That's What I Went To School For

It's a long time since I needed to do any trigonometry, but the other night we were ordering some bookshelves off the internet and I had to use my old skills. The idea was to get some along each wall by a corner and then another one in the corner at 45 degrees. I had to use a picture and some maths to determine whether the whole arrangement would fit in the room or not.

It would.

Or at least it would on paper. The proof will be in the putting (up).

Wobbly Tables at Lunchtime

Sitting outside the Judges' Lodgings at lunchtime, the floor was uneven and the four-legged table was wobbly. Not good for placing pints upon. I did that cool thing where you rotate the four-legged table until it magically finds stability. Maths has proved it works.

And then I was very proud of myself for a bit.

The Road to Cleverness

I've restarted (from the beginning) Roger Penrose's book, The Road to Reality (not to be confused with various Bob Hope films). It's a big book, ostensibly aimed at the non-specialist, that attempts to cover most of modern maths and physics, and unlike most similar tomes, it doesn't shy away from the maths. It even has the odd exercise for the reader.

The first time I tried it, a couple of years ago, I got a bit stuck a third of the way through. This was despite me having a degree in mathematics. I'm hoping that I'll persevere better this time and actually get to the end. So far I'm up to chapter 5.

If I finish this whole book, I will officially be clever.