The most beautiful formulae in maths & science

[rohanprabhu]

I just though i'd make up a list of a few of the really beautiful formulas in mathematics.

One in my list is:

$$e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0$$

and definitely, the Pythagoras theorem... as for physics.. the energy-mass equivalence is another beautiful formula:

$$E = mc^{2}$$

and.. the Bohr's formula for quantized angular momentum:

$$L = \frac{nh}{2\pi}$$

I also think that the Dirac equation is a beautiful result as it predicted the existence of a positron before it's actual discovery..

any others u can think of??

 

[robphy]

There was a Physics World article on this:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/20407
which was the topic of a New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/weekinreview/24chan.html

 

[lisab]

You already have my favorite- Euler's.

There's a lot of ugly ones, too .

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. - Oscar Wilde.

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2388/homeworkallforcesbh1.jpg

 

[lisab]

No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. - Oscar Wilde.

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2388/homeworkallforcesbh1.jpg

[/URL]

 

[George Jones]

No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. - Oscar Wilde.

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2388/homeworkallforcesbh1.jpg

[/URL]

There's a sign mistake for the term a third of the way through the line that's a quarter of the way down.

Dark matter found!

 

[lisab]

"...sans gravity..."!

Well duh...wouldn't want to complicate it!

 

[Werg22]

A formula doesn't strike beautiful, an idea does though.

 

[tacosareveryyum]

What book is that from? You've got me interested now.

 

[Mk]

Probably a joke, note the "exercise #1.1.1.1.1.1.a"

 

[robphy]

http://nuclear.ucdavis.edu/~tgutierr/files/stmL1.html

http://nuclear.ucdavis.edu/~tgutierr/files/sml2.pdf

 

[Kurdt]

The Schrödinger equation is pretty nice.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

For sheer actual physical good looks, and usefulness I'd say the Laplacian looks quite nice.

$$\displaystyle \Delta = \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial x^2} + \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial y^2} + \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial z^2}$$

 

[humanino]

Well, if I were a genius indian mathematician I'd say $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty }n=-\frac{1}{12}$$

 

[gravenewworld]

Maybe my eyes are just bad, but that isn't an equation, it is meaningless. one of my favs.-

 

[Pythagorean]

For sheer actual physical good looks, and usefulness I'd say the Laplacian looks quite nice.

$$\displaystyle \Delta = \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial x^2} + \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial y^2} + \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial z^2}$$

shouldn't it be turned around, squared, and acting on something on the left side?

 

[gravenewworld]

This one also helped the US win WWII and also has been called one of the most important advances in science in the 20th centurty

N2 + 3H2---------> 2NH3 (Fe/K2O/Al2O3/250 atm/500 C)

 

[CaptainQuasar]

I've always been partial to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz_formula_for_pi" :

$$\huge \mathbf{\pi} = 4 \sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{(-1)^n}{2n + 1}$$​

 

[humanino]

Maybe my eyes are just bad, but that isn't an equation, it is meaningless.

They were telling the same to Fourier.

Probably one of the most important and beautiful mathematical object is the Riemann zeta function.
Since you like to copy equations from wikipedia, maybe you can check it out for real from time to time. It is instructive.

EDIT BTW, I was referring to Ramanujan[/color] who was maybe one of the most prolific for genuinely beautiful formulae

 

[gravenewworld]

They were telling the same to Fourier.

Probably one of the most important and beautiful mathematical object is the Riemann zeta function.
Since you like to copy equations from wikipedia, maybe you can check it out for real from time to time. It is instructive.

EDITBTW, I was referring to Ramanujan[/color] who was maybe one of the most prolific for guenuinely beautiful formulae

No, I said it because what was posted did not contain any equal sign, and hence it is impossible for it to be an equation. At least the riemann zeta function has an equal sign.

 

[CaptainQuasar]

Yeah, but I think gravenewworld is right, Ramanujan wouldn't write [post=1636702]what you posted there[/post], which currently shows an infinite summation that doesn't converge on a limit being equal to -1/12. And oblique name dropping is more of a vice than referencing Wikipedia, btw.

⚛​

 

[gravenewworld]

wait wait wait. I accidentally deleted what I was referring to. When I said "that isn't an equation, it is meaningless" I was referring to what jimmy posted. As far as I can see there is no equals sign in it anywhere.

 

[humanino]

Ahhhh, sorry for the confusion... Indeed, the "Standard model lagrangian (density) = " is missing in this, plus it is partly in french (sans gravity) so it really does not make sens

 

[Math Jeans]

Not much of a formula, but more of a process. However, its hard to deny that they are beautiful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourier_transform"

 

[Cyrus]

1=0.999999

[/tex]

 

[Ivan Seeking]

deBroglie's hypothesis has always made my knees weak, and who doesn't love Heisenberg?

The more fundamental the statement, the more I like it.

One set of equations that really struck me upon first encounter were the Lienard-Wiechert potentials for a moving charge; and in particular the direction vector for the electric field as measured by an observer. In spite of the fact that the retarded potential is calculated, the resulting electric field vector points from the present position of the charge! Amazing!

 

[Poop-Loops]

One in my list is:

$$e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0$$

This one is just scary. I'm in my second year of using complex notation and being comfortable with it, but I always took it at face value. I never tried to actually think "Wait, WTF? How?"

And actually, I just went to Wikipedia to figure it out and now I understand it. So thanks for inspiring me to do so. :)

Well, I understood the formula itself, but I didn't quite understand Euler's general formula.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I have to add the Cantor-Bernstein Theorem as one of the biggest surprises. Now that one can cost a guy some sleep.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

wait wait wait. I accidentally deleted what I was referring to. When I said "that isn't an equation, it is meaningless" I was referring to what jimmy posted. As far as I can see there is no equals sign in it anywhere.

The text implies there is an 'L = ' at the beginning or an '= L' at the end.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

shouldn't it be turned around, squared, and acting on something on the left side?

It can be represented by either $\nabla^2$ or $\Delta$ and technically it should be $\Delta f$ but I left it out because I am in fact quite mad/evil.