What is Fun: Definition and 427 Discussions

My younger brother is 12 years old (in 7th grade), and I'm trying to give him a sense of appreciation for math while he's still young. I want to show him that math can be enjoyable, and at the same time teach him some things he probably wouldn't learn in school. Does anyone have any advice...

i am a doctor of medicine . i want to learn calculus for the fun of it. it eluded me while in school 20 yrs ago. i want to know from where and how.

Summer break experiment Fun! Hey I'm a first year physics student going on summer break and i was wondering if anyone had cool physics experiments i could do to keep my physics knowledge fresh (so i don't have to do JUST problems on paper)?? and kinda get some hands-on.

Homework Statement 1. Recall that Fn denotes the number of perfect coverings of a 2–by–n chessboard with dominoes. Use combinatorial reasoning to show that F2n = Sum [of k=0 to k=n] of (nCk) Fk for all integers n ≥ 0. Make sure to describeFk in the context of perfect coverings of a 2–by–2n...

Some imagination is required, so let me dress up the question a bit. Imagine Spider-Man is on a rooftop, and he shoots a web to the top edge of a nearby building that's taller than the one he's on, in an attempt to swing toward it. Assume that the web is non-elastic and is completely adhered...

I want to be an electrical engineer. It sounds fascinating, but I honestly don't know much about it at all. It's about time I learned. I start college this fall but right now I have a LOT of free time and I want to get a head start now. What could I spend the next few months doing before I...

The basic number you hear all the time is that the Hubble expansion rate is 71 km/s per megaparsec So get the google calculator to tell you want actual percentage growth rate that turns out to be. Say over a billion year span of time. Past this blue thing verbatim into the google window...

Have a look at the updated maths, physicsand technology animations at www.science-animations.com

Can grad students take "fun" undergrad courses? Hi, is there any general policy on what undergraduate courses Physics grad students can take? I'm a physics undergrad, but I like mathematics quite a bit and there are a lot of math courses I know I won't be able to take before I graduate. So...

This is a small part of a larger program I'm working on. This actually looked like a fun problem -- but I'm hitting a wall now. Imagine a person riding a bicycle. You know their starting position (X1, Y1), and their initial heading. Their destination is elsewhere at point (X2, Y2). They...

Hello :) Here we go! : 1. \int \frac{dx}{x^3+x^2+x+1} 2. \int_{\frac{\pi}{2}}^{\pi} \left( sin(x) ln(x) - \frac{cos(x)}{x}\right) dx Do your best :)

Homework Statement The Hungarian national highway M7 is made of concrete blocks 4m long. The joints have a small gap. Józsi have a mass of 80 kg. He owns a Polski Fiat, which is lowered by 10 cm when he sits in. At what speed would Józsi's car disintegrate? Homework Equations v =...

The following is a collection of some pretty good and easy to understand science jokes.

Well basically, I've always been thought maths from a technical (operations) point of view. For example, we were taught the quadratic equation but I have no idea how or why it works. However, I am amazed and fascinated by maths at times when I wander off and mess about with numbers and theories...

Homework Statement In R^3, if we have p non-intersecting lines, is it true that there exists a plane Y such that all the lines intersect Y? Up to rotations.Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution No real attempt, this is just something I found to be interesting. Any thoughts?

Homework Statement This is just a piece of a differential equation where I'm just trying to solve this single gross integration and as there are no initial conditions laplace transforms are out so here it is: \int t^{-2}e^{-2t} The Attempt at a Solution I tried doing a...

Ok basically I've tried loads of methods of working it out and I'd just like to see how someone else would do it because all the answers I get don't seem right and I am not confident about them. A bit of explaining of why things that may seem odd are wouldn't be minded elther. I've tried...

So i was thinking, if you drop a ball that has a bouncy property to it, it will travel half as high after the bounce, then in theory it will bounce half as high, and half, and half, and half but never reaches zero this is not true in reality though, because there of a loss of energy due to...

This is a snippet from a mock encyclopedia which i will not link to. While I am not endorsing this viewpoint, I want to understand, what is fundamentaly inaccurate about what is being said? " In reality, the highest level of education required to comprehend the theory of dark matter is...

I know this is a little strange to ask on a forum but... I don't know where else to ask! My boyfriend is a physicist and I want to get him some fun book relating to it for his birthday, but most of the books I found looked like they were poor quality ("New York Times bestsellers" written by...

We were in Calculus class, and the problem sin(x)/n was left on the board from the last class. The teacher meant to put an x in the denominator I guess. We solved it like so: sin(x)/n The n terms cancel out sin(x)/n = six = 6 Whatddya think?

What are some things you can say that will send chuckles across your audience when you give a speech, especially in the beginning to brake the ice?

Homework Statement We had to basically modify a few variables in the given code and then shoot it out with a valid output. I decided to have some fun with it. However I get a strange syntax error, here is the code: //Conditionals controlling the cookie response output if(cookies...

Should I challenge my class with interesting puzzles, or drone on and crank out answers to standard problems? Any tips?

2. Consider five points A, B, C, D and E such that ABCD is a parallelogram and BCED is a cyclic quadrilateral. Let l be a line passing through A. Suppose that l intersects the interior of the segment DC at F and intersects line BC at G. Suppose also that EF = EG = EC. Prove that l is the...

Just did this in NYC with my friends this past weekend. The game: You and your friends go out to dinner. At the end you collect everyone's credit card, put it into a napkin, and shake it up. You then ask the waitress/waiter to pull one credit card out. Who ever gets picked has to pay the...

integrate from 0 -> 1 (1-cosx)/x dx find maclorein approximation this has been killing me any ideas??

I am only slightly computer literate and have been looking for easy to use apps for altering one's desktop. The most minor feature I am looking for is one a friend of mine had that would change his desktop picture every time he restarted his computer. More complex alterations I am looking for...

It Works! I went out and bought a Nintendo Wii Remote, a golf glove, an Infra Red LED and a small battery and set it up. My Computer screen is now a touch screen! Since my computer does not have blue tooth, I had to buy a USB Dongle. The total cost was $91.09 The cool factor is...

which X-man's powers do you think are the most realistic biologically and physically.

Have fun. Key: 1134487964316 Lock1: 23144767481431 Lock2: 43148651671461 Lock3: 43517649819891 Lock4: 76487995462131 Lock5: 47687982498191 Lock6: 46149897275131 Lock7: 46768491794850

Homework Statement Hi I need some concepts on magnetic fields explained to me. 1.) I know in theory that if you have a current carrying conductor say along the X-axis then the magnetic field generated would be in the y,z components So let's say I wish to measure the magnetic field in real...

Any help solving this determinant: 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 My calc says the answer is -3 but there is supposed to be a quicker way than doing all the individual calculations, I did all the calculations and got -3 but there is supposed to be a quicker way. Anyone?

It's February, and http://my.funtrivia.com/private/main.cfm?tid=87626". Check out the trivia sticky at the top of this page for the link after this thread disappears. The competition is month to month, with monthly winners kept in the "hall of fame." It requires a simple registration (no...

Hi, I'm 31 and have a successful career as a Software Engineer - but am finding more and more that I can't resist my love of physics. So, I've started studying physics in my spare time, rather than just endlessly reading about it. I did actually do A-Level physics when I was in college, but...

What class would you take if you wanted to take something just for pure fun? SCUBA diving, Mandarin Chinese, archery, etc? I'll be looking for something like this to fill my time soon.

Currently in 2nd year of college, and just now being exposed to calculus based physics: my intended major was computer science, but now I'm not sure. Basically, I want to build stuff that makes people say "holy crap". The problem is that I'm not sure what would be best. If I go mech engineer...

Homework Statement Given: The coefficient of static friction between the person and the wall is 0.66, the mass of the person is 73 kg, the radius of the cylinder is 7 m, and g = 9.8 m/s. A barrel of fun consists of a large vertical cylinder that spins about the vertical axis. When it spins...

FUn questions - Probability - help! Hello! I need help understanding how to get to the answers on this question. I would be sooo appreciative if someone woule write it out and explain it, as once I understand this I can understand a lot more! I REALIZE they are VERY BASIC! so for many it will...

A really fun music toy http://www.stumbleupon.com/toolbar/#url=http%2525253A//www.zanorg.com/prodperso/automachine.htm

A smaller number of photos than last week, but still a good collection. This week's theme is "Are We Having Fun Yet?" Participants are free to interpret this anyway they like, but there has to be a clear connection between the theme and the photo. It is up to you to decide if the theme is...

Are We Having Fun Yet? You are free to interpret the topic anyway you want. However, it has to be quite obvious how the topic is being portrayed in your photo. Zz. Contest Rules: 1. Any digital photo or digitally-scanned photo relevant to the theme will be accepted within the contest period...

Fun Relativity Question :) Homework Statement two spaceships, A and B, are moving relative to the Earth with speeds 4c/5 in opposite directions. What is the speed of the spaceship A according to an observer on B? According to an observer on B, how much does the separation of the spaceships...

Ok, so I've been elected president of my department's Society of Physics Students (SPS) and I'm looking for physics or science-related things to do, or rather, things to keep people coming to the meetings. For our next meeting, we're going to draw up a draft for a campus-wide egg-drop battle...

Fun question/"brainteaser" I don't think this problem really counts as a brainteaser, because I don't know the answer. Consider a sequence like http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/A097614 which works as follows: Given a constant (pi in this case), find the first position in the...

now, this isn't required for my class but my professor thought it would be cool if anyone in our class could figure it out. now, I am armed with a ti-nspire calculator and a macbook pro with this nifty grapher application and (despite my limit of knowledge in this field) no matter what i put...

Ok, so I set 9.8=v^2/r , therefore v=\sqrt{9.8r}. I converted r from miles into meters and got 3459.35. This seems like an easy enough question, but for some reason I keep getting it wrong. The answer I keep getting is 184.12395m/s, but the question asks for it in rad/s. I've looked everywhere...

People are just screwing around with the replay speed, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GhPDL3VSo4&NR=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4IbBMnJYU8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwm7otKjGz0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrEdjaJt9iY&feature=related

If given an opportunity to live in any country of the world, where would you chose? And why? I am interested in hearing opinions about your favorite (dream?) living area, like government, education, cost of living, work opportunities, local people, climate, etc etc. If you are quite the...

You are traveling in your 2000 kg car at 9.2 m/s and wish to accelerate to 17.5 m/s in 3.08 seconds, how much work, to the nearest joule, is required? Okay so i don't even know hwo t ostart this problem. I know I need to find the initial amount of work being done by the car and then...