Question for math people

Odradek · 2015-07-22 01:45:27

How do you know if a number is, or is not, numberwang?

Odradek · 2015-07-22 02:24:36

The lack of responses is all the proof I need that math is subsidized hobbyism.

Tachyon · 2015-07-22 02:35:39

Odradek said:
The lack of responses is all the proof I need that math is subsidized hobbyism.

i feel like G. H. Hardy would probably plead guilty as charged.

Tachyon · 2015-07-22 02:36:22

But anyway yeah this is a good, important question.

Yarrun XIX · 2015-07-22 02:42:23

You give us an example, and we'll tell you

Obā-san · 2015-07-22 02:44:05

Odradek said:
The lack of responses is all the proof I need that math is subsidized hobbyism.

what academic field isn't?

Salix Babylonika · 2015-07-22 02:44:45

naney said:

Odradek said:
The lack of responses is all the proof I need that math is subsidized hobbyism.
what academic field isn't?

atomic physics

Tachyon · 2015-07-22 02:46:36

Yarrun XIX said:
You give us an example, and we'll tell you

Salix Babylonika · 2015-07-22 02:50:14

remember when these guys did that really sad skit about Sherlock Holmes

Odradek · 2015-07-22 02:53:30

planet JANE said:
remember when these guys did that really sad skit about Sherlock Holmes

yes

Yarrun XIX · 2015-07-22 02:59:58

planet JANE said:
remember when these guys did that really sad skit about Sherlock Holmes

My word

This is a sad thing

Tachyon · 2015-07-22 03:03:33

did you watch to the end

Klinotaxis · 2015-07-22 03:08:34

yeah that got less sad and more 2pookyu

Yarrun XIX · 2015-07-22 03:14:08

Tachyon said:
did you watch to the end

Yes. If I had not, it would have just been terrible.

Odradek · 2015-07-22 03:26:32

Klinotaxis said:
yeah that got less sad and more 2pookyu

Is 2pookyu numberwang?

Calica · 2015-07-22 03:28:51

no it is not

Odradek · 2015-07-22 03:30:46

Calica said:
no it is not

How do you determine that?

Calica · 2015-07-22 03:31:48

first, you use a spectral sequence to reduce to a simpler (well, "simpler") case

Klinotaxis · 2015-07-22 03:36:44

i've given up explaining. people are always like "wait, why is 1 not prime? Doesn't 0.99999.... not equal 1? Isn't 2spookyu numberwang?" and no matter how many times i explain there are always more. people are just too stupid to deal with the crystallization of logical thought that is numberwang

Odradek · 2015-07-22 03:52:01

Naney is this you

Calica · 2015-07-22 04:03:50

I'm pretty sure Rotty approved of this vicar

Klinotaxis · 2015-07-22 04:04:05

i like how those are practically the same script

Odradek · 2015-07-22 04:04:56

Calica said:
I'm pretty sure Rotty approved of this vicar

I feel similarly sometimes.

Obā-san · 2015-07-22 04:05:09

that was me like a year ago about when i read a bajillion entry level #menswear blogs

Calica · 2015-07-22 04:07:26

i like how those are practically the same script

Obā-san · 2015-07-22 04:09:09

naney said:
that was me like a year ago about when i read a bajillion entry level #menswear blogs

Im gonna be honest, in retrospect i'm infinitely more embarrassed about this than i am about when i was in high school and weighed 220 lbs and wore a trench coat everywhere and had a mullet

Yarrun XIX · 2015-07-22 04:15:12

Naney, please tell me you have pictures

Salix Babylonika · 2015-07-22 04:16:09

naney said:

naney said:
that was me like a year ago about when i read a bajillion entry level #menswear blogs
Im gonna be honest, in retrospect i'm infinitely more embarrassed about this than i am about when i was in high school and weighed 220 lbs and wore a trench coat everywhere and had a mullet

I HAVE A MULLET, STANFORD

Obā-san · 2015-07-22 04:16:34

not really, when i was in high school i had no webcams

but if you remember talking to me on TVT that was probably my exact getup when we were having that conversation

Salix Babylonika · 2015-07-22 04:20:12

naney said:
not really, when i was in high school i had no webcams

but if you remember talking to me on TVT that was probably my exact getup when we were having that conversation

oh the things I could dig out of my PM box if I still had access to it.

glennmagusharvey · 2015-07-22 19:29:03

Odradek said:
How do you know if a number is, or is not, numberwang?

first, we need a agreeable definition of "numberwang"

Tachyon · 2015-07-22 19:30:21

glennmagusharvey said:

Odradek said:
How do you know if a number is, or is not, numberwang?
first, we need a agreeable definition of "numberwang"

glennmagusharvey · 2015-07-22 19:32:18

i just need to know one thing

serious question: is this thread intended as a criticism of "math nerds", in either sense?

if so, then: ugh, this thread

if not, then: lol, this thread

glennmagusharvey · 2015-07-22 19:33:04

glennmagusharvey said:
i just need to know one thing

serious question: is this thread intended as a criticism of "math nerds", in either sense?

if so, then: ugh, this thread

if not, then: lol, this thread

there we go, covered all bases

Klinotaxis · 2015-07-22 19:35:43

that's numberwang

glennmagusharvey · 2015-07-22 19:37:14

Klinotaxis said:
that's numberwang

but that's not a number

Odradek · 2015-07-22 19:43:21

It's not

glennmagusharvey · 2015-07-22 19:45:50

whethet 0/0 is numberwang doesn't tell us anything about knowing whether a number is numberwang, because 0/0 is not a number

similarly, covering all bases doesn't tell us whether a number is numberwang because covering all bases is not a number

i am the most pointless logician ever

Calica · 2015-07-22 20:06:14

glennmagusharvey said:
i just need to know one thing

serious question: is this thread intended as a criticism of "math nerds", in either sense?

if so, then: ugh, this thread

if not, then: lol, this thread

please don't shit up this serious mathematical discussion of numberwang with your comments about the OP

Odradek · 2015-07-22 20:39:42

This documentary was somewhat helpful

Question for math people

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