hiawatha, who at college Majored in applied statistics, Consequently felt entitled To instruct his fellow man In any subject whatsoever, Waxed exceedingly indignant, Talked about the law of errors, Talked about truncated normals, Talked of loss of information, Talked about his lack of bias, Pointed out that (in the long run) Independent observations, Even though they missed the target, Had an average point of impact Very near the spot he aimed at, With the possible exception of a set of measure zero. "This," they said, "was rather doubtful; Anyway it didn't matter. What resulted in the long run: Either he must hit the target Much more often than at present, Or himself would have to pay for All the arrows he had wasted." Hiawatha, in a temper, Quoted parts of R. A. Fisher, Quoted Yates and quoted Finney, Quoted reams of Oscar Kempthorne, Quoted Anderson and Bancroft (practically in extenso) Trying to impress upon them That what actually mattered Was to estimate the error. Several of them admitted: "Such a thing might have its uses; Still," they said, "he would do better If he shot a little straighter." Hiawatha, to convince them, Organized a shooting contest. Laid out in the proper manner Of designs experimental Recommended in the textbooks, Mainly used for tasting tea (but sometimes used in other cases) Used factorial arrangements And the theory of Galois, Got a nicely balanced layout And successfully confounded Second order interactions. All the other tribal marksmen, Ignorant benighted creatures Of experimental setups, Used their time of preparation Putting in a lot of practice Merely shooting at the target. Thus it happened in the contest That their scores were most impressive With one solitary exception. This, I hate to have to say it, Was the score of Hiawatha, Who as usual shot his arrows, Shot them with great strength and swiftness, Managing to be unbiased, Not however with a salvo Managing to hit the target. "There!" they said to Hiawatha, "That is what we all expected." Hiawatha, nothing daunted, Called for pen and called for paper. But analysis of variance Finally produced the figures Showing beyond all peradventure, Everybody else was biased. And the variance components Did not differ from each other's, Or from Hiawatha's. (This last point it might be mentioned, Would have been much more convincing If he hadn't been compelled to Estimate his own components >From experimental plots on Which the values all were missing.) Still they couldn't understand it, So they couldn't raise objections. (Which is what so often happens with analysis of variance.) All the same his fellow tribesmen, Ignorant benighted heathens, Took away his bow and arrows, Said that though my Hiawatha Was a brilliant statistician, He was useless as a bowman. As for variance components Several of the more outspoken Make primeval observations Hurtful of the finer feelings Even of the statistician. In a corner of the forest Sits alone my Hiawatha Permanently cogitating On the normal law of errors. Wondering in idle moments If perhaps increased precision Might perhaps be sometimes better Even at the cost of bias, If one could thereby now and then Register upon a target. W. E. Mientka, "Professor Leo Moser -- Reflections of a Visit" American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 79, Number 6 (June-July, 1972) M__________________________________________________________________________ A mathematician named Klein Thought the Mobius Band was divine. Said he, "If you glue The edges of two You get a weird bottle like mine." M__________________________________________________________________________ A challenge for many long ages Had baffled the savants and sages. Yet at last came the light: Seems old Fermat was right-- To the margin add 200 pages. -- Paul Chernoff M__________________________________________________________________________ _There Once Was a Breathy Baboon_ by Sir Arthur Eddington There once was a breathy baboon Who always breathed down a bassoon, For he said, "It appears That in billions of years I shall certainly hit on a tune." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =2.5 QUOTES M__________________________________________________________________________ From: ph2008@mail.bris.ac.uk (CJ. Bradfield)philosophy: A few of my favourite quotes about mathematics: "A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn't there" - Charles Darwin M__________________________________________________________________________ "A person who can, within a year, solve x^2 - 92y^2 = 1 is a mathematician." -- Brahmagupta M__________________________________________________________________________ Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not make messes in the house. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love" M__________________________________________________________________________ Sex is the mathematics urge sublimated. -- M. C. Reed. M__________________________________________________________________________ "The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine man in the bonds of Hell." -- St. Augustine P.S. Augustine did really say that, but in his time there was no difference between mathematicans and astrologists. Astrologists told the future, which was diabolic. M__________________________________________________________________________ As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. -- Albert Einstein M__________________________________________________________________________ Mathematics contains much that will neither hurt one if one does not know it nor help one if one does know it. - J.B. Mencken +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -- Joachim Verhagen Email:J.C.D.Verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Department of molecular biofysics, University of Utrecht Utrecht, The Netherlands. From verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Wed Apr 26 07:50:10 1995 Newsgroups: rec.humor,sci.math,sci.physics,sci.chem Path: ronneby.hk-r.se!news.lu.se!news.lth.se!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.kth.se!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!sun4nl!cs.ruu.nl!tijger.fys.ruu.nl!verhagen From: verhagen@fys.ruu.nl (Joachim Verhagen) Subject: science jokes (4/8) X-Nntp-Posting-Host: ruunat.fys.ruu.nl Message-ID: Sender: usenet@fys.ruu.nl (News system Tijgertje) Organization: Physics and Astronomy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #3 (NOV) Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 13:38:07 GMT Lines: 1173 Xref: ronneby.hk-r.se rec.humor:105746 sci.math:72228 sci.physics:84743 sci.chem:30273 =3. PHYSICS MP_________________________________________________________________________ From: shhong@chiak.kaist.ac.kr (Hong Seongho) Theoretical Physics is a science locally isomorphic to Mathematics. P__________________________________________________________________________ On the heater lies a tile. The teacher asks: "Why does the the tile warmer at the side that lies at the far side of the heater?". The student stammers :"Eh, maybe because of the heat conduction and so?" Teacher: "No, because I just turned it around." P__________________________________________________________________________ Formula: "Energy equals milk chocolate square" P__________________________________________________________________________ benker@cae.wisc.edu Two atoms were walking down the street. One turns to the other and says, "Oh, no! I think I'm an ion!" The other responds, "Are you sure?!?" "Yes, I'm positive!" P__________________________________________________________________________ A hydrogen atom came running into a police station asking for help.... Hydrogen atom: Someone just stole my electron!! Policeman: Are you sure? Hydrogen atom: Yes, I'm positive From: freya@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Smile) policeman: Oh, I thought you were just being negative again. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: dsmillie@superior.carleton.ca (David Smillie) Two sodium atoms are flying around a cyclotron. Suddenly the first atom said to the second, `Hey, I think I've just lost an electron.' `Are you sure?' asked the second atom. `Yeah,' said the first, `I'm positive.' Of course, the _real_ joke is that neither sodium atom could have been flying around the cyclotron in the first place, unless they were _already_ ionized. (collapses to the floor, gasping for breath and chuckling hysterically while everyone else in the room edges nervously away) P__________________________________________________________________________ From: harper@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (John Harper) every couple has its moment, especially P__________________________________________________________________________ From: zdxc0d@amoco.com (David Crowson) Physicists at Harwell have discovered the heaviest element known to science, named Administratum. The new element has no protons or electrons, and has an atomic number of zero. However, it does have one neutron, eight assistant neutrons, ten executive neutrons, 35 vice neutrons and 258 assistant vice neutrons. Administratum has an atomic mass of 311=, since the neutron is only detectable half of the time. Its 312 particles are held together by a force which involves the continuous exchange of meson-like particles, called morons. Since it has no electrons, Administratum is completely inert. Nevertheless, its presence can be detected because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. One experiment, which should have lasted only a few days, is still running after 2= years due to the addition of just one milligramme of Administratum. It is weakly active, and has a normal half-life of approximately six months. After this time, it does not actually decay, but undergoes a metamorphosis in which assistant neutrons, executive neutrons, vice neutrons and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. This almost invariably leads to an increase in atomic weight, hence it is self-sustaining. Although it occurs widely, Administratum tends to concentrate around large corporations, research laboratories and government departments. It can especially be found in recently re-organised sites, and there is reason to believe that it is heavily involved in the processes of deforestation and global warming. It should be remembered that Administratum is known to be toxic at all concentrations, and can easily destroy any productive reactions where it is allowed to accumulate. Numerous attempts have been made to determine how Administratum can be controlled to prevent irreversible damage, but results to date are not promising. From: tornberg@netcom.com (Neal E. Tornberg) Research at other laboratories indicates that Administratium occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It tends to concentrate at certain points such as government agencies, large corporations and universities and can usually be found in the newest, best appointed and best maintained buildings. From: Benjamin.J.Tilly@dartmouth.edu (Benjamin J. Tilly) One major problem is that proximity to this substance tends to make the process of getting anything done (such as getting grant money) more time-consuming, which makes the experiments in question extremely time-consuming. P__________________________________________________________________________ Ivan Ivanovich, great russian Scientist does an experiment. He wants to know how fast a thermometer falls down. He takes a thermometer and a light, a candle light. He drops both from the 3rd floor and recognices that they are reaching the ground at the same time. Ivan Ivanovich, great russian scientific writes in his book: A theomometer falls with the speed of light. P__________________________________________________________________________ dasher@netcom.com (Anton Sherwood) writes: Somewhere there must be a list of ways to measure the height of a building. A student is sitting his Physics exam, and quite an important one at that---maybe his final degree paper or his Oxford Entrance. Anyway, one of the questions on the paper was to the effect of: ``Q: How could one measure the height of a building using a barometer?'' Being a wit, in the exam this chap puts: ``A: Drop the barometer from the top of the building and time its descent. Using the formula `s = ut + a(t^2)/2' and knowing `a' which is `g' we can calculate the height of the building with reasonable accuracy.'' He then goes on to describe in more detail the method he would use. The examiners were a little concerned. Here was one of their star students giving an answer they hadn't at all expected. So they decided to call him in and give him an oral test to decide whether or not to allow the answer which they did admit was perfectly valid. So they called him in and told him he had 15 minutes to make his case. For ten minutes he said nothing but scribbled away furiously. After these ten minutes the atmosphere was getting a little tense---this was meant to be an oral after all, and his degree (or whatever) depended on it. When they pointed this out to him he said that he was just trying to get his thoughts in order as there were so many possible solutions. Here are some of the ones he came up with: ``1: What you wanted me to do, of course, was measure air pressure at the top and bottom of the building, and from the difference and knowing the pressure exerted by a column of air of unit height I should be able to calculate the height of the building. But I thought that would be terribly inaccurate and the answer I gave in the exam and the following ones are all potentially more accurate. 2: Measure the length of shadow cast by the bulding and by the barometer on a sunny day. Knowing the actual height of the barometer one can compute the height of the building. 3: Tie the barometer to the end of a long bit of string and lower the barometer from the top of the building to the ground. Measure the amount of string payed out and you have the height of the building.'' He then gave several more but ended with: ``The best method by far, though, would be to go to the building's janitor and say `If I give you this shiny new scientific barometer will you tell me how high this building is?' '' The student passed his exam. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: nbuchana@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca (Norm) I don't know if there is a list, but I can think of a way that only requires two people, a stopwatch, and an object to drop. You have one person stand at the top of the building with an object to drop (something that will be slowed little by air resistance--you will have to correct for this if the building is fairly tall). The person on the ground can then signal the person on top to drop the object and then time the fall. The height of the building will then be (neglecting air resistance): height = .5 (9.8) t^2 (in meters of course) Problem solved. It is not the only way to do it obviously but I think it is an interesting way. From: Phil Gustafson The just-released book, "Expert C Programming (Deep C Secrets)", Peter van der Linden, SunSoft/Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-177429-8, lists twenty-one (21) more or less useful ways to measure the height of a building with a barometer. (10) Use the barometer as a paperweight while examining the building plans. From: ljz@panix.com (Lloyd Zusman) Uh ... I may be off base here, but my understanding of the original poster's question was that he or she was looking for some sort of canonical list of responses to the question, "How does one measure the height of a building with a barometer?" There is an apocryphal story about a science professor who asked this question, looking for the "measure the air pressure at the top, etc. ..." solution. But some smart-ass student offered one or more other alternatives, such as ... Drop the barometer from the top floor and measure the time it takes to hit the ground. Offer the barometer to the building owner in return for him telling you the height (already mentioned in this thread). Tie a long cable to the barometer and lower it from the top of the building to the ground, and then measure the length of the cable. etc. etc. I know there are quite a few other answers, too ... can anyone think of any more? From: gt4495c@prism.gatech.edu (Giannhs) Use a barometer to reflect a laser beam from the top and measure the travel time. Track the shadow of the building posisioning a barometer on the ground every hour. Create an explosion on the top and measure the time for the pressure depression indicated on the barometer. From: peter@cara.demon.co.uk (Peter Ceresole) I think it would be simpler to let down a lightly weighted fishing line, mark it, reel it back and measure it at leisure. For fun, how about using sound; fire a starting pistol at the bottom, time the difference of arrival at the top. About a second for the Empire State building, and of course it'd have to be a damn great gun to carry over the howl and screech of downtown Gotham. Also, the detonation might get confused with the sounds of routine crack dealing below. From: dehall@hellcat.ecn.uoknor.edu (David Hall) In response to some question regarding "correct" methods of obtaining an answer, one of my proffs rattled off the following anecdote: Three students are given a barometer and told to determine the height of the clocktower (building at OU). The first student goes to the clock tower and takes two pressure readings; one at the top of the tower and one at the bottom of the tower. Then, based on the pressure differential derrives the correct height. The second student grabs a stopwatch and the barometer and climbs to the top of the tower. He throws the barometer off and times how long it takes to hit the ground. He too derrives the correct height. The third student takes the baromter to the Physical Plant (folks who do all maintanence around here) and says to the janitor, "Hey, I'll give you this cool barometer if you let me see the blueprints to the clocktower." All three students get A's. And then there is trigonometry, gravity force differentials, laser rangefinding.....and the list goes on. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: c1prasad@watson.ibm.com (prasad) Entropy isn't what it used to be... P__________________________________________________________________________ Why did the cat fall off the roof? Because he lost his mu. (mew=sound cats make, mu=coeff of friction) P__________________________________________________________________________ Brownian motion = Jogging girl scout P__________________________________________________________________________ From: mstueben@tjhsst.vak12ed.edu (Michael A. Stueben) Question: What is more useful: the sun or the moon? Answer: The moon, because the moon shines at night when you want the light, whereas the sun shines during the day when you don't need it. P__________________________________________________________________________ Philosophers have long wondered why socks have this habit of getting lost, and why humans always end up with large collections of unmatched odd socks. One school of thought says that socks are very antisocial creatures, and have a deep sense of rivalry. In particular, two socks of the same design have feelings of loathing towards each other and hence it is nearly impossible to pair them (e.g. a blue sock will usually be found nestling up to a black one, rather than its fellow blue sock). On the other hand, quantum theorists explain it all by a generalised exclusion principle --- it is impossible for two socks to be in the same eigen-state, and when it's in danger of happening, one of the socks has to vanish. Indeed the Uncertainty Principle also comes in --- the only time you know where a sock is, is when you're wearing it, and hence unable to be sure exactly how fast it's moving. The moment you stop moving and look at your sock, it then starts falling to pieces, changing colour, or otherwise becoming indeterminate. Either way, socks may possess Colour and Strangeness, but they seem to lack Charm. P__________________________________________________________________________ The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center was known as SLAC, until the big earthquake, when it became known as SPLAC. SPLAC? Stanford Piecewise Linear Accelerator. P__________________________________________________________________________ THE SEX LIFE OF AN ELECTRON (with unhappy ending) One night when his charge was at full capacity, Micro Farad decided to get a cute little coil to discharge him. He picked up Millie Amp and took her for a ride on his megacycle. They rode across the wheat stone bridge, around the sine wave, and into the magnetic field next to the flowing current. Micro Farad, attracted by Millie's characteristic curve, soon had her field fully excited. He laid her on the ground potential, raised her frequency, lowered her resistance, and pulled out his high voltage probe. He inserted it in parallel and began to short circuit her shunt. Fully excited, Millie cried out, "ohm, ohm, give me mho". With his tube at maximum output and her coil vibrating from the current flow, her shunt soon reached maximum heat. The excessive current had shorted her shunt, and Micro's capacity was rapidly discharged, and every electron was drained off. They fluxed all night, tried various connections and hookings until his bar magnet had lost all of its strength, and he could no longer generate enough voltage to sustain his collapsing field. With his battery fully discharged, Micro was unable to excite his tickler, so they ended up reversing polarity and blowing each other's fuses. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: Marcel Melters THE SEX LIFE OF AN ELECTRON ( with happy ending) One night when his charge was pretty high, Micro Farad went to see if he could find a cute little coil to let him discharge. He picked up Milli Amp, and took her for a ride on his Megacycle. They rode accross the wheatstone bridge, along the sine wave and stopped at a magnetic field flowing with current. Micro Farad soon had her resistance at a minimum level. They laid against ground level. Micro Farad then inserted his probe in Milli Amps socket. Mho, Mho, give me Mho, she said. They fluxed all night, trying out various connections. Afterwards Milli Amp tried self-induction and damaged her probe. After this, they went home and oscillated happily ever after. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: schmid@isi.ee.ethz.ch (Hanspeter Schmid) At the physics exam: 'Describe the universe (max. 200 words) and give three examples.' From: garyg@warren.mentorg.com (Gary Gendel) Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction. My physics final came at the time when there was a debate whether to allow calculators in the exams. The Physics department was the first to decide in favor of allowing them, the 3 hour exam had one question: Describe the universe, if Planck's constant were equal to 1. P__________________________________________________________________________ Three Laws of Thermodynamics (paraphrased): First Law: You can't get anything without working for it. Second Law: The most you can accomplish by work is to break even. Third Law: You can't break even. From: John Vinson <74222.2372@CompuServe.COM> Ginsberg's Theorem (The modern statement of the three laws of thermodynamics) 1. You can't win. 2. You can't even break even. 3. You can't get out of the game. 4. THE LAW OF ENTROPY: The perversity of the universe tends towards a maximum. "Freeman's Commentary on Ginsberg's Theorem: "Every majoy philosophy that attempts to make life seem meaningful is based on the negation of one part of Ginsberg's Theorem. To wit: "1. Capitalism is based on the assumption that you can win. "2. Socialism is based on the assumption that you can break even. "3. Mysticism is based on the assmuption that you can quit the game." >From R.J.ABBOTT@dundee.ac.uk Since using the paraphrased laws of thermodynamics in my .sig the following additions have been sent to me From: potweed@calvados.apana.org.au (Bernard Booth) First Law: You can't bet unless you play. Second Law: The most you can hope for is to break even. Third Law: You can't break even. Fourth Law: Once you're born, you can't even get out of the game! From: N.P.Whittington (N.P.Whittington@spps.hull.ac.uk) Parodies of the laws of thermodynamics, in a science text book. 1. You can't win, you can only break even. 2. You can only break even at absolute zero. 3. You can never reach absolute zero. P__________________________________________________________________________ A promising PhD candidate was presenting his thesis at his final examination. He proceeded with a derivation and ended up with something like: F = -MA He was embarrassed, his supervising professor was embarrassed, and the rest of the committee was embarrassed. The student coughed nervously and said "I seem to have made a slight error back there somewhere." One of the mathematicians on the committee replied dryly, "Either that or an odd number of them!" P__________________________________________________________________________ From: nbuchana@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca (Norm) A probability is a desperate attempt of chaos to become stable. P__________________________________________________________________________ Heisenberg might have slept here. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: seashore@pirinen.demon.co.uk (Anetta Meriranta Pirinen) Schroedinger's Vet: Specializing in gassed cats and monkeys with Carpal-tunnel syndrome. P__________________________________________________________________________ A Physicist is explaining a picture: "Of course, these are false colours, the red is really yellow, the green is really blue and the white is really brown." P__________________________________________________________________________ Donald Nichols (DoN.): --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero --- P__________________________________________________________________________ HEAVEN IS HOTTER THAN HELL The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our authority is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much radiation as we do from the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much as the Earth does from the Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we receive from the Moon is one 1/10,000 of the light we receive from the Sun, so we can ignore that ... The radiation falling on Heaven will heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to the heat received by radiation, i.e., Heaven loses 50 times as much heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law for radiation, (H/E)^4 = 50, where E is the absolute temperature of the earth (300K), gives H as 798K (525C). The exact temperature of Hell cannot be computed ... [However] Revelations 21:8 says "But the fearful, and unbelieving ... shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C. -- From "Applied Optics" vol. 11, A14, 1972 P__________________________________________________________________________ From: sirius@wam.umd.edu (The Human Neutrino = Linda Harden) IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS? 1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen. 2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census)rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each. 3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west(which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc. This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour. 4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal anoint, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth. 5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake.The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim)would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force. In conclusion - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now. From: hjiwa@nor.chevron.com Canonical List Of Holiday Humor Rebuttal: (Jim Mantle, Waterloo Maple Software) Come on, ya gotta believe! I mean, if you can handle flying furry animals, then it's only a small step to the rest. For example; 1) As admitted, it is possible that a flying reindeer can be found. I would agree that it would be quite an unusual find, but they might exist. 2) You've relied on cascading assumptions. For example, you have assumed a uniform distribution of children across homes. Toronto/Yorkville, or Toronto/Cabbagetown, or other yuppie neighbourhoods, have probably less than the average (and don't forget the DINK and SINK homes (Double Income No Kids, Single Income No Kids)), while the families with 748 starving children that they keep showing on Vision TV while trying to pick my pocket would skew that 15% of homes down a few percent. 3) You've also assumed that each home that has kids would have at least one good kid. What if anti-selection applies, and homes with good kids tend to have more than their share of good kids, and other homes have nothing except terrorists in diapers? Let's drop that number of homes down a few more percent. 4) Santa would have to Fedex a number of packages ahead of time, since he would not be able to fly into Air Force Bases, or into tower-controlled areas near airports. He's get shot at over certain sections of the Middle East, and the no-fly zones in Iraq, so he'd probably use DHL there. Subtract some more homes. 5) I just barely passed Physics and only read Stephen Hawking's book once, but I recall that there is some Einsteinian Theory that says time does strange things as you move faster. In fact, when you go faster than the speed of light time runs backward, if you do a straight line projection, connect the dots and just ignore any singularity you might find right at the speed of light. And don't say you can't go faster than the speed of light because I've seen it done on TV. Jean-Luc doesn't have reindeer but he does have matter-antimatter warp engines and a holodeck and that's good enough for me. So Santa could go faster than light, visit all the good children which are not uniformly distributed by either concentration in each home or by number of children per household, and get home before he left so he can digest all those stale cookies and warm milk yech. 6) Aha, you say, Jean-Luc has matter-antimatter warp engines, Santa only has reindeer, where does he get the power to move that fast! You calculated the answer! The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy. Per second. Each. This is an ample supply of energy for the maneuvering, acceleration, etc, that would be required of the loaded sleigh. The reindeer don't evaporate or incinerate because of this energy, they accelerate. What do you think they have antlers for, fighting over females? Think of antlers as furry solar array panels. 7) If that's not enough, watch the news on the 24th at 11 o'clock. NORAD (which may be one of the few government agencies with more than 3 initials in it's name and therefore it must be more trustworthy than the rest) tracks Santa every year and I've seen the radar shots of him approaching my house from the direction of the North Pole. They haven't bombarded him yet, so they must believe too, right? Yet another rebuttal to the rebuttal: Several key points are overlooked by this callous, amateurish "study." 1) Flying reindeer: As is widely known (due to the excellent historical documentary "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," the flying reindeer are not a previously unknown species of reindeer, but were in fact given the power of flight due to eating magic acorns. As is conclusively proven in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (a no punches pulled look at life in Santa's village), this ability has bred true in subsequent generations of reindeer, obviously the magic acorns imprinted their power on a dominant gene sequence within the reindeer DNA strand. 2) Number of households: This figure overlooks two key facts. First of all, the first major schism in the Church split the Eastern Churches, centered in Byzantium, from the Western, which remained centered in Rome. This occurred prior to the Gregorian correction to the Julian calendar. The Eastern churches (currently called Orthodox Churches) do not recognize the Gregorian correction for liturgical events, and their Christmas is as a result several days after the Western Churches'. Santa gets two shots at delivering toys. Secondly, the figure of 3.5 children per household is based on the gross demographic average, which includes households with no children at all. The number of children per household, when figured as an average for households with children, would therefore have to be adjusted upward. Also, the largest single Christian denomination is Roman Catholic, who, as we all know, breed like rabbits. If you don't believe me, ask my four brothers and two sisters, they'll back me up. Due to the predominance of Catholics within Christian households, the total number of households containing Christian children would have to be adjusted downward to reflect the overloading of Catholics beyond a standard deviation from the median. Also, the assertion that each home would contain at least one good child would be reasonable enough if there were in fact an even 3.5 children per household. However, since the number of children per household is distributed integrally, there are a significant number (on the order of several million) of one child Christian households. Even though only children are notoriously spoiled and therefore disproportionately inclined towards being naughty, since it's the holidays we'll be generous and give them a fifty-fifty chance of being nice. This removes one half of the single child households from Santa's delivery schedule, which has already been reduced by the removal of the Orthodox households from the first delivery run. 3) Santa's delivery run (speed, payload, etc.): These all suffer from the dubious supposition that there is only one Santa Claus. The name "Santa" is obviously either Spanish or Italian, two ethnic groups which are both overwhelmingly Catholic. The last name Claus suggests a joint German/Italian background. His beginnings, battling the Burgermeister Meisterburger, suggest he grew up in Bavaria (also predominantly Catholic). The Kaiser style helmets of the Burgermeister's guards, coupled with the relative isolation of the village, suggest that his youth was at the very beginning of Prussian influence in Germany. Thus, Santa and Mrs. Claus have been together for well over one hundred years. If you think that after a hundred years of living at the North Pole with nights six months long that they remain childless, you either don't know Catholics or are unaware of the failure rate of the rhythm method. There have therefore been over five generations of Clauses, breeding like Catholics for over one hundred years. Since they are Catholic, their exponential population increase would obviously have a gain higher than the world population as a whole. There have therefore been more than enough new Santas to overcome the population increase of the world. So in fact, Santa has an easier time of it now than he did when he first started out. Santa dead, indeed; some people will twist any statistic to "prove" their cynical theory. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: billyfish@aol.com (BillyFish) One day in class, Richard Feynman was talking about angular momentum. He described rotation matrices and mentioned that they did not commute. He said that Sir William Hamilton discovered noncommutivity one night when he was taking a walk in his garden with Lady Hamilton. As they sat down on a bench, there was a moment of passion. It was then that he discovered that AB did not equal BA. P__________________________________________________________________________ There are no physicists in the hottest parts of hell, because the existence of a "hottest part" implies a temperature difference, and any marginally competent physicist would immediately use this to run a heat engine and make some other part of hell comfortably cool. This is obviously impossible. -- Richard Davisson P__________________________________________________________________________ The study of non-linear physics is like the study of non-elephant biology. P__________________________________________________________________________ Anything that doesn't matter has no mass. P__________________________________________________________________________ >From tellen@mtg.mt.com Thu Nov 24 15:19:01 1994 From: "Jean-Maurice Tellenbach" The second world war is the best demonstration of relativity... The high energy density variations of vacuum are mainly produced within brains. The Physicist : "The positron will be dramatically modified by meeting an electron" The President : "You said ... position and ... election ??" P__________________________________________________________________________ From: mj@redbud (MJ Kahn) Q: How many general relativists does it take to change a light bulb. A: Two. One holds the bulb, while the other rotates the universe. From:BRIAN6@VAXC.MDX.AC.UK (cannonical lightbulb collection) Q: How many quantum physicists does it take to change a lightbulb ? A: One. Two to do it, and one to renormalise the wave function. (Explanation - Renormalising the wave function is something that has to be done to a lot of quantum physics calculations to stop the answer being infinity and makes the answer always come out as one.) Q: How many quantum mechanicians does it take to change a light bulb? A: They can't. If they know where the socket is, they cannot locate the new bulb. Q: How many Heisenbergs does it take to change a light bulb? A: If you know the number, you don't know where the light bulb is. Q: How many astronomers does it take to change a light bulb? A: None, astronomers prefer the dark. Q: How many radio astronomers does it take to change a light bulb. A: None. They are not interested in that short wave stuff. The Dark Sucker Theory (courtesy of rec.humor.d) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For years, it has been believed that electric bulbs emit light, but recent information has proved otherwise. Electric bulbs don't emit light; they suck dark. Thus, we call these bulbs Dark Suckers. The Dark Sucker Theory and the existence of dark suckers prove that dark has mass and is heavier than light. First, the basis of the Dark Sucker Theory is that electric bulbs suck dark. For example, take the Dark Sucker in the room you are in. There is much less dark right next to it than there is elsewhere. The larger the Dark Sucker, the greater its capacity to suck dark. Dark Suckers in the parking lot have a much greater capacity to suck dark than the ones in this room. So with all things, Dark Suckers don't last forever. Once they are full of dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the dark spot on a full Dark Sucker. The dark which has been absorbed is then transmitted by pylons along to power plants where the machinery uses fossil fuel to destroy it. A candle is a primitive Dark Sucker. A new candle has a white wick. You can see that after the first use, the wick turns black, representing all the dark that has been sucked into it. If you put a pencil next to the wick of an operating candle, it will turn black. This is because it got in the way of the dark flowing into the candle. One of the disadvantages of these primitive Dark Suckers is their limited range. There are also portable Dark Suckers. In these, the bulbs can't handle all the dark by themselves and must be aided by a Dark Storage Unit. When the Dark Storage Unit is full, it must be either emptied or replaced before the portable Dark Sucker can operate again. Dark has mass. When dark goes into a Dark Sucker, friction from the mass generates heat. Thus, it is not wise to touch an operating Dark Sucker. Candles present a special problem as the mass must travel into a solid wick instead of through clear glass. This generates a great amount of heat and therefore it's not wise to touch an operating candle. This is easily proven for lightbulbs too. When you compress a gas, it gets hot, right? So the light bulb gets hot because of all the dark being squished into the wires. Also, dark is heavier than light. If you were to swim just below the surface of the lake, you would see a lot of light. If you were to slowly swim deeper and deeper, you would notice it getting darker and darker. When you get really deep, you would be in total darkness. This is because the heavier dark sinks to the bottom of the lake and the lighter light floats at the top. The is why it is called light. Finally, we must prove that dark is faster than light. If you were to stand in a lit room in front of a closed, dark closet, and slowly opened the closet door, you would see the light slowly enter the closet. But since dark is so fast, you would not be able to see the dark leave the closet. So next time you see an electric bulb, remember that it is not a light emitter but a Dark Sucker. The following line doesn't quite fit into the theory but almost does : - Ever seen the blue glow in vacuum tubes? That's because electrons are blue. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: randy@aplcorejhuapl.edu (Randall C. Poe) Here's a joke on the physicists which could be an absolutely true story in my opinion: The experimentalist comes running excitedly into the theorist's office, waving a graph taken off his latest experiment. "Hmmm," says the theorist, "That's exactly where you'd expect to see that peak. Here's the reason (long logical explanation follows)." In the middle of it, the experimentalist says "Wait a minute", studies the chart for a second, and says, "Oops, this is upside down." He fixes it. "Hmmm," says the theorist, "you'd expect to see a dip in exactly that position. Here's the reason...". P__________________________________________________________________________ From: s5100101@nickel.laurentian.ca Q: What is a tachyon? A: A sub-atomic particle devoid of good taste. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: s5100101@nickel.laurentian.ca Albert Einstein had been working on his theory of relativity a lot and he was just about finished. He was almost ready to publish his work. However, he was under a lot of stress so he thought he would go on vacation to Mexico. Albert had a glorious two week vacation and was having the time of his life. On the last night he was staying there he decided to take a walk along the beach and watch the sunset. As he watched the sun go down he thought of the light of the sun and then the speed of light. You see, he had been using the speed of light in a lot of his calculations but he didn't decided on what symbol to use for it. Greek had been so overused. Just at that moment Senior Wensez was also walking along the beach in the opposite direction. Albert caught him out of the corner of his eye and remarked suddenly, "Do you not zink zat zee speed of light is very fast?" Senior Wensez paused for a moment and replied, "Si." P__________________________________________________________________________ Polymer physicists are into chains. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: Chris Morton (mortoncp@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu) do it collection Dyslexic Particle Physicists do it with hadrons. Particle physicists do it energetically. Physicists do it a quantum at a time. Physicists do it at two places in the universe at one time. Physicists do it attractively. Physicists do it energetically. Physicists do it in black holes. Physicists do it in waves. Physicists do it like Einstein. Physicists do it magnetically. Physicists do it on accelerated frames. Physicists do it particularly. Physicists do it repulsively. Physicists do it strangely. Physicists do it up and down, with charming color, but strange! Physicists do it with Tensors. Physicists do it with black bodies Physicists do it with charm. Physicists do it with large expensive machinery. Physicists do it with rigid bodies. Physicists do it with the help of an absolute Bohr (ouch!). Physicists do it with their vectors. Physicists do it with uniform harmonic motion. Physicists get a big bang. Physics majors do it at the speed of light. Plasma physicists do it with everything stripped off. Astronomers do it all night. Astronomers do it in the dark. Astronomers do it under the stars. Astronomers do it while gazing at Uranus. Astronomers do it with Uranus. Astronomers do it with long tubes. Astronomers do it with stars. Electron microscopists do it 100,000 times. Rocket scientists do it with higher thrust. Quantum mechanics do it in leaps. Spectroscopists do it until it hertz. Spectroscopists do it with frequency and intensity. P__________________________________________________________________________ Why did the chicken cross the road? Zeno of Elea: To prove it could never reach the other side. Werner Heisenberg: We are not sure which side of the road the chicken was on, but it was moving very fast. Newton: 1) Chickens at rest tend to stay at rest. Chickens in motion tend to cross the road. 2) It was pushed on the road. 3) It was pushed on the road by another chicken, which went away from the road. 4) It was attracted to a chicken on the other side of the road. Wolfgang Pauli: There already was a chicken on this side of the road. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: sirius@wam.umd.edu (The Human Neutrino) HEAVY BOOTS About 6-7 years ago, I was in a philosophy class at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (good science/engineering school) and the teaching assistant was explaining Descartes. He was trying to show how things don't always happen the way we think they will and explained that, while a pen always falls when you drop it on Earth, it would just float away if you let go of it on the Moon. My jaw dropped a little. I blurted "What?!" Looking around the room, I saw that only my friend Mark and one other student looked confused by the TA's statement. The other 17 people just looked at me like "What's your problem?" "But a pen would fall if you dropped it on the Moon, just more slowly." I protested. "No it wouldn't." the TA explained calmly, "because you're too far away from the Earth's gravity." Think. Think. Aha! "You saw the APOLLO astronauts walking around on the Moon, didn't you?" I countered, "why didn't they float away?" "Because they were wearing heavy boots." he responded, as if this made perfect sense (remember, this is a Philosophy TA who's had plenty of logic classes). By then I realized that we were each living in totally different worlds, and did not speak each others language, so I gave up. As we left the room, my friend Mark was raging. "My God! How can all those people be so stupid?" I tried to be understanding. "Mark, they knew this stuff at one time, but it's not part of their basic view of the world, so they've forgotten it. Most people could probably make the same mistake." To prove my point, we went back to our dorm room and began randomly selecting names from the campus phone book. We called about 30 people and asked each this question: 1. If you're standing on the Moon holding a pen, and you let go, will it a) float away, b) float where it is, or c) fall to the ground? About 47 percent got this question correct. Of the ones who got it wrong, we asked the obvious follow-up question: 2. You've seen films of the APOLLO astronauts walking around on the Moon, why didn't they fall off? About 20 percent of the people changed their answer to the first question when they heard this one! But the most amazing part was that about half of them confidently answered, "Because they were wearing heavy boots." P__________________________________________________________________________ From: Tim.Nelson@Canada.ATTGIS.COM (list of Old * Never Die, they just) OLD ASTRONAUTS never die, they just go to another world OLD ATOMS never die, they just decay OLD LASER PHYSICISTS never die, they just become incoherent OLD METEORS never die, they just burn up OLD NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS never die, they just go off-line OLD PLANETS never die, they just lose their attraction OLD THERMODYNAMICISTS never die, they just achieve their state - - of maximum entropy P__________________________________________________________________________ From: joeshmoe@world.std.com (Jascha Franklin-Hodge) (List of Taglines) Plasma is another matter. Interstellar Matter is a Gas It's worse than that, it's physics, Jim! "Apple" (c) 6024 b.c., Adam & Eve "Apple" (c) Copyright 1767, Sir Isaac Newton. "The faster you go, the shorter you are" - Einstein A stitch in time would have confused Einstein. And God said: E = +mv} - Ze}/r ...and there *WAS* light! All that glitters has a high refractive index. Black Holes are Out of Sight Black Holes were created when God divided by zero! Black holes really suck... The Universe is a big place... perhaps the biggest The Hubbell works fine; all that stuff IS blurry! Do radioactive cats have 18 half-lives? Friction can be a drag sometimes. Going the speed of light is bad for your age. Gravity: Not just a good idea...it's the LAW. How many weeks are there in a light year? Jet Engine Theory -Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow! Power corrupts, but we need electricity. Resistance Is Useless! (If < 1 ohm) Supernovae are a Blast P__________________________________________________________________________ Two electron convicts are sitting in a jail cell together. The first one says, "What are you in for?" The second one says, "For attempting a forbidden transition." P__________________________________________________________________________ Q: How does Santa deliver presents all over the world on Christmas Eve? A: With Rudolf the red-shift reindeer. P__________________________________________________________________________ Gravity brings me down Neutrinos have bad breadth (J.F. FreemanIII, Raleigh, N.C.) P__________________________________________________________________________ Q: What do physicist enjoy doing the most at baseball games? A: The 'wave'. P__________________________________________________________________________ Q: What is uttered by a sick duck? A: Quark! P__________________________________________________________________________ Q: What is an astronomical unit? A: One helluva big apartment P_________________________________________________________________________ Q: How many kinds of physicists are there? A: Three. Those who can count and those who can't. P__________________________________________________________________________ Law of Selective Gravity: An object will fall so as to do the most damage. Jenning's Corollary: The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet. P__________________________________________________________________________ The Heineken Uncertainty Principle: You can never be sure how many beers you had last night. P__________________________________________________________________________ From:ozbrown@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Paul Raymond "OZZY" Brown) Spell Checked and reformatted by Nathan Mates (nathan@cco.caltech.edu) As scientists and concerned citizens, we applaud the recent trend towards legislation which requires the prominent placing of warnings on products that present hazards to the general public. Yet we must also offer the cautionary thought that such warnings, however well-intentioned, merely scratch the surface of what is really necessary in this important area. This is especially true in light of the findings of 20th century physics. We are therefore proposing that, as responsible scientists, we join together in an intensive push for new laws that will mandate the conspicuous placement of suitably informative warnings on the packaging of every product offered for sale in the United States of America. Our suggested list of warnings appears below. WARNING: This Product Warps Space and Time in Its Vicinity. WARNING: This Product Attracts Every Other Piece of Matter in the Universe, Including the Products of Other Manufacturers, with a Force Proportional to the Product of the Masses and Inversely Proportional to the Distance Between Them. CAUTION: The Mass of This Product Contains the Energy Equivalent of 85 Million Tons of TNT per Net Ounce of Weight. HANDLE WITH EXTREME CARE: This Product Contains Minute Electrically Charged Particles Moving at Velocities in Excess of Five Hundred Million Miles Per Hour. CONSUMER NOTICE: Because of the "Uncertainty Principle," It Is Impossible for the Consumer to Find Out at the Same Time Both Precisely Where This Product Is and How Fast It Is Moving. (Note: This one is optional on the grounds that Heisenburg was never quite sure that his principle was correct) ADVISORY: There is an Extremely Small but Nonzero Chance That, Through a Process Know as "Tunneling," This Product May Spontaneously Disappear from Its Present Location and Reappear at Any Random Place in the Universe, Including Your Neighbor's Domicile. The Manufacturer Will Not Be Responsible for Any Damages or Inconvenience That May Result. READ THIS BEFORE OPENING PACKAGE: According to Certain Suggested Versions of the Grand Unified Theory, the Primary Particles Constituting this Product May Decay to Nothingness Within the Next Four Hundred Million Years. THIS IS A 100% MATTER PRODUCT: In the Unlikely Event That This Merchandise Should Contact Antimatter in Any Form, a Catastrophic Explosion Will Result. PUBLIC NOTICE AS REQUIRED BY LAW: Any Use of This Product, in Any Manner Whatsoever, Will Increase the Amount of Disorder in the Universe. Although No Liability Is Implied Herein, the Consumer Is Warned That This Process Will Ultimately Lead to the Heat Death of the Universe. NOTE: The Most Fundamental Particles in This Product Are Held Together by a "Gluing" Force About Which Little is Currently Known and Whose Adhesive Power Can Therefore Not Be Permanently Guaranteed. ATTENTION: Despite Any Other Listing of Product Contents Found Hereon, the Consumer is Advised That, in Actuality, This Product Consists Of 99.9999999999% Empty Space. NEW GRAND UNIFIED THEORY DISCLAIMER: The Manufacturer May Technically Be Entitled to Claim That This Product Is Ten-Dimensional. However, the Consumer Is Reminded That This Confers No Legal Rights Above and Beyond Those Applicable to Three-Dimensional Objects, Since the Seven New Dimensions Are "Rolled Up" into Such a Small "Area" That They Cannot Be Detected. PLEASE NOTE: Some Quantum Physics Theories Suggest That When the Consumer Is Not Directly Observing This Product, It May Cease to Exist or Will Exist Only in a Vague and Undetermined State. COMPONENT EQUIVALENCY NOTICE: The Subatomic Particles (Electrons, Protons, etc.) Comprising This Product Are Exactly the Same in Every Measurable Respect as Those Used in the Products of Other Manufacturers, and No Claim to the Contrary May Legitimately Be Expressed or Implied. HEALTH WARNING: Care Should Be Taken When Lifting This Product, Since Its Mass, and Thus Its Weight, Is Dependent on Its Velocity Relative to the User. IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PURCHASERS: The Entire Physical Universe, Including This Product, May One Day Collapse Back into an Infinitesimally Small Space. Should Another Universe Subsequently Re-emerge, the Existence of This Product in That Universe Cannot Be Guaranteed. (The above is from Volume 36, Number 1 of The Journal of Irreproducible Results. Copyright 1991 Blackwell Scientific Publications Inc.) Cartoon Law of Physics P__________________________________________________________________________ From: ftp.cco.caltech.edu, maintained by Nathan Mates (nathan@cco.caltech.edu) Cartoon Law I Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation. Daffy Duck steps off a cliff, expecting further pastureland. He loiters in midair, soliloquizing flippantly, until he chances to look down. At this point, the familiar principle of 32 feet per second per second takes over. Cartoon Law II Any body in motion will tend to remain in motion until solid matter intervenes suddenly. Whether shot from a cannon or in hot pursuit on foot, cartoon characters are so absolute in their momentum that only a telephone pole or an outsize boulder retards their forward motion absolutely. Sir Isaac Newton called this sudden termination of motion the stooge's surcease. Cartoon Law III Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter. Also called the silhouette of passage, this phenomenon is the speciality of victims of directed-pressure explosions and of reckless cowards who are so eager to escape that they exit directly through the wall of a house, leaving a cookie-cutout-perfect hole. The threat of skunks or matrimony often catalyses this reaction. Cartoon Law IV The time required for an object to fall twenty stories is greater than or equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it off the ledge to spiral down twenty flights to attempt to capture it unbroken. Such an object is inevitably priceless, the attempt to capture it inevitably unsuccessful. Cartoon Law V All principles of gravity are negated by fear. Psychic forces are sufficient in most bodies for a shock to propel them directly away from the earth's surface. A spooky noise or an adversary's signature sound will induce motion upward, usually to the cradle of a chandelier, a treetop, or the crest of a flagpole. The feet of a character who is running or the wheels of a speeding auto need never touch the ground, especially when in flight. Cartoon Law VI As speed increases, objects can be in several places at once. This is particularly true of tooth-and-claw fights, in which a character's head may be glimpsed emerging from the cloud of altercation at several places simultaneously. This effect is common as well among bodies that are spinning or being throttled. A `wacky' character has the option of self-replication only at manic high speeds and may ricochet off walls to achieve the velocity required. Cartoon Law VII Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot. This trompe l'oeil inconsistency has baffled generations, but at least it is known that whoever paints an entrance on a wall's surface to trick an opponent will be unable to pursue him into this theoretical space. The painter is flattened against the wall when he attempts to follow into the painting. This is ultimately a problem of art, not of science. Cartoon Law VIII Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent. Cartoon cats possess even more deaths than the traditional nine lives might comfortably afford. They can be decimated, spliced, splayed, accordion-pleated, spindled, or disassembled, but they cannot be destroyed. After a few moments of blinking self pity, they reinflate, elongate, snap back, or solidify. Corollary: A cat will assume the shape of its container. Cartoon Law IX Everything falls faster than an anvil. *P________________________________________________________________________ From: James W Walden "Truth decays into beauty, while beauty soon becomes merely charm. Charm ends up as strangeness, and even that doesn't last, but up and down are forever." - The Laws of Physics *P________________________________________________________________________ From: jasonp@wam.umd.edu (Jason Stratos Papadopoulos) PROOF THE EARTH IS FLAT Hello. If anyone out there watched a Learning Channel show "In Search of the Edge of the World", they heard some pretty bizarre (though creative) conclusive proofs the earth is flat. A sampler: According to the theory of continental drift, all the continents can shift about the surface of the earth as if on a bed of some viscous fluid. Were the earth round and rotating, centrifugal force would make all the continents slosh to the equator, but this is a contradiction, as it is not the actual case. QED A plumb bob always points to the center of the earth (assuming the earth is a sphere). Then a plumb bob used by someone else in a different place would make a different angle to an impartial observer. Since builders use plumb bobs to make buildings stick straight up, any building of sufficient size would then be larger on the top floor than on the bottom floor, but this is a contradiction. QED And a few refutations of established results: Ptolemy (?) proposed the earth was round and proved it by figuring its radius based on the angle the sun made with Alexandria on the same day it was directly over another city (7.2 deg.). Flat Earthers insist that this is only an assumption; if the earth was flat the experiment would still yield meaningful results, since the system is then a right tri- angle and the sun would therefore be 4,000 miles away. And for all those who need visual proof and are satisfied with satellite photos, Flat Earthers cite Einstein's general theory of relativity and its proclaiming that light bends in the presence of massive objects; thus what is actually flat appears to cameras as round. This phenomenon also explains why ships appear to rise out of the horizon. Finally, a story I read elsewhere: a researcher at some lab once got a letter from a very distressed Flat Earther, who had heard that the Soviets (I guess 1950s?) were going to detonate a nuclear bomb. Newton's third law would then dictate that the (flat) earth would then tilt toward the USSR, and everybody would slide off. The researcher wrote back that all was well, and that we in U.S. of A. planned to detonate a similar bomb at the same instant on OUR end of the world, thus cancelling the torque the Soviet bomb created. The researcher was given a dressing-down when the Flat Earther wrote a letter of commendation and praise to the researcher's boss. *P_________________________________________________________________________ jotero@ix.netcom.com (Jose Otero) Astromers's pickupline:your telescope or mine? From: becker@hal4.usm.uni-muenchen.de (Sylvia R. Becker) ...my computer doesn't understand me anymore... might be a possibility, too. *P_________________________________________________________________________ From: sdnaik@iastate.edu The wireless telegraph is not difficult to understand. The ordinary telegraph is like a very long cat. You pull the tail in New York, and it miows (sp?) in Los Angeles. The wireless is the same, only without the cat. - Albert Einstein *P_________________________________________________________________________ From: an216284@anon.penet.fi (YUMMYYAMS) Overheard after a student failed a physics test miserably: Nuclear, Hydrogen, Atomic, My test- They can all be bombs. *P_________________________________________________________________________ From: kovarik@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca (Zdislav V. Kovarik) A math&physics student was hit by a brick falling from a house. He fainted, but came to after a while and started smiling. The onlookers were worried, so they asked him why the smile. "I just realized how lucky I am because the kinetic energy is only half m v squared." *P_________________________________________________________________________ From: kim@shell.portal.com (Kim DeVaughn) "Quantum mechanics, hmmm. You put a cat in a box, along with a hammer and some poison and a radioactive isotope ... I forget exactly how this goes. Anyway, keep some bandages on hand, because I guarantee the cat won't be happy." -Jack-Jack Snyder +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -- Joachim Verhagen Email:J.C.D.Verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Department of molecular biofysics, University of Utrecht Utrecht, The Netherlands. From verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Wed Apr 26 07:50:14 1995 Newsgroups: rec.humor,sci.math,sci.physics,sci.chem Path: ronneby.hk-r.se!news.lu.se!news.lth.se!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.kth.se!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!sun4nl!cs.ruu.nl!tijger.fys.ruu.nl!verhagen From: verhagen@fys.ruu.nl (Joachim Verhagen) Subject: science jokes (5/8) X-Nntp-Posting-Host: ruunat.fys.ruu.nl Message-ID: Sender: usenet@fys.ruu.nl (News system Tijgertje) Organization: Physics and Astronomy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #3 (NOV) Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 13:39:14 GMT Lines: 1043 Xref: ronneby.hk-r.se rec.humor:105747 sci.math:72229 sci.physics:84744 sci.chem:30274 =3.1 POETRY P__________________________________________________________________________ robertk@xmission.com (robertk): There once was a fellow named Fisk Whose fencing was exceedingly brisk. So fast was his action That by the Fitzgerald Contraction His rapier soon was reduced to a disk. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: slw1@ellis.uchicago.edu (SluT) There was a young fellow named Fisk Whose stroke was exceedingly brisk By relative action The Lorenz contraction Had reduced his dong to a disk. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: blc@solomon.technet.sg (Brian Cohen) A mathematician named Hall had a hexahedronical ball. The cube of its weight, times his pecker plus eight is his phonenumber. Give him a call! P__________________________________________________________________________ robertk@xmission.com (robertk) writes: There once was a fellow named Blight Whose speed was much faster than light. He sat off one day In a relative way and returned on the previous night. We've heard of that fellow named Blight, And his trip on that fabulous night, But his increasing mass Would have soon proved so vast He'd have been a most *singular* sight! P__________________________________________________________________________ From: jim.henry@ftl.mese.com (Jim Henry) A quantum mechanic's vacation Had his colleagues in dire consternation. For while studies had shown That his speed was well known, His position was pure speculation. (Not sure who wrote that one.) I saw an old fellow of Sirius, I thought I was merely delirious. But he ate me with zeal, I'm convinced he was real That zealous old gourmand of Sirius. (I wrote that one.) P__________________________________________________________________________ From: Ken & Jo Walton (Magellan@kenjo.demon.co.uk) There was a young lady called Bright Who could travel much faster than light. She set out one day In a relative way And returned on the previous night. P__________________________________________________________________________ Relativity Said Einstein, "I have an equation," "Which some might call Rabelaisian:" "Let P be viginity," "Approaching infinity," "And let U be a constant, persuasion." "Now, if P over U be inverted," "And the squareroot of U be inserted," "X times over P," "The result, Q.E.D." "Is a relative." Einstein asserted. *P_________________________________________________________________________ From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) There's a wonderful family named Stein, There's Ep, there's Gert, and there's Ein. Ep's statues are junk, Gert's poems are bunk, And nobody understands Ein. P__________________________________________________________________________ Twinkle, twinkle little star, I don't wonder what you are For by the spectroscopic ken I know that you are hydrogen Big whirls have little whirls That feed on their velocity; And little whirls have lesser whirls, and so on to viscosity. -Lewis Fry Richardson *P_________________________________________________________________________ From: sdnaik@iastate.edu Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night, God said, "Let Newton be," and all was light. It did not last; the devil howling "Ho! Let Einstein be!" restored the status quo. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =3.2 Quotes P__________________________________________________________________________ A physicist is an atom's way of knowing about atoms. - George Wald P__________________________________________________________________________ All science is either physics or stamp collecting. -- E. Rutherford P__________________________________________________________________________ On a paper submitted by a physicist colleague: "This isn't right. This isn't even wrong." -- Wolfgang Pauli P__________________________________________________________________________ "One thing they don't tell you about doing experimental physics is that sometimes you must work under adverse conditions ... like a state of sheer terror." -- W. K. Hartmann P__________________________________________________________________________ From: aephraim@physics5 (Aephraim M. Steinberg) To this day, lab directors keep a physics lecture on hand [to disperse rabble-rousers]. Let us pray we never need to use it." -- Lederman P__________________________________________________________________________ p.austin@info.curtin.edu.au (Peter Austin) "Very strange people, physicists - in my experience the ones who aren't dead are in some way very ill" -Mr Standish "The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul" by Douglas Adams P__________________________________________________________________________ From: sichase@csa5.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE) Physics is not a religion. If it were, we'd have a much easier time raising money. -Leon Lederman P__________________________________________________________________________ From: aephraim@physics5 (Aephraim M. Steinberg) WHY must I treat the measuring device classically?? What will happen to me if I don't??" - Eugene Wigner P__________________________________________________________________________ From: c1prasad@watson.ibm.com (prasad) What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind. - Thomas Hewitt Key, 1799-1875 P__________________________________________________________________________ Fermi was asked what characteristics physics Nobelists had in common. He answered, "I cannot think of a single one, not even intelligence." (Phys Today, Oct 1994, pg70) P__________________________________________________________________________ From: kitchse@mail.auburn.edu (Susan E Kitchens) One of my favorite quotes from Einstein is: "Gravitation can not be held resposible for people falling in love" P__________________________________________________________________________ From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) Here are some more Einstein quotes: When asked how World War III would be fought, Einstein replied that he didn't know. But he knew how World War IV would be fought: With sticks and stones! "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity." Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing. If I had my life to live over again, I'd be a plumber. Einstein, Albert (1879-1955) * Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. _Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium_ (1941) ch. 13 P__________________________________________________________________________ Physics is not diffucult, it is just weird - Vincent Icke "The Force of symmetry" (1994) P__________________________________________________________________________ From: cdhiv@aol.com (CDH IV = C. Dodd Harris IV) "The next question was - what makes planets go around the sun? At the time of Kepler some people answered this problem by saying that there were angels behind them beating their wings and pushing the planets around an orbit. As you will see, the answer is not very far from the truth. The only difference is that the angels sit in a different direction and their wings push inward." -Richard Feynman _Character Of Physical Law_, p. 8 *P________________________________________________________________________ From: kriman@acsu.buffalo.edu (Alfred M. Kriman) @A: Feynman, Richard P. (1918-1988) @Q:Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, these are the conditions, now what happens next? @R: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =4. CHEMISTRY C__________________________________________________________________________ Acid -- better living through chemistry. C__________________________________________________________________________ All theoretical chemistry is really physics; and all theoretical chemists know it. -- Richard P. Feynman CP_________________________________________________________________________ Make it myself? But I'm a physical organic chemist! C__________________________________________________________________________ methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenylalanylalanylglutamin- ylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolyl- phenylalanylvalylthreonylleucylglycylaspartylprolylglycylisoleucylglutamylglu- taminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanyl- glycylalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylprolylphenylala- nylserylaspartylprolylleucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisoleucylgluta- minylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanylalanylalanylgly- cylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanylglutamylmethionyl- leucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleu- cylprolylisoleucylglycylleucylleucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylva- lylphenylalanylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalanyltyro- sylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylvalylaspartylserylvalylleu- cylvalylalanylaspartylvalylprolylvalylglutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphe- nylalanylarginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginylvalylala- nylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartylalanylas- partylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminylisoleucylalanylseryltyrosyl- glycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylserylarginylalanylglycyl- valylthreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparaginylarginylalanylalanylleucylprolylleu- cylasparaginylhistidylleucylvalylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparagi- nylalanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylse- rylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylaspartylalanyl- glycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanylisoleucylvalylly- sylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamylpro- lylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenylalanylvalyl- glutaminylprolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine, n.: The chemical name for tryptophan synthetase A protein, a 1,913-letter enzyme with 267 amino acids. -- Mrs. Bryne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and C__________________________________________________________________________ Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds. Biochemistry is the study of carbon compounds that crawl. -- Mike Adams C__________________________________________________________________________ Chemicals: Noxious substances from which modern foods are made. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: tphillips@biosci.mbp.missouri.edu (Thomas E. Phillips) Q:How many atoms in a guacamole? A:Avocado's number. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: ericd@jubal.mdli.com (Eric Desch) Remember, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate! C__________________________________________________________________________ From: Chris Morton (mortoncp@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu) do it collection Chemical engineers do it in packed beds. Chemists do it in test tubes. Chemists do it in the fume hood. Chemists do it periodically on table. Chemists do it reactively. Chemists like to experiment. Electrochemists have greater potential. From: skreyn@netcom.com (Veggie Boy = Sean K Reynolds) Polymer chemists do it in chains. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: CLD@msc.com PhD | / \ | | \ / | PhD Para - Doc's (can draw ortho - doc's as well) HiHoAg hi ho silver!!! From: dan.arico@wdn.com (Dan Arico) CH3- _ _ _ _ - CH3 / \/ \/ \/ \ | | | | | \ _/ \ _/ \ _/ \ _/ / \ / \ / \ / \ | | | | | CH3- \ _/ \ _/ \ _/ \ _/- CH3 Tetramethylchickenwire From: bkd@christa.unh.edu (Brian K Dann) o o o H3C-CH2-CH2-O-/|\/|\/|\ | | | / \/ \/ \ A propyl people ether! From: dan.arico@wdn.com (Dan Arico) Fe - Fe / \ Fe Fe \ / Fe - Fe Ferous Wheel From: sppp@hippo.ru.ac.za (Peter Piacenza) PhD | PhD / \ / | O | \ / Orthodox (ortho - Doc's) -------- MD I / \ | O | Metaphysicians \ /\ -------------- MD O O ---I---I-----O-C3H7 Propylpeople ether I I ------------------ /\ /\ / \ \ 4 | / \ | O |__4 \ / Metaphor (meta - 4) From: nuke@netcom.com (Bill Newcomb) O-R-NMe2 | | / \ /\ / \/ \ I O a 1-I-1-ORN-flying-propyl people ether | (*stolen from A. Shusterman, with enhancements) --|-- | / \ C__________________________________________________________________________ From: a481@mindlink.bc.ca (J.D. Frazer) What is this: NaCl(aq) NaCl(aq) C C C C C C C Answer: (In a sing-song voice) "Saline, saline, over the seven C's" C__________________________________________________________________________ From: tomm@netcom.com (Tom Murray) chemical formula: HIJKLMNO What is it? It's the formula for water. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: jay.freedman@pacsibm.org (Jay Freedman) These were printed on bumper stickers and given out at an American Chemical Society meeting 10 or 12 years ago: It takes alkynes to make a world. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: jay.freedman@pacsibm.org (Jay Freedman) Old chemists never die, they just fail to react. From: bill.considine@execnet.com (BILL CONSIDINE) DeLuxe 1.1 #9385 Old chemists never die they just reach equilibrium From: wmaya@csupomona.edu (Walter Maya) Old chemists never die, they just smell that way. From: Tim.Nelson@Canada.ATTGIS.COM (list of Old * Never Die, they just) OLD CHEMISTS never die, they just do it inorganically OLD CHEMISTS never die, they just lose their refluxes C__________________________________________________________________________ From: bgnosis@isca.uiowa.edu (Billy Gnosis) What do you get when you cross buckminsterfullerene, helicase, and ATP? Screwballs." C__________________________________________________________________________ From: lozinski@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Joe Cool) Man - A Chemical Analysis Element : Man Symbol : Ah (short for Arsehole) Quantitative : Accepted at 7 inches, wavy brown hair, 6' 0" in length, though some isotopes can be as short as 4 inches. Discoverer : Eve Occurance : Found following duel element Wo, often in high concentration near a perfect Wo specimen. Physical properties : 1) Obnoxious when mixed with C*H*-OH (any alcohol). 2) Tends to fall into very low energy state directly after reaction with Wo (Snore ... zzzzz). 3) Gains considerable mass as specimen ages, loses reactive nature. 4) Rarely found in pure form after 14th year. 5) Often damaged as a direct result of unlucky reaction with polluted form of the Wo commom ore. Chemical properties : 1) All forms desire reaction with Wo, even when no further reaction is possible. 2) May react with several Wo isotopes in short period under extremely favorable conditions. 3) Usually willing to react with what ever is available. 4) Reaction Rates range from aborted/non-existant to Pre-interaction effects (which tend to turn the specimen bright red. 5) Reaction styles vary from extremely slow, calm and wet to violent/bloody. Storage : Best results apparently near 18 for high reaction rate, 25-35 for favorable reaction style. Uses : Heavy boxes, top shelves, long walks late at night, free dinners for Wo... Tests : Pure specimen will rarely reveal purity, while reacted specimens broadcast information on many wavelengths. Caution : Tends to react extremely violently when other Man interferes with reaction to a particular Wo specimen. Otherwise very maleable under correct conditions. Woman - A Chemical Analysis Element : Woman Symbol : WO Atomic Weight : Accepted as 118, but known to vary 105-175. Discoverer : Adam Occurance : Copious quantities in all Urban areas, with slighlty lower concentrations in Suburban and Rural areas. Subject to seasonal fluctuations. Physical Properties : 1) Surface usually covered with painted film. 2) Boils at nothing, freezes without reason. 3) Melts if given special treatment. 4) Bitter if used incorrectly. Can cause headaches. Handle with care! 5) Found in various states; ranging from virgin metal to common ore. 6) Yields to pressure applied to correct points. Chemical Properties : 1) Has great affinity for Gold, Silver, Platinum and many of the Precious Stones. 2) Absorbs great quantities of expensive substances. 3) May explode spontaneously if left alone on dates. 4) Insoluble in liquids, but there is increased activity when saturated in alcohol to a certain point. 5) Repels cheap material. Neutral to common sense. 6) Most powerful money reducing agent known to Man. Uses : Highly ornamental, especially in sports cars. Can greatly improve relaxation levels. Can warm and comfort under some circumstances. Can cool things down when it's too hot. Tests : Pure specimen turns rosy pink when discovered in natural state. Turns green when placed beside a better specimen. Caution : 1) Highly dangerous except in experienced hands. Use extreme care when handling. 2) Illegal to possess more than one. C__________________________________________________________________________ There is the joke about the homeopath who forgot to take his medicine and died of an overdose. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: peabody@wam.umd.edu (Doctor Soran) Go skiing in Tellurium, Colorado Stanley Cupric's "Full Metal Jacket" The Uranium Songs: "I Get a Kick out of U" (Cole Porter) "I Can't Stay Away from U" (Gloria Estefan) Movie: "I Was a Teenage Werewolfram" Miscellaneus: The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania along with the Cobaltic States of Germany, Poland, Sweden, and Finland June 6, 1944 was the radon Normandy. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: bgnosis@isca.uiowa.edu (Billy Gnosis) Q:What does what does the Lone Ranger say to his horse? A:HIOAg, away! C__________________________________________________________________________ From: ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi) Free radicals have revolutionized chemistry. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: kkociba@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Keith J Kociba) Chemists are the *cleanest* people you'll ever meet... they wash their hands even *before* they go to the restroom! C__________________________________________________________________________ From: a94petbe@ida.his.se (Peter Bengtsson) Chemistry is really funny, there are even people who laugh at Nitrogen(I)Oxide. (You will have to know some chemistry to understand this :-) From: cgra@se.alcbel.be (Chris Gray) Or Nitrogen Triiodide??? C__________________________________________________________________________ From: wmoon@jupiter.uucp (Woo Moon) Q:What's the difference between a hormone and a vitamin? A:You can't make a vitamin.... (take your time..) C__________________________________________________________________________ From: "Lev A. Gorenstein" Anyway, I think this is a good idea. Here's my contribution. These are "crazy phrases" from some works on several Moscow city and regional high-school chemistry olympiads (I've been a member of the Organizing Committee for them for a number of years and I really miss this now). By the way, if anybody knows about similar things here in the US (and Indiana in particular) - I will be gratefull. Unfortunately, all of these citations are in Russian (obviously ;-) and, what is much worse, most of them are unexpected (for their authors) puns, which are impossible (at least for me) to translate (some of these puns were just great, all the Orginizing Committee was rolling on the floor in tears ;-). I found only several phrases allowing translation (not best pearls, unfortunately...): [For the question: "Why H2S is a poison for us?"] : "H2S reacts with the iron in hemoglobin, forming an insoluble FeS, thus causing the oxygen deficiency" (there were some variants like Fe2S, Fe2S3, Fe2S2... But - isn't it a good idea, especially taking into account that it was in the work of a 13 years old guy?) [for the question: "Why lead compounds are poisons for us?"] : a) "Lead ions make sugar in the blood poisoned" b) "After Pb2+ gets in the stomach, since there is the Cl- in the stomach juice, the reaction Pb2+ + 2Cl- ---> PbCl2 (s) occurs, and the unsoluble PbCl2 precipitates into the stomach, thus distorting food digestion" "Also the produced hydrogen is a gas with nasty smell" [At the end of the work] : "Damn, done!" "When AgNO3 reacts with NH4Cl, there forms the precipitate kind of white and Ag salt" (Everywhere I tried to translate it equivalently to it's Russian prototype, saving the grammar mistakes and style ;-) [For the problem "Find mistakes in the following procedure of preparation of diluted H2SO4: .... "] : a) For preparation of diluted (strictly - solution) sulfuric acid one must not use concentrated H2SO4. b) There is no such thing as "volumetric flask" c) The mixture of ice and table salt DOESN'T EXIST! "Ice and NaCl mixture? Crap! The ice would momentarily melt because of NaCl!" "To the sulfuric acid one must add water, but not water to sulfuric acid" [The following was on the VERY weak work (it happened that the teacher said to pupils : "You won't get a good grade unless you go to the olympiads" and sometimes there was just a bunch of people who were not interested in chemistry and had came only "to be marked good" in teacher's eyes). They were starving there, because they were unable to solve any problem, they couldn't leave because of a teacher, and they had to entertain themselves. But how? Probably the oldest way to entertain oneself is to write something nasty to somebody else (also proved by recent anonymous posting about grad. schools ;-). Ok, enough theory, I explained the joke, you may start laughing here :-) Okh, one more explanation: "pud" is an old Russian wieght unit, equals 16 kg: "Don't have enough sake to find the mass % without calculator. That is why: It's better eat a "pud" of shit, Than solve your chemistry, damn it!" (this was rhymed! We thought about making this verse an unofficial slogan of our Committee ;-) Will check in my books about any funny chem. experiments. Regards to all, would like to see other responces. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: gardner@sun.lclark.edu (Gillian Gardner) It's not original; I've seen them posted here before, but: Why do chemists like nitrates so much? They're cheaper than day rates. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: jpauer@mtu.edu (JAMES PAUER) First law of Laboratorics: Hot glass and cold glass look alike! C__________________________________________________________________________ From: jpark@eis.calstate.edu (John Park) From: flatter@rose-hulman.edu (Neil Flatter) What does one do with a dead body? Barium They should have seen the doctor first, he'd Curium. Perhaps with a housplant, a Germanium. And if they stole it, the police would Cesium. Locked up for life, in Irons. They would go crazy in jail, a Silicon. Maybe their into plastic surgery. What does the surgeon do for low cheeks, Lithium. To large gashes? Sodium. Tooth in water glass is a one molar soln. Like BaNa2, name IOAg. I O Silver. Rabbit like paired electrons on an ether, ether bunny. And your aunt Ester and her husband Al K Hall. From: nuke@netcom.com (Bill Newcomb) With music by Al D. Hyde and the Ace Tones... Where does one put the dishes? Zinc What does one do if one can't zwim? Zinc Name BaNa2. banana Draw a 1,4 compound of benzene with two dice. Name it. Paradice Also done w/ MD for paramedic Done as 1,2 w/ DDS for orthodontist. 1,3 and physics, metaphysics. Draw benzene with a Mercedes symbol single bonded to the uppermost carbon. Name it. Mercedes benzene. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: bill.considine@execnet.com (BILL CONSIDINE) From C&E News (1/9/95 p.48): What's a cation afraid of? A dogion! C__________________________________________________________________________ From: naight@MCS.COM (Nathan Parker) Remember that without t Chemistry, Nothing would exist! C__________________________________________________________________________ From: lanzi@inland.com Q:What do you get when you combine [insert a person] with O2? A:Oxymoron C__________________________________________________________________________ From: http://www.circus.com/~no_dhmo/ BAN DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE! THE INVISIBLE KILLER Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means certain death. Dihydrogen monoxide: * is also known as hydric acid, and is the major component of acid rain. * contributes to the "greenhouse effect." * may cause severe burns. * contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape. * accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals. * may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes. * has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients. CONTAMINATION IS REACHING EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS! Quantities of dihydrogen monoxide have been found in almost every stream, lake, and reservoir in America today. But the pollution is global, and the contaminant has even been found in Antarctic ice. In the midwest alone DHMO has caused millions of dollars of property damage. Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used: * as an industrial solvent and coolant. * in nuclear power plants. * in the production of styrofoam. * as a fire retardant. * in many forms of cruel animal research. * in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical. * as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products. Companies dump waste DHMO into rivers and the ocean, and nothing can be done to stop them because this practice is still legal. The impact on wildlife is extreme, and we cannot afford to ignore it any longer! THE HORROR MUST BE STOPPED! The American government has refused to ban the production, distribution, or use of this damaging chemical due to its "importance to the economic health of this nation." In fact, the navy and other military organizations are conducting experiments with DHMO, and designing multi-billion dollar devices to control and utilize it during warfare situations. Hundreds of military research facilities receive tons of it through a highly sophisticated underground distribution network. Many store large quantities for later use. IT'S NOT TOO LATE! Act NOW to prevent further contamination. Find out more about this dangerous chemical. What you don't know CAN hurt you and others throughout the world. Send email to no_dhmo@circus.com, or a SASE to: Coalition to Ban DHMO 211 Pearl St. Santa Cruz CA, 95060 *C__________________________________________________________________________ From: Brian McClain How many physical chemists does it take to wash a beaker? None. That's what organic chemists are for! *C_________________________________________________________________________ From: kab4242@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu (Kevin Anthony Boudreaux) It is disconcerting to reflect on the number of students we have flunked in chemistry for not knowing what we later found to be untrue. --quoted in Robert L. Weber, Science With a Smile (1992) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =4.1 POETRY C__________________________________________________________________________ David Smillie: Little Willie was a chemist. Little Willie is no more. For what he thought was H2O, Was H2SO4. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: hjiwa@nor.chevron.com Canonical List Of Holiday Humor From: grandish@kits.sfu.ca (Gavin Lee Grandish) Chemistry Christmas Carols 1. The Chemistry Teacher's Coming To Town 2. I'm Dreaming Of A White Precipitate 3. Silent Labs 4. Deck The Labs 5. The Twelve Days Of Chemistry 6. Test Tubes Bubbling 7. O Little Melting Particle 8. We Wish You A Happy Halogen 9. Chemistry Wonderland 10. I Saw Teacher Kissing Santa Chlorine 11. O Come All Ye Gases 12. We Three Students Of Chemistry Are 13. Iron The Red Atom Molecule 14. Lab Reports 15. Silver nitrate 1. The Chemistry Teacher's Coming to Town You better not weigh You better not heat You better not react I'm telling you now The Chemistry Teacher's coming to town. He's collecting data He's checking it twice He's gonna find out The heat of melting ice The Chemistry Teacher's coming to town. He sees you when you're decanting He knows when you titrate He knows when you are safe or not So wear goggles for goodness sake. Oh, you better not filter And drink your filtrate You better not be careless and spill your precipitate. The Chemistry Teacher's coming to town. 2. I'm Dreaming of a White Precipitate I'm dreaming of a white precipitate just like the ones I used to make Where the colors are vivid and the chemist is livid to see impurities in the snow. I'm dreaming of a white precipitate with every chemistry test I write May your equations be balanced and right and may all your reactions be bright. 3. Silent Labs Silent labs, difficult labs All with math, all with graphs Observations of colors and smells Calculations and graph curves like bells Memories of tests that have past Oh, how long will chemistry last? Silent labs, difficult labs All with math, all with graphs Lots of equations that need balancing Gas pressure problems that make my head ring Santa Chlorine's on his way Oh, Please Santa bring me an 'A'. 4. Deck the Labs Deck the labs with rubber tubing Fa la la la la, la la la la. Use your funnel and your filter Fa la la la la, la la la la. Don we now our goggles and aprons Fa la la la la, la la la la. Before we go to our lab stations Fa la la la la, la la la la. Fill the beakers with solutions Fa la la la la, la la la la. Mix solutions for reactions Fa la la la la, la la la la. Watch we now for observations Fa la la la la, la la la la. So we can collect our data Fa la la la la, la la la la. 5. The Twelve Days of Chemistry On the first day of chemistry My teacher gave to me A candle from Chem Study. (second day) two asbestos pads (third day) three little beakers (fourth day) four work sheets (fifth day) five golden moles (sixth day) six flaming test tubes (seventh day) seven unknown samples (eighth day) eight homework problems (ninth day) nine grams of salt (tenth day) a ten page test (eleventh day) eleven molecules (twelfth day) a twelve point quiz 6. Test Tubes Bubbling (to the tune of "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire") Test tubes bubbling in a water bath Strong smells nipping at ypur nose. Tiny molecules with their atoms all aglow Will find it hard to be inert tonight. They know that Chlorine's on its way He's loaded lots of little electrons on his sleigh And every student's slide rule is on the sly To see if the teacher really can multiply. And so I offer you this simple phrase To chemistry students in this room Although it's been said many times, many ways Merry molecules to you. 7. O Little Melting Particle (to the tune of "O Little Town Of Bethlehem") Para Dichloro Benzene how do you melt so well? The plateau of your cooling curve is really something swell. We think the heat of fusion of water is so nice Give up fourteen hundred cals per mole and what you get is ice. 8. We Wish You a Happy Halogen We wish you a happy halogen We wish you a happy halogen We wish you a happy halogen To react with a metal. Good acid we bring to you and your base. We wish you a merry molecule and a happy halogen. 9. Chemistry Wonderland Gases explode, are you listenin' In your rest tube, silver glistens A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight Walking in a chemistry wonderland. Gone away, is the buoyancy Here to stay, is the density A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight Walking in a chemistry wonderland. In the beaker we will make lead carbonate and decide if what's left is nitrate My partner asks "Do we measure it in moles or grams?" and I'll say, "Does it matter in the end?" Later on, as we calculate the amount, of our nitrate We'll face unafraid, the precipitates that we made walking in a chemistry wonderland. 10. I Saw Teacher Kissing Santa Chlorine I saw teacher kissing Santa Chlorine under the chemistree last night They didn't sneak me down the periodic chart to take a peek At all the atoms reacting in their beakers; it was neat. And I saw teacher kissing Santa Chlorine under the chemistree so bright Oh what a reaction there would have been if the principal had walked in With teacher kissing Santa Chlorine last night. 11. O Come All Ye Gases O Come all yea gases diatomic wonders O come yea, o come yea calls Avogadro. O come yea in moles 6 x 10 to the 23rd O molar mass and molecules O volume, pressure and temperature O molar volume of gases at S.T.P. 12. We Three Students Of Chemistry Are We three students of chemistry are taking tests that we think are hard Stoichiometry, volumes and densities worrying all the time. O room of wonder room of fright Room of thermites blinding light: With your energies please don't burn us Help us get our labs all right. 13. Iron the Red Atom Molecule (to the tune of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer") There was Cobalt and Argon and Carbon and Fluorine Silver and Boron and Neon and Bromine But do you recall the most famous element of all? Iron the red atom molecule had a very shiny orbital And if you ever saw him You'd enjoy his magnetic glow All of the other molecules used to laugh and call him Ferrum They never let poor Iron join in any reaction games. Then one inert Chemistry eve Santa came to say Iron with your orbital so bright won't you catalyze the reaction tonight? Then how the atoms reacted and combined in twos and threes Iron the red atom molecule you'll go down in Chemistry! 14. Lab Reports (to the tune of "Jingle Bells") Dashing through the lab with a tan page lab report Taking all those tests and laughing at them all Bells for fire drills ring making spirits bright What fun it is to laugh and sing a chemistry song tonight. Oh, lab report, lab reports, reacting all the way Oh what fun it is to study for a chemistry test today, Hey! Chemistry test, chemistry test isn't it a blast Oh what fun it is to take a chemistry test and pass. 15. Silver Nitrate (to the tune of "Silver Bells") Silver nitrate, silver nitrate it's chemistry time in the lab Ding-a-ling, with a copper ring soon it will be chemistry day. Take your nitrate, in solution Add your copper with style In the beaker there's a feeling of reactions silver forming, blue solution Bringing ooh's ah's and wows now the data procesing begins. Get the mass, change to moles what is the ratio with copper? Write an equation, balance it we're glad it's Chemistry Day. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =4.2 QUOTES *C_________________________________________________________________________ From: kab4242@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu (Kevin Anthony Boudreaux) It is disconcerting to reflect on the number of students we have flunked in chemistry for not knowing what we later found to be untrue. --quoted in Robert L. Weber, Science With a Smile (1992) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -- Joachim Verhagen Email:J.C.D.Verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Department of molecular biofysics, University of Utrecht Utrecht, The Netherlands. From verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Wed Apr 26 07:50:19 1995 Newsgroups: rec.humor,sci.math,sci.physics,sci.chem Path: ronneby.hk-r.se!news.lu.se!news.lth.se!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.kth.se!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!sun4nl!cs.ruu.nl!tijger.fys.ruu.nl!verhagen From: verhagen@fys.ruu.nl (Joachim Verhagen) Subject: science jokes (6/8) X-Nntp-Posting-Host: ruunat.fys.ruu.nl Message-ID: Sender: usenet@fys.ruu.nl (News system Tijgertje) Organization: Physics and Astronomy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #3 (NOV) Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 13:40:23 GMT Lines: 1604 Xref: ronneby.hk-r.se rec.humor:105748 sci.math:72230 sci.physics:84745 sci.chem:30275 =5. MISCELLANY MPA________________________________________________________________________ Problem: To Catch a Lion in the Sahara Desert. (Hunting lions in Africa was originally published as "A contribution to the mathematical theory of big game hunting" in the American Mathematical Monthly in 1938 by "H. Petard, of Princeton NJ" [actually the late Ralph Boas]. It has been reprinted several times. 1. Mathematical Methods 1.1 The Hilbert (axiomatic) method We place a locked cage onto a given point in the desert. After that we introduce the following logical system: Axiom 1: The set of lions in the Sahara is not empty. Axiom 2: If there exists a lion in the Sahara, then there exists a lion in the cage. Procedure: If P is a theorem, and if the following is holds: "P implies Q", then Q is a theorem. Theorem 1: There exists a lion in the cage. 1.2 The geometrical inversion method We place a spherical cage in the desert, enter it and lock it from inside. Case 1: The lion is inside the cage. This case is trivial. Case 2: The lion is outside the cage. We then perform an inversion with respect to the cage. Then the lion is inside the cage, and we are outside. Warning: With this method, it is important not to stand in the middle of the cage, as one will disappear in the infinite. 1.3 The projective geometry method Without loss of generality, we can view the desert as a plane surface. We project the surface onto a line and afterwards the line onto an interior point of the cage. Thereby the lion is mapped onto that same point. 1.4 The Bolzano-Weierstrass method Divide the desert by a line running from north to south. The lion is then either in the eastern or in the western part. Let's assume it is in the eastern part. Divide this part by a line running from east to west. The lion is either in the northern or in the southern part. Let's assume it is in the northern part. We can continue this process arbitrarily and thereby constructing with each step an increasingly narrow fence around the selected area. The diameter of the chosen partitions converges to zero so that the lion is caged into a fence of arbitrarily small diameter. Warning: With this method take care that the beautifull skin of the lion is not damaged. 1.5 The set theoretical method We observe that the desert is a separable space. It therefore contains an enumerable dense set of points which constitutes a sequence with the lion as its limit. With a cage on our backs, we jump from point to point of this sequence an so approach the lion as near as we like. 1.6 The Peano method In the usual way construct a curve containing every point in the desert. It has been proven [1] that such a curve can be traversed in arbitrarily short time. Now we traverse the curve, carrying a spear, in a time less than what it takes the lion to move a distance equal to its own length. 1.7 A topological method We observe that the lion possesses the topological gender of a torus. We embed the desert in a four dimensional space. Then it is possible to apply a deformation [2] of such a kind that the lion when returning to the three dimensional space is all tied up in itself. It is then completely helpless. 1.8 The Cauchy method We examine a lion-valued function f(z). Be \zeta the cage. Consider the integral 1 [ f(z) ------- I --------- dz 2 \pi i ] z - \zeta C where C represents the boundary of the desert. Its value is f(zeta), i.e. there is a lion in the cage [3]. 1.9 The Wiener-Tauber method We obtain a tame lion, L_0, from the class L(-\infinity,\infinity), whose fourier transform vanishes nowhere. We put this lion somewhere in the desert. L_0 then converges toward our cage. According to the general Wiener-Tauner theorem [4] every other lion L will converge toward the same cage. (Alternatively we can approximate L arbitrarily close by translating L_0 through the desert [5].) From: chohn@vub.ac.be (Ohn Christian) 1.10 The Mathematical Induction method Consider, for each n, the following statement: P(n) : 'It is possible to catch n lions in the desert.' Of course, P(n) is true for large enough n, because the lions are then so tightly packed together that it is easy to catch them. But now, P(n) implies P(n-1) ('cause if you catch some lions, you can always release one of them). Hence, P(1) is true. 1.11 The Banachsche or iterative method Let f be a contraction of the Sahara in it with contraction point x_0. On this point we put the cage. By successive iteration W(n+1)= f(W(n)), n=,1,2,..... (W(0)=Sahara) the Sahara will be contracted to X_0. In this way the lion will get in the cage. 2 Theoretical Physics Methods 2.1 The Dirac method We assert that wild lions can ipso facto not be observed in the Sahara desert. Therefore, if there are any lions at all in the desert, they are tame. We leave catching a tame lion as an exercise to the reader. 2.2 The Schroedinger method At every instant there is a non-zero probability of the lion being in the cage. Sit and wait. 2.3 The Quantum Measurement Method We assume that the sex of the lion is _ab initio_ indeterminate. The wave function for the lion is hence a superposition of the gender eigenstate for a lion and that for a lioness. We lay these eigenstates out flat on the ground and orthogonal to each other. Since the (male) lion has a distinctive mane, the measurement of sex can safely be made >from a distance, using binoculars. The lion then collapses into one of the eigenstates, which is rolled up and placed inside the cage. 2.4 The nuclear physics method Insert a tame lion into the cage and apply a Majorana exchange operator [6] on it and a wild lion. As a variant let us assume that we would like to catch (for argument's sake) a male lion. We insert a tame female lion into the cage and apply the Heisenberg exchange operator [7], exchanging spins. 2.5 The Newton method Cage and lion attract each other with the gravitation force. We neglect the friction. This way the lion will arive sooner or later in the cage. 2.6 The Special relativistic method One moves over the desert with light velocity. The relativistic length contraction makes the lion flat as paper. One takes it, rolls it up and puts a rubber band around the lion. 2.8 The general relativistic method All over the desert we distribute lion bait containing large amounts of the companion star of Sirius. After enough of the bait has been eaten we send a beam of light through the desert. This will curl around the lion so it gets all confused and can be approached without danger. 2.9 The Heisenberg method Position and Velocity from a moving lion can not be measure at the same time. As moving lions have no physical meaningfull position in the desert, one can not catch them. The lion hunt can therefore be limited to resting lions. The catching of a resting, not moving lion is left as an exercise for the reader. 3 Experimental Physics Methods 3.1 The thermodynamics method We construct a semi-permeable membrane which lets everything but lions pass through. This we drag across the desert. 3.2 The atomic fission method We irradiate the desert with slow neutrons. The lion becomes radioactive and starts to disintegrate. Once the disintegration process is progressed far enough the lion will be unable to resist. 3.3 The magneto-optical method We plant a large, lense shaped field with cat mint (nepeta cataria) such that its axis is parallel to the direction of the horizontal component of the earth's magnetic field. We put the cage in one of the field's foci . Throughout the desert we distribute large amounts of magnetized spinach (spinacia oleracea) which has, as everybody knows, a high iron content. The spinach is eaten by vegetarian desert inhabitants which in turn are eaten by the lions. Afterwards the lions are oriented parallel to the earth's magnetic field and the resulting lion beam is focussed on the cage by the cat mint lense. [1] After Hilbert, cf. E. W. Hobson, "The Theory of Functions of a Real Variable and the Theory of Fourier's Series" (1927), vol. 1, pp 456-457 [2] H. Seifert and W. Threlfall, "Lehrbuch der Topologie" (1934), pp 2-3 [3] According to the Picard theorem (W. F. Osgood, Lehrbuch der Funktionentheorie, vol 1 (1928), p 178) it is possible to catch every lion except for at most one. [4] N. Wiener, "The Fourier Integral and Certain of its Applications" (1933), pp 73-74 [5] N. Wiener, ibid, p 89 [6] cf e.g. H. A. Bethe and R. F. Bacher, "Reviews of Modern Physics", 8 (1936), pp 82-229, esp. pp 106-107 [7] ibid 4 Contributions from Computer Science. 4.1 The search method We assume that the lion is most likely to be found in the direction to the north of the point where we are standing. Therefore the REAL problem we have is that of speed, since we are only using a PC to solve the problem. 4.2 The parallel search method. By using parallelism we will be able to search in the direction to the north much faster than earlier. 4.3 The Monte-Carlo method. We pick a random number indexing the space we search. By excluding neighboring points in the search, we can drastically reduce the number of points we need to consider. The lion will according to probability appear sooner or later. 4.4 The practical approach. We see a rabbit very close to us. Since it is already dead, it is particularly easy to catch. We therefore catch it and call it a lion. 4.5 The common language approach. If only everyone used ADA/Common Lisp/Prolog, this problem would be trivial to solve. 4.6 The standard approach. We know what a Lion is from ISO 4711/X.123. Since CCITT have specified a Lion to be a particular option of a cat we will have to wait for a harmonized standard to appear. $20,000,000 have been funded for initial investigations into this standard development. 4.7 Linear search. Stand in the top left hand corner of the Sahara Desert. Take one step east. Repeat until you have found the lion, or you reach the right hand edge. If you reach the right hand edge, take one step southwards, and proceed towards the left hand edge. When you finally reach the lion, put it the cage. If the lion should happen to eat you before you manage to get it in the cage, press the reset button, and try again. 4.8 The Dijkstra approach: The way the problem reached me was: catch a wild lion in the Sahara Desert. Another way of stating the problem is: Axiom 1: Sahara elem deserts Axiom 2: Lion elem Sahara Axiom 3: NOT(Lion elem cage) We observe the following invariant: P1: C(L) v not(C(L)) where C(L) means: the value of "L" is in the cage. Establishing C initially is trivially accomplished with the statement ;cage := {} Note 0: This is easily implemented by opening the door to the cage and shaking out any lions that happen to be there initially. (End of note 0.) The obvious program structure is then: ;cage:={} ;do NOT (C(L)) -> ;"approach lion under invariance of P1" ;if P(L) -> ;"insert lion in cage" [] not P(L) -> ;skip ;fi ;od where P(L) means: the value of L is within arm's reach. Note 1: Axiom 2 ensures that the loop terminates. (End of note 1.) Exercise 0: Refine the step "Approach lion under invariance of P1". (End of exercise 0.) Note 2: The program is robust in the sense that it will lead to abortion if the value of L is "lioness". (End of note 2.) Remark 0: This may be a new sense of the word "robust" for you. (End of remark 0.) Note 3: >From observation we can see that the above program leads to the desired goal. It goes without saying that we therefore do not have to run it. (End of note 3.) (End of approach.) For other articles, see also: A Random Walk in Science - R.L. Weber and E. Mendoza More Random Walks In Science - R.L. Weber and E. Mendoza In Mathematical Circles (2 volumes) - Howard Eves Mathematical Circles Revisited - Howard Eves Mathematical Circles Squared - Howard Eves Fantasia Mathematica - Clifton Fadiman The Mathematical Magpi - Clifton Fadiman Seven Years of Manifold - Jaworski The Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results - George H. Scheer Mathematics Made Difficult - Linderholm A Stress-Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown - Robert Baker The Worm-Runners Digest Knuth's April 1984 CACM article on The Space Complexity of Songs Stolfi and ?? SIGACT article on Pessimal Algorithms and Simplexity Analysis MPA________________________________________________________________________ From: mstueben@pen.k12.va.us (Michael A. Stueben) & From: sm@wf-hh.sh.sub.de (Stefan Mohr) ASSIGNMENT: Obtain an elephant from Africa. PHYSICIST: Starting on the west coast, he searches north- to-south and south-to-north slowly moving east. He inspects all gray animals keeping the first one that weighs the same as a known adult elephant plus-or-minus 500 pounds. MATHEMATICIAN: Starting in the center he moves in an elliptical spiral (with major axis oriented north-to-south) removing all non-elephants keeping whatever is left. EXPERIENCED MATHEMATICAN: Same as unexperienced mathematican, except that he first tries to proof there is at least one unabiguous elephant before he starts with the search. MATHEMATICS PROFESSOR: Same as experienced mathematican, except that he leaves the actual searching and catching of the elephant to his students. COMPUTER SCIENTIST: First he notes that there are two kinds of elephants (African and Indian) and requests more detailed specifications as to which elephant is desired to be captured. Then he searches east-to-west and west- to-east starting from the southern tip and moving north. He stops only when encountering and capturing an animal whose description matches the American Zoological Society's classification of the type of elephant he is seeking. EXPERIENCED COMPUTER SCIENTIST: Same as inexperienced computer scientist, except that he places a known elephant in Cairo to guarantee that the algorithm terminates. ( The way I teach the insertion sort is to first locate the smallest element and then to swap it into first place. Why? So that the insertion algorithm must terminate before reaching the non-existent zeroth position. I like to tell this joke just before I teach the insertion sort. -Michael A. Stueben) ASSEMBLER PROGRAMMER: Same as experienced computer scientist, except that he prefers to do it on his hand and knees. SQL PROGRAMMER: Uses the following expression: SELECT elephant FROM Africa. ECONOMIST: He hunts no elephants, but believes that the elephants would deliver themselves if payed enough. STATISTICAN: hunts the first animal he sees n times and calls it elephant. ECONOMICAL ADVISER: He hunts no elephants and has never hunted anything at all. You can hire them by the hour to give good advice. SYSTEM ANALYSER: Is theoretically capable of calculating the the correlation between hat size and hit quote, if somebody would tell them what an elephant is. ___________________________________________________________________________ A theory is something nobody believes, except the person who made it. An experiment is something everybody believes, except the person who made it. PCB________________________________________________________________________ If it moves it is biology, if it stinks it is chemistry and if it does not work it is physics. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: labonnes@csc.albany.edu (S. LaBonne) POSITIVE, adj. Mistaken at the top of one's voice. -Bierce --------------------------------units and dimensions------------- 2 monograms 1 diagram 8 nickles 2 paradigms 2 wharves 1 paradox 10E5 bicycles 2 megacycles 1 unit of suspense in an Agatha Christie novel 1 whod unit fbecker@dtic.dla.mil (Francoise Becker) writes: 10**12 microphones = 1 megaphone 3 1/3 tridents = 1 decadent 10**21 picolos = 1 gigolo 1 milli-Helen = the amount of beauty required to launch 1 ship From: weitzen@temp10.physics.uiuc.edu (Scott Weitzenhoffer) From: BUTTHEAD@TRASHCAN.ESCAPE.DE (Matthias Grohmann) 2000 mockingbirds = 2 kilomockingbirds = 10 meal-units in Italy ___________________________________________________________________________ PROOF METHODS WIPE-METHOD: One wipes the blackboard, immediately after writing. (write to the right, wipe to the left.) METHOD OF EXACT DESCRIPTION: Let p be a point q, that we will call r. PREHISTORIC METHOD: Somebody has once proven this. AUTHORITY BELIEVE METHOD: That must be right. It stands in Forster. AUTHORITY CRITICAL METHOD: That must be wrong. It stands in Jaenich. COGNITION PHILOSOPHY, METHOD 1: I recognized the problem! COGNITION PHILOSOPHY, METHOD 2: I believe, I recognized the probelm! PACIFISTIC METHOD: Thus, before we fight about it, let's just believe it COMMUNICATIVE METHOD: Does anybody of you know it? KAPITALISTIC METHOD: The profit is maximal, if we do not proof anything, because that costs the leasts pieces of chalk. COMMUNISTIC METHOD: We proof it together. Everybody writes a line and the result is government property. NUMERICAL METHOD: Roughly rounded, it is correct. SMART GUYS METHOD: We do not proof that now. Anyway, it is to complicated for the physicists. TIMELESS METHOD: We proof so long till nobody knows wether the proof is ended or not. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: tsvetova@femto.cs.umn.edu (Maksim B. Tsvetovatyy) In a high-level math class a prof gave a final with one question: "Write a suitable final exam for this class (also supply a key)". A student simply repeated the question and added "If this final exam is good anough for prof. , it's good enough for me" ___________________________________________________________________________ From:BRIAN6@VAXC.MDX.AC.UK (who has a lightbulb collection) Q: How many scientists does it take to change a light bulb? A: None. They use them as controls in double blind trials. Q: How many academics does it take to change a lightbulb ? A: None. That's what research students are for. A: Five: One to write the grant proposal, one to do the mathematical modelling, one to type the research paper, one to submit the paper for publishing, and one to hire a student to do the work. Q: How many academics does it take to change a lightbulb ? A: None. That's what research students are for. A: Five: One to write the grant proposal, one to do the mathematical modelling, one to type the research paper, one to submit the paper for publishing, and one to hire a student to do the work. Q: How many laboratory heads (senior researchers, etc.) does it take to change a lightbulb? A: Five; one to change the lightbulb, the other four to stand around arguing whether he/she is taking the right approach. Q: How many research technicians does it take to change a lightbulb? A: One, but it'll probably take him/her three or four tries to get it right. Q: How many post-doctoral fellows does it take to change a lightbulb? A: One, but it'll probably take three or four tries to get it right because he/she will probably give it to the technician to do. Q: How many graduate students does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: Only one, but it may take upwards of five years for him to get it done. A: It all depends on the size of the grant. A: Two and a professor to take credit. A: 1/100. A graduate student needs to change 100 lightbulbs a day. A: I don't know, but make my stipend tax-free, give my advisor a $100,000 grant of the taxpayer's money, and I'm sure he can tell me how to do the work for him so he can take the credit for answering this incredibly vital question. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Chris Morton (mortoncp@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu) do it collection Scientists do it experimentally. Scientists do it with plenty of research. Scientists discovered it. Graduates do it by degrees. Professors do it by the book. Professors do it with class. Professors forget to do it. Research professors do it only if they get grants. Researchers are still looking for it. Researchers do it with control. B__________________________________________________________________________ "Biology is the only science in which multiplication means the same thing as division." B__________________________________________________________________________ Q: How many company biotechnologists does it take to change a light bulb? A: Four; one to write the proposal, one to design the bulb-changer, one to design the bulb-fetcher, and one to design the bulb. Q: How many freelance biotechnologists does it take to change a light bulb? A: One; he designs the bulb to crawl up the wall, unscrew the old one and screw itself in. Q: How many evolutionists does it take to change a light bulb? A: Only one, but it takes eight million years. B__________________________________________________________________________ From: Chris Morton (mortoncp@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu) do it collection Biologists do it with clones. Molecular biologists do it with hot probes. Zoologists do it with animals. Genetists do it with sick genes. B__________________________________________________________________________ Do molecular biologists wear designer genes? B__________________________________________________________________________ From: David Smillie: A little neurological put down: You've only got two neurons--and one of them's inhibitory. B__________________________________________________________________________ Drew's Law of Highway Biology: The first bug to hit a clean windshield lands directly in front of your eyes. B__________________________________________________________________________ Enzymes are things invented by biologists that explain things which otherwise require harder thinking. -- Jerome Lettvin B__________________________________________________________________________ From: johnston@mhc.uiuc.edu (SJANNA JOHNSTON) Biology exam: Create life . Justify your answer. B__________________________________________________________________________ THE HARVARD LAW Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables the organism will do as it damn well pleases. B__________________________________________________________________________ From: Tim.Nelson@Canada.ATTGIS.COM (list of Old * Never Die, they just) OLD BIOLOGISTS never die, they just ferment away B__________________________________________________________________________ From: joeshmoe@world.std.com (Jascha Franklin-Hodge) (List of Taglines) Life is a sexually transmitted disease Life is anything that dies when you stomp it! Support bacteria - it's the only culture some people have! Thesaurus: ancient reptile with an excellent vocabulary. PB_________________________________________________________________________ From: gt4495c@prism.gatech.edu (Giannhs) Physics-envy is the curse of biology. -- Joel Cohen ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Chris Morton (mortoncp@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu) do it collection Geographers do it globally. Geologists are great explorers. Geologists do it eruptively, with glow, and always smoke afterwards. Geologists do it in folded beds. Geologists do it to get their rocks off. Geologists know how to make the bedrock. ___________________________________________________________________________ Why did the chicken cross the road? Darwin: It was the logical next step after coming down from the trees. Rene Descartes: It had sufficient reason to believe it was dreaming anyway. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: lozinski@netcom.com (Joe Cool) MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY FOR THE LAYMAN Artery------------------------The study of fine paintings. Barium------------------------What you do when CPR fails. Cesarean Section--------------A district in Rome. Colic-------------------------A sheep dog. Coma--------------------------A punctuation mark. Congenital--------------------Friendly. Dilate------------------------To live long. Fester------------------------Quicker. GI Series---------------------Baseball game between teams of soldiers. Grippe------------------------A suitcase. Hangnail----------------------A coat hook. Medical staff-----------------A doctor's cane. Minor operation---------------Coal digging. Morbid------------------------A higher offer. Nitrate-----------------------Lower than the day rate. Node--------------------------Was aware of. Organic-----------------------Church musician. Outpatient--------------------Person who has fainted. Post-operative----------------A letter carrier. Protein-----------------------In favor of young people. Secretion---------------------Hiding anything. Serology----------------------Study of English knighthood. Tablet-------------------------A small table. Tumor-------------------------An extra pair. Urine-------------------------Opposite of you're out. Varicose veins----------------Veins which are very close together. Benign------------------------What you be after you be eight. ___________________________________________________________________________ Fourth Law of Applied Terror: The night before the English History mid-term, your Biology instructor will assign 200 pages on planaria. Corollary: Every instructor assumes that you have nothing else to do except study for that instructor's course. ___________________________________________________________________________ ACHILLES AND THE TORTOISE (Zeno's Paradox) Proof that Achilles cannot overtake a tortoise which has a lead. By the time that Achilles has reached the tortoise's point of departure the tortoise has retreated. Achilles then has to cover that extra distance but finds the tortoise has retreated farther. He covers that only to find that the tortoise is not there. And so on and so forth. So Achilles never reaches the tortoise. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: jcf@world.std.com (Joseph C Fineman) According to the late R. P. Feynman, an easy rule for telling which was is up is the following: point the index finger of your right hand in the direction of motion of the bus, and the thumb in the direction of motion of exiting passengers. The middle finger will point *up*. In Britain, use the left hand. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: c1prasad@watson.ibm.com (prasad) "That must be wonderful! I don't understand it at all." ___________________________________________________________________________ From: RVFT60@email.sps.mot.com (Mike Scott) The chief of a poor American Indian tribe .. no paved roads, no electricity, no indoor plumbing .. scrimped and saved and finally was able to send his eldest son to college. The lad did well, working hard for four years and finally graduating with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. Arriving home after graduation, the boy was treated to a welcoming party, complete with plenty of refreshments. Shortly after he retired to sleep, the son was awakened by a call of nature. Exiting the hut, he proceeded down the road to the outhouse, only to stumble and fall because of the lack of lights. The next day, the son decided to put his education to work. He sat down, did the calculations, and prepared construction drawings for a lighting system for the outhouse, complete with lights for the path leading thereto. It was constructed and was an immediate success. This chief's son will go down in history as the first indian to wire a head for a reservation. From: oxton@skopen.dseg.ti.com (Gail Oxton) Even earlier in history, the introduction of electricity to English castles produced the first knight lights. From: dhawkins@meaddata.com (Dan Hawkins) As I recall that job was done by Sir Bud of Light. ___________________________________________________________________________ It may be that human life is "the galaxy's way of evolving a brain." This will come as a surprise to pessimists who, contemplating humankind's destructive tendencies, may be wondering if life isn't the galaxy's way of eliminating certain planets. ___________________________________________________________________________ I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. ___________________________________________________________________________ When skating on thin ice, allow others to take the lead. There is no disgrace in learning from others, particularly when doing so avoids putting yourself in jeopardy. ___________________________________________________________________________ The upgrade path to the most powerful and satisfying computer: * Pocket calculator * Commodore Pet / Apple II / TRS 80 / Commodore 64 / Timex Sinclair (Choose any of the above) * IBM PC * Apple Macintosh * Fastest workstation of the time (HP, DEC, IBM, SGI: your choice) * Minicomputer (HP, DEC, IBM, SGI: your choice) * Mainframe (IBM, Cray, DEC: your choice) And then you reach the pinnacle of modern computing facilities: ********************************************************* ******* G R A D U A T E S T U D E N T S ******** ********************************************************* Yes, you just sit back and do all of your computing through lowly graduate students. Imagine the advantages: * Multi-processing, with as many processes as you have students. You can easily add more power by promising more desperate undergrads that they can indeed escape college through your guidance. Special student units can even handle several tasks *on*their*own*! * Full voice recognition interface. Never touch a keyboard or mouse again. Just mumble commands and they *will* be understood (or else!). * No hardware upgrades and no installation required. Every student comes complete with all hardware necessary. Never again fry a chip or $10,000 board by improper installation! Just sit that sniveling student at a desk, give it writing utensils (making sure to point out which is the dangerous end) and off it goes. * Low maintenance. Remember when that hard disk crashed in your Beta 9900, causing all of your work to go the great bit bucket in the sky? This won't happen with grad. students. All that is required is that you give them a good *whack!* upside the head when they are acting up, and they will run good as new. * Abuse module. Imagine yelling expletives at your computer. Doesn't work too well, because your machine just sits there and ignores you. Through the grad student abuse module you can put the fear of god in them, and get results to boot! * Built-in lifetime. Remember that awful feeling two years after you bought your GigaPlutz mainframe when the new faculty member on the block sneered at you because his FeelyWup workstation could compute rings around your dinosaur? This doesn't happen with grad. students. When they start wearing and losing productivity, simply give them the PhD and boot them out onto the street to fend for themselves. Out of sight, out of mind! * Cheap fuel: students run on Coca Cola (or the high-octane equivalent -- Jolt Cola) and typically consume hot spicy chinese dishes, cheap taco substitutes, or completely synthetic macaroni replacements. It is entirely unnecessary to plug the student into the wall socket (although this does get them going a little faster from time to time). * Expansion options. If your grad. students don't seem to be performing too well, consider adding a handy system manager or software engineer upgrade. These guys are guaranteed to require even less than a student, and typically establish permanent residence in the computer room. You'll never know they are around! (Which you certainly can't say for an AXZ3000-69 150gigahertz space-heater sitting on your desk with its ten noisy fans....) [Note however that the engineering department still hasn't worked out some of the idiosyncratic bugs in these expansion options, such as incessant muttering at nobody in particular, occasionaly screaming at your grad. students, and posting ridiculous messages on world-wide bulletin boards.] So forget your Babbage Engines and abacuses (abaci?) and PortaBooks and DEK 666-3D's and all that other silicon garbage. The wave of the future is in wetware, so invest in graduate students today! You'll never go back! ___________________________________________________________________________ Why is the number 10 afraid of seven? -- because seven ate nine. ___________________________________________________________________________ Three mathematicians and a physicist walk into a bar. You'd think the second one would have ducked. (Ha, that quack's me up!) ___________________________________________________________________________ "The world is everywhere dense with idiots." - LFS ___________________________________________________________________________ From: north@hgl.signaal.nl (S.North) In a forest a fox bumps into a little rabbit, and says, "Hi, junior, what are you up to?" "I'm writing a dissertation on how rabbits eat foxes," said the rabbit. "Come now, friend rabbit, you know that's impossible!" "Well, follow me and I'll show you." They both go into the rabbit's dwelling and after a while the rabbit emerges with a satisfied expression on his face. Along comes a wolf. "Hello, what are we doing these days?" "I'm writing the second chapter of my thesis, on how rabbits devour wolves." "Are you crazy? Where is your academic honesty?" "Come with me and I'll show you." ...... As before, the rabbit comes out with a satisfied look on his face and this time he has a diploma in his paw. The camera pans back and into the rabbit's cave and, as everybody should have guessed by now, we see an enourmous mean-looking lion sitting next to the bloody and furry remains of the wolf and the fox. The moral of this story is: It's not the contents of your thesis that are important -- it's your PhD advisor that counts. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: mnsotn@picard.cs.wisc.edu (Christopher Bovitz) 132 THINGS (NOT) TO DO AT OR FOR YOUR THESIS DEFENSE (in no particular order) Written by Peter Dutton, Jim Lalopoulos, Alison Berube, and Jeff Cohen, grad students extrordiannaire (#1 - 101). Appended by Chris Bovitz, grad student grandioso (#102-131). (#132 from Mary C. Liles). 1) "Ladies and Gentlemen, please rise for the singing of our National Anthem..." 2) Charge 25 cents a cup for coffee. 3) "Charge the mound" when a professor beans you with a high fast question. 4) Interpretive dance. 5) "Musical accompaniment provided by..." 6) Stage your own death/suicide. 7) Lead the specators in a Wave. 8) Have a sing-a-long. 9) "You call THAT a question? How the hell did they make you a professor?" 10) "Ladies and Gentlemen, as I dim the lights, please hold hands and concentrate so that we may channel the spirit of Lord Kelvin..." 11) Have bodyguards outside the room to "discourage" certain professors from sitting in. 12) Puppet show. 13) Group prayer. 14) Animal sacrifice to the god of the Underworld. 15) Sell T-shirts to recoup the cost of copying, binding, etc. 16) "I'm sorry, I can't hear you - there's a banana in my ear!" 17) Imitate Groucho Marx. 18) Mime. 19) Hold a Tupperware party. 20) Have a bikini-clad model be in charge of changing the overheads. 21) "Everybody rhumba!!" 22) "And it would have worked if it weren't for those meddling kids..." 23) Charge a cover and check for ID. 24) "In protest of our government's systematic and brutal oppression of minorities..." 25) "Anybody else as drunk as I am?" 26) Smoke machines, dramatic lighting, pyrotechnics... 27) Use a Super Soaker to point at people. 28) Surreptitioulsy fill the room with laughing gas. 29) Door prizes and a raffle. 30) "Please phrase your question in the form of an answer..." 31) "And now, a word from our sponsor..." 32) Present your entire talk in iambic pentameter. 33) Whine piteously, beg, cry... 34) Switch halfway through your talk to Pig Latin. Or Finnish Pig Latin. 35) The Emperor's New Slides ("only fools can't see the writing...") 36) Table dance (you or an exotic dancer). 37) Fashion show. 38) "Yo, a smooth shout out to my homies..." 39) "I'd like to thank the Academy..." 40) Minstrel show (blackface, etc.). 41) Previews, cartoons, and the Jimmy Fund. 42) Pass the collection basket. 43) Two-drink minimum. 44) Black tie only. 45) "Which reminds me of a story - A Black guy, a Chinese guy, and a Jew walked into a bar..." 46) Incite a revolt. 47) Hire the Goodyear Blimp to circle the building. 48) Release a flock of doves. 49) Defense by proxy. 50) "And now a reading from the Book of Mormon..." 51) Leave Jehovah's Witness pamphlets scattered about. 52) "There will be a short quiz after my presentation..." 53) "Professor Robinson, will you marry me?" 54) Bring your pet boa. 55) Tell ghost stories. 56) Do a "show and tell". 57) Food fight. 58) Challenge a professor to a duel. Slapping him with a glove is optional. 59) Halftime show. 60) "Duck, duck, duck, duck... GOOSE!" 61) "OK - which one of you farted?" 62) Rimshot. 63) Sell those big foam "We're number #1 (sic)" hands. 64) Pass out souvenier matchbooks. 65) 3-ring defense. 66) "Tag - you're it!" 67) Circulate a vicious rumor that the Dead will be opening, making sure that it gets on the radio stations, and escape during all the commotion. 68) Post signs: "Due to a computer error at the Registrar's Office, the original room is not available, and the defense has been relocated to (Made-up non-existent room number)" 69) Hang a pinata over the table and have a strolling mariachi band. 70) Make each professor remove an item of clothing for each question he asks. 71) Rent a billboard on the highway proclaiming "Thanks for passing me Professors X,Y, and Z" - BEFORE your defense happens. 72) Have a make-your-own-sundae table. 73) Make committee members wear silly hats. 74) Simulate your experiment with a virtual reality system for the spectators. 75) Do a soft-shoe routine. 76) Throw a masquerade defense, complete with bobbing for apples and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. 77) Use a Greek Chorus to highlight important points. 78) "The responsorial psalm can be found on page 124 of the thesis..." 79) Tap dance. 80) Vaudeville. 81) "I'm sorry Professor Smith, I didn't say 'SIMON SAYS any questions?'. You're out." 82) Flex and show off those massive pecs. 83) Dress in top hat and tails. 84) Hold a pre-defense pep rally, complete with cheerleaders, pep band, and a bonfire. 85) Detonate a small nuclear device in the room. Or threaten to. 86) Shadow puppets. 87) Show slides of your last vacation. 88) Put your overheads on a film strip. Designate a professor to be in charge of turning the strip when the tape recording beeps. 89) Same as #88, but instead of a tape recorder, go around the room making a different person read the pre-written text for each picture. 90) "OK, everybody - heads down on the desk until you show me you can behave." 91) Call your advisor "sweetie". 92) Have everyone pose for a group photo. 93) Instant replay. 94) Laugh maniacally. 95) Talk with your mouth full. 96) Start speaking in tongues. 97) Explode. 98) Implode. 99) Spontaneously combust. 100) Answer every question with a question. 101) Moon everyone in the room after you are done. 102) Rearrange the chairs into a peace symbol. 103) Refer to yourself in the third person, like Julius Caesar did. 104) Mention your professor as "my helper." 105) Say that you'd like to thank a few people. Pull out the White Pages. Start reading. 106) Advertise it as "pot luck". 107) Talk in Klingonese. 108) Dress like your favorite character from "Star Trek". 109) Ask imaginary helpers to change transparencies; fly off the handle when they don't. 110) Wear a trenchcoat. And nothing else. 111) Dress in a Wild West style. 112) Go dressed in scuba gear. Use the oxygen tank. 113) Preface with the story of your life. 114) Wear a swimsuit from the opposite sex: man - wear a bikini, woman - wear trunks. 115) Have bodyguards on your sides as you talk. The bigger, the better. Have a questioner thrown out "as an example." 116) Have someone wheel in a big cake with you in it. Jump out and begin. 117) Perform your defense as a Greek tragedy, kill yourself offstage when you're done. 118) Half way through, break down. Go to your professor, curl up on his or her lap and call him or her "Mommy". Suck your thumb. 119) Suddenly develop Turret's Syndrome. 120) Suddenly develop the China Syndrome. 121) "This defense has been sponsored by the fine people at (your favorite corporation)..." 122) Secede from the U.S. Give yourself political asylum. 123) Talk in Canadianese - add an "eh" after every sentence. 124) When a professor asks you a question, argue with your imaginary twin over the final answer. 125) Videotape it ahead of time, and get someone set it up to show. Come in the back and sit there. When your tape is done, ask for questions. In person. 126) Have every person pick a "CB" handle. Enforce their usage. Talk in CB lingo. End every statement with "good buddy." End every question with "over." 127) Provide party favors. Noisy ones. 128) Frequently ask if anyone has to go to the potty. 129) Mention that you have to hurry because "Hard Copy" is on in 15 minutes. 130) Dress like your school mascot. 131) Urge your committee that if they like your defense enough to tell two friends, and then they'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on... 132) Show up in drag accompanied by the Drag Queens you met at last night's performance and proclaim your thesis presentation will instead discuss: "Blue Eyeshadow: Our Friend Or Foe?" From: smitch@alcor.concordia.ca (Sidney N. Mitchell) 132) Plead the fifth ammendment if you can't answer a question. 133) Keep your back to the committee during the presentation and defense phases. 134) Answer only questions that begin with sir and end with sir. (tell your committe this beforehand). 135) Limit the number of questions that you will allow, and then when the limit is almost reached, go into aerobics terminology... four more...three more...two more..and...rest. 136) Ignore the committee and say "I think that young man/lady at the back has a question". 137) Have your parents call your committee members repeatedly the week before your defense to tell them how expensive it is putting a child through graduate school etc. 138) At the defense, have your parents sit directly behind your committee. 139) Burp, pass gas, scratch (anywhere repeatedly), and pick your nose. E__________________________________________________________________________ From: nelsonbe@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (NELSON BRIAN EDWARD) TEN REASONS TO DATE AN ENGINEER 10. Why not? 9. They are user friendly 8. No need to call a handy man 7. Learn how to use the other buttons on your calculator 6. Homework help without the guilt 5. They will make lots of money 4. Not all of them wear dark blue jeans 3. They know how to push the right buttons 2. They understand heat-transfer 1. They are used to pulling all nighters ___________________________________________________________________________ THE SECOND BOOK OF VECTOR There dwelt in the land of Brit certain high priests who served in the temples of Elektron, which is an invisible god who darteth around in ever-decreasing circles but never into his own nucleus. And the priests of Elektron were devout men, serving no other god but he. And Elektron looked with favour upon them and rewarded them each according to his worth with divers strange gifts. To some he gave power to converse with those from afar off and to others he brought visions of strange happenings in distant lands; yeah, even of the United States cavalry in glorious Technicolor. And to certain other of his high priests Elektron gave powers of levitation, so that they walked with their feet ever- so-slightly off the ground; these dwelt in glass temples called, in the native tongue, Researchlabs or Funnifarms, which were set apart from the common people and to which entrance was denied to all, saving only those having scrips of authority from their chief priest. And these priests were called by the common people Egbonces which meaneth he who knoweth the square root of minus one. And the Egbonces were cunning at fashioning curious devices from boot-latchets and wax so that the populace were astonished and continually cried out, saying, behold, these are great wonders but of what use be they? Yet other high priests of Elektron were followers of the prophet Babbage and these were set in authority over divers machines that brought much benefit to the common people; some computed the numbers of the tribes and the taxes that each man should pay; others controlled the paycheks of these that laboured, so that each man received less than his hire, while others suggested that the inter-city chariots were tardy in arrival. And Elektron taught the high priests to feed the engines with curious symbols engraven upon tablets that they might print out likenesses of the sex-goddess Bardot devoid of her apparel, which gave satisfaction to many. And these priests likewise withdrew the hems of their garments from the common populace and, by conversing in the alien tongues of Fortran and Algol, preserved their mysteries jealously. At this time the skies were filled with heavier-than-air machines of many nations which flew with the noise of emasculated hornets and carried the peoples to and fro, even unto the ends of the earth. These machines were under the auspices of the god Hijak. And certain of the nations had air machines which could drop unpleasantness on the land beneath to discomfort the people; but certain other nations who were poor and backward and, as the saying goeth, not with it, did not possess these amenities. Thus it came to pass that the acquisition of such machines was regarded by all as an outward and visible sign that the possessor nation was emerging from savage practices and an example to others. And certain rich merchants searched diligently and redeemed many heavier-than-air machines; some from the knocker's yard; some which fell from the back of an hangar and yet others which were dislodged privily from the Science Museum. And they purposed to sell these to the heathen for many shekels of gold and at great profit. So it came to pass that the merchants sent envoys to a far country, even to the kingdom of Tsetse-Tsetse. And the envoys said unto the king of Tsetse-Tsetse, O king live for ever but put not thy money upon it. And the king answered saying, What meanest thou? Then did the envoys reply saying, Surely thou knowest that they neighbour the king of Beri- Beri hath cast covetous eyes upon thy lands and they maidens? If only thou hadst an Air Force it would cause thine adversary to wind his neck in. Then did the king beat his breast crying, Wo is me! And the envoys made reply saying Not so, O king, for it so happeneth that we can supply thee with a squadron of Bleriot Mk.Is. And thus it came to pass the king bought from the envoys for much fine gold and slept peacefully with his wives that night. Then did the envoys depart and journeyed to the neighbouring land that is called Beri-Beri. And they said to the king of Beri-Beri, O king live for ever but begin not the reading of any long novels. And the king said What meanest thou? Whereupon the envoys replied saying, Knowest thou not that they neighbour the king of Tsetse-Tsetse hath secretly purchased war-birds and purposeth to ravage thy country? At this the king went as pale as was possible and the end of the matter was that he became Commodore of a squadron of Cabbage White Mk. VIIs. And it came to pass that in Brit the god Elektron gave unto his high priests the power to fashion magick bowls which could divine the presence and movements of heavier-than-air machines even at great distances. Yeah, and not only this, for by gazing into the bowl, vessels having their business in great waters could be made to broach each other with greater certainty. And on land its magick powers enabled the Fuzz to put the finger upon all charioteers who, like their forbear Jehu, drove furiously. And the name of this new wonder was radar, which, being translated, meaneth that which worketh by suction and mirrors. And the rich merchants came unto the high priests of radar and said unto them. Lo, we have heard much of the wonders that they god Elektron hath taught thee and it seemeth that we can do a deal with profit to all. Make for us great numbers of these magick bowls, we pray thee, that we may sell them to the nations for their greater safety. Do this and we will pay thee many shekels of gold; moreover, we will pull down thy temples to the greater glory of Elektron, wherein thou shalt find all the instruments that they heart desirest. And we will clothe thee in white raiment and give thee charge over many. What sayest thou? And the high priest conferred privily and agreed among themselves that they were on to a good thing. So it came to pass that the merchants caused mighty temples to be built wherein the god Elektron might be served, both by day and night; and the high priests, for their part, devised magick bowls with ever greater cunning and these the merchants sold to whoever was in the market place. Thus it came about that both the king of Tsetse-Tsetse and the king of Beri-Beri were persuaded to buy the magick bowls with which to keep vigil each upon the other. Yeah, both primary and secondary radar had they in plenty and certain inhabitants of the two countries were trained to interpret the signs and portents which appeared upon these bowls whenever an heavier- than-air machine was drawing nigh. And behold, it came to pass that upon a certain night there was a watchman in the kingdom of Tsetse-Tsetse who was an exceeding dim lamp; moreover, when interpreting the symbols on the magick bowl, he was, as the saying is, unable to tell Squawk from Clutter. And this watchman, fearful of what he supposed he saw upon the face of the bowl, said unto himself The enemy is upon us, and thereupon smote the Panick Button. Hereupon the Bleriot Mk.Is rose (all excepting one which had broken its elastick band) and brought destruction to the sleeping land of Beri-Beri. But the Cabbage Whites, being forewarned by their magick bowls, were already riding the heavens and bringing affliction upon their neighbours. And, by morning, both countries were bathed in blood. And in the temples of Elektron there was great commotion, for the hot lines were glowing red and the artificial moons which the high priests had raised were overburdened with coloured images of the slaughter, for the delectation of the common people. And when all was accomplished, overseers from the United Nations came and wagged their heads and voted Tsetse-Tsetse and Beri-Beri into their assemblies in recognition of their emergence. V. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: ted_swift@qm.sri.com (Ted Swift) "Bring me into the company of those who seek the truth, and deliver me from those who have found it." ___________________________________________________________________________ From: sjt@xun8.sr.bham.ac.uk (James Tappin) "If all else fails--read the instructions!" ___________________________________________________________________________ From: peekstok@u.washington.edu (Anna Peekstok) PROBLEM SOLVING P R O C E S S YES ============================= NO +-----------|| Does the Darn Thing work? ||-----------+ | ============================= | V V +----------+ +---------+ +---------+ | Don't | NO | Does | +-------+ YES | Did you | | mess | +---| anyone |<------| YOU |<---------| mess | | with it! | | | know? | | MORON | | with it | +----------+ | +---------+ +-------+ +---------+ | V | YES | NO | +------+ +-----------+ | | | HIDE | V V | | IT | +--------+ +-----------+ | +------+ | YOU | YES | WILL THEY | | | +------->| POOR |<------------| CATCH YOU?| | | | |BASTARD!| +-----------+ | | | |________| | NO | | | | | | | | V V | | | +---------------+ +-----------+ | | | NO | CAN YOU BLAME | |DESTROY THE| | | +------| SOMEONE ELSE? | | EVIDENCE | | | +---------------+ +-----------+ | | | YES | | | v | | | ============================ | | +---->|| N O ||<---------+ +------------>|| P R O B L E M || ============================ __________________________________________________________________________ MURPHY'S LAWS THE PRIME AXIOM: In any field of scientific endeavor, anything that can go wrong, will. 2. If the possibility exists of several things going wrong, the one that will go wrong is the one that will do the most damage. 3. Everything will go wrong at one time. 3.1 That time is always when you least expect it. 4. If nothing can go wrong, something will. 5. Nothing is as easy as it looks. 6. Everything takes longer than you think. 7. Left to themselves, things always go from bad to worse. 8. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw. 9. Given the most inappropriate time for something to go wrong, that's when it will occur. 10. Mother Nature is a bitch. 10.1 The universe is not indifferent to intelligence, it is actively hostile to it. 11. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something. 12. If in any problem you find yourself doing an immense amount of work, the answer can be obtained by simple inspection. 13. Never make anything simple and efficient when a way can be found to make it complex and wonderful. 14. If it doesn't fit, use a bigger hammer. 15. In an instrument or device characterized by a number of plus-or-minus errors, the total error will be the sum of all the errors adding in the same direction. 16. In any given calculation, the fault will never be placed if more than one person is involved. 16.1 In any given discovery, the credit will never be properly placed if more than one person is involved. 17. All warranty and guarantee clauses become invalid upon payment of the final invoice. ___________________________________________________________________________ GLASSER'S COROLLARY If, of the seven hours you spend at work, six hours and fifty-five minutes are spent working at your desk, and the rest of the time you throw the bull with your cubicle-mate, the time at which your supervisor will walk in and ask what you're doing can be determined to within five minutes. ___________________________________________________________________________ ZYMURGY'S SEVENTH EXCEPTION TO MURPHY'S LAWS When it rains, it pours. ___________________________________________________________________________ JENKINSON'S LAW It won't work. ___________________________________________________________________________ O'TOOLE'S COMMENTARY ON MURPHY'S LAWS Murphy was an optimist. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: goble@infonaut.com (Clark Goble) As soon as you make something idiot-proof, along comes another idiot. -- Grave's Law E__________________________________________________________________________ LAWS RELATING TO DESIGN: 1. In any given price estimate, the cost of the equipment will exceed estimated expenditure by a factor of 3. 2. Dimensions will always be expressed in the least useable terms. For example, velocity will be expressed in furlongs/fortnight. 3. If the breadbox trial model functions perfectly, the finished product will not percolate. 4. In a mathematical calculation, any error that can creep in, will. It will be in the direction that will do the most damage to the calculation. 5. In any collection of data, the figures that are obviously correct, beyond all need of checking, contain the errors. 6. The probability of a dimension or value being omitted from a drawing is directly proportional to its importance. 7. In specifications, Murphy's Law supersedes Ohm's. 8. Information necessitating a change in design will be conveyed to the designer after, and only after, the plans are complete. 9. In simple cases, presenting one obvious right way vs. one obvious wrong way, it is often wiser to choose the wrong way so as to expedite subsequent revisions. 10. The more innocuous a modification appears to be, the further its influence will extend and the more plans will have to be redrawn. E__________________________________________________________________________ LAWS RELATING TO ASSEMBLY: 1. If a project requires n components, there will be n-1 components available. 2. Interchangeable parts won't. 3. Components that must not and cannot be assembled improperly will be. 4. The most delicate component will be dropped. 5. The construction and operation manual will be discarded with the packing material. The garbage truck will have picked it up five minutes before the mad dash to the rubbish can. 6. The necessity of making a major design change increases as the assembly and wiring of the unit approach completion. 7. THE LAW OF SELECTIVE GRAVITATION: A dropped tool will land where it will do the most damage. 8. A component selected at random from a group having a 99% reliability will be a member of the 1% group. 9. Tolerances will accumulate unidirectionally toward maximum difficulty of assembly. 10. The availability of a component is inversely proportional to the need for that component. 11. If a particular resistance is needed, that value will not be available. Furthermore, it cannot be developed with any series or parallel combination. 12. After an instrument has been assembled, extra components will be found on the bench. E__________________________________________________________________________ LAWS RELATING TO WIRING, TEST, AND OPERATION: 1. Any wire cut to length will be too short. 2. Milliammeters will be connected across the power source, voltmeters in series with it. 3. The probability of an error in the schematic is directly proportional to the trouble it can cause. 4. Identical units tested under identical conditions will not be identical on the final test after being buried under other components and wiring. 5. A self starting oscillator won't. 6. A crystal oscillator will oscillate at the wrong frequency -- if it oscillates at all. 7. A p-n-p transistor will be found to be an n-p-n. 8. A fail-safe circuit will destroy others. 9. If a circuit cannot fail, it will. 10. A transistor protected by a fast-acting fuse will protect the fuse by blowing first. 11. Probability of failure of a component is inversely proportional to the ease of repair or replacement. 12. A KEY RULE OF STARFLEET OPERATIONS: Some idiot has left open the number two impulse vent.(Check the position of all switches, knobs, and dials before turning on a piece of equipment. Both you and the equipment will live longer.) E__________________________________________________________________________ LAWS CONCERNING TROUBLE SHOOTING: 1. After the 24th cabinet-to-chassis screw has been removed to replace the under chassis fuse, it will be observed that the line cord plug has become disengaged from the a.c. receptacle. 2. After the 24th cabinet-to-chassis screw has been replaced, the driver tube will be found under the schematic on the bench. 3. The bleeder resistor will quit discharging the filter capacitors as the operator reaches into the power supply enclosure. ___________________________________________________________________________ ALLEN'S AXIOM When all else fails, read the directions. ___________________________________________________________________________ GUNNERSEN'S LAW The probability of a given event is inversely proportional to it's desirability. ___________________________________________________________________________ MESKIMEN'S LAW There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over. ___________________________________________________________________________ JONES'S LAW The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on. ___________________________________________________________________________ LORD FALKLAND'S RULE When it is not necessary to make a decision, it is necessary not to make a decision. ___________________________________________________________________________ GUMMIDGE'S LAW The amount of expertise varies in inverse proportion to the number of statements understood by the general public. ___________________________________________________________________________ SATTINGER'S LAW It works better if you plug it in. ___________________________________________________________________________ THE LAW OF THE PERVERSITY OF NATURE You cannot successfully determine beforehand which side of the bread to butter. ___________________________________________________________________________ ZYMURGY'S FIRST LAW OF EVOLVING SYSTEM DYNAMICS Once you open a can of worms, the only way you can recan them is to use a larger can. (Old worms never die; they just worm their way into larger cans.) ___________________________________________________________________________ OSBORN'S LAW Variables won't, constants aren't. ___________________________________________________________________________ THE SNAFU EQUATIONS 1. Given any problem containing N equations, there will be N+1 unknowns. 2. The object or bit of information most needed will be least available. 3. The device requiring service or adjustment will be least accessible. 4. In any human eneavor, once you have exhausted all possibilities and failed, there will be one solution, simple, obvious, and highly visible to everyone else. 5. Badness comes in waves. ___________________________________________________________________________ NOTEBOOK OF LAZARUS LONG (Robert A. Heinlein) Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it. If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion. Most 'scientists' are bottle washers and button sorters. The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning, while those other subjects require merely scholarship. Expertise in one field does not carry over into other fields. But experts often think so. The narrower their field of knowledge the more likely they are to think so. Natural laws have no pity. Climate is what we expect. Weather is what we get. A committee is a life form with six or more legs and no brain. ___________________________________________________________________________ 1) Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account." 2) Morton's Law: "If rats are experimented upon, they will develop cancer." 3) Epstein's Axiom: "With extremely few exceptions, nothing is worth the trouble." 4) Mathis' Rule: "It is bad luck to be superstitious." 5) Laura's Law: "No child throws up in the bathroom." 6) "If there is a opinion, facts will be found to support it." -- Judy Sproles. 7) "Rich folks get more strokes." -- Greg Beil. 8) "If A = B and B = C, then A = C except where void or prohibited by law". -- Roy Santoro. 9) Preudhomme's Law of Window Cleaning: "It's on the other side." -- Doug Preudhomme 10) "Anything that happens enough times to irritate you will happen at least once more." -- Tom Parkins 11) Slick's Three Laws of the Universe: "(1) Nothing in the known universe travels faster than a bad check. (2) A quarter-ounce of chocolate = four pounds of fat. (3) There are two types of dirt: the dark kind, which is attracted to light objects, and the light kind, which is attracted to dark objects." -- Ely Slick 12) The two laws of Frisbee: "(1) The most powerful force in the world is that of a disc straining to land under a car, just out of reach (this force is technically termed 'car suck'); (2) Never precede any maneuver by a comment more predictive than 'Watch this!'" 13) (Sam) Goldwyn's Law: "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on." 14)(Murray) Gell-Mann's Law: "Whatever isn't forbidden is required; thus, if there's no reason why something shouldn't exist, then it must exist." 15) (Mark) Twain's Rule: "Only kings, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we'." 16) "Bodies in motion tend to remain in motion. Bodies at rest tend to remain in bed." -- Dave Tewksbury 17) Hurewitz's Memory Principle: "The chance of forgetting something is directly proportional to....to....." -- Lane Hurewitz 18) Corry's Law: "Paper is always strongest at the perforations." -- Carolyn M. Corry E__________________________________________________________________________ From: schiec@jec3210-17.its.rpi.edu (Christopher L. Schierer) I was going to be an engineer.... Aerospace but it just didn't fly. Aeronautical but I couldn't keep my head above water. Bio-Medical but I was rejected. Chemical but the job really stunk. Civil but I couldn't make the grade. Computer but I got stuck in a loop. Electrical but it was all current events. Genetic but I only wore Levis. Industrial but I couldn't get off the floor. Management but I wasn't a team player. Materials but I didn't have the fiber. Mechanical but I got shafted. Metallurgical but I couldn't get the lead out. Nuclear but I didn't have the glow. Power but it went to my head. E__________________________________________________________________________ From: badour@umich.edu (Paul Badour) Top 20 Engineers' Terminologies 1. A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES ARE BEING TRIED - We are still pissing in the wind. 2. EXTENSIVE REPORT IS BEING PREPARED ON A FRESH APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM - - We just hired three kids fresh out of college. 3. CLOSE PROJECT COORDINATION - We know who to blame. 4. MAJOR TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH - It works OK, but looks very hi-tech. 5. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IS DELIVERED ASSURED - We are so far behind schedule the customer is happy to get it delivered. 6. PRELIMINARY OPERATIONAL TESTS WERE INCONCLUSIVE - The darn thing blew up when we threw the switch. 7. TEST RESULTS WERE EXTREMELY GRATIFYING - We are so surprised that the stupid thing works. 8. THE ENTIRE CONCEPT WILL HAVE TO BE ABANDONED - The only person who understood the thing quit. 9. IT IS IN THE PROCESS - It is so wrapped up in red tape that the situation is about hopeless. 10. WE WILL LOOK INTO IT - Forget it! We have enough problems for now. 11. PLEASE NOTE AND INITIAL - Let's spread the responsibility for the screw up. 12. GIVE US THE BENEFIT OF YOUR THINKING - We'll listen to what you have to say as long as it doesn't interfere with what we've already done. 13. GIVE US YOUR INTERPRETATION - I can't wait to hear this bull! 14. SEE ME or LET'S DISCUSS - Come into my office, I'm lonely. 15. ALL NEW - Parts not interchangeable with the previous design. 16. RUGGED - Too damn heavy to lift! 17. LIGHTWEIGHT - Lighter than RUGGED. 18. YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT - One finally worked. 19. ENERGY SAVING - Achieved when the power switch is off. 20. LOW MAINTENANCE - Impossible to fix if broken. From: sapient@pearwood.demon.co.uk (Barny Shergold) 21. IT IS TECHNICALLY IMPOSSIBLE - I don't feel like doing it. 22. IT DEPENDS... - Abandon all hope of a useful answer. 23. THE DATA BITS ARE FLEXED THROUGH A COLLECTIMIZER WHICH STRIPS THE FLOW- GATE ARRAYS INTO VIRTUAL MESSAGE ELEMENTS - I don't know. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: kring@physik.uni-kl.de (Thomas Kettenring) Geologists are amazing. They know hundreds of words for different sorts of dirt and hundreds of words for things it does when left alone for a few million years. ___________________________________________________________________________ The misnaming of fields of study is so common as to lead to what might be general systems laws. For example, Frank Harary once suggested the law that any field that had the word "science" in its name was guaranteed thereby not to be a science. He would cite as examples Military Science, Library Science, Political Science, Homemaking Science, Social Science, and Computer Science. Discuss the generality of this law, and possible reasons for its predictive power. -- Gerald Weinberg, "An Introduction to General Systems Thinking." ___________________________________________________________________________ Sarah Plummer wrote: I was also told this about happening at my college. We'll see how many schools have had the same story repeated there. 8) In one of the houses in which all the lacrosse/fortball players live they have a file of papers for classes so people don't have to write them, they can just take a paper previously written and change the name and hand it in. Well, there was one paper for a class which someone had written and gotten a B on. But on the corner of the front page was a little drawing of a whale. The next year a brother" took the class (we don't have frats on campus. This is as close as we get) and when he had to do the paper he just xeroxed the paper and got a B on it as well. Then the next time the class was offered another brother took the paper and xeroxed it, but whited out the whale so the prof wouldn't suspect that it was the same paper etc. Well, he got a C on it. When he asked the prof why he got a C on it, when all the other people who copied the paper got a B on it and he got a C and it was the same paper, the prof said I liked the whale." From: rhawkins@iastate.edu (R E HAWKINS) Or from my father. A student questioned his 0 on a test. "But these are the same answers as Tran, and he got hundred percent." "Tran had a different test." E__________________________________________________________________________ From: pischke@ecf.toronto.edu (PISCHKE DAVID) Engineering is the art of moulding materials we do not fully understand into shapes we cannot fully analyse and preventing the public from realising the full extent of our ignorance." ___________________________________________________________________________ From: mcollins@plato.ucs.mun.ca (Michelle Collins) Q:What's the difference between a science student and an arts student tying his shoes? A:The arts student gets a credit. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Tim.Nelson@Canada.ATTGIS.COM (list of Old * Never Die, they just) OLD GEOLOGISTS never die, they just recrystalize From: Tim.Nelson@Canada.ATTGIS.COM (list of Old * Never Die, they just) OLD WEATHERMEN never die, they reign forever ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Tim.Nelson@Canada.ATTGIS.COM (list of Old * Never Die, they just) OLD ACADEMICS never die, they just lose their faculties OLD STUDENTS never die, they just get degraded E__________________________________________________________________________ From: Tim.Nelson@Canada.ATTGIS.COM (list of Old * Never Die, they just) OLD ENGINEERS never die, they just lose their bearings OLD ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS never die, they just have slower rise times OLD ELECTRICIANS never die, they just do it until it Hz OLD ELECTRICIANS never die, they just lose contact ___________________________________________________________________________ From: joeshmoe@world.std.com (Jascha Franklin-Hodge) (List of Taglines) Any wire cut to length will be too short. 1st rule of intelligent tinkering - save all the parts If it's not going to plan, maybe there never was a plan. If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will. Knowing Murphy's Law won't help either. MPE________________________________________________________________________ From: reid@indiana.edu (Frank Reid) Technicians think they are engineers. Engineers think they are physicists. Physicists think they are mathematicians. Mathematicians think they are philosophers. Philosophers think they are technicians. (Local philosophy prof sprayed WD-40 in his VCR.) -- Joachim Verhagen Email:J.C.D.Verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Department of molecular biofysics, University of Utrecht Utrecht, The Netherlands. From verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Wed Apr 26 07:50:24 1995 Newsgroups: rec.humor,sci.math,sci.physics,sci.chem Path: ronneby.hk-r.se!news.lu.se!news.lth.se!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.kth.se!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!sun4nl!cs.ruu.nl!tijger.fys.ruu.nl!verhagen From: verhagen@fys.ruu.nl (Joachim Verhagen) Subject: science jokes (7/8) X-Nntp-Posting-Host: ruunat.fys.ruu.nl Message-ID: Sender: usenet@fys.ruu.nl (News system Tijgertje) Organization: Physics and Astronomy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #3 (NOV) Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 13:41:34 GMT Lines: 1691 Xref: ronneby.hk-r.se rec.humor:105751 sci.math:72235 sci.physics:84751 sci.chem:30277 E__________________________________________________________________________ From: ibrahim@leland.stanford.edu (Nabeel Robert Ibrahim) Electrical Engineering Purity Test, Version 1.0 (c)1994 Nabeel Ibrahim You may distribute this freely, but please leave the headers intact. This test consists of 50 yes/no questions to test your Electrical Engineering Purity. You score 1 point for each "Yes" and 0 points for each "No," except where noted. ____110001 \ Total Score = > your score for question k /___ k=0 (that's a summation symbol) MAIL ANY COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS TO: ibrahim@leland.stanford.edu 0 Have you ever discharged a capacitor? 1 Done 0 twice in one day? 10 Done 0 with your tongue? 11 Have you ever doped silicon? 100 Done 11 with someone else? 101 Done 11 with two or more people? 110 Done 11 with someone without knowing their name? 111 Have you ever tweaked a resistor? (oh, that's so sexy...) 1000 Have you ever blown up an electrolytic capacitor? 1001 Done 1000 while an animal watched? 1010 Have you ever fondled a 10K resistor? 1011 Have you ever derived an equation? 1100 Done 1011 with a member of the opposite sex? 1101 Have you ever worn a pocket protector? 1110 Have you ever checked your email more than 10 times in one day? 1111 Done 1110 for one week straight? 10000 Have you ever made a joke about transistors? 10001 Have you ever laughed at a joke about transistors? (this one is worth 3 points) 10010 Have you ever wondered how the circuitry would work in that liquid metal guy in T2? 10011 Have you ever used Ohm's Law to excess? 10100 Done 10011 while someone of the opposite sex watched? 10101 Done 10011 with a large ungulate (hooved animal)? 10110 (Guys only) Have you ever counted the number of females in one of your EE classes so you could gain sympathy from friends in Liberal Arts? 10111 Do you speak in assembly? 11000 Has your skin color changed as a result of spending too much time in front of a terminal? (That green tone really works for me...) 11001 Have you ever had a serious discussion with someone about whether CISC is better than RISC? 11010 Have you ever used :-) to excess? 11011 Have you ever had to explain :-) to a friend? 11100 Have Fourier, LaPlace, or Maxwell ever visited you in a dream? (This one is worth 20 points. You *should* not, under any circumstances, fantasize about EE!) 11101 Have you ever read "The Sex Life of an Electron"? 11110 Can you rapidly count to 100d in binary? 11111 Do you have more than 5 computer accounts? 100000 Do you have more than 10 computer accounts? (Geek!) 100001 Have you ever laughed at a Liberal Arts major because they couldn't find a job? (You should...it's really fun) 100010 Are you addicted to reverse polish(HP) notation? 100011 Have you ever slept with your significant other (girlfriend/boyfriend) on the floor of a computer lab? 100100 Have you ever been in a relationship with someone you met through email or a newsgroup? 100101 Have you ever been turned on by a transistor? 100110 Have you ever turned on a transistor? 100111 Have you ever measured ground bounce? 101000 Done 100111 with an inanimate object? 101001 Done 100111 with a cadaver? 101010 Have you ever faked a bias point? (Have you no shame?!?!?) 101011 Have you ever had an intimate encounter with a voltage supply? 101100 Have you ever watched while someone else had an intimate encounter with a voltage supply? 101101 Have you ever probed a circuit? 101110 Done 101101 with other people watching? 101111 Done 101101 more than five times in one day? 110000 Done 101101 without protection? (You should really wear a ground strap!) 110001 Did you laugh while taking this quiz? (This one should be worth 30, but it's only worth 2) Scoring Scale: 00-15 points ==> Go back to your English class. 15-25 points ==> Either you have a life or you are an underclassman/woman. 25-35 points ==> You can feel your life slipping through your fingers as you get sucked into the world of Electrical Engineering. It could be worse...you could be in CS. 35-45 points ==> You should definitely go to grad school in EE. 45-72 points ==> You are a lost cause. You're the EE equivalent of Carl Sagan. Please do not contact me...ever. Note: Please send me your score, as I am trying to accumulate enough data to do a statistical analysis...seriously!! ibrahim@leland.stanford.edu (Nabeel Ibrahim) *__________________________________________________________________________ ******************************************************************************* *|***************************************************************************|* *|***** THE NERDITY TEST *****|* *|*** Version 5.x.cubed.minus.3.x.all.divided.by.2 ***|* *|*** 5 December, 1993 ***|* *|***** All rights reserved *****|* *|***************************************************************************|* ******************************************************************************* INTRODUCTION: Hello, and welcome to the nerdity test. This test is designed to help you determine your nerdity quotient. In the past, someone may have watched you, or listened to something you said and then exclaimed, "You geek! What do you think you are doing?" Or maybe it's just us. In any event, we here at the nerdity testing lab were prompted to ask "just what is a nerd?" In response, we came up with this test. By taking it, you will determine your current nerdity quotient (from 0% to 100%), with 100% roughly corresponding to a pile of sludge unable to communicate with anything human except through a device that is a miracle of modern medicine and engineering, and whose only connection to the outside world is through the computer internet system. GRADING: As this test is being distributed primarily in places of high concentrations of known nerds, and nerds in turn tend to have nerd friends, that someone who has never heard of or seen the nerdity test is assumed to be 0% nerd. However, once such knowledge comes to them, they are immediately placed in the 100% nerdity category. This is done because it is also assumed that only a true geek would utter something to the effect of: "Nerdity test?!? What a stupid concept! I'm too cool to take something as dumb as that." The values in between are determined by taking the test and scoring it as follows. For each question below for which you can answer "yes" or "true", take one point. At the end of the test, divide the total number of points you scored by the total number of questions in the test. Treat this number as a percentage that represents your nerdity quotient. Some of the questions will have parentheticals at the end of them. What is contained within the parentheticals is a short list of examples relating to the given question. The list is not to be taken as all inclusive but merely as suggestions that might apply. All technicalities count - after all, being technical is half of what being a nerd is all about. RECOMMENDATIONS and HINTS: It is felt that for maximum enjoyment, you should respond out loud with your answers. You should treat each "yes" that you say as a personal catharsis of what you are doing wrong (or right depending on your opinion of nerdity) and each "no" may then be disputed by your peers. In this way, errors due to lying or personal oversight are avoided and the test also has a therapeutic effect for the closet nerd. As an aside, information gleaned about others should be treated confidentially. Each of us has a dork-side that we don't want others to know about. Experiment shows that nerdity CAN be cured! With effort and personal sacrifice... The nerdity quotient is a cross between proclivity toward as well as actual current status in nerddom. Some questions are "have you ever..." while others are "do you now...". The former register the fact that you have a propensity toward nerdity, while the later acknowledge the fact that you are currently geeking. Obviously, as your answers toward the "do you now" type questions change, so will your nerd quotient. Please use only a number two pencil. Mark all answers in your blue book. Shake well before using. Lather. Rinse. Repeat as desired. Show all work. Refrigerate after opening. No partial credit will be given. A table of useful formulas is included at the end. You may begin.... NOW! ******************************************************************************* SECTION 1: Education and Schooling 1. Have you ever taken a "higher" math course? (Trig, Calculus) 2. ...at the college level? 3. ...and received an A (3.7 grade point)? 4. Are you still capable of doing what you learned in the course of #1? 5. Have you ever taken a science course? (Biology, Physics, Chemistry) 6. ...at the college level? 7. ...and received an A (3.7 grade point)? 8. Are you still capable of doing what you learned in the course of #5? 9. Have you ever majored in the "hard sciences"? (engineering, physics chemistry, etc. but excluding psychology, economics, etc.) 10. Have you ever taken Latin? 11. Have you ever asked a question in lecture? 12. Have you ever answered a question asked in lecture? 13. Have you ever corrected a professor in lecture? 14. Have you ever answered a rhetorical question? 15. Have you ever given a lecture? 16. Do you sit in the front row more than 20% of the time? 17. Have you ever had a "perfect attendance record"? 18. Have you ever verified an equation in a science text on your own? (i.e. experimental proof) 19. Have you ever derived an equation you found in a science text? 20. ...when you didn't have to? 21. ...using other principles? (starting from a different equation than the text did) 22. Do you take notes in more than one color? 23. Do you use other props when taking notes? (ruler, compass, protractor) 24. Have you ever tutored someone else? 25. Have you ever done homework on a Friday night? 26. Have you ever pulled an all-nighter? 27. Have you taken any classes pass/fail just to preserve your GPA? 28. Have you ever known more about the subject material than the lecturer? 29. ...but continued in the class because you "needed the grade?" 30. ...and had the lecturer admit this fact to you? 31. Have you ever had an argument with a professor? 32. Did you win? 33. Has a lecturer ever referred someone to you as being more knowledgeable? 34. Did you apply to any college merely for the sake of "seeing if I would get in"? 35. Was your SAT math more than 300 above your verbal? 36. Did you score higher than 1200 combined on the SAT? ******************************************************************************* SECTION 2: Knowledge 37. Can you count in binary? (up to decimal 10) 38. Can you count in hexadecimal? (up to decimal 20) 39. Can you count in Roman numerals? 40. Do you know Maxwell's equations? (integral or differential form) 41. Do you know Schroedinger's Equation? 42. Have you ever solved Schroedinger's Equation? 43. ...for fun? 44. Do you know the difference between a scalar and a vector? 45. Do you know the difference between a vector and a tensor? 46. Do you know the right-hand-rule for cross-products? 47. Do you know the Latin name (genus and species) for anything? (fruit fly, human being) 48. Can you understand the owner's manual for electronic equipment? 49. Can you understand the electronic schematic for electronic equipment? 50. Do you know what a "reverse polish notation" calculator is? 51. Can you name the first nine elements of the periodic table in order? 52. Can you translate more than half the chemical symbols into the name of the element they represent? 53. Do you know the wavelengths in the visible spectrum? 54. Are you bilingual? 55. ...and not an immigrant or child of an immigrant? 56. Can you briefly outline the biological process that occur due to alcohol when it is consumed by a human? 57. ...while drunk? 58. Do you know how your car's engine works? 59. Have you ever interpolated? 60. Have you ever extrapolated? 61. Do you know the difference between interpolation and extrapolation? 62. Have you ever integrated numerically? 63. ...and known the result ahead of time? 64. ...and complained about how slow the computer was? 65. Have you ever seen or utilized the spherical harmonic functions? 66. ...and found them aesthetically pleasing? 67. Do you know most of the words to "The Lumberjack Song" by Monty Python? 68. Do you own an encyclopedia? 69. Have you ever read an encyclopedia entry that you weren't researching? 70. Have you ever wanted to know something for no apparent reason? 71. Have you ever been laughed at for wanting to know something? 72. Can you program the time on a VCR? 73. Has anyone ever asked you to program their VCR time for them? 74. Have you ever used the word "asymptotic"? 75. Have you ever referred to something as an L.E.D.? 76. Have you ever referred to a ruler as a "straight-edge"? 77. Have you ever said "quartz crystal"? 78. Have you ever called something a "print out" or "hard copy"? 79. Have you ever referred to a curve/object as hyperbolic, parabolic, etc.? 80. Do you feel your vocabulary is larger than most people's? 81. Is your IQ greater than your weight? Answer YES if you know what the following acronyms stand for. Note: it may be useful to actually state out loud what you think the acronym stands for as your interpretation may be wrong or not the nerdy one being sought after. 82. ...RADAR? 83. ...MODEM? 84. ...RAM? 85. ...DNA? 86. ...ATP? 87. ...NADP? 88. ...CRT? 89. ...CRC? 90. ...STP? 91. ...NORAD? 92. ...NASA? 93. ...MUD? 94. ...LED? 95. ...AI? 96. ...LASER? 97. ...RPG? 98. ...TLA? 99. ...SCUBA? 100. ...WYSIWYG? 101. ...DAT? 102. ...PINE? 103. ...JOVE? 104. Did you not know one of the above, but took a wild guess at in anyway? 105. Have you ever created an acronym in order to simplify your writing? The next few questions deal with physical constants. Mark yes for any that you can give the value (2 or more significant digits) for. Knowledge of the units attached is NOT necessary, just the numeric portion. 106. gravitational constant? (G) 107. earth's gravity near the surface? (g) 108. mass of an electron? 109. charge of an electron? 110. speed of light in vacuum? 111. speed of sound at STP? 112. Planck's constant? (h or h-bar) 113. permittivity of free space? (epsilon naught) 114. permeability of free space? (mu naught) 115. Avogadro's number? 116. molar gas constant? 117. pi? (exception: must know more than 3 digits) 118. Mark this true if you are presently the person knowing the most digits of pi in the room. 119. e? (exception: must know more than 3 digits) Can you give the conversion factor between... (2 or more sig. digits) 120. ...centimeters and inches? 121. ...kilometers and miles? 122. ...joules and electron-volts? 123. ...atomic mass units and kilograms? 124. ...Celsius and Kelvin? 125. ...Celsius and Fahrenheit? 126. ...meters and Astronomical Units (AU)? 127. ...AU and light years? 128. ...light years and parsecs? 129. If, while answering any question in this section, you said someone else's answer was wrong and were right, mark this question true. (e.g. "you nob! Pi isn't 3.1425. It's 3.1415!") 130. If while answering any question in this section, you checked a reference book to find out the correct answer, mark this question true. (e.g. "AARRGGH! What's that last R in radar stand for?") ****************************************************************************** SECTION 3: Computers 131. Have you ever used a computer? 132. ...for more than 4 hours continuously? 133. ...for more than 8 hours continuously? 134. ...past 4 a.m.? 135. ...as a source of income? 136. ...on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the same weekend? 137. ...with someone you were physically attracted toward? 138. ...for money? 139. ...in the last 24 hours? 140. ...in the last half hour? 141. ...as a source of entertainment? (computer game) 142. ...in the last three months? 143. ...in the last three weeks? 144. Have you ever programmed a computer? 145. ...to write a computer game? 146. ...to write a computer virus? 147. ...to write a shell script? 148. Do you still own any computer with less than 512k of RAM? (e.g. Commodore 64, Apple II +/e/c, TRS 80, ad infinitum) 149. ...that is still in working condition? 150. ...and still buy software for it? 151. Do you own more than one computer with at least a megabyte of RAM? 152. Do you own any computer which would be classified as a work station? 153. Have you ever taken your computer on vacation with you? 154. Have you ever lost sleep over a computer game? Have you ever used a ... 155. mouse? 156. hard disk drive? 157. light-pen? 158. computer with a touch sensitive monitor? 159. track-ball? 160. ...for something other than a video game? 161. Devorak keyboard? (as opposed to QWERTY) 162. modem? 163. Have you ever seen a magnetic tape reel? 164. Have you ever mounted a magnetic tape reel? 165. Have you ever seen a computer punch card? 166. Have you ever programmed using punch cards? 167. Are you still capable of programming with punch cards? 168. Do you have any "pirated" software? (i.e. second-hand copywritten) 169. Do you have any "public-domain" software? 170. Do you have any "shareware"? (i.e. software author requests a fee be sent to them for its use) 171. Do you currently own a modem capable of 14.4kbs or faster? 172. Do you still own any modem whose top speed is 300 baud or less? 173. Have you ever telnet'ed from one computer system to another? 174. ...to gain access to a system you had no authorization on? 175. ...to call a government computer? (NASA, FBI, NORAD, etc.) 176. ...to call a research institution? (CERN, JPL, etc.) 177. ...where the other machine was outside of your native country? 178. Do you have an electronic mail address? 179. ...more than one e-mail address? 180. Have you ever sent e-mail? 181. ...to yourself? 182. ...to someone who was in the same room as you at the time? 183. ...with a .sig file appended to the end of it? 184. ...in the last week? 185. Have you ever set up and run a mailing list for e-mail? 186. Do you receive more e-mail than you send? 187. Have you ever FTP'd? 188. ...anonymously? 189. Have you ever uploaded? 190. Have you ever downloaded? 191. Have you ever multi-tasked? (ran 2+ applications concurrently) 192. Have you ever set up a kill file? 193. ...that does more than simply 'kill'? 194. Do you have a .plan or similar file for when people finger you? 195. Have you set up a login.com or similar file for auto-execution on logging unto a computer system? (autoexec.bat, login.com...) 196. Do you use alias/batch commands to standardize your OS? (e.g. alias dir ls) 197. Have you ever read the postings on USENET? 198. ...in the last week? 199. Have you posted to USENET? 200. ...and gotten a response? 201. ...from someone you knew outside of the net? 202. ...and gotten a "flame"? Have you ever posted to... 203. ...a science fiction news group? (rec.arts.sf) 204. ...a sex news group? (alt.sex) 205. ...talk.bizarre? 206. ...rec.humor? 207. ...a sci. or science-related news group? 208. Have you ever written a FAQ for a USENET news group? 209. Have you ever run a vote for a USENET news group? 210. Have you ever moderated a USENET news group? 211. Have you played any MUD's, MUSH's or other multi-user games? 212. ...in the last week? 213. ...today? 214. Do you consistently play more than one MUD, MUSH, etc.? 215. Are you a "wizard/implementor/immortal" on any MUD's, MUSH's, etc.? 216. Do you have GIF files as wallpaper? 217. Is part of your desk space devoted to your computer? 218. Have you ever built a computer? 219. ...from chips? 220. Do you have a favorite computer language? 221. ...that you've had to defend in verbal debate? Which of the following computer languages do you know... 222. ...BASIC? 223. ...PASCAL? 224. ...FORTRAN? 225. ...assembly language? 226. ...C? 227. Have you ever forgotten a person's name but not their e-mail address? 228. Do you know more computer addresses than street addresses? 229. Do you tend to remember the IP numbers instead of the alpha address for computer sites? (128.253.232.63 vs. crux3.cit.cornell.edu) 230. Do you find that you type more often than you write longhand? 231. Have you ever forgotten how to write longhand? 232. Have you ever used computer symbology elsewhere? (goto, *, etc.) 233. Have you ever spoken internet-ese? (btw, imho, :), brb, afk) 234. Have you ever blown off doing something you were supposed to do in order to work on the computer? 235. Have you ever felt jealous of someone merely because they owned a better computer system than you? ******************************************************************************* SECTION 4: Possessions 236. Do you frequently find yourself with more plugs than outlets? 237. Do you currently own a can of WD-40? 238. Do you currently own a can of compressed air? 239. Do you have a personal copy of any version of the nerdity test? 240. ...in space allocated to you on a computer system? 241. Have you ever owned a light saber (Star Wars)? 242. ...that wasn't made of plastic? 243. Do you own an 8-track tape player or any 8-track tapes? 244. Do you own an almanac? (World, Farmer's) 245. Do you own an atlas? 246. Do you own a globe? 247. ...and have it on display? (on a desk, bookshelf...) 248. ...that has bumps corresponding to mountain ranges? 249. ...that lights up? 250. Do you own any "maps of the ancient world"? 251. ...and have them on display? 252. Do you have any "mathematical" artwork? (Escher, fractals) 253. Have you ever faxed something? 254. Have you ever received a fax? 255. Do you own a cellular phone? (car phone) 256. Do you own a non-standard calculator? (scientific, programmable) 257. Do you own a "reverse polish notation" calculator? 258. Do you own a slide rule? 259. ...and know how to use it? 260. Other than a thermometer, do you own any meteorological equipment? 261. Do you own any orienteering equipment? (compass, sextant, etc.) 262. Do you own a pencil case? 263. Do you own any mechanical pencil? 264. ...and have refills for it? 265. Do you own an electric pencil sharpener? 266. Do you own a laboratory notebook? 267. Do you own any graph paper? (quad-ruled) 268. Do you own any log or semi-log paper? 269. Do you own a table of integrals? 270. Have you ever stolen scientific (radiation, biohazard) warnings for personal use? ******************************************************************************* SECTION 5: Leisure Time 271. Have you ever taken something apart? 272. ...and put it back together correctly? 273. ...without worrying about voiding the warranty? 274. Do friends and/or family ask you to fix things? 275. Do friends and/or family ask to borrow your tools? 276. ...because you are the only person they know who OWNS that tool? 277. Have you ever put something together without reference to the assembly instructions? 278. Have you ever bought something primarily for the pleasure of taking it apart to "see how it works"? 279. Have you ever rewired something? 280. Have you ever played a non-sexual role-playing game? (D&D) 281. ...since leaving high school? 282. Have you ever been to a RPG convention? (GenCON, etc.) 283. ...in the last six months? 284. Have you ever taken a "self help" test? 285. Do you derive perverse pleasure from self-help tests? 286. Do you ever lord your scores on such tests over people around you? 287. Have you ever dissected something? 288. ...while not involved in a biology class? 289. Do you play chess? 290. Were you ever on a chess team? 291. ...on a math team? 292. ...on a debate team? 293. ...on a "trivia" team? (college bowl, JEOPARDY) 294. ...the captain for any of the teams listed above? 295. ...the coach for any of the teams listed above? 296. Did you ever join one of the above teams for the purpose of picking up members of the opposite sex? 297. Were you ever in a science fair? 298. ...that you placed in the top three? 299. Are you a member of Mensa? 300. Have you ever made a technical joke? 301. ...in the last week? 302. ...that no one around you understood? 303. ...and you found yourself trying to explain it? 304. ...that everyone around you understood? 305. ...but their reason for laughing was not yours? ******************************************************************************* SECTION 6: Leisure Time - Nerd Toys 306. Have you ever bought something from Radio Shack? 307. Do you know what an oscilloscope does? 308. Have you ever used an oscilloscope? 309. Do you own an oscilloscope? 310. Have you ever used a microscope? 311. Do you own a microscope? 312. Have you ever used a telescope? 313. ...not for peering through someone's bedroom window? 314. Do you own a voltmeter? 315. Do you own any remote controlled vehicles? 316. Do you own a CB radio? 317. Have you ever had an amateur radio license? 318. Do you still have an amateur radio license? 319. Have you ever had an extra-class amateur radio license? 320. Have you ever used a chemistry set? 321. ...since the age of 13? 322. Have you ever used a rare earth element? 323. Do you own a slinky? 324. Does a slinky make you think about oscillations? 325. Do you own a Rubik's cube? 326. Are you able to solve Rubik's Cube? 327. ...without using the book? 328. ...in less than two minutes? 329. Have you ever tried to calculate the number of possible permutations a Rubik's Cube can have? ******************************************************************************* SECTION 7: Leisure Time - TV and Movies 330. Do you watch more than 4 hours of TV on any given day of the week? 331. Can you name more than 5 shows on PBS? (inc.:A&E, Discovery Channel) 332. Have you ever watched a PBS documentary? 333. ...voluntarily? 334. ...in the last three weeks? 335. Have you ever watched C-Span for more than 5 minutes? Have you ever watched a complete episode of... 336. ...Dr. Who? 337. ...Battlestar Galactica? 338. ...Space: 1999? 339. ...Starblazers? (cartoon about the WWII carrier flying through space) Can you whistle, hum, sing or snap the theme songs to... 340. ...Gilligan's Island? 341. ...Flintstones? 342. ...The Brady Bunch? 343. ...The Jetson's? 344. ...The Addam's Family? 344. ...Dobbie Gillis? 346. ...I Dream of Genie? 347. Have you ever seen any of the "Revenge of The Nerd" movies more than once? 348. Have you seen all of the Star Wars movies? 349. ...in one 24 hour period? 350. Have you ever watched something and stated "that's physically impossible" (due to Newton's laws, etc.)? ******************************************************************************* SECTION 8: Leisure Time - Books and Magazines Have you ever read anything by... 351. ...Douglas Adams? 352. ...Isaac Asimov? 353. ...Arthur C. Clarke? 354. ...Robert H. Heinlein? 355. ...Piers Anthony? 356. ...J.R.R. Tolkein? 357. ...TSR Hobbies? (i.e. a novel published by the D&D people) 358. ...Richard Feynman? (e.g. his lectures, etc.) 359. ...Stephen Hawkings? 360. ...Carl Sagan? 361. Have you ever read -Cultural-Literacy- or any other book on "what you, as an intelligent person, should know"? 362. Have you ever read -Innumeracy- or any other book about mathematics made popular? 363. Do you read books on a daily basis? 364. Have you finished a book in the last week? 365. Have you finished more than one book in the last week? 366. Have you ever bought a book of crossword puzzles/logic problems? 367. Do you read archaic computer manuals for pleasure? Do you have magazine subscriptions to... 368. ...Popular Mechanics? 369. ...Popular Science? 370. ...Omni? 371. ...Scientific America? 372. ...any computer oriented magazine? (MacWorld, PCWorld, etc.) 373. ...Computer Gaming World or other "video game" magazine? 374. ...Discover? 375. ...any medical journals? (New England Journal of Medicine) 376. ...any science periodicals? 377. ...National Geographic? 378. ...any comic book or "graphic novel"? (X-Men, Superman, Heavy Metal) ******************************************************************************* SECTION 9: Star Trek 379. Can you name or discuss the plots of more than 10 Star Trek episodes? 380. Have you seen all of the Star Trek films? 381. ...in one 48 hour period? 382. Do you refer to the various "Treks" as "TOS" (The Original Series), "TNG" (The Next Generation) and "DS9" (Deep Space 9) or similar? 383. Have you ever argued with someone over which "Trek" is better? 384. Have you ever argued over who was a better commander of the Enterprise? 385. Have you ever felt the urge to learn the Klingon language? 386. Have you ever been to a trek convention? 387. ...in the last six months? 388. Have you ever owned a pair of Spock ears (Star Trek)? 389. ...and worn them in public? ******************************************************************************* SECTION 10: Clothing and Apparel 390. Are your socks unmatched? 391. Do you own a digital watch? 392. ...that plays music? 393. ...that's currently set to chime on the hour? 394. ...that has a calculator built in? 395. Do you own a pocket protector? 396. ...and are you wearing it? 397. Do you have acne? 398. Do you have greasy hair? 399. ...without realizing it? 400. Do you own any clothing with scientific knowledge printed on it? (e.g. t-shirts with Maxwell's equations) 401. ...which you still wear from time to time? 402. Have you ever worn a radiation film badge? 403. ...while not in the laboratory? 404. ...and described what it was to someone, who then backed away in fear? 405. Are your pants too short? 406. Does your underwear have your name in it? 407. Is your outfit uncoordinated? (have someone else evaluate this) 408. Have you ever worn a button-down shirt and left the tails hanging out? 409. Have you ever bought similar looking shirts/pants in order to save time when dressing because "everything goes together"? 410. Do you wear glasses? 411. ...held together by adhesives? (tape, glue, boogers) 412. Is your vision worse than 20/40? (in either eye) 413. Is your vision worse than 20/80? (in either eye) 414. Are you legally blind? (in either eye) (strange, I don't recall writing a braile edition...) ******************************************************************************* SECTION 11: Personality and Lifestyle 415. Have you ever slept an inverted day? (sleep at dawn, wake at dusk) 416. ...for more than one day in a row? 417. Have you ever slept round the clock? (24 continuous hours in bed) Which of the following have you used to prevent sleep... 418. ...Caffeine? 419. ...exercise? 420. ...Vivarin? 421. ...NoDoz? 422. ...something you made in chem. lab? 423. ...something you found in chem. lab? 424. Have you worked for an engineering or manufacturing firm? 425. ...in the last 3 months? 426. ...and gotten credit at a school for doing so? 427. Have you worked in a research lab? 428. ...and been more interested in the work than the pay? 429. Have you ever visited a power plant? (Hoover Dam, nuclear plant, etc.) 430. ...and not been bored? 431. Are you socially inept? 432. Was the last naked person you saw a hi-res computer scan? 433. Do you talk to yourself? 434. ...when other people are around? 435. Do you talk to imaginary people? 436. ...do they talk back? 437. ...do they seem to be more/less intelligent than you? 438. Do you have a tough time remembering people's names? 439. ...but no trouble with their numeric data? (phone#, SS#) 440. Have you ever played mathematical games with other numbers you see to pass the time? (square/cube root, prime factors of phone#) 441. Do you see everyday situations as representing mathematical concepts? 442. Do you look at quantitative factors when participating in social events? (ex: choosing drinks by % alcohol rather than taste) 443. Mark this true if you did NOT go to your senior prom. 444. Did you go stag to your Senior Prom? 445. Have you ever found a grammatical error in a published book? 446. Have you ever quoted a piece of literature from memory? (poem, quote) 447. Have you ever eaten pizza cold? 448. ...do you like it that way? 449. ...because you're too lazy to reheat it? 450. Have you ever gotten pizza delivered to the lab/office/science building? 451. Is any leftover delivery food currently residing in your refrigerator? 452. ...that's been there so long, you can't remember ordering it? 453. ...that's been there so long, it's become mobile/sentient? 454. Is any food in your refrigerator moldy? 455. Have you ever commented on the lack of intellectual ability found in a "JEOPARDY" contestant? 456. Have you ever contemplated the meaning of life/existence of God? 457. ...while not drunk? 458. ...while alone? 459. Have you ever thought about extra dimensions/parallel universes? 460. ...and discussed their possibilities with others? 461. Have you come to any conclusions about UFO's/life on other planets? 462. ...and used Time-Life's "Mysteries of the Unknown" series as a factual reference to support your claim? 463. Have you ever commented: "If I drive fast enough at the red light, it'll appear green." 464. Have you ever found yourself discussing one of the popular scientific theories of the day with someone you just met? (cold fusion) 465. ...did they bring it up because they thought you incapable of talking about non-technical topics? 466. Have you ever taken part in an experiment to prove/disprove one of the popular scientific theories of the day? (cold fusion, big bang) 467. Have you ever thought about reviving the dead? (Frankenstein) 468. ...for sexual purposes? 469. ...and had some degree of success? 470. ...but been laughed at by a leading medical institution? 471. Have you ever given an inanimate object a name? (inc.: stuffed animal) 472. Was the object something electronic or mechanical? 473. Did the object also have a "personality"? 474. Have you ever compared and contrasted two scientists? (Einstein vs. Newton, etc.) 475. Have you ever argued with someone else over which of two scientists was better? 476. Have you ever argued with someone over which of two computer types/OS's is better? (Macintosh vs. IBM, UNIX vs. VMS) 477. Have you ever laughed out loud at a joke written in a serious scientific paper? (Feynman's lectures, textbook) 478. Has anyone ever called you a geek/nerd? 479. ...in the last two weeks? 480. ...for doing/saying something you knew to be geeky? 481. Have you ever intentionally done something that you consider geeky? 482. ...in the last month? 483. ...today? ******************************************************************************* SECTION 12: The Nerd Test 484. Are you taking this test alone? 485. Are you currently reading this test on a computer screen? 486. Are you planning to double-check your answers to this test? 487. Do you feel the need (or are you currently using) a calculator to score the test? 488. Are you computing your score in scientific notation? 489. Have you contemplated writing a computer program that would ask and/or tabulate questions found on this test? 490. Are you currently scoring this test in reverse? (i.e. Assuming 100% nerd and deducting for each 'no'?) 491. Have you come across copies of this test from two separate sources? 492. If you are still reading this test, do you really need a test score to prove you are a nerd? 493. Is your nerdity test score higher than your purity test score? 494. Did you feel offended by any of the questions on this test? 495. Did you resort to lying in order to raise your score? 496. Did you resort to lying in order to lower your score? 497. Are you currently competing with someone else for the highest score on this test (or were contemplating it)? 498. ...did you come up second best and challenge them to a rematch? 499. Have you asked for a technical clarification of anything on this test? 500. Have you ever thought of a question that belongs on this test? ***Please send it to: jjb1@crux3.cit.cornell.edu Please put your pencils down. That's it, hope you enjoyed. To analyze your Nerdity Quotient, divide your total number of "yes/true" responses by the total number of questions and compare to this list. Ranking: 0 - 20 Nerd-wannabe 21 - 30 Nerd-in-Training 31 - 35 Closet nerd 36 - 40 You dress like people in Walmart ads 41 - 45 You refuse to live anywhere without pizza delivery service 46 - 50 Your social life needs some serious help 51 - 55 YOU need some serious help 56 - 60 You are on first name basis with Radio Shack employees 61 - 65 Your best friend is a microchip 66 - 70 Bill Gates and E. Gary Gygax are your heroes 71 - 75 You own more surge protectors than cooking utensils 76 - 80 "Revenge of the Nerds" poster-child 81 - 85 Hoping to invent Warp Field Theory or transporter technology 86 - 90 Desperately seeking cybernetic interface implanted in your brain 91 - 99 Move over, Einstein 100 Hail, O Nerd Master, virgin sliderulers I sacrifice unto you This version compiled by yours truly: J. Bennett, Cornell U., Ithaca, NY. Any questions or comments? Drop me a line at jjb1@crux3.cit.cornell.edu **************************************************************************** Credits- (a.k.a. The "you-think-I'm-gonna-take-all-the-blame" department) A special big thanks to the following (in no particular order): Matt Warren :warren-matthew@cs.yale.edu for multiple watching of "Revenge of the Nerds", underwear with name in it as well as the question on Jeopardy contestants being stupid. Rebecca Crowley :rcrowley@zso.dec.com for pointing out that a nerd not only HAS arguments with his/her professor, but WINS them too! Laura Sachi :sach0001@student.tc.umn.edu for pointing out the nerd tendency to simplify the situation, and merely count the questions on the test based on the one's they can answer 'no' to. Eric Klis :klis0001@student.tc.umn.edu for verifying equations in textbooks, using a calculator to tabulate score, being offended by questions found on the test, and lying in order to get a different score. (well, the questions pertaining to those activities anyway, I don't know that he has done any of them) Carl Oppendahl: oppendahl@panix.com for reminding me of the "dark ages" of computers when programmers used punch cards, offering the category of ham radio as a potential nerd hobby, and questioning the speed of a nerd's modem. Michael Fitch: mjfitch@itchy.phy.duke.edu who felt obligated to raise the scores of "those physics geeks" who have used radiation film badges, stolen radiation warning stickers for use on their notebooks, discussed cold fusion with passing strangers (and been involved in cold fusion testing), integrated numerically, and been placated by a well drawn spherical harmonic. anonymous : for competing for the highest score on the test and for challenging to a rematch when done. n40mp@relay.nswc.navy.mil : knowledge of reverse polish notation calculators and favorite computing language (as well as defending it in argument). Kevin MacCuish: internet@cad.uccb.ns.ca : Thanks for sending a whole lot of potential questions including the self-help tests, reading computer manuals for fun, jealousy toward someone due to their computer, 8-track nerds, and everyday situations as mathematical concepts. T.K. Baltimore: tkbalt@minerva.cis.yale.edu : IBM vs. Mac and the arguments over which is better. Jennifer C. Ginfrida : Jentrpt@bach.udl.edu : for reminding me of my childhood days spent watching Starblazers. Japanimation was great, but I suspect that you may be the only person known to exist who can still sing the themesong to that particular show. Josh Wojcik: Wojcik@umr.edu : for solving Schroedinger's eqn. "for fun". Hey, if you've got the time and there's nothing better to do, why not? Jennifer Deiros: mdeiros@cs.tufts.edu : she's not the only one who still owns a commodore 64 and still buys software for it. Peter White : Peter.White@analog.com : standardizing his OS's through the use of alias and batch commands, gif file wallpaper and drinking by % alcohol rather than by taste. Mike Owsiany : Mowsiany@ecs.umass.edu : applying to colleges just to see if you can get in. Rnewell@pomona.claremont.edu : "TNG" vs. "TOS" for the trekker nerds. Gary P. Chimes : gpchimes@students.wise.edu : who scores the test in scientific notation, argues over who was better - Einstein or Feynman and isn't afraid to laugh out loud while reading Feynman's lectures. Peter Rabinas : peter.j.rabinas.1@nd.edu : for pointing out that only a nerd would spend time taking a test to see if he was a nerd. Harry Surden : Has2@cornell.edu : who not only has the dubious distinction of being the first person from my own site unknown to me to offer input, but has also lost sleep over computer games, subscribes to Computer Gaming World. Naked people and hi-res computer scan is also one of his (all of which should lead you to conclude that Ithaca really needs a better social environment) I'd like to continue to thank these people for contributing to the older versions of the nerdity test (see lower version numbers for specifics): unknown:RMG3@psuvm.psu.edu, Rahul Verma: RV0S+@andrew.cmu.edu, Thomas Marlowe: KYRIE@coos.dartmouth.edu, Kiet H Tran: KHT@kepler.unh.edu, Cynthia Pettit: Pettit@CS.unc.edu, Andrew: CS1122@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca, Susan Schneck: schneck@gibbs.oit.unc.edu, Hal J. Burch: HBURCH@sleepy.ossm.edu, Carl Mueller: mueller@cs.unc.edu, Andrew Bell: bell@cs.unc.edu, ...And a big thanks to the "Post-Prelim/Problem Set Beer and Wine Crew" THANK YOU ALL!! ******************************************************************************* <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< ******************************************************************************* For additional information or a copy of the current version, send me e-mail to the above address. IF YOU'D LIKE TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION please send me the questions you feel appropriate (please, just the questions, NOT the entire test) as well as how you'd like to be referred to in the credits. ******************************************************************************* ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ******************************************************************************* History: -In the beginning there was a large, dense ball of matter at the center of the universe. For reasons unknown and beyond the scope of this course, this mass exploded, spewing matter outward. Eventually (derivation skipped, but shown explicitly in the recommended readings) everything cooled down, life developed and someone, somewhere created... no version number : containing the original 100 questions from which the following is all derived. Origin unknown. Format rough and crude and showing obvious derivation from the purity test. version 2.0 : fabled and never seen by this author. version 2.1 : the first such version 2.1 (the two were created independently) - no data available and may be mere rumor. version 2.1.pi^2 : Rumored to exist somewhere. This author saw a copy of it once, but has since lost it somewhere on his desktop... Some of its was utilized in the creation of version 3.1415 version 2.1 : (3-12-92) Prequel to the current edition. Essentially the 100 question version reformatted, made user-friendly and expanded to 200 questions. version 3.1415 : (2-8-93) a further evolution of V.2.1. It contains 300 questions and was somewhat reworked and rewritten. version 4.thirds.pi.r.cubed (3-21-93) Originally this was supposed to be the 3.1415 version with 100 ("have you done it recently") questions added in order to normalize the test. Some testing revealed this to be largely unnecessary and so much exterior input was received that a 400 question version based on existing questions allowed this version to be released. version 5.x.cubed.minus.3.x.all.divided.by.2 (12-5-93) 100 new questions, most of which came from people's comments to earlier versions of the test now in circulation long enough to generate sizable response. Notable changes include reformatting and reorganizing the questions into more categories as well as the addition of the "ranking" section. Some attempts were made at steering the question wording away from the "serious" and toward the "humorous". For those wondering about the version number, it represents the third Legendre polynomial - sorry, but there just aren't all that many nerdy numbers starting with 5. ******************************************************************************* General Information -in two years of compiling this in the remoteness of upstate New York, responses have come from as far east as the UK and as far west as Singapore. If you are interested, both non-North Americans state that the test isn't universal. They both complained that many questions were culturally biased and others just didn't apply. If I were writing this for sociological impact rather than for fun I suppose I would be upset by this news. :) Roughly 2/3 of the responses I get are from educational institutions. I assume distribution correlates roughly along those lines too, but have no way of knowing for sure. I get roughly 3 or 4 responses a week. The highest reported score is 83% and lowest is 15%. My own score when last I checked was roughly 81% but of course I'm obviously skewed (in more ways than one). If you can beat one of the high scores, let me know and I'll FTP you a year's supply of Turtle Wax brand screen-cleaner (Lemon Scent!) as well as all the adhesive, colored disk labels you can eat. *__________________________________________________________________________ 1. A friend opens a magazine full of scantily-clad members of your preferred sex. Do you: A. Openly Ogle B. Act Non-Chalant C. Comment "Gee, that's got to be at least 400 dpi, colour!" D. Slip the hand down the pants for a bit of good, old-fashioned executive relief. 2. You're at a party. Someone comes over and asks you your star sign. You: A. Tell them to bugger off B. Lay them one in the groin, then tell them to bugger off. C. I don't go to parties. D. I don't get invited to parties. 3. You're at the head of a large queue in front of a cash-register in a large department store. The register gives a >beep< and stops dead. You: A. Wait patiently B. Plant all the stuff you were going to buy in a nearby baby carriage and call the store detective (to while away the time) C. Break out your ever-present C64 notebook and try to debug the thing D. I don't know 4. You're shopping for some personal hygiene equipment when the chemist runs up saying the prescription database on his 386 is corrupt. You: A. What's a prescription database? B. What's a 386? C. What's personal hygenie? D. What was the question again? 5. A friend wants to borrow a record off you. You A. Lend it out, and tell them it's a boomerang. B. Tell them to go buy it. C. Consult the database to see that status of the record concerned D. Sell it to them for a beer. 6. You'd most like to meet: A. The person who wrote "Gulag Acapeligo" B. The person who wrote "War and Peace" C. The person who wrote MSDOS D. A person who can write 7. You win a "Grocery-Grab" at a local supermarket. You've got one minute to pack a cart with as much stuff as you can. You start: A. In the Liquor Section B. In the Confectionary Lane C. At the Pencil Bar D. At the cash register 8. You've been hit by a car and your life flashes before your eyes. The thing you remember most vividly is: A. Your Mother's voice as a child B. Your first Love C. The Ascii table. D. The tire pressure was maybe a little too high 9. You get to compete on blind date. You have one statement to change the choosers mind about you. You say: A. I've got a 12 inch tounge B. I can go all night C. I'VE GOT A 386SX with 64K Ram Cache D. I've killed 5 people 10. You feel naked without your: A. Electric Guitar B. Wallet C. VT100 reference guide D. Axe 11. You see someone standing on a ledge, about to jump. You can save them if you say the right thing. You say: A. I know things are bad, but do you want to talk about it? B. I feel you just need someone to talk to C. Want to come and play on my C64? D. I bet you haven't got the guts.... . . . Oh, I see you did... 12. You told your best friend the first time you: A. Had Sex B. Had Oral Sex C. Got a Ram expansion D. Killed a cat. 13. No-one understands you like: A. Your Mother B. Your Father C. Your PC D. Your Parole Officer 14. For your 18th birthday you wanted: A. A Car B. A Shaver C. A C64 Cassette Drive D. Some Piano Wire, and the Neigbours Cat Scoring Mostly A's: You're normal. Boring Boring Boring. You're the sort of person who'll justy fritter their way thru life enjoying themselves and having a good time. Shame on you! Mostly B's: You're mostly normal. Nothing a little ECT can't clear away in any case. You mostly come into the "Mostly A's" above. Mostly C's: Geek Alert! Break out the pocket protector! With a set of horn rims and a pocket calculator, you're ready for Revenge Part #72. You can be the person that gets beat up all the time. Mostly D's: So you're a socipath; But that doesn't mean you're a bad person. Just keep taking the Lithium and everything'll be fine Are you STILL a computer geek? Ok, so you lucked out last time - you were about as socially adjusted as a onion and jelly sandwhich, BUT YOU MIGHT HAVE CHANGED! You may not be a computer geek any more! It's possible!!! (Not probable, but possible) Test yourself now! 1. It's a stag party for one of your friends. You and the rest of your friends all put money in for: a. A set of driving mirrors b. A stripper c. A stripper with a set of driving mirrors d. A VGA screen so he can check out alt.sex.pictures.of.girlies 2. You want to improve your social life. You a. Ask people to go out with you. b. Join a club to meet new people c. Drink yourself unconcious and forget about it. d. What's a social life? 3. You ideal partner would have: a. Looks b. Intelligence c. Money d. A 1.2 Gig Hard Drive, Twin floppies + SVGA screen, and 5 Meg Memory 4. You have the most horrific nightmare of your life. It involves: a. You driving off a cliff b. You showing up somewhere with no clothes on c. A hungry alsation, your private parts and some tomato sauce. d. A tax on pocket protectors and thick glasses 5. You're on blind date. The question you would ask is: a. "Name the weirdest place you ever kissed someone" b. "Name the weirdest place you ever made love" c. "Name the weirdest place you ever played soggy biscuit" d. "Name the weirdest place you ever booted MSDOS 4" 6. Your role model is: a. Rudolf Steiner b. Mother Theresa c. Charlie Manson d. R2D2 7. Your favourite fashion accessory is: a. Winklepickers b. Collar Studs c. An axe d. What's fashion? 8. If you had your life to live again, would you: a. Make no changes b. Make a few changes c. Make a lot of changes d. Upgrade to SVGA 9. Your favourite pickup line is: a. "I've just won the lottery" b. "Has anyone seen the keys to my Porsche?" c. "$hit, I'm pissed" d. "I'm superuser at work.." 10. During sexual climax, you think of: a. Your partner b. Your partner's body c. Yourself d. The 487 co-processor at 52 Meg Scoring You don't really need the score card do you? Mostly A's or B's means you're the normal run-of-the-mill, 90212 (the house next door) walk alike, talk alike that gives us real jerks a bad name; C's mean you're a.. Well, frankly, I don't know what you are, but it's probably treatable with large amounts of voltage, and D's of course means that you've got a fantastic career stretched out in front of you as far as your nose can see. Happy camping. ___________________________________________________________________________ Q: What is one-trillionth of a surprise? A: A pico-boo. ___________________________________________________________________________ There is no way of falsifying "Unicorns exist." ___________________________________________________________________________ From: kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov (Scott Dorsey) How to identify scientists: Chem Prof: Wears a white lab coat. This may actually be clean but does not have to be. P-chem profs have a brand new coat that has never been in the lab; polymer chem profs have strange glop on their coat, and intro chem profs have acid holes. Physics Prof: Wears blue jeans and a flannel shirt. May sometimes forget to wear shirt altogether. If a professor is wearing blue jeans and suspenders, ten to one he is a physicist. Physics profs often have German accents, but this is not a distingushing characteristic. Be wary of psychologists with fake Viennese accents which can sound similar to the unwary. Bio Prof: Sometimes wears a lab coat, though usually this is the sign of a biochemist. Marine biologists walk around in hip boots for no explainable reason, even in the middle of winter. They are apt to wear grey slacks and smell like fish, as opposed to most biologists, who smell strongly of formalin. Microbiology instructors go around in spotless white coats, refuse to drink beer on tap, and wipe all their silverware before using it. Never loan money to a bio prof, no matter how much he asks. Psych Prof: Psychologists are not real scientists, and can be easily identified by their screams of protest whenever anyone questions whether psychology is a science. Psych people have beady little eyes and don't laugh at jokes about psychology. If you are not sure whether a person is a scientist or a comparative religion instructor, he is probably a psychologist. CS Prof: Most CS profs are from India or Pakistan. You can tell by the gestures and accents. This is not a bad thing, though many of the American CS professors tend to pick up Indian accents which confounds more specific identification. Like mushrooms, CS students only come out at night, and, if not Indian, tend to take on a pasty appearance. CS professors do not use computers and therefore can be easily identified by their comparative good health with respect to their students. Many CS professors do not even know how to use computers, and are actually mathematicians or psychologists in disguise. Avoid these people. Math Prof: Math profs are like physics professors except without any practical bent. A math professor will have only books and pencils in his office, as opposed to the piles of broken equipment that physicists keep. Mathematicians scorn the use of computers and calculators and often have difficulty splitting bills in restaurants. The easy way to identify a mathematician is by the common use of the phrases "It can be shown that..." and "Is left as an exercise to the student..." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =5.1 RULES FOR RESEARCH: ___________________________________________________________________________ In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is a great deal of difference. ___________________________________________________________________________ Unnamed Law: If it happens, it must be possible. ___________________________________________________________________________ FINAGLE'S LAWS: 1. No matter what result is anticipated, there is always someone willing to fake it. 2. No matter what the result, there is always someone eager to misinterpret it. 3. No matter what happens, there is always someone who believes it happened according to his pet theory. ___________________________________________________________________________ FINAGLE'S CREED Science is Truth; don't be misled by facts. ___________________________________________________________________________ THE FINAGLE FACTOR (Sometimes called the SWAG(Scientific Wild-Assed Guess) Constant) That quantity which, when multiplied by, divided by, added to, or subtracted from the answer which you got, yields the answer you should have gotten. [note] Items such as 'Finagle's Constant' and the more subtle 'Bougerre Factor' are loosely grouped, in mathematics, under constant variables, or, if you prefer, variable constants. Finagle's Constant, a multiplier of the zero-order term, may be characterized as changing the universe to fit the equation. The Bougerre (pronounced 'bugger') Factor is characterized as changing the equation to fit the universe. It is also known as the 'Soothing Factor'; mathematically similar to the damping factor, it has the characteristic of dropping the subject under discussion to zero importance. A combination of the two, the Diddle Coefficient, is characterized as changing things so that universe and equation appear to fit without requiring a change in either. ___________________________________________________________________________ FINAGLE'S COROLLARY On a seasonally adjusted basis, there are only six months in a year. If mathematically you end up with the wrong answer, try multiplying by the page number. ___________________________________________________________________________ IGGY'S RULE OF SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES All scientific discoveries are first recorded on napkins or tablecloths. Engineering advances are drawn inside matchbook covers. Keep supplies of them handy at all times. ___________________________________________________________________________ RULES OF THE LAB 1. When you don't know what you're doing, do it neatly. 2. Experiments must be reproduceable, they should fail the same way each time. 3. First draw your curves, then plot your data. 4. Experience is directly proportional to equipment ruined. 5. A record of data is essential, it shows you were working. 6. To study a subject best, understand it thoroughly before you start. 7. To do a lab really well, have your report done well in advance. 8. If you can't get the answer in the usual manner, start at the answer and derive the question. 9. If that doesn't work, start at both ends and try to find a common middle. 10. In case of doubt, make it sound convincing. 11. Do not believe in miracles---rely on them. 12. Team work is essential. It allows you to blame someone else. 13. All unmarked beakers contain fast-acting, extremely toxic poisons. 14. Any delicate and expensive piece of glassware will break before any use can be made of it.(Law of Spontaneous Fission) ___________________________________________________________________________ THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF STATISTICAL INFERENCE 1. Thou shalt not hunt statistical inference with a shotgun. 2. Thou shalt not enter the valley of the methods of inference without an experimental design. 3. Thou shalt not make statistical inference in the absence of a model. 4. Thou shalt honour the assumptions of thy model. 5. Thy shalt not adulterate thy model to obtain significant results. 6. Thy shalt not covet thy colleagues' data. 7. Thy shalt not bear false witness against thy control group. 8. Thou shalt not worship the 0.05 significance level. 9. Thy shalt not apply large sample approximation in vain. 10. Thou shalt not infer causal relationships from statistical significance. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: c1prasad@watson.ibm.com (prasad) Never replicate a successful experiment -Fett's law. [cf CF] ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Koos.denOudsten@phil.ruu.nl Discovery: A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a couple of hours in the library. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: joeshmoe@world.std.com (Jascha Franklin-Hodge) (List of Taglines) A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation. Always draw your curves, then plot the data. An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction. An ounce of emotion is equal to a ton of facts. Always proofread carefully to see if you any words out. Dangerous exercise: Jumping to conclusions. Discoveries are made by not following instructions. ___________________________________________________________________________ FURTHER HINTS ON WRITE-UPS: 1. In any collection of data, the figures that most closely confirm the theory are wrong. 2. No one you ask for help will see the mistakes either. 3. Any nagging intruder who stops by with unsought advice will see them immediately. 4. If an experiment works, you must be using the wrong equipment. 5. An experiment may be considered successful if no more than half the data must be discarded to agree with the theory. 6. No experiment is ever a complete failure. It can serve as a bad example. 7. Always leave room, when writing a report, to add an explanation if it doesn't work (Rule of the Way Out). ___________________________________________________________________________ From: jac@ds8.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Carr) Raw data is like raw sewage, it requires some processing before it can be spread around. The opposite is true of theories. *__________________________________________________________________________ Murphy's law of research: Enough research will tend to support you theory. *________________________________________________________________________ From: jejanes@mtu.edu (Jeff E. Janes) I believe there is a scientific method, or at least a method that serves me well. Jeff's scientific method: play with it until-- 1) you break it 2) it breaks you 3) you figure it out 4) your mom/boss/TA/Prof catches you 5) you discover something more interesting to play with. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =5.2 RULES FOR WRITING AN ARTICLE: ___________________________________________________________________________ From: chris@labtam.labtam.oz.au (Chris Taylor) Here is an old collection that I rediscovered recently. A brief guide to Scientific literature ====================================== Phrase Translation ------------------------------------------------ It has been long known I haven't bothered to check the referances It is known I believe It is believed I think It is generally believed My collegues and I think There has been some discussion Nobody agrees with me It can be shown Take my word for it It is proven It agrees with something mathematical Of great theoretical importance I find it interesting Of great practical importance This justifies my employment Of great historical importance This ought to make me famous Some samples were chosen for study The others didn't make sense Typical results are shown The best results are shown Correct within order of magnitude Wrong The values were obtained empirically The values were obtained by accident The results are inconclusive The results seem to disprove my hypothesis Additional work is required Someone else can work out the details It might be argued that I have a good answer to this objection The investigations proved rewarding My grant has been renewed ___________________________________________________________________________ THE REFEREE'S CREED: What I don't understand I despise, what I despise I reject. ___________________________________________________________________________ >From an unknown but astute source: Every new scientist must learn early that it is never good taste to designate the sum of two quantities in the form: 1 + 1 = 2 (1) Anyone who has made a study o f advanced mathematics is aware that: 1 = ln e 1 = sin^2 x + cos^2 x \inf 2 = sum 1/2^n n= Therefore eq. (1) can be expressed more scientifically as: \inf ln e + sin^2 x + cos^2 x = sum 1/2^n (2) n= This may be further simplified by use of the relations: 1 = cosh y sqrt(1 - tanh^2 y) e = lim (1+1/z)^z z-> inf Equation (2) may therefore be rewritten as: inf cosh y sqrt(1 - tanh^2 y) ln[ lim (1+1/z)^z ] + sin^2 x + cos^2 x = SUM ____________________________ z-> inf n= 2^n (3) At this point it should be obvious that eq. (3) is much clearer and more easily onderstood than eq. (1). Other methods of a similar nature could be used to clarify eq. (1), but these are easily divined once the reader grasps the underlying principles. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =5.3 POETRY E__________________________________________________________________________ From: NANCY_GILL@bdt.COM (Nancy Gill) The Condemned When the earth was created, the powers above, Gave each man a job to work at and love. He made doctors and lawyers and plumbers and then, He made carpenters, singers, and confidence men. And when each had a job to work as he should, He looked them all over and saw it was good. He then sat down to rest for a day, When a horrible groan chanced to come his way. The Lord then looked down and his eyes opened wide, For a motley collection of bums stood outside. "And what do you want?" the creator asked them, "Help us," they cried out, "A job for us men". "We have no profession," they cried in dismay, "And even the jails have turned us away". Said the Lord, "I've seen many things without worth, But here I find gathered the scum of the earth!" The Lord was perplexed, and then he was mad, For the jobs were all gone, there was none to be had. Then he spoke aloud in a deep angry tone, "Forever and ever ye mongrels shall roam, Ye shall freeze in the summer and sweat when it's cold, Ye shall work on equipment that's dirty and old, Ye shall crawl under raised floors, and there cables lay, Ye shall be called out at midnight and work through the day, Ye shall work on all holidays, and not make your worth, Ye shall be blamed for all downtime that occurs on the earth, Ye shall watch all the glory go to software and sales, Ye shall be blamed by them both if the system then fails. Ye shall be paid nothing out of sorrow and tears, Ye shall be forever cursed, and called FIELD ENGINEERS!" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =5.4 Quotes ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Steve Cutchen @A Richard Feynman * @Q First you guess. Don't laugh, this is the most important step. Then you compute the consequences. Compare the consequences to experience. If it disagrees with experience, the guess is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It doesn't matter how beautiful your guess is or how smart you are or what your name is. If it disagrees with experience, it's wrong. That's all there is to it. @D The quote is from a PBS show on Dr. Feynman. He was describing to his class how to look for a new law of physics ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Steve Cutchen @A Richard Feynman @Q I think that it is much more likely that the reports of flying saucers are the results of the known irrational characteristics of terrestrial intelligence than of the unknown rational efforts of extra-terrestrial intelligence ___________________________________________________________________________ @A: Wigner, Eugene P. (1902-1995) @R: There is no natural phenomenon that is comparable with the sudden and apparently accidentally timed development of science, except perhaps the condensation of a super-saturated gas or the explosion of some unpredictable explosives. Will the fate of science show some similarity to one of these phenomena?. @R: In an essay ``The Limits of Science'' intended to estimate them, originally in Procs. of the _Amer. Philosophical Soc._ v. 94, #5 (1950). ___________________________________________________________________________ From:Matthew Austern matt@physics.berkeley.edu: Never express yourself more clearly than you think. ---N. Bohr ___________________________________________________________________________ From: sichase@csa5.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE) The question seems to be of such a character that if I should come to life after my death and some mathematician were to tell me that it had been definitely settled, I think I would immediately drop dead again." - Vandiver ___________________________________________________________________________ From: drory@buphyk.bu.edu (Alon Drory) Furious activity is no substitute for understanding -- H. H. Williams ___________________________________________________________________________ If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants. -- Isaac Newton In the sciences, we are now uniquely privileged to sit side by side with the giants on whose shoulders we stand. -- Gerald Holton If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders. -- Hal Abelson In computer science, we stand on each other's feet. -- Brian K. Reid ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Dr. Stuart Savory savory.pad@sni.de / savory.pad@sni-usa.com "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?". -- A.Einstein ___________________________________________________________________________ From: AXYG58A@prodigy.com (Kristian Jungen) My favorite from Einstein (forgive me if I paraphrase slightly:) Einstein was listening to a student of his when he stated: "Do not trouble me with your concerns with Mathematics. I assure you, mine are greater." ___________________________________________________________________________ From: goble@infonaut.com (Clark Goble) Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe. -- Albert Einstein *__________________________________________________________________________ From: jr3000@aol.com (JR3000) "The must incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible." --Albert Einstein *_________________________________________________________________________ From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18. - Albert Einstein *__________________________________________________________________________ From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) "Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet" - Albert Einstein *__________________________________________________________________________ From: sue@dnai.com (Sue Reinhold) "You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." - Albert Einstein *__________________________________________________________________________ From: karp@cybernetics.net (Eric Karp) I never thought that others would take them so much more seriously then I did. - Albert Einstein about his theories ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Paul D. Shocklee (pds1@cornell.edu) "When in doubt, cause as much confusion as you can, and, with luck, there'll always be a loophole." - Richard Mueller ___________________________________________________________________________ From: locker@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jon Locker) It is one Thing, to show a Man that he is in an Error, and another, to put him in possession of Truth." - John Locke ___________________________________________________________________________ From: bouche2@server.uwindsor.ca (Boucher David) It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts." - Sherlock Holmes ___________________________________________________________________________ From: mdc@math.canterbury.ac.nz (El Technicolour) "The symbols are so illuminating that the fact that the text is incomprehensible doesn't much matter" - A.N. Prior ___________________________________________________________________________ You should never bet against anything in science at odds of more than about 10^12 to 1. -- Ernest Rutherford ___________________________________________________________________________ If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability. -- Vannevar Bush ___________________________________________________________________________ CLARKE'S LAWS Arthur C. Clarke (1917-) When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. _Profiles of the Future_ (1962; rev. 1973) ``Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination'' Clarke's First Law On which he commented: Perhaps the adjective ``elderly'' requires definition. In physics, mathematics, and astronautics it means over thirty; in the other disciplines, senile decay is sometimes postponed to the forties. There are, of course, glorious exceptions; but as every researcher just out of college knows, scientists of over fifty are good for nothing but board meetings, and should at all costs be kept out of the laboratory! _Profiles of the Future_ (1962; rev. 1973) ``Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination'' But the only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. _Profiles of the Future_ (1962; rev. 1973) ``Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination'' Clarke's Second Law Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. _Profiles of the Future_ (1962; rev. 1973) ``Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination'' Clarke's Third Law Clarke adds: As three laws were good enough for Newton, I have modestly decided to stop there. A post with the ``first law'' invariably gets followed up with one mentioning this: When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion--the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right. Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) _Fantasy & Science Fiction_ 1977 [magazine] In answer to Clarke's First Law ___________________________________________________________________________ What used to be called a prejudice is now called a null hypothesis. - AWF Edwards, Nature, 9th March 1971 ___________________________________________________________________________ From: amills@acpub.duke.edu (Anita Mills) It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover. - Henri Poincare ___________________________________________________________________________ From: dok@fwi.uva.nl (Sir Hans) @A: Twain, Mark (1835-1910) * @Q: In the space of one hundred and seventy-six years the Lower Mississippi has shortened itself two hundred and forty-two miles. That is an average of a trifle over one mile and a third per year. Therefore, any calm person, who is not blind or an idiot, can see that in the Old O\"olitic Silurian Period, just a million years ago next November, the Lower Mississippi River was upward of one million three hundred thousand miles long, and stuck out over the Gulf of Mexico like a fishing-rod. And by the same token any person can see that seven hundred and forty-two years from now the Lower Mississippi will be only a mile and three-quarters long, and Cairo and New Orleans will have joined their streets together, and be plodding comfortably along under a single mayor and a mutual board of alderman. There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesome returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. @R: _Life on the Mississippi_ (1883) ch. 17 ___________________________________________________________________________ From: goble@infonaut.com (Clark Goble) One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid. -- J. D. Watson _The Double Helix_ ___________________________________________________________________________ "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use." -- Galileo Galilei ___________________________________________________________________________ From: richard@milton.win-uk.net (Richard Milton) "Nothing is too wonderful to be true if it be consistent with the laws of nature." - Michael Faraday *__________________________________________________________________________ @A: Bronowski,Jacob (1908-1974) @Q: That is the essence of science: Ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer. @R: Ascent of man (1973) ch.4. *_________________________________________________________________________ From: don_b@larry.infi.net (Don A. Berkowitz) As I look back upon my education in chemistry and physics, I see that each year I learned that the stuff I learned the previous year was either a special case of a more general theory, an approximation, or, on occasion, an outright lie! Nonetheless, I needed those lower order approximations to be able to make sense of more general and conceptually more difficult formulations. - Don A. Berkowitz *_________________________________________________________________________ From: vergon@netcom.com (Vertner Vergon) A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. --- Max Planck *__________________________________________________________________________ From: jr3000@aol.com (JR3000) ORIGINALITY: A man with a new idea is a crank until he succeeds. --Mark Twain In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. --Ralph Waldo Emerson Accept your genius and say what you think. --Emerson From: ldiaz@ix.netcom.com (LTD) Who never walks save where he sees men's tracks makes no discoveries. --J.G. Holland ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -- Joachim Verhagen Email:J.C.D.Verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Department of molecular biofysics, University of Utrecht Utrecht, The Netherlands. From verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Wed Apr 26 07:50:29 1995 Newsgroups: rec.humor,sci.math,sci.physics,sci.chem Path: ronneby.hk-r.se!news.lu.se!news.lth.se!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.kth.se!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!sun4nl!cs.ruu.nl!tijger.fys.ruu.nl!verhagen From: verhagen@fys.ruu.nl (Joachim Verhagen) Subject: science jokes (8/8) X-Nntp-Posting-Host: ruunat.fys.ruu.nl Message-ID: Sender: usenet@fys.ruu.nl (News system Tijgertje) Organization: Physics and Astronomy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #3 (NOV) Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 13:43:41 GMT Lines: 1337 Xref: ronneby.hk-r.se rec.humor:105752 sci.math:72236 sci.physics:84752 sci.chem:30278 =6. ANECDOTES ABOUT SCIENTISTS M__________________________________________________________________________ (I'm not sure if the following one is a true story or not) The great logician Bertrand Russell (or was it A.N. Whitehead?) once claimed that he could prove anything if given that 1+1=1. So one day, some smarty-pants asked him, "Ok. Prove that you're the Pope." He thought for a while and proclaimed, "I am one. The Pope is one. Therefore, the Pope and I are one." [NOTE: The following is from merritt@Gendev.slc.paramax.com (Merritt). The story about 1+1=1 causing ridiculous consequences was, I believe, originally the product of a conversation at the Trinity High Table. It is recorded in Sir Harold Jeffreys' Scientific Inference, in a note to chapter one. Jeffreys remarks that the fact that everything followed from a single contradiction had been noticed by Aristotle (I doubt this way of putting it is quite correct, but that is beside the point). He goes on to say that McTaggart denied the consequence: "if 2+2=5, how can you prove that I am the pope?" Hardy is supposed to have replied: "if 2+2=5, 4=5; subtract 3; then 1=2; but McTaggart and the pope are two; therefore McTaggart and the pope are one." When I consider this story, I am astonished at how much more brilliant some people are than I (quite independent of the fallacies in the argument). Since McTaggart, Hardy, Whitehead, and Russell (the last two of whom were credited with a variant of Hardy's argument in your post) were all fellows of Trinity and Jeffreys (their exact contemporary) was a fellow of St. Johns, I suspect that (whatever the truth of Jeffreys' story) it is very unlikely that Whitehead or Russell had anything to do with it. The extraordinary point to me about the story is that Hardy was able to snap this argument out between mouthfuls, so to speak, and he was not even a logician at all. This is probably why it came in some people's minds to be attributed to one or other of the famous Trinity logicians. ___________________________________________________________________________ The following problem can be solved either the easy way or the hard way. Two trains 200 miles apart are moving toward each other; each one is going at a speed of 50 miles per hour. A fly starting on the front of one of them flies back and forth between them at a rate of 75 miles per hour. It does this until the trains collide and crush the fly to death. What is the total distance the fly has flown? The fly actually hits each train an infinite number of times before it gets crushed, and one could solve the problem the hard way with pencil and paper by summing an infinite series of distances. The easy way is as follows: Since the trains are 200 miles apart and each train is going 50 miles an hour, it takes 2 hours for the trains to collide. Therefore the fly was flying for two hours. Since the fly was flying at a rate of 75 miles per hour, the fly must have flown 150 miles. That's all there is to it. When this problem was posed to John von Neumann, he immediately replied, "150 miles." "It is very strange," said the poser, "but nearly everyone tries to sum the infinite series." "What do you mean, strange?" asked Von Neumann. "That's how I did it!" ___________________________________________________________________________ Von Neumann and Norbert Weiner were both the subject of many dotty professor stories. Von Neumann supposedly had the habit of simply writing answers to homework assignments on the board (the method of solution being, of course, obvious) when he was asked how to solve problems. One time one of his students tried to get more helpful information by asking if there was another way to solve the problem. Von Neumann looked blank for a moment, thought, and then answered, "Yes". Weiner was in fact very absent minded. The following story is told about him: When they moved from Cambridge to Newton his wife, knowing that he would be absolutely useless on the move, packed him off to MIT while she directed the move. Since she was certain that he would forget that they had moved and where they had moved to, she wrote down the new address on a piece of paper, and gave it to him. Naturally, in the course of the day, an insight occurred to him. He reached in his pocket, found a piece of paper on which he furiously scribbled some notes, thought it over, decided there was a fallacy in his idea, and threw the piece of paper away. At the end of the day he went home (to the old address in Cambridge, of course). When he got there he realized that they had moved, that he had no idea where they had moved to, and that the piece of paper with the address was long gone. Fortunately inspiration struck. There was a young girl on the street and he conceived the idea of asking her where he had moved to, saying, "Excuse me, perhaps you know me. I'm Norbert Weiner and we've just moved. Would you know where we've moved to?" To which the young girl replied, "Yes daddy, mommy thought you would forget." The capper to the story is that I asked his daughter (the girl in the story) about the truth of the story, many years later. She said that it wasn't quite true -- that he never forgot who his children were! The rest of it, however, was pretty close to what actually happened... ___________________________________________________________________________ The french scientist Ampere was on his way to an important meeting at the Academy in Paris. In the carriage he got a brilliant idea which he immediately wrote down ... on the wand of the carriage: dH=ipdl/r^2. As he arrived he payed the driver and ran into the building to tell everyone. Then he found out his notes were on the carriage and he had to hunt through the streets of Paris to find his notes on wheels. ___________________________________________________________________________ During a class of calculus my lecturer suddenly checked himself and stared intently at the table in front of him for a while. Then he looked up at us and explained that he thought he had brought six piles of papers with him, but "no matter how he counted" there was only five on the table. Then he became silent for a while again and then told the following story: "When I was young in Poland I met the great mathematician Waclaw Sierpinski. He was old already then and rather absent-minded. Once he had to move to a new place for some reason. His wife didn't trust him very much, so when they stood down on the street with all their things, she said: - Now, you stand here and watch our ten trunks, while I go and get a taxi. She left and left him there, eyes somewhat glazed and humming absently. Some minutes later she returned, presumably having called for a taxi. Says Mr. Sierpinski (possibly with a glint in his eye): - I thought you said there were ten trunks, but I've only counted to nine. - No, they're TEN! - No, count them: 0, 1, 2, ..." ___________________________________________________________________________ Albert Einstein, who fancied himself as a violinist, was rehearsing a Haydn string quartet. When he failed for the fourth time to get his entry in the second movement, the cellist looked up and said, "The problem with you, Albert, is that you simply can't count." ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) Einstein was attending a music salon in Germany before the second world war, with the violinist S. Suzuki. Two Japanese women played a German piece of music and a woman in the audience excaimed: "How wonderful! It sounds so German!" Einstein responded: "Madam, people are all the same." ___________________________________________________________________________ From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) This is a story I heard as a freshman at the University of Utah when Dr. Henry Eyring was still teaching chemistry there. Many years before he and Dr. Einstein were colleagues. As they walked together they noted an unusual plant growing along a garden walk. Dr. Eyring asked Dr. Einstein if he knew what the plant was. Einstein did not, and together they consulted a gardner. The gardner indicated the plant was green beans and forever afterwards Eyring said Einstein didn't know beans . I heard this second hand and I don't know if the story has ever been published... ___________________________________________________________________________ From: mstueben@tjhsst.vak12ed.edu (Michael A. Stueben) The English mathematician John Wallis (1616-1703) was a friend of Isaac Newton. According to his diary, Newton once bragged to Wallis about his little dog Diamond. "My dog Diamond knows some mathematics. Today he proved two theorems before lunch." "Your dog must be a genius," said Wallis. "Oh I wouldn't go that far," replied Newton. "The first theorem had an error and the second had a pathological exception." ___________________________________________________________________________ Professor Dirac, a famous Applied Mathematician-Physicist, had a horse shoe over his desk. One day a student asked if he really believed that a horse shoe brought luck. Professor Dirac replied, "I understand that it brings you luck if you believe in it or not." ___________________________________________________________________________ The following is supposedly a true story about Russell. It isn't really a math joke since it makes fun of the British hierarchy, but it's funny anyway.... Around the time when Cold War started, Bertrand Russell was giving a lecture on politics in England. Being a leftist in a conservative women's club, he was not received well at all: the ladies came up to him and started attacking him with whatever they could get their hands on. The guard, being an English gentleman, did not want to be rough to the ladies and yet needed to save Russell from them. He said, "But he is a great mathematician!" The ladies ignored him. The guard said again, "But he is a great philosopher!" The ladies ignore him again. In desperation, finally, he said, "But his brother is an earl!" Bert was saved. ___________________________________________________________________________ Another "true" story, kinda like the aforementioned urban legend: Enrico Fermi, while studying in college, was bored by his math classes. He walked up to the professor and said, "My classes are too easy!" The professor looked at him, and said, "Well, I'm sure you'll find this interesting." Then the professor copied 9 problems from a book to a paper and gave the paper to Fermi. A month later, the professor ran into Fermi, "So how are you doing with the problems I gave you?" "Oh, they are very hard. I only managed to solve 6 of them." The professor was visibly shocked, "What!? But those are unsolved problems!" ___________________________________________________________________________ When Boltzman gave a lecture on ideal gasses, he casually mentioned complicated calculations, which didn't give him any trouble. His students could not follow the fast mathematics and asked him to do the calculations on the blackboard. Boltzman apologized and promised to do better next time. The next lesson he began: "Gentlemen, if we combine Boyle's law with Charles's law we get the equation pv= p\sub 0 v\sub 0 (1 + a t). Now it is clear that \sub a S \sup b = f(x) dx x (a), then is pv=RT and \sub V S f(x,y,z) dV = 0. It is so simple as one and one is two. At this moment he remembered his promise and dutyfully wrote 1 + 1 = 2. Then he continued with the complicated calculations from his bare mind. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: kriman@acsu.buffalo.edu (Alfred M. Kriman) Wigner, Eugene Paul (11 Nov. 1902-1 Jan. 1995) About given name: born Jeno Wigner in BudaPest. Published as Eugen when in Germany, as Eugene after 1930 in U.S. About family name: there is an urban legend around Princeton University, that he once simply asked a graduate student, "How do you pronounce my name?" Got back an American pronunciation of the W, and thenceforth went by that pronun- ciation. In reality, he was too gentle and modest to correct anyone's pronunciation of his name. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: LHILL@Bridgewater.edu (L. Michael Hill) How about Charles Darwin when he saw a beetle and picked it up. He saw a second and picked that one up in the other hand. He then saw a third one which he really wanted. Not knowing what to do, he shoved one of the ones he was holding into his mouth in order to pick up the third one. The one in the mouth emmitted some kind of stuff which made him spit out the beetle and also lose the other two! ___________________________________________________________________________ It is told that Berthelot had a lab coat with a hole, through wich you could see his Legion d'Honneur. *__________________________________________________________________________ From: jpnairn@eworld.com (Jerry Nairn) There's the story of Sir Eddington, later to become known as Sir "Adding-one", at an interview with a reporter, in the 30s, I think. The interviewer said, "I've heard that you're one of the three people in the world who understand General Relativity." Eddington got a puzzled look on his face. The interviewer asked him what was the matter, and he replied, "I'm trying to think who the third person would be." *__________________________________________________________________________ From: Jim Hewitt AE was talking to one of his colleagues about quantum mechanics. The colleague kept using classical terms to discuss the quantum phenomema. Einstein finally said (something to the effect), "I can't be sure that I understand you because you are using the wrong words." *M_________________________________________________________________________ From: kovarik@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca (Zdislav V. Kovarik) Evariste Galois was not only a mathematical genius but also a dedicated revolutionary. Ironically, he proved that many problems cannot be solved by radicals. From: cxm7@po.CWRU.Edu (Colin Mclarty) Actually, on the math side, Galois showed how to tell when a problem CAN be solved by radicals (Abel earlier proved some can't). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =7. MNEMONICS =7.1 MNEMONICS ___________________________________________________________________________ From:alfa@werple.apana.org.au (Glenn Durden): Its a bit of a nasty word to spell though. From (I think) OMNI magazine a few years back: Mnemonics Neatly Eliminate Mans Only Nemesis - Insufficient Cerebral Storage. From: poodge@econBerkeley.EDU (Sam Quigley) How about a mnemonic for remembering how to spell "mnemonic?" My Nasty Editor Might Occaisonally Not Interpret Commas +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =7.2 MATHEMATICS M__________________________________________________________________________ Pi: From: mshapiro@netlink.nix.com (Michael Shapiro) writes: Now I will a rhyme construct By chosen words the young instruct. Cunningly devised endeavor, Con it and remember ever. Widths of circle here you see. Sketched out in strange obscurity. From: stephan@artn.iit.edu (Stephan Meyers) Sir, I send a rhyme excelling In sacred truth and rigid spelling Numerical sprites elucidate for me the lexicon's full weight. If nature gain, who can complain tho' Doc Johnson fulminate. From: c1prasad@watson.ibm.com (prasad) Sir, I bear a rhyme excelling In mystic force and magic spelling; Celestial sprites elucidate All my own striving can't relate. From: gsc@cairo.anu.edu.au (Sean Case) Now I, even I, would celebrate in rhymes inept, the great immortal Syracusan rivall'd nevermore who in his wondrous lore passed on before left men his guidance how to circles mensurate. Americans can spell "rivall'd" as "rivaled", which works a lot better. From: thomas@melchior.frmug.fr.net (Thomas Quinot) For PI, we have in France : Que j'aime a faire apprendre un nombre utile aux sages Immortel Archimede, artiste, ingenieur Qui de ton jugement peut priser la valeur ? Pour moi ton probleme eut de pareils avantages. bhuntley@tsegw.tse.com (Brian Huntley) writes: How I need a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy chapters 3 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 5 3 5 8 involving quantum mechanics. 9 7 9 M__________________________________________________________________________ Here are some phrases used to remember SIN, COS, and TAN. (SIN = Opposite/Hypotenuse, COS = Adjacent/H, TAN = O/A). From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein): Soh-Kah-Toa Sine=opposite/hypotenuse, etc. From: stephan@artn.iit.edu (Stephan Meyers) Some officers add curly auburn hair to offer attraction From: kcousins@awadi.com.au (Kevin Cousins) Sydney Opera House: Costs are higher than originally anticipated. From: ahcson@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Tree Pig) how about Oscar Had A Hit Of Acid? write the first letter of each word along with the letters SCT like : S OH (sine = opposite/hypotenuse) C AH (cosine = adjacent/hypotenuse) T OA (tangent = opposite/adjacent) From: pdundas@bfsec.bt.co.uk (Paul Dundas) Two Old Angels Skipped Over Heaven Carrying A Harp From: pyotr@chinook.halcyon.com (Peter D. Hampe) Oscar Had A Heap Of Apples - you just have to remember the sine, cosine, tangent progression on your own. From: Andrew Rogers (rogers@sasuga.hi.com): Saddle Our Horses, Canter Away Happily, To Other Adventures. From: cs92dy@cen.ex.ac.uk sin/cos etc. Silly old Henry, caught Albert Hugging/Humping two old Aunts. From: heath@pi.cs.fsu.edu (Taliver B Heath) Oscar had a hairy old ass. SOHCAHTOA (sock-a-toe-a) The Cat Sat On An Orange And Howled Hard Some Old Hulks Carry A Huge Tub Of Ale Silly Old Hitler Caused Awful Headaches To Our Airmen Some Old Hag Cracked All Her Teeth On Asparagus Some Old Hairy Camels Are Hairier Than Others Are Silly Old Harry Caught A Herring Trawling Off America SOPHY, CADHY, TOAD From: raistlin@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Paul) For remembering the sign of trig functions in the quadrants: All Suckers Take Calculus: in quadrants one through four C | A ---|--- T | S All=sin, cos, and tan are all posative Suckers=sine posative (others negative) Take=tangent posative (others negative) Calculus=cosine posative (others negative) M__________________________________________________________________________ Weber Tracy L (tweber@cc.brynmawr.edu): "Please excuse my dear aunt Sally" or "PEMDAS" Default operator precedence () ^ * / + - From: g4klx@g4klx.demon.co.uk (Jonathan Naylor) I was taught a longer version at school: "Brackets of my dear aunt Sally" Which nicely included the fact that brackets and "of" were higher in precedence that * / + -. Being a bunch of nasty snivelling (sp?) ten year olds, we changed it to "Bollocks of my dear aunt Sally". For our American readers, Bollocks == Gonads. Not biologically correct but who cares ? From: magyar@hss.caltech.edu (Ted Turocy) Please excuse my dear aunt Sally parentheses exponents multiplication division addition subtraction M__________________________________________________________________________ From: boingo@agora.rdrop.com (Capuchin=Jeme A Brelin) Quotient rule for derivatives ala Cab Calloway: Hodehi minus hideho over hoho. M__________________________________________________________________________ From: ssw@hamlet.umd.edu (Susan Schwartz Wildstrom) My friend and colleague, Lynn Gruner (who teaches BC Calculus with me at Walt Whitman HS in Bethesda, MD) has altered the quotient rule song that we received some years back. Her version (sung to OLD MACDONALD'S FARM) goes like this: Lo-de-hi less hi-de-lo EIEIO Then draw the line and down below EIEIO With a dx here and a dy there Here a slope, yes there's hope, you can cope Denominator squared will go EIEIO I composed a chain rule "song" to the tune of Allouette, but it's too long to be of much value as a mnemonic. The point of the song certainly underscores how the chain rule works, but it's not one you'd be likely to remember. On another mathematical subject, Lynn also uses EIEIO as a mnemonic for extracting roots and when the absolute value symbols are required in the answer Even Index, Even In yielding Odd (exponents). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =7.3 COMPUTER SCIENCE A__________________________________________________________________________ From: jbaldwin@teleport.com (Jim Baldwin) For the order of declarations in Pascal: Let's Cook Textured Vegetable Protein For: Labels, Constants, Types, Variables, Procedures A__________________________________________________________________________ From: tomv@vismag.limmat.net.ch (Thomas Voirol) Two stupid ones: CAFE - the positive (or unsigned) first nibble in EBCDIC numbers DB - the negative e.g. C3 = +3 F8 = 8 (unsigned) D9 = -9 33 45 7C = +33'457 (packed decimal) A__________________________________________________________________________ From: fanf@moggy.inmos.co.uk (Anthony Finch) PCMCIA: People Can't Remember Computer Industry Acronyms damn! no, that's wrong -- it should be "Memorise". It must be true... (even though it's not a mnemonic) From: khm@skom.se (Karl-Henry Martinsson) Or, as Brendan McGuire (Executive Director of PCMCIA) said: President Clinton Makes Cornbread In Arkansas A__________________________________________________________________________ From: bigbear@garlic.com Computing: You don't go to the STORE to get VD. The 360 instructions for which the second operand, instead of the first, is the recipient of the data. (STORE and cVD- convert to decimal) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =7.4 PHYSICS P__________________________________________________________________________ slavins@psy.man.ac.uk (Simon Slavin) writes: And the planet one (which I got from Robert A. Heinlein): Mother very thoughtfully made a jam sandwich under no protest. for: Mercurius, Venus, thoughfully = Terra = Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturnus, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. From: snowhare@xmission.com (Snowhare) Mike Bandy wrote on 20 Jul 1994 09:33:13 -0400: Most Volcanoes Erupt Mouldy Jam Sandwiches Under Normal Pressure Many Viscious Earth Monsters Just Sat Under Nellies Porch From: dolf@echo.tds.philips.nl (Dolf Grunbauer) Planets in the solar system. My Very Excellant Memory Just Stores Up Nine Planets. From: badger@phylo.life.uiuc.edu (Jonathan Badger) My Very Educated Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas Actually, currently, I guess it is Pizzas Nine... From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (Jeff Zeitlin) Planets of the Solar System, in order: My Very Extravagant Mother Just Sent Us Nine Parrots. When Pluto comes closer to the sun than Neptune: ... Just Sent Us Pine Nuts. From: kirrilyr@union3.su.swin.edu.au (Kirrily Robert - SINN Editor) Many Very Early Mornings Julie Sits Up Naming Planets peters@nms.otc.com.au (Peter Samuel) wrote: My favourite is for remembering the planets in our solar system: Most Volcanoes Erupt Mouldy Jam Sandwiches Under Normal Pressure From: ted_swift@qm.sri.com (Ted Swift) Matilda Visits Every Thursday, Just Stays Until Noon, Period. From: tomv@vismag.limmat.net.ch (Thomas Voirol) A German one: Mein Mercury my Vater Venus father Erklaert Earth explains Mir Mars (to) me Jeden Jupiter every Sonntag Saturn sunday Unsere Uranus our Neuen Neptune new Plaene Pluto plans This will help you remember the sequence of sol's planets. If you speak German, that is... P__________________________________________________________________________ From: rjohnson@apple.com (Rob Johnson) The constellations of the zodiac: A Tense Gray Cat Lay Very Low Sneaking Slowly Contemplating A Pounce r a e a e i i c a a q i i u m n o r b o g p u s e r i c g r r i r a c s u n e o a p t i r e s i r i t c i s o a o u r r s i n u s P__________________________________________________________________________ From: eng20216@leonis.nus.sg (CHEW JOO SIANG) How bout the one for the colours of the rainbow - Virgin In Bed Gives You Orgasmic Release For : violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red. From: dtrg@st-andrews.ac.uk (David Thomas Richard Given) Rip Off Your Goolies Before I Vomit From: pdundas@bfsec.bt.co.uk (Paul Dundas) Richard of York gave battle in vain From: drory@buphyk.bu.edu (Alon Drory) Or the one I picked up from an Asimov essay: Read Out Your Good Book In Verse He also said that since Violet was just a fancy-schmancy word for purple, more populistic minded people could also Read Out Your Good Book In Prose From: avg@sprintlink.net (Vadim Antonov) Russian for spectrum colors: Kazhdyi Okhotnik Zhelayet Znat' Gde Sidit Fazan every hunter wants to_know where sits a_fazan (a kind of bird) Krasnyi Oranzhevyi Zhyoltyi Zelenyi Goluboy Siniy Fioletvyi Red Orange Yellow Green Lt_Blue Blue Violet From: ingvar@ki.se (Ingvar Mattsson) Or ROY G BIV, for the same colours in the opposite direction. From: mchndnd@marie.physik.tu-berlin.de (Neil Dobson) Or ROY G BIV, for the same colours in the opposite direction. Roy G. Biv, Roy G. Biv, He's the colour quaddie That the spectrum gives. Lois McMaster Bujold. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: sjt@xun8.sr.bham.ac.uk (James Tappin) From: cummings@u.washington.edu (Mike Cummings) Stellar spectral classes: Oh be a fine girl, kiss me right now - SMACK For: 0, B, A, G, G, K, M, R, N. From: lou@xilinx.com (Lou Sanchez-Chopitea) Oh be a fine girl, kiss me right now sweetheart From: cummings@u.washington.edu (Mike Cummings) Oh Big And Ferocious Gorilla, Kill My Roommate Next Saturday! Only Boring Astronomers Find Gratification Knowing Mnemonics. From: lrmead@whale.st.usm.edu (Lawrence R. Mead) On bad afternoons fermented grapes keep Mrs. Richard Nixon smiling. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: garret@mrao.cam.ac.uk (Garret Cotter) And while we are on the topic of color, how about the one for recalling spectrographic notation: Sober Physicists Don't Find Giraffes Hiding In Kitchens. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: rjc@mail.ast.cam.ac.uk (Robert Cumming) I used to remember Newton's First Law by singing it (sotto voce, _of course_) to the tune of the Birdie Song: Every body continues in its state of rest Or of uniform motion Until compelled by some external force to change that state of rest Or of uniform motion P__________________________________________________________________________ From: claybake@cae.wisc.edu (Peter Jon Claybaker) Q: What's new (nu)? A: mu / rho It's the only way I can rememeber the relationship between absolute and kinematic viscosity. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: mje@pookie.pass.wayne.edu (Michael J. Edelman) Another favorite, learned late in life, for electronics types: Eli the Ice man. It's for remembering whether current leads voltage or lags it in reactive circuits. In inductive ('L') circuits, voltage ('E') leads current ('I'), hence 'E L I'. In capacitive ('C') circuits, it's the other way, so 'I C E'. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =7.5 CHEMISTRY C__________________________________________________________________________ From: lawson@pax.llnl.gov (William S. Lawson) From: DPierce@world.std.com (Richard D Pierce) How about Feynman's mnemonic for the third period of the periodic table: "NeNa, M'gAl, SiPS Chlorine"? H H He Li Be B C N O F Ne Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar From: cummings@u.washington.edu (Mike Cummings) Let me offer this one, see if it's any better. A High School teacher taught me, "H! HeLiBebCNOFNeNaMgAlSiPSiCl!" Not much help, huh? Here's a pronunciation key: "H!" (Just make a loud H, then pause, looking as if you're about to pounce. Nice dramatic effect that gets the listener's attention.) "Heh-Lee-Beb-K'Noff-" (Easy so far) "N'Nahm" (That's N(schwa) - Nahm[rhymes with bomb]) "Gall-Sip-Sickle" From: mjh22@mrao.cam.ac.uk (Martin Hardcastle) OK, _my_ high school teacher had the following: "Hell! Here're Little Beatniks Brandishing Countless Numbers Of Flick kNives." H He Li Be B C N O F er, Ne "Naughty Maggie Always Sips Pure Sweet Claret" N Mg Al Si P S Cl He couldn't remember any more after that, so nor can I. From: kirrilyr@union3.su.swin.edu.au (Kirrily Robert - SINN Editor) "Hi Helen, Little Betty Boron Can Not Often Find Neddy. Naughty Meg Always SiPS Chlorine in Kenny's Car" From: harper@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (John Harper) And in chemistry we eventually learnt to pronounce the following, though each line seems harder than the one before: HHeLiBeBCNOF NeNaMgAlSiPSCl AKCaScTiVCrMnFeCoNiCuZnGaGeAsSeBr (this was before they changed it to ArKCa...) KrRbSrYZrNbMoTcRuRhPdAgCdInSnSbTeI but I must admit I didn't find the rare earths memorable this way. C__________________________________________________________________________ We got german, french and russian in this thread. Time for a dutch one. The electro-negativity of Metals: Karolientje NAaktgeboren MaG ALleen op ZoN en FEestdagen SNoepen. Caroline nakedborn may only on sun- and Holliday eat sweets. (=real dutch family name) ProBeer Haar te Kussen(=Cu) achter(Ag) de Platina AUto. Try her to kiss behind the platina car. From: matthew@tadtec.co.uk (Matthew Sweet) But in english: Please Send Little Charlie McKie A Zebra If The Horse Can't Munch Sweet Green Plants Potassium, Sodium, Lithium, Calcium, Magnesium, Aluminium, Zinc, Iron, ?Tin? Hydrogen Copper, ?Mercury?, Silver, Gold, Platinum +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =7.6 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE ___________________________________________________________________________ Cranial nerves: From: sterner@upenn5.hep.upenn.edu (Kevin Sterner) On Old Olympus's Towering Top, A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops From: mje@pookie.pass.wayne.edu (Michael J. Edelman) On Old Olympus' towering top, a fat-assed german veiwed a hop. From: john.tant@exchange.com (John Tant) The 12 cranial nerves, On Old Olympus, Terry Tried Abducting Fanny After Giving Vegas Some Help Oh, oh, oh, to touch and feel a girl's vagina- ah, heaven! From: spbcajk@ucl.ac.uk (Mr Andrew John Kale) Oh, Oh, Oh To Touch A Fair Virgin's Glistening Vagina And Hymen for the twelve cranial nerves: Olfactory, Optic, Oculomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Auditory, Facial, Vestibulocochlear, Glossopharyngeal, Vagus, Accessory, Hypoglossal ___________________________________________________________________________ From: abw@bu.edu (Al Wesolowsky) Anatomy, for the bones of the wrist: "Never lower Tillie's pants. Grandmother might come home." Navicular Lunate Triquetral Pisiform Greater Multangular Lesser Multangular Capitate Hamate From: spbcajk@ucl.ac.uk (Mr Andrew John Kale) I was always taught this as : Scabby Lucy Tried Peeing Having Copulated Twenty Times Scaphoid Lunate Triquetral Pisiform Hamate Capitate ... and two others I've forgotten (it was a long time ago!) B__________________________________________________________________________ From: dpbsmith@world.std.com (Daniel P. B. Smith) Biology: Kings play cards on fairly good soft velvet. (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, Variety). From: gjb@evolving.com (Gregory Bloom) Then there's the ever-popular 'King Phillip Cuts Open Five Green Snakes' for Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species From: alderc@aol.com (Alder Castanoli) King Philip Came Over From Germany Speedily From: joev@garden.WPI.EDU (Joseph W. Vigneau): Ian Young wrote: King Phillip Came Over For George's Sword From: joev@garden.WPI.EDU (Joseph W. Vigneau): King Phillip Came Over For Good Sex From: scs@eskimo.com (Steve Summit) King Philip can only farm green spinach. >From Charlie Gibbs (Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.bc.ca): King Phillip Came Over for a Glass of Scotch From: ab401@freenet.carleton.ca (Paul Tomblin) King Phillip: Come Out For God's Sake. (From Colin Fletcher, "The Man Who Walked Through Time" - a book about a walk down the length of the Grand Canyon) From: sichase@csa5.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE) King Phillip Came Over From Germany, Stoned on Gin, Rum, and Vodka. This gives you subspecies classifications as well (variety, etc.) From: badger@phylo.life.uiuc.edu (Jonathan Badger) Kraft Parmesian Cheese On Fingers Gets Sticky B__________________________________________________________________________ From: Peter Berger All Chaperones Must Previously Have Had Sex. Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Primata, Hominidae, Homo, Sapiens. Man's taxonomy. B__________________________________________________________________________ From: sclatter@littlewing.Eng.Sun.COM (Sarah Clatterbuck) Then there's my personal fave, because I made it up: "Lazy zebras ponder dire disasters." leptotene zygotene polytene diplotene diakinesis I think the spellings may be wrong. They're the five sub-phases of the prophase of mitosis (cell division). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =7.7 MISCELLANY ___________________________________________________________________________ From: cbutler@bnr.ca (Chris Butler) writes: I remember one for the metric system: "King Hector Doesn't Usually Drink Cold Milk" for Kilo 1000 Hecto 100 Deca 10 Units 1 Deci 0.1 Centi 0.01 Milli 0.001 From: jsandler@encore.com (Jeff Sandler) My math teacher, who taught us a similar one, must have been more..um... sadist. "Kill Hector Dead , Dear Cousin Milli." ___________________________________________________________________________ From: davek@microware.com (Dave Kimble) MUSIC: order of sharps: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle order of flats: Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father ___________________________________________________________________________ Richard F. Drushel wrote: Every good boy does fine = line notes, treble clef, bottom to top From: harper@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (John Harper) Every good boy deserves food though girls quoted it as: Every good boy deserves flogging. E__________________________________________________________________________ From: jmpierce@medea.gp.usm.edu (Jim M. Pierce) Color codes resistors: 'Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly, Get Some Now.' black brown red yellow green blue violet grey white gold silver GSN stands for the plus or minus bit... 5 percent, 10 percent, and 20 percent. i.e. 100 ohms, plus or minus 5 percent. From: jac@ds8.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Carr) Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly, for Gold or Silver. From: tonyg@kcbbs.gen.nz (Tony Garnock-Jones) : Yes, but I always get stuck trying to remember is "bad" black or is : "boys"? I always forget without difficulty. Blue and the two g's I can : remember no problem. BlAck -> BAd BrOwn -> BOys BlUe -> BUt The second letter of each B-word is the _third_ letter of the word it stands for :-) Neat pattern... From: rcsacw@rwc.urc.tue.nl (Christ van Willegen) Black bastards Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly. (offending, but easier to remember black, brown) From: wingo@apple.com (Tony Wingo) This alternative version solves that problem: Blackie Brown rapes our young girls but violet gives willingly. From: woodman@bnr.ca (Dave Woodman) "Billy Brown Revives On Your Gin, But Values Good Whisky." From: jlowrey@skat.usc.edu (Fritz Lowrey) Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts, But Vodka Goes Well Grant Edwards wrote: Better Be Ready, Or Your Great Big Venture Goes West. (goes west = fails, dies) From: eeyimkn@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (M. Knell) My eternal favourite (and the one that nobody's mentioned yet): Black Beetles Running On Your Garden Bring Very Good Weather From: thomas@melchior.frmug.fr.net (Thomas Quinot) French version : Ne Mangez Rien Ou Jeunez, Voila Bien Votre Grande Betise. ___________________________________________________________________________ >From Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.bc.ca: There's no red port wine left. (navigation light colours) ___________________________________________________________________________ From: bigbear@garlic.com Geology: Terrible Giants Can Find Alligators Or Quaint Tigers Conveniently Digestible. Hardness scale for minerals: Talc, Gypsum, Calcite, Flourite, Apatite, Orthoclase feldspar, Quartz, Topaz, Corundum, Diamond. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: dpbsmith@world.std.com (Daniel P. B. Smith) Geology: "Come on, see daring men play polo." (Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Permian, Pennsylvanian). "Phooey! Even old men play polo, right?" (Palaeocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Recent). From: john.tant@exchange.com (John Tant) Campbell's Onion Soup Does Make People Puke. ___________________________________________________________________________ From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (Jeff Zeitlin) >From navigation, for converting between True, Magnetic, and Compass directi applying variation and deviation: True virgins make dull company Or backwards: can dead men vote twice +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =8. PRANKS C__________________________________________________________________________ by Alan Meiss, ameiss@gn.ecn.purdue.edu Wherein the author relates the Tale of the Exploding Pen. Everyone who's taken high school chemistry probably has some entertaining stories of experiments not included in the syllabus, myself included. A friend and I did a great deal of spontaneous research in our class involving myriad flame tests and chemical combinations "Mother Nature never intended." I recall one time when the teacher left the room, and my friend dashed into the storeroom in the back to see what he could filch. He returned with a heaping handful of silver nitrate powder, which isn't exactly recommended handling procedure for this chemical. When rapid discomfort made him dispose of this material, the rest of us observed to our amazement that his entire hand had turned silver. By the end of the day it had turned purple. But all this, of course, is peripheral to the Tale of the Exploding Pen. One day in Chemistry class we were using calcium metal, which reacts with water to give off hydrogen gas and heat. This was definitely Nifty, and I saved several pieces. It became a source of amusement to drop it in a puddle of water and watch it bubble and sputter, then quickly hand it to someone during a quiet class to provoke an alarmed bellow (the stuff got pretty hot). By the afternoon I had one piece left, which I, based on thought processes that now entirely elude me, stored, along with some water, in my pen, one of those Bic Biros with the large white barrel and detachable endcap. It soon slipped my mind that I'd done this, and I went on my way to Biology class. Midway through class, we were wrapping up an experiment, with the teacher giving a lecture and the class taking notes. I was standing in the back of the room, writing down final data from our petri dishes of E. Coli, when my pen exploded. It was very loud, louder than a firecracker, and I looked up to see every face in the class staring at me and the remnant of my pen with great alarm. The resulting silence was finally broken when someone muttered "his pen exploded!" I tried to play it cool, giving my pen as cursory an inspection as possible, as if this were a frequent occurence of little concern, and returned to an extroadinarily studious job of note-taking. The teacher just smiled and continued the lecture in a bit; I guess he was used to this sort of thing. We had some other interesting experiences in this biology course, including the development of Live Chicken Bowling, and the concealment of chickens in people's personal belongings. In one class I remember, one of the kids wadded up paper towels into a foot-wide ball, and for reasons I don't fathom arrived at the decision to set it on fire when the teacher left the room. Too late it occcurred to him that a large ball of fire is fairly conspicuous in a classroom setting, so he stuffed it into the lab drawer beside his desk just before the teacher returned. The sudden earnest interest in the lecture he tried to demonstrate was not enough to distract from the smoke rising from his desk, however, and he got in a significant amount of trouble. But let me return once again to Chemistry class. In all, it was a fairly boring class, and we even had to pursue non- flammable entertainment. I programmed a Blackjack game on my pocket computer, and we would pass it around the class for all to play. A lively betting pool would sometimes start when the score got high. One day we managed to play a full game of Risk in the back of the room during lecture. Some of us would spend a half an hour at a stretch duplicating Muppet noises from Sesame Street episodes: "Tiiiick Tooooock BrrrrrrrRING! Yupyupyupyup". Others would interupt any rare quiet moments by yanking leg hairs from other guys wearing shorts. None of this infantilism, however, can compare to the mayhem related to me by one of my roommates that went on in his own high school chemistry class. He had a particularly anarchic chem class that seemed to involve an impressive amount of pyrotechnics. On one occassion, someone threw a fist-sized chunk of potassium metal in a sink full of water, which destroyed it (both sink and water) with a great shower of sparks. Another time his classmates covered an entire desktop with infamous nitrogren tri-iodide, an unstable compound made from ammonia and iodine that explodes when touched, leaving purple stains. They detonated it by throwing a paper airplane, blowing the top off the desk. In an act of tremendous stupidity, they filled an entire liter beaker with the gray incendiary material from sparklers, and when some fool tossed in a match, the resulting column of fire burned holes in both the table and ceiling. In an extra-curriculur adventure, they piled a mound of thermite they'd prepared in class on a particularly despised person's driveway. When ignited, it blasted a foot wide hole through the concrete and down to the dirt. Their most notable "achievement", however, was placing in someone's locker in a dish of water a large chunk of some unknown material that gives off noxious odors when moist. He said that the resulting nauseating stench spread through the entire school. One girl barfed in mid-sprint to the bathroom, and the school had to evacuate the building and cancel classes for the rest of the day. In an entire semester of Chemistry class, his only remotely educational experience was learning to make soap, and he had to repeat the subject here at Purdue, minus the pyrotechnics. PCB________________________________________________________________________ From: junep@bu.edu (June Peckingham) I recall those days of high school science pranks well. (although our chem teacher was much to smart to ever leave sodium of potassium where we could find it). -Earth Science - learning to burn skin with a magnifying glass. Also learned that chalk, when heated with a magnifying glass, will explode. -Biology - Actively participated in an experiment to kill the mutant fish that lived in the aquarium. We tried everything - soda, windex, acid. These guys were tough. The other high point of bio was having a frog pee down my friend's arm, cool. -Chemistry - In a neighboring school one of the hooligans superglued everything in the classroom. The teacher was infuriated. When he went to sit down he found that his chair was also stuck in place. He did succeed in moving it, only by removing the four floor tiles it was glued to. My high school chem teacher was too scary to try anything fun on. I did manage to light a table on fire though. -Physics - Our physics teacher was cool. He let us form a line into the hall and use the power of the Van de Graph generator to shock passers by. hehe. We also got to chop a large block of wood off his stomach to demonstrate inertia. He taught us the 'to every force there is an equal and opposite..' by throwing himself against a wall while wearing roller skates. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: arildj@edb.tih.no (Arild Jensen) A friend of mine got a hold of a large chunck of potassium metal which he brought to a party. He managed to dare another guy to make it explode. The other guy wasn't of the brightest type, and he didn't believe it would explode in contact with water. Anyhow, stupid as he was, he went to the bathroom and thew it into the toilet. Nothing happened, so he went back out again, saying to my friend "Hey, nothing happe...." BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole bathroom was covered with smoke, and the toilet-seat was completely ruined, cracked and everything. The guy who held the party had to use the neighbors bathroom the following week, until his own one got repaired. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: pkukla@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Peter Kukla) When I was in High School, one of my classmates was having a serious problem with people stealing his lunch. Every day it disappeared from his locker (don't recall whether his lock was broken off or what.) Complaining to the principal did no good, so he went to his father, a pharmacist. His father gave him some substance (Silver Nitrate) which didn't discolor the food, but which turned your skin black or purple when you came in contact with it. This guy liberally coated his food with it, and waited. I was fortunate enough to see the results. Another classmate, who had ostensibly gone to the bathroom, returned to the math class, hiding his hands and face as best he could. It didn't work - his dyed skin was obvious. A cohort of his didn't even bother to return to class, he just fled the school for the day. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: meyerar@scooby.beloit.edu (Arden Meyer) When I was in High School, my chemistry teacher had the privilege of scaring most of the freshman chem class. He had a wooden cutting block set out on the bench at the front of the class, with a large butcher's knife. After everyone took their seats, he produced an apple, two 200 mL beakers containing clear fluid, an empty 500 mL beaker, and an eye dropper. He proceeded to cut the apple in half, and then place the knife back in a locked drawer (he didn't trust us!). With the dropper, he squirted some of liquid A onto one half of the apple, and we all saw it eat away at the apple rather quickly. Then, after rinsing the dropper, he squirted some of liquid B onto the remaining half of the apple, which also ate it away. He then poured liquid A and liquid B into the 500 mL beaker, and swirled the mixture for a few moments (about twenty seconds). He then downed the whole thing in one big swallow! As it turned out, liquid A was hydrocloric acid, and liquid B was sodium hydroxide. They were both of the same molarity, and so when mixed, they produced salt water. The most interesting happening of this was the next year, when a young lady passed out as the teacher swallowed his drink... ## if you have the stupidity to try this, make sure you know alot about chemistry and that you get the concentrations right!!! ## C__________________________________________________________________________ From: glyle@marie.seas.ucla.edu (George Lyle (233789)) Not quite a prank, but dang funny: While I was in a high school chem class, the teacher was showing how to properly heat a test tube with a Bunsen burner. He said "never point the mouth of the tube toward you like this (pointing tube at his head)" Always point the test tube away from your body (turns test tube away). At that instant, the alcohol/acid solution in the tube shot out and ignited, flaming a 5 foot periodic table on the wall. Half of class broke out laughing while other half was frozen in seats. Teacher grabs fire bottle and puts out fire. Teacher never gave that demo in the same way again! C__________________________________________________________________________ From: tomcheng@soda.berkeley.edu (Thomas T. Cheng) We must have had the same chem teacher or something. The exact same thing happened in our class, except it was our homework that caught on fire. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: michaec@beaufort.sfu.ca (Strider Coyle) This happened to me, except the *bottom* of the tube blew off and lit my binder on fire. P__________________________________________________________________________ From: isoner@clt.fx.net (Isoner) My science teacher gave a demonstration on electric current by makeing circits in beakers of salt water. Then he dropped it so that half of it was in a beaker and the other half was out. Theoreticaly he should have been able to pick it up with no problem because it was not completeing a circut. would have been safe, except he was leaning against the metal plumbing. He almost put a dent in the chalk board. Later in the year he used the gas lines in the class rooms to blow bubbles and them ignite them with a match. There is still a scorch mark uon the celing. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: Trish or CJ When I was in high school I pulled off this particular prank. This one guy in the class was always pissing me off, so I conspired to make a fool of him in front of the class. The next day during chem lab, we were informed that we would be using concentrated sulfuric acid, which is clear. Anyway, during the lab, I took the beaker full of sulfuric acid (and this is the kind of stuff that burns through flesh) and hid it behind a desk. I then filled an identical beaker full of steaming-hot, but not burning-hot water. I used a wax pencil to write on the outside. 'Concentrated Sulfuric Acid'. Then I walked over to this guy that was pissing me off and got his attention. I took a medicine dropper, filled it with the stuff (which he thought was acid) and shot it all over his face. It was hot water, so he thought he was burning! He started screaming, 'Cj threw acid on me!!!' And promptly began thrashing and shrieking. Everyone stared at me. Then I held the beaker aloft, threw my head back and drank the whole thing. The teacher nearly dropped dead on the spot. The rest you can just imagine. --CJ Calo C__________________________________________________________________________ From: rcousine@malibu.sfu.ca (Ryan John Cousineau) My High School science courses were similarly interesting. We had a Science 10 teacher who wasn't usually much for science. As a demonstration, he dropped a blob of sodium into a pan of water. Very impressive. Especially when, with a "pop" the sodium exploded in front of the teacher. He did the demo for the next block with a much smaller piece of sodium... Another good one was our Chem 12 teacher, who left some disgusting, viscous black mixture on his lab table at the front of the class. We were all busy at our desks, when all of a sudden there was a huge, loud "POP!" and the sucker exploded! Blew black goo up to the ceiling, over the front desks, down to the floor. The stuff on the ceiling never did come off, and some of the students would no longer sit in the front row. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: gandalf@gibeah.connected.com (Gandalf the Grey) Ammonium tri-iodide is an extremely fun chemical. But you have to be careful. My chem prof played a really cool joke on this really annoying bastard in my class. Real pop-off, and he deserved it. You simply fix iodine crystals (expensive) and ammonia (roughtly as much as the crystals can dissolve into). While it is liquid, it's reasonably safe. Don't use more than a drop on anything, since it will explode once it's dry, and can be dangerous. However, when placed on a countertop in a very small amount, the first person to touch it gets quite a surprise and a stain on their skin and doesn't come off easily. Hilarious actually. I've only made it once, though. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: eapu160@rigel.oac.uci.edu (Mr. Wizard) I know that this doesn't really count as a "prank", but once in high school chem we were doing potassium experiments, and there were 36 students (so there were 37 people including the teacher). Each student has 20 test tubes full of water and into each one he or she places a small amount of potassium (the experiment was supposed to test the production of hydrogen.) After the experiment, each person puts the test tubes into a central trash can (for those of you slow in math, that's 740 test tubes EACH ONE of which is pumping out hydrogen.) Later on we were doing tests with glowing splints, and the teacher said "don't put a burning splint into the trash can" (for obvious reasons) Well, one girl thought that a glowing splint (not burning) would be ok. All I can say is that the column of red flame was more spectacular than any movie nuclear blast! In fact, to this day (6 years later), there is still a very large burn mark on the ceiling of that classroom. Another one with the same teacher was another potassium mishap. Since potassium cannot be stored in water, it is stored in a sort of oil. Well, he took a golf-ball size chunk and held it in is hand as he cut it. Un- fortunately, the oil was slippery and the chunk fell into the beaker. Well, what happened was that the beaker EXPLODED and impaled the teacher with several bits of glass (he was in hospital for a day or two) and the desk was strewn with a hundred or so pock-marks. However, one real prank was with the SAME teacher was in order to keep sanity and good behaviour in class, he would keep 2 squirt guns with him. One with water, and the other with SILVER NITRATE SOLUTION. (this stuff looks just like water but it turns skin BLACK on contact) He shot about 4 people during the year, but only one girl (the same one with the hydrogen) got the silver nitrate (on the FACE!!!). Finally, this was one I did in college. My first year in the dorms, I would keep a bottle of root beer which someone would continually drink without my knowing. After I couldn't stand it anymore, I went to a friend in the chem dept. and asked him for an acid/base indicator that turns base pink (I forget what the indicator was), and put a bit in my root beer bottle. The plan was that human urine is somewhat base, so when the culprit drank my root beer, he began to pee pink. Needless to say, about 12 hours later, this guy thought he was gonna die! C__________________________________________________________________________ From: daudo@bcars201.bnr.ca (Dau Do) Yeah, these stories remind me about my science teacher. He's used to wear a prescripted sunglass so that no one knew that he's sleeping while students were writing test. Anyway, after one of the experiments that used acids, one guy in my class pour the acid on his desk. He didn't know and took off his glass put on the wet spot. When he put it on again, his skin burned left a red circular around his eyes ... ___________________________________________________________________________ From: lister@dbreath.uucp (Lister) Well I am a Medical Technologist, and through the years in the field we have pulled some good jokes. One of the funny ones I can remember is a day when I was working in Hematology. One of the other techs, that was working in Chemistry, was this real whining hypochondriac. Well he came over to me telling me that he felt really sick and was wondering if I would run A CBC and Differential on him. So I drew his blood and labeled it and it to hematology and ran it.. It was normal as normal could be, but I decided to have a bit of fun. Earlier in the day a known CLL patient had been in and gave some blood, so I took one of the extra tubes, poured it into a new tube and labeled it with this techs info (making sure to make a mark as to not confuse the real sample up). Well I ran the CLL pt. blood and made a smear, then I went over to him and said "you had better take a look at this". He came over and looked at the results and then looked at the smear, and went a bit pale and said that I must have mixed it up, with somebody else. So I gave him the falsely labeled tube and he ran it himself getting the same results. You should have seen his face I thought he was gonna Die right there! Anyway I let him suffer for about 2 min. or so then gave him the real results and from the look on his face I though I was gonna die! C__________________________________________________________________________ From: lwric1@MFS04.cc.monash.edu.au (LUKE RICHARDS) My Yr 12 chemistry teacher (young guy, had only been teaching for about three or four years) told us about the time when he was at College doing his dip ed, and he was working with sodium. He was pouring the kerosine off the oil and down the sink, and there was one chip of sodium left at the bottom of the tin he was emptying (unfortunately for him). Well, it fell out, and because someone had been using the sink before him there was water in there. The sodium ignited, flared and set the kerosine on fire which then raced along the length of the sink and down the plughole with one almighty explosion. He said he had to have a haircut that night because he lost his fringe and both his eyebrows. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: gapv64@cent.gla.ac.uk (Brian Ewins) Yet another exploding light metal story.... A friend of mine was recently doing a PhD in Chemistry in the building next door to where I am writing this... anyway, his project seemed to involve increasingly more dangerous chemicals for no good reason. Normally, you sign out all chemicals, and they're all accounted for at the end of the day. But, towards the end of his PhD, he opened one of his cupboards to discover a jar of Sodium that he'd got, never used, and the paperwork (it turned out) for it had since been lost. This was *2 Kg* of sodium in a big lump. Sodiums not very dense, that's a big f**ker. Anyhow, the fate of this lost lump was to accompany some of the students out to a lake in the park, where they threw it...still in its jar (that they managed to get this far at all is kinda surprising because they were all completely blootered at the time). And then, in a masterpiece of forward planning, they got out the airgun :o) ... 'cos they were all drunk, and the jar (now floating on the lake) was fairly thick, it took quite a few shots to break. Surprisingly, the thing didn't explode...it just sat there burning. (obviously only the surface of the lump was reacting, but even so...) So they all sat down, cracked open some more beers, and watched the sodium light up the night. Cool. C__________________________________________________________________________ From: What follows is not an invented joke, but a true story, although I may have embellished it a little over many years of telling. "Sister Karen" was a nun and a Chemistry teacher who had come to work on her Master's degree with my now retired colleague Prof Herbert Meislich , who happens to be Jewish. Her first task was to monobrominate a ketone. She added her Br2, and started the stirrer as instructed....nothing happened ..... STILL no decolorisation...... after some time she is getting worried, and asks another student, who told her - "See that man over there - that's Prof McKelvie, ask him" A slightly out of breath nun comes up to me - "Prof McKelvie? My reaction won't work !" My evil mind was thinking WHICH of her reactions was not working, but that's another st story. ) Anyway, I could have told her that bromination is dependent on making the enol, and this is promoted ny acid, so that the HBr produced will aid enolisation and all will be well. BUT - that morning I'd found on the floor a Star of David that had fallen off some Jewish girl's neck, and I'd been looking for the owner... INSPIRATION! - the problem is that you've had the wrong theoretical training ! Just a moment ....I tied the Star of David around her apparatus, added a few drops of hydrochloric acid just to help things along, and announced that NOW it would work in five minutes ! It took four minutes and 50 seconds by my watch. "SEE?!" She had the brains and a good Irish sense of humour to realise she was being "had", and I explained that it was her Organic Chemistry that was being deficient, not theology...... (Aftermath - two Jewish girls came down from upstairs and wanted to borrow the gold chain so that THEIR reactions would work better........) Neil McKelvie C__________________________________________________________________________ From: "Back when I was taking Chemistry 101, my instructor did a little demonstration " [this is the proper start for this Urban Legend] "He pointed to a large beaker on the table full of yellow liquid. He said: The first thing a chemist must learn is not to be disgusted by anything. This is a beaker of horse urine. The simplest way to determine if the horse is diabetic (dipping his finger in the beaker) has always been to simply taste for sugar! (licking his finger!)" "Is there anyone here willing to demonstrate?" and a big guy from a fraternity came up with a grin on his face to taste the "urine", knowing it was a gag. He dipped his finger in the "urine" and licked it dry --- and from the expression on his face, it really was urine! "The second thing a chemist must learn is to be observant! (Holding up his hand, the professor demonstrates.) I dipped the _other_ finger!!!" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -- Joachim Verhagen Email:J.C.D.Verhagen@fys.ruu.nl Department of molecular biofysics, University of Utrecht Utrecht, The Netherlands.