Your Favorite Mathematical Formulas

[Kieran]

Greater than the Geeks?

I mean, the Greeks!

Well, the Greeks were good but not great. One of the important reasons for the GOAT status of Gauss is the era in which he worked. That was the period after Newton and Leibiniz have invented Calculus and so was a hectic period of activity with lots of discoveries happening. From the year minus infinity to around 1650, there was no calculus, an important tool for mathematical advancement. Once Calculus was invented, it opened a flood gate of discovery/invention in Mathematics and its applications to Physics and Engineering.
With the aid of Calculus, Gauss could go lot further than Greeks.

This is much like the Graphite Racquets coming into scene around mid 1980s and revolutionizing the way Tennis was played compared to the Wooden Racquet Era.

But...the Greeks invented mathematics, no?

It's like comparing the guy who invented the wheel with a fancy wheel-maker. One is a visionary, but the other is a mere craftsman...

 

[GameSetAndMath]

(a + b)2 = a2 + 2ab + b2 .

Pythagorean Theorem was the one I had locked in my head along with 2TTR2 which gives us the area of a circle! Just for the hell of it, y-intercept = m+b where b is the slope! MATH was my thing back in school, preferring to work a problem long-hand over a calculator or slide-rule!

Good memories, from long time ago, perhaps. I think you are thinking of the
equation for a staright line, which is typically written as

y = m*x + b

Here, m is the slope of the line and b is the y-intercept. The y-intercept is basically,
the value of y when x is zero.

 

[Fiero425]

(a + b)2 = a2 + 2ab + b2 .

Pythagorean Theorem was the one I had locked in my head along with 2TTR2 which gives us the area of a circle! Just for the hell of it, y-intercept = m+b where b is the slope! MATH was my thing back in school, preferring to work a problem long-hand over a calculator or slide-rule!

Good memories, from long time ago, perhaps. I think you are thinking of the
equation for a staright line, which is typically written as

y = m*x + b

Here, m is the slope of the line and b is the y-intercept. The y-intercept is basically,
the value of y when x is zero.

I knew that equation looked a little naked! Thanks for the assist; been a long while!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Greater than the Geeks?

I mean, the Greeks!

Well, the Greeks were good but not great. One of the important reasons for the GOAT status of Gauss is the era in which he worked. That was the period after Newton and Leibiniz have invented Calculus and so was a hectic period of activity with lots of discoveries happening. From the year minus infinity to around 1650, there was no calculus, an important tool for mathematical advancement. Once Calculus was invented, it opened a flood gate of discovery/invention in Mathematics and its applications to Physics and Engineering.
With the aid of Calculus, Gauss could go lot further than Greeks.

This is much like the Graphite Racquets coming into scene around mid 1980s and revolutionizing the way Tennis was played compared to the Wooden Racquet Era.

But...the Greeks invented mathematics, no?

It's like comparing the guy who invented the wheel with a fancy wheel-maker. One is a visionary, but the other is a mere craftsman...

While I agree that the person who invented the wheel is a visionary and the fancy wheel-maker
is a mere craftsman, I don't think the analogy quite carries over here.

Mathematics is not a single piece of entity to say Greeks invented Mathematics. A better
way to say would be that Greeks initiated the study of Mathematics. The amount of progress
in Math since its initiation by Greeks until 1650 is very less in comparison to the amount
of progress made since 1650. Hence, there is a natural bias for the GOAT candidate to
be a mathematician that worked after 1650.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

I freaking hate maths..i was amazing until about 7yrs old then I hit a brick wall,, I used to earn sweets oof kids to help with the times table, and easy ways to add and subtract in your head, without losing where you were.

so the best maths ever was something like 9 x 12 = 108...or at least the tastiest maths ever.

 

[Fiero425]

I freaking dislike maths..i was amazing until about 7yrs old then I hit a brick wall,, I used to earn sweets oof kids to help with the times table, and easy ways to add and subtract in your head, without losing where you were.

so the best maths ever was something like 9 x 12 = 108...or at least the tastiest maths ever.

I grew up loving it, going up to College Algebra and Analytical Geometry through high school! Didn't use calculators or slide rules either! lol! :snigger :angel:

 

[Horsa]

E=MC2 (The 2 is supposed to be superscript here meaning squared. It's supposed to stand for Energy = Mass * Capacity squared & if you square anything you multiply it by itself.) I think it's also the most famous mathematical formula by the most famous Mathematician (Einstein). I remember having a mathematical history lesson at the end of term in Maths lesson 1 year when we learnt about different mathematicians & what they did. We learnt about Copernicus, Pythagorus & the like & it was the most interesting Maths lesson we ever had.

(Off-topic but about something similar a few weeks ago, on the science forum I'm on but mainly post my poems on in the "Your talent" section, there was a discussion on basic relativity which I found fascinating especially the part about Cherenkhov's radiation.)

 

[GameSetAndMath]

E=MC2 (The 2 is supposed to be superscript here meaning squared. It's supposed to stand for Energy = Mass * Capacity squared & if you square anything you multiply it by itself.) I think it's also the most famous mathematical formula by the most famous Mathematician (Einstein). I remember having a mathematical history lesson at the end of term in Maths lesson 1 year when we learnt about different mathematicians & what they did. We learnt about Copernicus, Pythagorus & the like & it was the most interesting Maths lesson we ever had.

(Off-topic but about something similar a few weeks ago, on the science forum I'm on but mainly post my poems on in the "Your talent" section, there was a discussion on basic relativity which I found fascinating especially the part about Cherenkhov's radiation.)

The C is not capacity, but the velocity of light in that equation.

 

[Horsa]

The C is not capacity, but the velocity of light in that equation.

My Maths teacher was wrong then. He said it stood for capacity. Thank you very much for putting me right on that though as it explains why the equation according to how my Maths teacher explained it didn't come in anywhere when I was reading all the information I read on the Science forum I'm on about basic relativity. I still had a fascinating time though.