Do mathematicians actually use blackboards at home like in Numb3rs?

  • Thread starter Thread starter danne89
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Home
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
Sign up Log in
14 replies · 4K views
danne89
Messages
180
Reaction score
0
I was watching this new show called numb3rs. The main character is a mathematican and has a some blackboards he is using. http://www.numb3rs.org/gallery/albums/userpics/10002/NUMB3RS_S01E01_033.jpg I couldn't stop wonder if someone in real life is standing like this and write on blackboards outside school, just for themself.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mathematics news on Phys.org

Discussion

Heh, in one episode he had blackboards on every wall AND on the ceiling. :rolleyes:
 
i have some whiteboards I work on at home. I also like to work long problems on artist sketch pads because they are large and unlined.
 
Whiteboards are nice, the volatile solvents in the pens always stimulate good thought processes :wink: .

I do have chalk boards at home one, in my son's room for him to be creative with and another in the kitchen for the ever-evolving grocery list.
 
They cost a lot of $$$, so be preprared to pay up.

Or you can settle for something less, like a homemade blackboard.

Note: I have my own big whiteboard... so yes people in real life do this.
 
Last edited:
I have a whiteboard at home plus, last week when I was working through thoughts for a manuscript I'm working on, I was also spreading out to a few windows and the bathroom mirror. Yeah, what a geek, I know, but I think better while standing than sitting, so it works for me.
 
I have a small white board i wanted to use for working out stuff but it was pretty much nearly handheld so it was too small. Some problems are very long and involved so blackboards would be nice :)
 
There isn't some color one can paint on a wall to get a nice blackboard.
 
The color isn't the problem. How would you make it hold chalk?
 
HackaB said:
The color isn't the problem. How would you make it hold chalk?
You can buy special paint that creates a chalkboard surface.
 
I find that what works best are 8.5 X 11" used printer sheets, napkins, little notepads, piles of Mead Composition notebooks, yellow pads (legal and standard), manilla folders, envelopes, and the backs of receipts, and stored as a homogenous and isotropic distribution all around my office. :cry:

For me the trick is to have a really big table .
 
Evo said:
You can buy special paint that creates a chalkboard surface.
Oooh neat. Didn't know that. In that case I would pick black or dark brown.
 
Mmm blackboard paint.

My little sister always used to ruin her blackboard by painting it with nail varnish and other assorted nasties. The number of times we had to repaint it...

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/sea/searchresults.jsp;jsessionid=WL45DSHGIRKSJCJO2C3CJ0Q?_dyncharset=UTF-8&q=black+board+paint&n=&pn=1&pd=1&pi=1&cn=1&cd=1&x=0&y=0
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Evo said:
Heh, in one episode he had blackboards on every wall AND on the ceiling. :rolleyes:
I can't help thinking that Moonbear's probably the only woman in the world to have a blackboard over her bed instead of a mirror... :-p
 
Danger said:
I can't help thinking that Moonbear's probably the only woman in the world to have a blackboard over her bed instead of a mirror... :-p

:-p No, no blackboards on the ceiling in my house. I'm short, remember? I could never reach it to make any use of it.

It's really nice to have a blackboard or whiteboard though. When I stop working on something at night, it's right there in big letters for me to review in the morning to remember where I left off. I like to diagram and outline ideas on it. And I get to do it in multiple colors. I got a pack of dry erase markers with 8 different colors. :biggrin: When I used to do this with pen and paper, I used to work with lots of colored pens too, but some of those colored pens just don't show up well on paper. But I'm weird about a lot of things. If I need to start writing and am suffering a bit of writer's block, I'll buy a new pen, or pick up a calligraphy pen I have with a pretty glass handle. Then it's just fun to write with a pretty pen, and when I focus on making pretty letters, it gets me inspired to put lots of words on that paper, which is all I need to get started.