Oct 09
When you were at high school, math was probably an uninspiring string of algebra you had to crunch through. Get to the cutting edge of computational fluid dynamics, though, and it all starts to look a hell of a lot more pretty. More »
Oct 08
Mathematics geeks will often use the number of digits of Pi they can remember as a measure of pride. While I might be able to get as far as 3.141592653589793, that’s about where I lose it. But with these special drinking glasses, I bet I’d be able to recite 100 digits in no time.
TheUncommonGreen’s Pi series is printed several hundred digits of the mathematical constant – which for those of you who flunked math class is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Duh.
There’s a Pi pint glass ($36/pair), a Pi rocks glass ($36/pair) and a Pi shot glass ($20/each), so you can even memorize digits while you get drunk. I’m not sure how much those Pi coasters go for, though. And if you want to keep working on your math while you cook dinner, there’s a matching Pi kitchen towel.
And when your guests arrive, you can help them learn Pi too, while they cut the cheese on this Pi plate ($55).
But my favorite of the Pi series won’t help me memorize its digits at all – but it will help me drink more beer – and that’s the Pi bottle opener ($45).
[via bltd]
Oct 05
Most battery advances concentrate on improving hardware, but researchers from the University of California San Diego have developed new algorithms that can cut lithium-ion battery charge times in half. More »
Oct 02
Wealth of Knowledge Wallet is Filled with Unit Conversions: Got My Math and My Money, Money and My Math
Posted in: Today's ChiliUnlike most of the geeky merchandise we’ve seen, the design of the Wealth of Knowledge Wallet also serves a practical purpose. The wallet is printed with many unit conversions including Celsius to Fahrenheit and inches to centimeters.
There are more geeky tools inside the wallet, including common physics and mathematics formulas such as the ones for volume and resistance.
You can order the Wealth of Knowledge Mighty Wallet from the Museum of Modern Art for $15 (USD), or $13.50 if you’re a MoMA member. That’s a discount of… let me see, take away the subtrahend, roll 2d20, cast Ambiguity… approximately 1.5 x 1023 million dollars.
[via Svpply]
Aug 26
Your smartphone can do a lot, but how much would you have to pay to get that same kind of functionality out of traditional, single-purpose gadgets? The Next Web did the math on it, and the answer is: A lot. More »
Aug 13
If you think you’re your own person, think again. While you have the ability to make what you think seem like independent decisions, the truth is that most of the things you do—from the trains you catch to the food you eat—have been optimized by the world’s most pervasive algorithm. More »
Aug 10
What Is This? [What Is This]
Posted in: Today's Chili
Is this some strange new GM flower? An awful piece of abstract art? Or just what happens if you take too much LSD? Actually, it’s none of those things; keep guessing, you’ll never get it. More »
Aug 07
It’s probably time to fire up that second cup of coffee; the journey that TED-ED lecturer Dennis Wildfogel is about to take you on is one of infinite infinities. In other words, it’s going to make your brain hurt. But it also just might make you smarter. More »
Jul 26
Google has had a calculator integrated into its search results for a long time. Using the calculator was as easy as typing a math problem such as 2+2 into the search bar and hitting enter. Google has made that calculator much more complex and useful with the addition of a new scientific calculator with 34-buttons.
The calculator promises much of the same functionality of a real calculator. The best news is that the scientific calculator is available not only on your desktop computer, but via your mobile phone and its voice search enabled. When on the smartphone, the scientific functions can be seen when you rotate the phone into landscape mode.
To use the calculator in voice mode just click the mic icon and speak your equation. This might be the perfect thing for the times you need to work out a complex equation and your calculator ran out of batteries. You still have a calculator, right?
[via TechCrunch]
Jul 26
If you’ve been walking around a public place lately, you’ve come in contact with a lot of people. Some of those people may have been sick. And if you’ve been hanging around enough of them as they cough and sneeze, then you might be about to get sick too. More »
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