What are the Rules for Math-Sci-Tech Trivia, Part V?

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Moonbear said:
Now, he'd expect something like that from the sisters, but from you? Ouch!
I readily admit that it's below my normal standards to attack an individual on such a basis. In a more facetious mode, most of the older guys here are used to it. I'll never stop razzing the old farts (yes, plural, Integral... you're not the only one :-p ).
Trib is a different situation. Considering that I had no idea who he was, I found his personal sniping at me when I was nominated as 'funny' to be totally non-humourous and very mean-spirited. In fact, every post that I've seen of his was sour in some regard. Towards the point of getting that across, I posted the foregoing. My apologies to anyone who might happen to like the guy.
 
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NoTime said:
#1 4x13=20
hellraiser said:
1.) 20 (twenty)
Sorry folks! But that was the bait you were supposed to take.

Now if either of you has something more to add in support of your answer, and it comes close to what I'm looking for, I'll give it to you.

But now, it's time to hit the sack.
 
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I'll give number one a shot.

4x13 = 20 because.., and I think what the reason you're looking for is because 4+13 = 17 which adding 3 is 20, this is the same pattern as in the other two since 4+5 = 9 which adding another 3 gives 12 and for 4x6, 4+6 gives 10 and adding 3 gives 13 so the pattern is axb = a + b + 3.
 
1) 4 x 13 = 52

And grrrrr @ 10) being Pauli :(
 
9. Indium - which is in the same group as Ga and Tl. Ga is used in blue LED's IIRC.

mattmns said:
#7 Metal Detector. It failed because the bed that the president was on had metal in it (it was an early prototype of a box-spring matress, I believe).

When I took the second semester of US History our teacher told us this story :smile:
My high school teacher in US History told us about Garfield's death, but not about the involvement of Bell and his early metal detector. The doctors (I think at Walter Reed Hospital) attempted to use metal probes, inserting them into the wound. However the bullet had traveled downward from the entry wound. The probes damaged internal organs. There was also the matter of using unsterilized instruments.
 
d_leet said:
I'll give number one a shot.

4x13 = 20 because.., and I think what the reason you're looking for is because 4+13 = 17 which adding 3 is 20, this is the same pattern as in the other two since 4+5 = 9 which adding another 3 gives 12 and for 4x6, 4+6 gives 10 and adding 3 gives 13 so the pattern is axb = a + b + 3.
While that's a sensible shot at the pattern, it still falls short of my demands.

3trQN, it's not 52 either. Though it would've been funny if everyone was guessing 20, and I came out and said, "Sorry folks, it's obviously 52!" As for Q10, the answer to that was Fermi (see post #19), not Pauli. Pauli is the answer to Q4.

Astro, Indium is the correct answer. It was named so for the indigo line (bluish-violet) in the absorption spectrum.

And blue LEDs are made from Gallium Nitride (GaN). It's a b!+ch to make, but a beauty to play with!
 
So, the questions still standing are :
1. Trivial question to get started. If [itex]4 \times 5=12~,~~4 \times 6=13~,...[/itex] then [itex]4 \times 13=?[/itex]

AND

8. What is considered to be the first successful bombing by unmanned airborne drones?

-----
Q8 is a bit of a toughie, but I expected people to have been familiar with the content of Q1. I guess English teachers are not as good as History teachers.
-----

And the following questions have been answered :

2. (jars in Costa Cider box contain) parts of Einstein's brain

3. (the event that killed Pliny was) the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD

4. (the physicist with less respect for chemists than Ernest Rutherford is) Wolfgang Pauli

5. (the "Who ordered that?" particle) is the muon, the heavy and "undesirable" cousin of the electron. The quote is from Isidor Isaac Rabi (the particle theorist who won the 1944 Nobel prize and went on to found the Brookhaven National Lab).

6. (what is common to the Burnet moths, tobacco smoke, and cherry pits) is that they all contain cyanide (HCN).

7. (Bell's invention was an early prototype of ) the metal detector - the reason it didn't work was that the White House bed had metal springs (which had also just recently been developed, and could be afforded only by the elite) which was making the background noise so high, that the signal from the bullet was essentially undetectable. Too bad they didn't have lock-in amplifiers! :biggrin:

9. (the element with the indigo spectral line) is Indium, which lies in the same group as Thallium. The chemists credited with its discovery are Reich and Richter.

10. (X is His Eccelenza) Enrico Fermi - of that rare breed of physicist who was a better theorist than most and a better experimentalist than most, as well.

-----

Questions 1 & 8 are now open to everyone, and so is Google. It's a FREE FOR ALL ! Even if you've used your 2 shots, you may go again, as many times as you wish.
 
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#8 The MQ-1 predator? That's the armed version of The RQ-1.

Edit: oh wait, I read the question wrong.

June 12th 1944, the First V1 bomb dropped on London.
 
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George Jones said:
4 x 13 = 1A
Of course it is!

Did you folks never read Alice in Wonderland?

Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) was a mathematician. In chapter 2 (A Pool of Tears) after Alice scares away the rabbit inadvertantly, and is very confused about all the weirdness :'I'm sure I'm not Ada,' she said, `for her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I can't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, oh! she knows such a very little! Besides, SHE'S she, and I'm I, and--oh dear, how puzzling it all is! I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is--oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate! However, the Multiplication Table doesn't signify: let's try Geography. London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and Rome--no, THAT'S all wrong, I'm certain!

The trick is to find the base (clearly the equalities do not hold in base ten) where the numbers on the RHS make sense.

4*5=12 (b18)
4*6=13 (b21)

and so, by extension...

4*7=14 (b24)
4*8=15 (b27)
4*9=16 (b30)
4*10=17 (b33)

here, one cheats and keeps the LHS base 10 while changing only the base for the number on the RHS...

4*11=18 (b36)
4*12=19 (b39)

and finally

4*13=1A (b42)

This is why Alice will "never get to twenty at that rate!"

Q8. It's not the MQ-1, the V1s or the slightly earlier Blitz (were there unmanned drones during the Blitz?)
 
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I can't find any "successful" armed unmanned drones prior to 1944. The Curtis-Sperry was a failure. :frown: Are you referring to the TDR-I's?
 
The Lewis Carroll answer came up when I clicked this screen, but

#1 I figured 4=7 and x=+
Given the rules = none then this is just as good as anything :smile:

#8
I recall something about doing it with a balloon.
Late 1800's.
 
NoTime said:
#8
I recall something about doing it with a balloon.
Late 1800's.
Close enough.

This was during the Risorgimento, the revolution in Italy during the mid-1800s (to throw out the Austrian Empire).

On August 22, 1849, the Austrians, who controlled much of Italy at this time, launched some 200 pilotless balloons against the city of Venice. The balloons were armed with bombs controlled by timed fuses - they are also said to have used fuses electrically activated via signals fed up trailing copper wires (to be confirmed - Ed.). Some of the bombs exploded as planned but the wind changed direction and blew several balloons back over the Austrian lines. This is, by most accounts, the first recorded action of its type.

http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/rpav_home.html#Beginnings

Five months before the bombing, the Viennese Press exposed the Austrian plans, and Scientific American wrote an article about it in March 1849. Apparently, none of this help the Venetians as much as the winds.

The above link has some great descriptions and related stories. A very interesting read!
 
Gokul43201 said:
Close enough.

This was during the Risorgimento, the revolution in Italy during the mid-1800s (to throw out the Austrian Empire).



http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/rpav_home.html#Beginnings

Five months before the bombing, the Viennese Press exposed the Austrian plans, and Scientific American wrote an article about it in March 1849. Apparently, none of this help the Venetians as much as the winds.

The above link has some great descriptions and related stories. A very interesting read!
Sorry, but I've got to argue with you here. I thought about baloons, but you specifically used the word "drone", so I ruled them out. The definition of drone is "an unmanned airplane, helicopter, or ship guided by remote control".

The balloons were not guided by remote control. They were launched "troops scurried around with them to launch them into the proper wind currents". The balloons themselves weren't guided. ppttthbbbttt The firing mechanism for the bombs doesn't count.

Therefore I did correctly site the first "drones".
 
That then, is the end of the game.

The answers and answerers :

1. [itex]4 \times 13=1A~(base~42)[/itex] from Alice in Wonderland and a little extra arithmetic (also note, the answer to the question about Life, the Universe and Everything, is embedded in there) - George

2. (jars in Costa Cider box contain) parts of Einstein's brain - MIH

3. (the event that killed Pliny was) the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD - nrqed

4. (the physicist with less respect for chemists than Ernest Rutherford is) Wolfgang Pauli - Omega-6

5. (the "Who ordered that?" particle) is the muon, the heavy and "undesirable" cousin of the electron. The quote is from Isidor Isaac Rabi (the particle theorist who won the 1944 Nobel prize and went on to found the Brookhaven National Lab). - George

6. (what is common to the Burnet moths, tobacco smoke, and cherry pits) is that they all contain cyanide (HCN). - Moonbear

7. (Bell's invention was an early prototype of ) the metal detector - the reason it didn't work was that the White House bed had metal springs (which had also just recently been developed, and could be afforded only by the elite) which was making the background noise so high, that the signal from the bullet was essentially undetectable. Too bad they didn't have lock-in amplifiers! :biggrin: - mattmns

8. (the first successful unmanned aerial bombing was the) balloon bombing of Venice by the Austrians in August 1849. - NoTime

9. (the element with the indigo spectral line) is Indium, which lies in the same group as Thallium. The chemists credited with its discovery are Reich and Richter. - Astronuc

10. (X is His Eccelenza) Enrico Fermi - of that rare breed of physicist who was a better theorist than most and a better experimentalist than most, as well. - cyclovenom That's all folks (I've got a Part VI in the works - it's going to be different)
 
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Math Is Hard said:
Another great quiz, Gokul! Thanks!
Yes, it really was. Next time, don't post it at night when I'm asleep, and all the answers are almost gone by the time I wake up, I actually knew one of the answers. :cry:
 
With regard to the trivia about Rabi, Pauli and Fermi, where does one find this stuff? Is in their books, or memoirs, or those of others?

Someone I met a few years ago, new Rabi and some of his colleagues. More recently, I met Leo Szilard's nephew who is involved in reactor and computational physics.
 
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Astronuc said:
With regard to the trivia about Rabi, Pauli and Fermi, where does one find this stuff. Is in their books, or memoirs, or those of others.
It's usually one of those two or stuff that comes down the good ol' grapevine!
 
Astronuc said:
With regard to the trivia about Rabi, Pauli and Fermi, where does one find this stuff? Is in their books, or memoirs, or those of others?

Biographies and autoboigraphies are good sources for stuff like this. I didn't learn the full (amazing!) of Schrödinger's discovery and solution of the equation that bears his name until I read a boigraphy of him.

Good popularizations also are often a good source. Many scientists are very dismissive of popularizations, but, if they're good, I like reading them for a number of reasons, one being for this type of stuff. For example, Kip Thorne, in his book Black Holes & Time Warps tells lots of good stories. As a student, Thorne took Russian, which, as a researcher, he put to good use in the Soviet Union. Fascinating.

Math Is Hard said:
Another great quiz, Gokul! Thanks!

Hear! Hear!
 
From link provided by Evo.

"This isn't right. This isn't even wrong."[2] W. Pauli.

Comment made upon reviewing a paper of another physicist. What I meant was that the paper had no correlation with scientific reality. To attempt to correct the paper would be futile, . . . .
:smile: It's not clear if Pauli said the part about "What I meant was . . . ", but it would seem Pauli discovered Trolls and Bozos? :smile: :smile:
 

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