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These kinds of articles about pi, or numbers, where they try to summon up some mystery and wonder around it, come across to me as not very genuine. I get the im

These kinds of articles about pi, or numbers, where they try to summon up some mystery and wonder around it, come across to me as not very genuine. I get the impression it gets upvoted because people want to feel like they're smarter, or more geeky and hip for having looked at it.

ChuckMcM 14y ago
I don't know, I've met folks for whom math is so magical they do nothing but talk about it all the time. I can recognize that passion in other pursuits as well, from knitting to physics. I find a close correlation between people who play with numbers to people who like to solve puzzles.
shin_lao 14y ago
Or perhaps math are fun and people upvote a post they liked.
- peterwwillis 14y ago
  I wonder if mathematicians recite beautiful proofs as fourplay...
  - andrewflnr 14y ago
    Probably not, since most (?) beautiful proofs are symbolic and not very recitable.
  - jfb 14y ago
    "I wonder if mathematicians recite beautiful proofs as fourplay ... " I see what you did there.
raverbashing 14y ago
One of the most "mind boggling" areas of math is number theory Math dealing with real/complex numbers has been vastly explored, and there are very powerful tools, and computers are very good at these kind of problems (Calculus, etc) With number theory, progress is much harder, things work in a completely different logic (think for example that 5+3 can be 0 for example) One of the places where these mysterious sides of math comes together is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_zeta_function http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_zeta_function
- Volpe 14y ago
  > ...for example that 5+3 can be 0 for example When is that example true? It seems like you made that up.
  - swolchok 14y ago
    mod 8?
    - Volpe 14y ago
      Hardly the 'mystery of number theory' the poster was talking about. There was no 'mod 8' syntax expressed in the example.
      - raverbashing 14y ago
        Yes, it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_arithmetic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_arithmetic But you don't need to write "mod 8" in a congruence class Oh, you want "the mystery of number theory" you can start with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_little_theorem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_little_theorem
        Volpe 14y ago
        It was solved, and he (Fermat) was likely wrong, given the resulting proof. (5 + 3) % 8 = 0 is not the same as 5 + 3 = 0 I'm not looking for mystery, I'm wondering why people think it exists, and are faking its existence by being imprecise.
- duaneb 14y ago
  >With number theory, progress is much harder, things work in a completely different logic (think for example that 5+3 can be 0 for example) I wasn't aware that the modulo operation had been raised to a field of mathematics.
  - 14y ago

ChuckMcM 14y ago

I don't know, I've met folks for whom math is so magical they do nothing but talk about it all the time. I can recognize that passion in other pursuits as well, from knitting to physics. I find a close correlation between people who play with numbers to people who like to solve puzzles.

shin_lao 14y ago

Or perhaps math are fun and people upvote a post they liked.

peterwwillis 14y ago
I wonder if mathematicians recite beautiful proofs as fourplay...
- andrewflnr 14y ago
  Probably not, since most (?) beautiful proofs are symbolic and not very recitable.
- jfb 14y ago
  "I wonder if mathematicians recite beautiful proofs as fourplay ... " I see what you did there.

raverbashing 14y ago

One of the most "mind boggling" areas of math is number theory Math dealing with real/complex numbers has been vastly explored, and there are very powerful tools, and computers are very good at these kind of problems (Calculus, etc) With number theory, progress is much harder, things work in a completely different logic (think for example that 5+3 can be 0 for example) One of the places where these mysterious sides of math comes together is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_zeta_function http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_zeta_function

Volpe 14y ago
> ...for example that 5+3 can be 0 for example When is that example true? It seems like you made that up.
- swolchok 14y ago
  mod 8?
  - Volpe 14y ago
    Hardly the 'mystery of number theory' the poster was talking about. There was no 'mod 8' syntax expressed in the example.
    - raverbashing 14y ago
      Yes, it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_arithmetic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_arithmetic But you don't need to write "mod 8" in a congruence class Oh, you want "the mystery of number theory" you can start with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_little_theorem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_little_theorem
      - Volpe 14y ago
        It was solved, and he (Fermat) was likely wrong, given the resulting proof. (5 + 3) % 8 = 0 is not the same as 5 + 3 = 0 I'm not looking for mystery, I'm wondering why people think it exists, and are faking its existence by being imprecise.
duaneb 14y ago
>With number theory, progress is much harder, things work in a completely different logic (think for example that 5+3 can be 0 for example) I wasn't aware that the modulo operation had been raised to a field of mathematics.
- 14y ago