Math has that effect…. I’m over 70, and still haven’t figured out theproblem of cars starting at different times & speeds – when one willcatch the other up. Or tanks filling at the top and emptying at thebottom [at different rates] – when will the tank be full/empty…. Inever really gave a flying you-know-what. Algebra is a completelyalien ‘language’ which lost me on pag one: basic rules…minus tiimesminus or minus divided by minus = positive. A totally artificialintellectual exercise which is a complete turnoff. An especialstumbling block — no one can explain how you multiply, divide, ordo ANYTHING, a negative number of times.
Sometimes I’m glad I’m a math geek and find weird problems fun. Recently I estimated how many mini marshmallows you could make out of the giant ‘Stay-puft man’ in Ghostbusters. :)
If at a Thanksgiving dinner, you watch the platter of turkey travel around a dinner table, you can understand how a flat earth can revolve around the sun. In this case the sun is a bowl of mashed potatoes.
The model of Sun and planets revolving around the earth has a long history from at least Aristotle in Western culture. However, “flat earth” was never a model in Western science. There were pockets of land locked civilizations (like early Babylonian) that had a flat earth model – but it was quickly discarded as soon as they encountered boats on large bodies of water. The size of earth was straightforward to measure from ancient times – the Greeks had a fairly accurate figure.
Note that mechanical (and mathematical) models of Sun and planets revolving around earth were often made, and were just as capable of predicting eclipses and rise and set times and such as Copernican models. To use a Medieval phrase, both models “saved the appearances” of the Sun, stars, and planets. Copernicus was never persecuted, quite the opposite. Galileo was frowned on (by Aristotelians) for claiming that the Copernican model was “true”, and Ptolmeic model “false” – when clearly both “saved the appearances”.
BE THIS GUY almost 11 years ago
“Let’s go hit Susie with a snowball, instead.”
rentier almost 11 years ago
Oh yes, math is a hard task, the fun going down the hill is enough!!
Meh~tdology, fka Pepelaputr almost 11 years ago
Hobbes should be glad this isn’t two-man luge.
watmiwori almost 11 years ago
Math has that effect…. I’m over 70, and still haven’t figured out theproblem of cars starting at different times & speeds – when one willcatch the other up. Or tanks filling at the top and emptying at thebottom [at different rates] – when will the tank be full/empty…. Inever really gave a flying you-know-what. Algebra is a completelyalien ‘language’ which lost me on pag one: basic rules…minus tiimesminus or minus divided by minus = positive. A totally artificialintellectual exercise which is a complete turnoff. An especialstumbling block — no one can explain how you multiply, divide, ordo ANYTHING, a negative number of times.
bruntsfield almost 11 years ago
watmiwori said, about 1 hour ago…Another American who think the Sun revolves around Earth…
Chris Kenworthy almost 11 years ago
Sometimes I’m glad I’m a math geek and find weird problems fun. Recently I estimated how many mini marshmallows you could make out of the giant ‘Stay-puft man’ in Ghostbusters. :)
beekasdenali almost 11 years ago
I would like to know how to stop that stupid randal reed ford from covering my comic page. You cannot even x out of it.
sbchamp almost 11 years ago
Whoa! Math Rant!
Malcolm Hall almost 11 years ago
If at a Thanksgiving dinner, you watch the platter of turkey travel around a dinner table, you can understand how a flat earth can revolve around the sun. In this case the sun is a bowl of mashed potatoes.
Phapada almost 11 years ago
LOLOl……..
stuart almost 11 years ago
The model of Sun and planets revolving around the earth has a long history from at least Aristotle in Western culture. However, “flat earth” was never a model in Western science. There were pockets of land locked civilizations (like early Babylonian) that had a flat earth model – but it was quickly discarded as soon as they encountered boats on large bodies of water. The size of earth was straightforward to measure from ancient times – the Greeks had a fairly accurate figure.
Note that mechanical (and mathematical) models of Sun and planets revolving around earth were often made, and were just as capable of predicting eclipses and rise and set times and such as Copernican models. To use a Medieval phrase, both models “saved the appearances” of the Sun, stars, and planets. Copernicus was never persecuted, quite the opposite. Galileo was frowned on (by Aristotelians) for claiming that the Copernican model was “true”, and Ptolmeic model “false” – when clearly both “saved the appearances”.
anorok2 almost 11 years ago
@Sharuniboy…..Thanks….now I’ll go back to bed.
Sailor46 USN 65-95 almost 11 years ago
Suddenly for Calvin it’s the destination not the journey.
kevin87031 almost 11 years ago
Math professor laughing here!
My proverbial trains leave Denver not Baltimore.
Number Three almost 11 years ago
Maths… Yuck!
xxx
BaconBoyCamper almost 11 years ago
Going 88 feet per second equals 60 MPH(5280 ft per mile divided by 60 seconds per minute = 88 ft/sec)
westny77 almost 11 years ago
Thinking gives people a headache. Go with the flow.
rgcviper almost 11 years ago
Personally, all I know about math is that 2 + 2 = 22.
You’re welcome!