Math-Sci-Tech Trivia Part III

[Gokul43201]

The rules :

# no googling

#no more than 2 questions may be answered by each person, one of which must be Q1 (which is open to all and may be attempted in addition to the other question).

Q1. This is a toughie. In the words of Carl Jacobi,"Only _____, not I, not Cauchy, nor Gauss, knows what a perfectly rigorous proof is, but we learn itonly from him. When Gauss says he has proved something, I think it is very likely; when Cauchy says it, it is a fifty-fifty bet; when _____ says it, it is certain."

Who was he talking about ?

Q2. Greek Myth : He was the son of the Greek Goddess of Beauty, Aphrodite and the Herald of the Olympian Gods, Hermes. When he spurned the advances of the nymph Salmacis (Salmakys), she prayed to the Gods, and earned a boon that she be forever joined with him.

What is his name ?

Q3. In the famous book 'Culture of Cities' Lewis Mumford describes the stages in the development and decline of a city - starting off as an eopolis (village) and dying as a necropolis (dead/ghost town).

When is the name of the stage when the city is at its peak ?

Q4. The famous 9th Century Persian mathematician, Mukhammad ibn Musa al Khorezmi (Khuarezmi) is immortalized through two commonly used words, one of which comes from his book 'Kitab al Muhtasar fi Hisab al Gabr w'al Muqubalah'.

What are these words ?

Q5. He was inspector of gunpowder for the French Government during the Revolution, and was guillotined on charges of adulterating tobacco. A few days later, Lagrange said about him, "It took only an instant to cut off that head, and a hundred years may not produce another like it."

Whose head ?

Q6. He signed his letters, 'The Wrath of God'. His name is attached to a fictional effect which causes experiments running in his vicinity to inexplicably fail.

Who is this madman?

Q7. From his autobiography : "One day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth."

Who is this weirdo ?

Q8. Woody Allen once commented that it "immediately doubles your chances for a date on a Saturday night."

What ?

[chroot]

Argh I know number one. I know it! I just have to think about it a bit more. I thought it was something about a physicist though, not a mathematician. Or perhaps a physicist paraphrased it...

- Warren

[Math Is Hard]

I'll take the easy one. Q8. Bisexuality.
Do I also have to take a guess at Q1?

[chroot]

I'm racking my brain, and I could swear Q1 was applied to Ed Witten. That can't be right, though, because he and Cauchy and Gauss are not contemporaries. :-/ Argh I know some of the other answers outright. Damn this #1 rule!

- Warren

[Math Is Hard]

OK, for Q1. I'll take Lenny Euler, but I think that's going to be the wrong time frame also.

[chroot]

Okay, this is assuredly wrong, but I guess 1) Heaviside and 4) "al gabr," meaning "the bones," the root words of the english word "algebra," referring to the counting apparatus used at the time.

- Warren

[plover]

#1 Dedekind?

#3 metropolis?

hey chroot, what about the other half of #4?

[chroot]

plover,

Oooh good guess on Dedekind....

and I thought "al gabr" were the two words, even though they are merged into one in English.

- Warren

[plover]

immortalized through two commonly used words, one of which comes from his book
:smile:..........

[chroot]

Okay plover, you're right... hmmm... algebra and.... geometry? :redface:

- Warren

[DarkEternal]

Q7. Charles Darwin

[arildno]

Q1. Niels Henrik Abel

[Galileo]

Q1. Just guessing... Riemann.
Q6. This was Wolfgang Pauli. The effect is called "The Pauli Effect".

[humanino]

Q1. Niels Henrik Abel
Right, this is Abel !

Q5 : That would be our great Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier :smile:
"Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se consreve"

[Gokul43201]

Okay folks, here u go...

Q1. No one's got this yet...though there have been a couple good guesses. But no it's not Abel or Heaviside, Riemman, euler or Dedekind.

Abel died aged 27, and really didn't have the time to build relationships. Moreover, he worked on solving quintic equations and the type. Gauss, a number theorist, had shown disdain for such work and had written in his thesis "that the algebraic solution of an equation was no better than devising a symbol for the root of the equation and then saying that the equation had a root equal to the symbol."

Heaviside, being English, was isolated from the European mathematicians. Only after Hardy-Littlewood, were Englishmen considered capable of doing math.

Dedekind and Riemman were a little late on the scene, being in their 20s when Gauss and Cauchy died. By this time, Gauss was something of a recluse, and even though Riemann was his student in Gottingen, there was little interaction.

Euler was too early. He was dead before Gauss and Cauchy became teenagers.

Looks like the only guessable person left is the one I'm looking for.

Q2 is still standing ...as is part of Q4 (Chroot got Algebra but 'geometry' is not right )

Q4 hint : the other word is derived from his name.

All other answers are correct ....

3. Metropolis
5. Lavoisier
6. Pauli
7. Darwin
8. Bisexuality

[Gokul43201]

Perhaps, i'll announce a free for all later...not just yet.

Questions still standing are 1, 2, 4B - only the new folks are allowed in.

Okay, if any of these remains uncracked at 5:00pm ET (10:00PM GMT) it's a free for all. Previous guessers may take one shot at each of the remaning questions.

[arildno]

I'll use my last guess on Q1:
Bolzano??

[Gokul43201]

arildo, look at the rules - you already took a shot at Q1, so your last guess can only be used for 2 or 4.

Anyways, it's not Bolzano - is he the philosopher guy ?

[selfAdjoint]

The rules :

# no googling

#no more than 2 questions may be answered by each person, one of which must be Q1 (which is open to all and may be attempted in addition to the other question).

Q1. This is a toughie. In the words of Carl Jacobi,"Only _____, not I, not Cauchy, nor Gauss, knows what a perfectly rigorous proof is, but we learn itonly from him. When Gauss says he has proved something, I think it is very likely; when Cauchy says it, it is a fifty-fifty bet; when _____ says it, it is certain."

Who was he talking about ?

Hard one. The mathematician obviousy has to be before Jacobi died, and seems to be a contemporary more or less of Gauss and Cauchy too. After considering and rejecting Liouville, I am going to say Dirichlet. He fits the sentiment, even in his early papers, which are in the time frame.


Q2. Greek Myth : He was the son of the Greek Goddess of Beauty, Aphrodite and the Herald of the Olympian Gods, Hermes. When he spurned the advances of the nymph Salmacis (Salmakys), she prayed to the Gods, and earned a boon that she be forever joined with him.

What is his name ? {quote]

Hermaphroditos

Q4. The famous 9th Century Persian mathematician, Mukhammad ibn Musa al Khorezmi (Khuarezmi) is immortalized through two commonly used words, one of which comes from his book 'Kitab al Muhtasar fi Hisab al Gabr w'al Muqubalah'.

What are these words ?



Algebra and algorithm. (the latter from a Latin misspelling of his name).

[arildno]

Bolzano was a theologian, I believe..

[Gokul43201]

SA, seeing that you included the rules in your quote, it's odd that you broke rule #2.

Of course, your answers are correct ! :smile: And since Q4 was already partially answered, I guess we'll accept this.

Q2. Hermaphroditos is the origin of the word hermaphrodite. You realize by now, that he and Salmacis were actually physically joined together, making him/her a being with both male and female sexual organs - kinda like an earthworm.

Q4. Kitab (meaning book) ...al Gabr... --> algebra; ...al Khorezmi ---> algoritmi ? --> algorithm

okay, Q1 is the last man standing...

[Gokul43201]

Q1 just fell to selfAdjoint. It is Dirichlet ! :biggrin:

I'm outa here...I've got work to do.....:eek:

PS : I was expecting an objection to Q8, on the grounds of relevance...but it never came.

[Math Is Hard]

PS : I was expecting an objection to Q8, on the grounds of relevance...but it never came.

Q8. is perfectly relevant. Wouldn't any statistician agree? :tongue2:

Another great round of quetions, Gokul. Thanks! :biggrin:

[Gokul43201]

I would have called it a probability question...but yes, you're right. ::biggrin:

I think I'll have to expand into other areas to keep up. This stuff is going down like hot cakes.

<popping champagne> Woohoo...just scored a 1000 ! :tongue:

Also just noticed that I recently completed my first 100 days on PF !

[arildno]

Congrats with post 1000, Gokul!!!

[humanino]

Thanks again Gokul, and congratulations for getting in the 10^3's
If you expand on different subjects, please could you keep with the "math history/anecdotes", yours are the best :smile:

[Gokul43201]

thanks arildno, humanino

arildno, looks like you noticed before I did.

humanino, I'll try and keep the essence the same...but maybe throw in a couple outsiders each time.

[selfAdjoint]

Sorry about breaking the rules Gokul, just the blindness of intent thought (said he ... :rolleyes: )

[plover]

Q4. ...al Khorezmi ---> algoritmi ? --> algorithm

The intermediate form was "algorism".

[Gokul43201]

thanks plover :smile:

[Gokul43201]

Sorry about breaking the rules Gokul, just the blindness of intent thought (said he ... :rolleyes: )

That's okay. I see you've changed color !

[Math Is Hard]

As Oliver Twist once said,
"Please, sir, I want some more."

:biggrin:

[Gokul43201]

u got it...look again !