Topic: Mathematics (Page 17)

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๐Ÿ”— The Art Gallery Problem

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics

The art gallery problem or museum problem is a well-studied visibility problem in computational geometry. It originates from a real-world problem of guarding an art gallery with the minimum number of guards who together can observe the whole gallery. In the geometric version of the problem, the layout of the art gallery is represented by a simple polygon and each guard is represented by a point in the polygon. A set S {\displaystyle S} of points is said to guard a polygon if, for every point p {\displaystyle p} in the polygon, there is some q โˆˆ S {\displaystyle q\in S} such that the line segment between p {\displaystyle p} and q {\displaystyle q} does not leave the polygon.

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๐Ÿ”— Ask HN: using only static magnetism - impossible to stably levitate against gravity?

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics ๐Ÿ”— Physics

Earnshaw's theorem states that a collection of point charges cannot be maintained in a stable stationary equilibrium configuration solely by the electrostatic interaction of the charges. This was first proven by British mathematician Samuel Earnshaw in 1842. It is usually referenced to magnetic fields, but was first applied to electrostatic fields.

Earnshaw's theorem applies to classical inverse-square law forces (electric and gravitational) and also to the magnetic forces of permanent magnets, if the magnets are hard (the magnets do not vary in strength with external fields). Earnshaw's theorem forbids magnetic levitation in many common situations.

If the materials are not hard, Braunbeck's extension shows that materials with relative magnetic permeability greater than one (paramagnetism) are further destabilising, but materials with a permeability less than one (diamagnetic materials) permit stable configurations.

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๐Ÿ”— Fractal Interpolation

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics ๐Ÿ”— Systems ๐Ÿ”— Systems/Chaos theory

Fractal compression is a lossy compression method for digital images, based on fractals. The method is best suited for textures and natural images, relying on the fact that parts of an image often resemble other parts of the same image. Fractal algorithms convert these parts into mathematical data called "fractal codes" which are used to recreate the encoded image.

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๐Ÿ”— Sexagesimal

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics

Sexagesimal (also known as base 60 or sexagenary) is a numeral system with sixty as its base. It originated with the ancient Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BC, was passed down to the ancient Babylonians, and is still usedโ€”in a modified formโ€”for measuring time, angles, and geographic coordinates.

The number 60, a superior highly composite number, has twelve factors, namely 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60, of which 2, 3, and 5 are prime numbers. With so many factors, many fractions involving sexagesimal numbers are simplified. For example, one hour can be divided evenly into sections of 30 minutes, 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 12 minutes, 10 minutes, 6 minutes, 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, and 1 minute. 60 is the smallest number that is divisible by every number from 1 to 6; that is, it is the lowest common multiple of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

In this article, all sexagesimal digits are represented as decimal numbers, except where otherwise noted. For example, 10 means the number ten and 60 means the number sixty.

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๐Ÿ”— Emirp Primes

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics

An emirp (prime spelled backwards) is a prime number that results in a different prime when its decimal digits are reversed. This definition excludes the related palindromic primes. The term reversible prime is used to mean the same as emirp, but may also, ambiguously, include the palindromic primes.

The sequence of emirps begins 13, 17, 31, 37, 71, 73, 79, 97, 107, 113, 149, 157, 167, 179, 199, 311, 337, 347, 359, 389, 701, 709, 733, 739, 743, 751, 761, 769, 907, 937, 941, 953, 967, 971, 983, 991, ... (sequence A006567 in the OEIS).

All non-palindromic permutable primes are emirps.

As of Novemberย 2009, the largest known emirp is 1010006+941992101ร—104999+1, found by Jens Kruse Andersen in October 2007.

The term 'emirpimes' (singular) is used also in places to treat semiprimes in a similar way. That is, an emirpimes is a semiprime that is also a (distinct) semiprime upon reversing its digits.

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๐Ÿ”— Tetration

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics

In mathematics, tetration (or hyper-4) is an operation based on iterated, or repeated, exponentiation. It is the next hyperoperation after exponentiation, but before pentation. The word was coined by Reuben Louis Goodstein from tetra- (four) and iteration.

Under the definition as repeated exponentiation, the notation n a {\displaystyle {^{n}a}} means a a โ‹… โ‹… a {\displaystyle {a^{a^{\cdot ^{\cdot ^{a}}}}}} , where n copies of a are iterated via exponentiation, right-to-left, I.e. the application of exponentiation n โˆ’ 1 {\displaystyle n-1} times. n is called the "height" of the function, while a is called the "base," analogous to exponentiation. It would be read as "the nth tetration of a".

Tetration is also defined recursively as

n a := { 1 ifย  n = 0 a ( ( n โˆ’ 1 ) a ) ifย  n > 0 {\displaystyle {^{n}a}:={\begin{cases}1&{\text{if }}n=0\\a^{\left(^{(n-1)}a\right)}&{\text{if }}n>0\end{cases}}} ,

allowing for attempts to extend tetration to non-natural numbers such as real and complex numbers.

The two inverses of tetration are called the super-root and the super-logarithm, analogous to the nth root and the logarithmic functions. None of the three functions are elementary.

Tetration is used for the notation of very large numbers.

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๐Ÿ”— Erdล‘s number

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics

The Erdล‘s number (Hungarian:ย [หˆษ›rdรธหสƒ]) describes the "collaborative distance" between mathematician Paul Erdล‘s and another person, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers. The same principle has been applied in other fields where a particular individual has collaborated with a large and broad number of peers.

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๐Ÿ”— Hinged dissection

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics

A hinged dissection, also known as a swing-hinged dissection or Dudeney dissection, is a kind of geometric dissection in which all of the pieces are connected into a chain by "hinged" points, such that the rearrangement from one figure to another can be carried out by swinging the chain continuously, without severing any of the connections. Typically, it is assumed that the pieces are allowed to overlap in the folding and unfolding process; this is sometimes called the "wobbly-hinged" model of hinged dissection.

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๐Ÿ”— Stigler's Law of Eponymy

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics ๐Ÿ”— Statistics ๐Ÿ”— History of Science

Stigler's law of eponymy, proposed by University of Chicago statistics professor Stephen Stigler in his 1980 publication Stiglerโ€™s law of eponymy, states that no scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer. Examples include Hubble's law, which was derived by Georges Lemaรฎtre two years before Edwin Hubble, the Pythagorean theorem, which was known to Babylonian mathematicians before Pythagoras, and Halley's Comet, which was observed by astronomers since at least 240 BC (although its official designation is due to the first ever mathematical prediction of such astronomical phenomenon in the sky, not to its discovery). Stigler himself named the sociologist Robert K. Merton as the discoverer of "Stigler's law" to show that it follows its own decree, though the phenomenon had previously been noted by others.

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๐Ÿ”— Curry's paradox: "If this sentence is true, then Santa Claus exists."

๐Ÿ”— Mathematics

Curry's paradox is a paradox in which an arbitrary claim F is proved from the mere existence of a sentence C that says of itself "If C, then F", requiring only a few apparently innocuous logical deduction rules. Since F is arbitrary, any logic having these rules proves everything. The paradox may be expressed in natural language and in various logics, including certain forms of set theory, lambda calculus, and combinatory logic.

The paradox is named after the logician Haskell Curry. It has also been called Lรถb's paradox after Martin Hugo Lรถb, due to its relationship to Lรถb's theorem.

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