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| Author |
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| 25 new of 93 responses total. |
jep
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response 29 of 93:
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Jun 25 11:46 UTC 2003 |
re resp:28: Heh!
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orinoco
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response 30 of 93:
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Jun 25 14:27 UTC 2003 |
www.perseus.tufts.edu says that "mathematicus" can refer to mathematicians
or to astrologers.
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rcurl
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response 31 of 93:
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Jun 25 16:41 UTC 2003 |
We must conclude that Augustine was mathematically illiterate, if he didn't
make a clear distinction.
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flem
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response 32 of 93:
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Jun 25 17:16 UTC 2003 |
You must wear really big hats, rane.
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rcurl
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response 33 of 93:
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Jun 25 19:07 UTC 2003 |
What's that mean? Augustine was versed in philosophy, rhetoric and religion.
He studied Latin but apparently didn't much care for Greek, where he might
have encountered mathematics as we know it (Euclid, etc). He had a
rather numerological perspective on real mathematics - his "perfect" number
was, in fact, 6. When he speaks of mathematics, keep in mind his exposition
on number given at
http://sunsite.utk.edu/math_archives/.http/hypermail/historia/dec99/0145.ht
ml
which reads like the work of mathematicians he railed against.
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gelinas
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response 34 of 93:
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Jun 25 20:37 UTC 2003 |
That definition of a "perfect number" is still in use, and still being
taught.
At the time of Augustine, 'mathematics' was 'philosophy': mystical
significance was attached to just about everything.
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aruba
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response 35 of 93:
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Jun 25 23:09 UTC 2003 |
Perfect numbers were defined by the Pythagoreans, according to Eric Temple
Bell, and explored by Euclid, according to Herbert Westren Turnbull (both in
Volume I of The World of Mathematics). So Augustine either read the Greeks
or read someone who read the Greeks.
I think one should be careful not to judge a person by the standards of a
time other than his own. Augustine was living in a world that had little
use for mathematics, so we can't really blame him for finding little use for
it himself.
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rcurl
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response 36 of 93:
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Jun 26 00:48 UTC 2003 |
I think it is more likely that he had little use for mathematics for some
of the same reasons that people here have stated they have little use
for much of mathematics. His "field" was something else.
But thanks for reminding me of the mathematical definition of a "perfect
number", which does indeed predate Augustine by several centuries. Knowledge
of those must have come down by several routes, including astrology and other
forms of mysticism. What got me was the obvious impression in Augustine that
there is somehow something "perfect" about a "perfect number".
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aruba
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response 37 of 93:
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Jun 26 02:16 UTC 2003 |
Well, the Pythagoreans were big into attaching emotional significance to
numbers and mathematics in general. They were a strange lot.
There really wasn't a lot of mathematics going on in Europe between
Archimedes and the Renaissance. So Augustine, in 300 AD, really didn't
have a lot of positive mathematical role models. In general, what
scholarship there was in all fields was coupled pretty tightly to
religion.
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void
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response 38 of 93:
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Jun 26 19:54 UTC 2003 |
re #28: http://www.kleinbottle.com/drinking_mug_klein_bottle.htm
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gelinas
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response 39 of 93:
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Jun 26 20:40 UTC 2003 |
(I'm tempted to order one.)
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dcat
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response 40 of 93:
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Jun 26 21:54 UTC 2003 |
"ACME KLEIN BOTTLE - Where there's one side to every problem"
I'm also tempted, but since they're $80, not very tempted.
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void
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response 41 of 93:
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Jun 27 04:52 UTC 2003 |
I've been tempted to order either a Klein Stein or an Acme Klein
bottle for a while now. So far, I've resisted the temptation.
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gull
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response 42 of 93:
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Jun 27 13:06 UTC 2003 |
I can't see spending that kind of money on a knick-knack for myself, and
no one I normally buy gifts for is enough of a math geek to really
appreciate it.
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tpryan
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response 43 of 93:
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Jun 27 16:26 UTC 2003 |
Anybody got a good portable hole around?
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other
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response 44 of 93:
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Jun 27 16:33 UTC 2003 |
I've got a few. Of course, what they're "good" for for me wouldn't
likely make them of any use to you.
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i
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response 45 of 93:
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Jun 28 01:24 UTC 2003 |
Re: #43
There's one right here on grex - /dev/null. Infinite capacity, zero
side effects - perfect for all your storage needs.
:)
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russ
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response 46 of 93:
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Jun 29 19:41 UTC 2003 |
A mathematician named Klein
Said "The Moebius strip is divine!
And if you glue
The edges of two
You'll get a weird bottle like mine."
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gull
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response 47 of 93:
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Jun 30 16:29 UTC 2003 |
Strom Thurmond's last words:
"They legalized sodomy? Over my dead body!"
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sholmes
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response 48 of 93:
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Jul 2 15:01 UTC 2003 |
This one takes the cake ..
http://www.chaser.com.au/show_story.asp?ID=638&ED=68&CAT=6
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other
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response 49 of 93:
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Jul 2 17:36 UTC 2003 |
... But not the frosting, apparently.
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dcat
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response 50 of 93:
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Jul 2 19:45 UTC 2003 |
Mole problems? Call Avogadro's Pest Control, at (602) 257-1023!
-- Dave Aronson
(.sig, soc.bi)
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other
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response 51 of 93:
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Jul 3 04:51 UTC 2003 |
#50: Yum. :)
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albaugh
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response 52 of 93:
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Jul 14 17:51 UTC 2003 |
You may or may not find this amusing:
Jester The On-Line Joke Recommender
http://shadow.ieor.berkeley.edu/humor/
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russ
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response 53 of 93:
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Jul 25 11:27 UTC 2003 |
[It's been a while since this was posted.]
Taco Bell Ritual
The moon was full and the streets were glowing with
power on this appointed day. Clad in ritual garb, I
silently walked towards my place of worship.
Soon it towered before me: Taco Bell. The mirror of my
heart and the captain of my soul. I closed my eyes to
ground and center. As I felt my inner power grow, I
intoned the ancient chant: 59-79-99, 59-79-99.
I watched almost from a distance as my hand reached
out and opened the door to this holy temple of human
desire. I entered the ritual space deliberately, but
reverently. As the door closed behind me and the
sounds of the street faded to a negligible chatter, I
could begin to hear the spirits of this domain in
their eternal song. Their song took the melody from
the chorus of that famous pagan song by Peter Murphy:
Taco, Burritos, Mexi-Nuggets, Nachos, Soft Drink,
Tostada.
As I took my place at the rear of the line of novices,
I could see and hear ahead of me the graceful
movements and words of the purple-clad priests and
priestesses. One of the elders was imparting magickal
wisdom to a young initiate: "Turn that stove down -
the tortillas are getting charred!" Ah, I thought,
they have not forgotten the burning times.
Yesterday, upon the advice of a wise urban shaman I
met late at night in Pioneer Square, I had stuffed a
taco in my pants. I could still feel its pressure
against my second chakra, filling my body with its
warm, yet chile energy.
Soon I reached the front of the line of novices. A
sacred temple priestess stood before me, clad in a hat
bearing the logo of her order. "My Will is four light
bean burritos, hold the cheese, with a small soft
drink. So mote it be." The power present in the room
twisted her face into what in mundane life would be
interpreted as confusion. I made the ritual offering
of metal discs, gifts of the earth, as she made the
traditional magickal response: "Would you like that
for here or to go?"
At last, I was ready to take my place at an altar. My
four burritos, wrapped in their silver metallic
wrappers, lay before me. "Shining ones," I murmured. I
was profoundly moved, almost swooning as I reverently
took one out of its wrapper. "May you never hunger," I
said as I emptied a ritual sauce packet on it.
Now it was time to invoke an element. "I call air," I
said as I farted noisily. The novice behind me made a
gagging sound and moved away. "Oh well," I told him,
"go if you must, stay if you will." Next, thinking on
the Great Rite, I inserted my straw into my soft
drink.
The room was swirling with energy. I felt my stomach
turn in sympathy. I hoped I wouldn't have to go to the
toilet to practice the law of threefold return.
Quickly, I reestablished my grounding.
But the energy was at its peak, and I could hold my
voice back no longer. Leaping on my chosen altar and
holding my atham-burrito high, I cried, "Trifold
taco! Be with us now as we honor you with cup and
bean!" It was a transcendent moment. The quizzical
looks on the faces of the novices before me only
deepened the sense of profound mystery that I knew we
must all be feeling.
But by the appearance of the two large uniformed
gentlemen in front of me, I knew that my role in this
ritual had come to a close. I felt as they dragged me
out the door that my feet were not even touching the
ground. With my soul in the clouds and my feet on the
earth, I turned to the outer doors of the temple and
bowed my head. Merry eat, and merry fart, and merry
eat again.
Blessed bean!
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