Zorac (zorac) wrote,
Zorac
zorac

Attack of the Giant Spider

Strange day today: spent a chunk of the afternoon discussing abtruse mathematics. This started from a programming practical one of my colleagues in support was doing which appeared to be calculating triangular numbers, which lead to the scrawling on the board of the mathematical representation - Σ ( x = 0 .. n ) x - the quick'n'easy formula - n ( n + 1 ) / 2 - a dot-pattern illustration of what a triangular number is, how the triangular numbers appears as the third diagonal of Pascal's triangle and my nifty geometrical proof of the aforementioned formula (although not the inductive one). This lead to nifty equations, including (of course) eiπ = -1. Finally, how to construct an infinite number of Pythagorean triples, one for each positive integer n: ( 2n + 1 , 2n2 + 2n , 2n2 + 2n + 1 ). Proof is left as an exercise for the reader.

And then this evening, whilst chatting with hermorrine, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, something moving. It was Aragog. After recovering from the initial shock, I deftly captured it with the old glass-and-paper routine. I then proceeded to take pictures (with a 2p piece for size reference):



That done, I returned Aragog to the wild via the medium of the kitchen window.
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  • 15 comments

  • Movie misdirection...

    And the "totally misleading trailer of the week" award goes to Bridge to Terabithia. Given the current cinematic drought, I was happy to catch a…

  • Warm and fuzzy...

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