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General Category => Discover Seattle! => Topic started by: TehBorken on Nov 28 06 04:26

Title: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: TehBorken on Nov 28 06 04:26
 Mathematics will drive you insane, and here's some proof. Some interesting tidbits on a few famous (and crazy) mathemeticians....
[h2]Alexandre Grothendieck[/h2] (//image/alexandre-grothendieck.jpg)
[/p]Although he lives in hiding and communicates only via occasional, thousands-of-pages-long letters to colleagues, [a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Grothendieck"]Alexandre Grothendieck[/a] [wiki] is widely considered one of the most important mathematicians of the 20th century. A radical environmentalist and Communist, Grothendieck has, since the 1980s, communicated his mathematical concepts primarily in very long, handwritten letters that circulate among mathematicians. The 1,600-page [em]Long Walk Through Galois Theory[/em], for instance, doesn't strike us as a very compelling beach read, but Grothendieck's colleagues have been poring over it for 25 years.[/p]
 [h2]Oliver Heaviside[/h2] (//image/oliver-heaviside.jpg)[/p]In his 30s, British engineer and mathematician [a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Heaviside"]Oliver Heaviside[/a] [wiki] (1950 - 1925) made important discoveries in [a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laplace_transform"]how to transform[/a] [wiki] [a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_equations"]differential equations[/a] [wiki] into relatively simple algebra, a discovery that had a profound impact on the lives of advanced calculus students and absolutely no one else. In the last decades of his life, Heaviside's lifelong eccentricity morphed into madness. He started painting his fingernails pink - which while perfectly acceptable now was weird in the 1920s - and he moved all the furniture out of his house, replacing everything with granite blocks of varying sizes.[/p]
[/p] [h2]Walter Petryshyn[/h2] (//image/petryshyn.jpg)[/p]Shortly after the publication of his book on nonlinear functions in 1996, Ukrainian-American mathematician Walter Petryshyn discovered the book contained an error. Terrified that he would be the laughing stock of the nonlinear function community, he went mad - in both senses of the word. His depression and paranoia culminated with the murder of his wife. All of which just goes to prove what we told our parents when they saw our grades in calculus: Chill out, man. It's just [em]math[/em].[/p]
   
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Trollio on Nov 28 06 07:10
Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.  We'd probably still be banging rocks together to make fire without them. (//forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/12.gif)

I'm convinced that almost every great idea or concept in history had something to do with one or more aspects found within those two conditions.

To name one lesser example: Winston Churchill was a manic depressive (now called bipolar) who used to stand on the very ends of ships and contemplate throwing himself into the ocean.
 
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Future Canadian on Nov 28 06 07:25
High end math takes so much focus that it takes over one's life and leaves little room for "normal life".
There's lotsa nutty mathematicians. I think it was Pythagoras that was deathly afraid of beans.
 
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Trollio on Nov 28 06 07:34
Ah yes.... a fabis abstineto.

A warning against corruption in Athenian elections, where beans were used to cast votes.
 
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Lise on Nov 28 06 11:27
Future Canadian wrote:
There's lotsa nutty mathematicians. I think it was Pythagoras that was deathly afraid of beans.


 

 Seriously? Beans?

 Only crazy mathematician story I know of comes from the movie with Russel Crowe. What's it called? Hm.. oh yes, A Beautiful Mind?
 


 
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Sportsdude on Nov 28 06 11:29
I was never good at math.  Math teacher in grade 11 just told me to give up at the begining of March of that year because as she said "You are going to fail no matter what happens during the rest of the year".  
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Gopher on Nov 28 06 11:39
Trollio wrote:
Ah yes.... [SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic"]a fabis abstineto[/SPAN].

A warning against corruption in Athenian elections, where beans were used to cast votes.

 .........
 They should have used this method in Florida a few years ago.

 
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Thread Cop on Dec 13 06 08:41
"Re: Math Drives You Crazy"

From What i've heard, Mathematics actually makes you brain to think logically.  It increases your thought process, that's all I have to say....lol (//forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/2.gif)  
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Lise on Dec 13 06 08:47
It gave me nothing more than a big massive headache in highschool.
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Thread Cop on Dec 13 06 09:00
 Lise wrote:
It gave me nothing more than a big massive headache in highschool.

Anything Specific or all of it..?
 
 
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Lise on Dec 13 06 09:02
ALL of it. I was never good at Math. It was the bane of my existence. (http://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Sad/7.gif)

  Art was my strongest subject. How about you?
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Thread Cop on Dec 13 06 09:04
me neither.. I was average at math... I was good at sports.. Football.. that's all...
 
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Lise on Dec 13 06 09:06
American football?

  I've played Aussie rugby. Boy, that was a toughie. Girls are not..... as meek as they look.
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Thread Cop on Dec 13 06 09:09
Yeah, American Football..
That's nice..it's a rough sport for girls...
 
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Lise on Dec 13 06 09:12
It's the sport of kings! The only rules are, no biting or hitting above the head. All else is fair game. American football have way too many rules, mate.
Title: Re: Math Drives You Crazy
Post by: Thread Cop on Dec 13 06 09:25
But it's entertaining...Have you ever experienced watching football (in your case rugby) on a sunday with kentucky fried chicken?