Category Archives: Math

Q: How hard would it be to make a list of products of primes that could beat public key encryption?

Posted on March 27, 2010 by The Physicist

The complete question was: I’m assuming almost anyone with sufficient computing power could generate big prime numbers (if these are not already published somewhere). Would making a table of all of the products of these prime numbers be so difficult? … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Mathematician, Math, Number Theory | 1 Comment

Q: What are complex numbers used for?

Posted on March 24, 2010 by The Physicist

Physicist: If you’ve ever had to do square roots you’ve probably come up against the problem of taking the square root of a negative number.  If you restrict your attention only to real numbers (0,1, -17, , √2, …, any … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Equations, Math, Quantum Theory | 23 Comments

Q: What is infinity? (A brief introduction to infinite sets, infinite limits, and infinite numbers)

Posted on March 11, 2010 by The Mathematician

Mathematician: To mathematicians, infinity is not a single entity, but rather a label given to a variety of related mathematical objects. What unites these “infinities” is that they are all, in some sense, larger than anything that can be obtained … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Mathematician, Math, Philosophical | 9 Comments

Q: Is it of any coincidence that mathematics is able to describe physical reality – given that both are inventions of the human mind?

Posted on March 5, 2010 by The Physicist

Physicist: There’s a lot of math that doesn’t describe physical reality at all, and even some (few) mathematicians who feel that “applicability” is just another word for “impurity”.  The ability of math to describe reality is just a consequence of … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Physicist, -- Guest Author, Evolution, Math, Paranoia, Philosophical | 3 Comments

Q: If you were to break down an average human body into its individual atoms, and then laid the atoms out in a single straight line, how far would it stretch?

Posted on March 3, 2010 by The Physicist

Physicist: Atoms are a little “fuzzy”, so their exact size is a little tricky to define.  So taking their size in terms of bond length, and looking at the most common elements in the human body (by mass: 65% oxygen, … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Biology, Brain Teaser | 4 Comments

Q: How did mathematicians calculate trig functions and numbers like pi before calculators?

Posted on February 27, 2010 by The Physicist

Physicist: Don’t know.  But if you’re ever stuck on a desert island, here are some tricks you can use.  The name of the game is “Taylor polynomials“. All the other trig function are just combinations of sine and cosine, so … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Equations, Math | 11 Comments