Theidlerhour - Bricolage Brain

Cemetery of Dead Science on our floor this week!

We have the privilege to be educated. Don’t waste that.

(via dontstop-study)

“We can read even a correct proof, and be completely convinced of the logical steps of the proof, but still not have any understanding of the whole. Like being led, step by step, through a dark forest, but having no idea of the overall route.”

Eugenia Cheng (via cofinaldestination)

Maybe this is why I have trouble reading math textbooks sometimes? I can understand why a step is valid, but I get caught up on, “Wait, where are we going? Where are you taking me?”

(via ryanandmath)

Happy Birthday e!

The letter e as the base for natural logarithms was born 25 Nov 1731 in a letter from Euler to Goldbach. e was discovered (but not named) in 1683 by Jacob Bernoulli, as the limit of (1+1/n)^n as n tends to infinity. Prior to its discovery, the nameless constant e had been lurking around the embryo of the logarithm for many years.

calculus gothic

-epsilon is negative. epsilon has always been negative. no matter how you struggle, epsilon will stay negative.

-you must write +C at the end of every communication with the entity feeding upon your work. you change your last name to +C, vainly praying that this will appease their ferocious appetite. It does not. +C

-dy/dx is a fraction. dy/dx isn’t a fraction. you can never know when it is. you can never know when it isn’t. it is always there. laughing. it owns a cat. a black cat. she sleeps in a box. plotting.

-there are parts everywhere. dismembered functions lying prone on cold white pages. you are told to integrate by them. everything only gets worse. more parts appear. then more. and more.

If Earth had Saturn’s Rings

From an excellent post by Jason Davis

From Washington, D.C., the rings would only fill a portion of the sky, but appear striking nonetheless. Here, we see them at sunrise.

From Guatemala, only 14 degrees above the equator, the rings would begin to stretch across the horizon. Their reflected light would make the moon much brighter.

From Earth’s equator, Saturn’s rings would be viewed edge-on, appearing as a thin, bright line bisecting the sky.

At the March and September equinoxes, the Sun would be positioned directly over the rings, casting a dramatic shadow at the equator.

At midnight at the Tropic of Capricorn, which sits at 23 degrees south latitude, the Earth casts a shadow over the middle of the rings, while the outer portions remain lit.

via x

You can love the man and each of his hands. / Love the brine and the meat and all the tiny ruins.

Jeanann Verlee, from “Polyamory, with Knives” (via lifeinpoetry)

Masterpieces in Agar. These are some of the most beautiful Agar Art pics from (and inspired by) the annual competition hosted by the American Society for Microbiology. Read more about the contest, the artists, and their work here.

“When you finish a direct proof, you’ll write QED. When you finish a proof by contraposition, you’ll also write QED but you’ll also write Ta da! Because you’ll feel really great about yourself.”

Discrete math professor (via mathprofessorquotes)

The Princess in the Forest. Gouache on paper. 35.5 x 40 cm.

Art by John Bauer.(1882-1918).