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5 Math Equations That Change the Way You See the World

5 Math Equations That Change the Way You See the World
By Luke McKinney July 25, 2013 784,731 views Add to Favorites

#2. Tupper's Self-Referential Formula

Tupper's self-referential formula sounds like an impotence cure sold by a man slicking his hair with snake oil. In fact, it's a mathematical inequality ...
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Told you.

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... which outputs the same mathematical inequality.

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Wikipedia

In places where X and Y satisfy the inequality you get black, where it doesn't it's white, and this Manichean math outputs itself. It's the Facebook formula, the mathematical equivalent of social media: You were expecting an intelligent answer, but it just refers to itself. In fact, it's the mathematical equivalent of infinite monkeys, as it eventually produces every possible 106 x 17 pixel image as you scroll through higher and higher numbers.

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Though most monkey math is applied to fecal ballistics

The formula is just one of many bitmap decoding functions. Any image can be represented as numbers.
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Strangely, Brockway's images are always triplets of sixes.

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The number for the formula is 543 digits long, so you can expect another hellayottahellayottahellayottayotta-scale number for similar pictures. Making this the smartest, longest, and biggest dick joke we've ever shown:

Quite Excellent Dick.

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#1. The Most Beautiful Equation in The World

Euler's identity is regularly chosen as the most beautiful in existence. It isn't just an equation, it's the haiku of mathematics. It's the only artwork that can objectively prove itself true. It's a more beautiful embodiment of numbers than 7 of 9.

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This contains more understanding of the truths of the universe than a Shaolin monastery full of Greek philosophers full of magic mushrooms. If you're ever contacted by aliens, shout it quickly: It's the only thing you can possibly say fast enough before they detect reality TV. It contains the five most important numbers there are, more fundamental truths of reality than any five pantheons you care to mention.

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Wikimedia Commons The Greeks were more jock-gods

The imaginary unit is "i." When real numbers couldn't find the root of negative things, we found imaginary ones which could help us solve our problems. That's the calculation equivalent of a Disney movie. And if it sounds impossible, stop using electronics, AC power, and atoms, because imaginary numbers are essential for understanding all of them. If pi is the keycode for space, Euler's constant "e" is the number of mathematics itself. The rate of change of e^x is e^x, making 2.71828 a perfect point in differentiation and integration, which are everything. Connecting calculus to numerals feels like connecting poetry to prehistoric pond water, but that's pretty much what happened: Something beginning with one trying to plus one to become two eventually led to everything we've ever known. The e is used to calculate so many things you'd swear it was Star Trek-nobabble. It's used in phasor notation, probability theory, calculus, compound interest, and more. It's so powerfully nerdy Google pledged to raise e billion dollars in their IPO. So you've got the imaginary, oneness, nothingness and two irrational transcendental numbers. It could only be a better calculation of the meaning of life if it equaled 42. And it gets even smarter from there. e to the power of a complex number projects you into the complex plane. Which sounds like something you do to Superman villains when the writer thinks, "Damn, Superman doesn't kill anyone, but we really need to get rid of this guy."

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Two dimensional pictures have horizontal and vertical. The complex plane does the same thing with uses realistic and imaginary. Every real number you've ever seen is just a line, an antiquated slide-rule for counting, while complex numbers are the full page where math draws pictures of pure intellect. e^ix draws a circle around the zero point on this complex plane. It's a more incredible imaginary landscape than Dali's. Why Gandalf Was the Real Villain in 'The Hobbit'
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2pi takes you around a complete circle, so e^i pi is halfway round the circle at minus one. The formula combines transcendental truths with oneness to reveal nothing. Math is how humanity understands the former instead of the latter. Continue expanding your mind with 5 Reasons Homophobia Is Unmanly , or chill your brain out with the opposite of intelligence inThe 5 Worst Video Game Reviews Ever. For more incredibly applications of intellect, behold 6 Badass Spacecraft Landings Humanity Totally Nailed and 9 Badass Lasers That Prove The Death Star Isn't Far Off. Luke also describes Whiskey Output, The Irish Jaeger Which Wasn't In Pacific Rim, tumbles, and responds to every single tweet.

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Luke McKinney
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1,086 Comments

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asdadada
12-06-2013 | 9:56 AM

No mention to the Zeta-Riemann value of the most fucked up result in all math: the sum of all positive natural numbers up to infinite is equal to -1/12 Reply

blindthrall
10-12-2013 | 2:04 AM

+2

Hey Luke- Please adequately explain Euler's equation. Devote an entire article to it if need be. I've seen it in classes before, but if aliens asked me about it, we'd all be star fuel. Reply

5pikey8lur
10-10-2013 | 10:34 PM

-2

I always thought that dividing by zero as impossible in physical terms; if dividing is separating some number of things equally into groups, then dividing by zero is taking some number of thing and completely erasing them. Since mass is conserved, that's impossible, so... Reply

blindthrall
10-12-2013 | 2:00 AM

+1

It is dividing things into zero groups. Therefore nothing happens. What you're thinking of would be dividing something by itself, in which 1 is the result.

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5pikey8lur
10-10-2013 | 10:33 PM

I... Am not sure about some of the things he said, but now I want to make out with an equation. Reply

hioncracked
09-08-2013 | 6:21 PM

+3

I feel really smart because I learned about #4 last week in AP Calc. Reply

BartRose
09-22-2013 | 11:04 AM

Hahaha same here

onca747
09-03-2013 | 8:02 AM

+3

It took me a couple of goes to get #2.. when I did I nearly lost my shit. Then I looked at #1. And then Jesus and Buddha, who were riding past on a tandem bicycle, yelled "thanks for coming". Reply

NikhilSingh
08-25-2013 | 10:46 AM

+1

Nice to see Ramanujam's name. He is an idol to a lot of Indians. Reply

Pahnkayx
08-22-2013 | 10:22 AM

+7

This sounds so f*****g cool! I wish I understood any of it. : Reply

LoneWolf666
08-14-2013 | 1:22 PM

3) Would be great for robot rebellions.:P Reply

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barnacle9435
08-13-2013 | 6:32 PM

I always figured dividing a number by zero had to mean "not dividing it" - hell, I do that all the time to all sorts of numbers. Reply

RamboBrooks
08-13-2013 | 5:40 PM

-2

Obviously 0 over 0 is one. Any time the numerator and denominator are the same, the fraction reduces to one. you don't need a formula for this one, just an open mind and maybe a 10th grade education See All 3 Replies Hide All Reply

beardzdefacto
08-14-2013 | 12:24 PM

+1

You're not serious, are you?

RamboBrooks
08-15-2013 | 6:16 PM

+1

haha nah i'm just playing.

flameskull95
08-09-2013 | 12:25 AM

Hmm, this one was a bit too dry. I don't know, I think it's the transition between how amazing mathematics is (by the way, with little emphasis on the math theory itself) and the jokes.. Reply

camyskaze
08-05-2013 | 9:41 AM

+2

I thought reading this while sleep-deprived would help me out, but oh it didnt. Reply

Hillyard
08-02-2013 | 9:00 PM

+2

Great article. A bit mind boggling but great. Reply

bonky1a1
08-02-2013 | 3:35 PM

+4

A Suffusion of Yellow I THOUGHT I was kinda smart.... Reply

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leLioyd
08-02-2013 | 11:57 AM

+5

Some smart people once said "Ignorance is bliss." Luke McKinney then came up to them, slapped them upside the head and said, "Bollocks to that!" Reply

archer1949
08-01-2013 | 10:36 PM

+5

This article just made me feel stupid and depressed. I literally did not understand a word of it. My attempts to really learn numbers ended in 8th grade (pre-algebra), where I gave up in frustration. I fumbled my way through High School and a few years of college by faking and cheating my way through the basic math prerequisites. I learned nothing from them. I have thought about learning math on my own, at my own pace, but this stuff scares the crap out of me. I guess I am resigned to be a pointless minimum wage nothing drowning in a universe made up of numbers. Reply

xen84
08-01-2013 | 6:04 PM

+3

How come XKCD comics make me feel clever, while Luke McKinney math articles make me feel dumb? Reply

Taojnhy
08-01-2013 | 1:48 AM

-1

"The formula combines transcendental truths with oneness to reveal nothing. Math is how humanity understands the former instead of the latter." Math is how humanity understands math instead of humanity? Or math is how humanity understands combining transcendental truths with oneness instead of nothing? Far better to be clear than clever if you can't manage both Luke. Reply

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Humility
07-31-2013 | 6:29 PM

-2

Let me see if I'm understanding this right. 5. I really don't get how this is 'refines' the way anyone sees the world. I haven't even yet grasped what he was trying to say other then 'pi is an unending number (irrational number) that measures the relationship between the three euclidean dimensions. Or in other words measure the relationship between the three Euclidean dimensions and you get Pi. I would be more impressed if they discovered the 'Pi' of the fourth Euclidean Dimension. 4. I don't think it counts. 0 doesn't equal nothing in calculus anyway. Or should I say nothing is assigned a value making it so nothing is not truly nothing in calculus. 3. So the numbers in Pi aren't completely random and you can use this fact to easily predict the value of whatever digit you want. Thats obvious. 2. Whats a bitmap? Why is this important? 1. Still don't see ho w this is supposed to change the way I see things. Anyone who has taken even basic economics (Everybody as these are mandatory in elementary school) understands there is nothing more important in math or anything then the point in which two or more things intersect. Reply

Tylendal
08-03-2013 | 11:13 PM

+5

"Whats a bitmap? Why is this important?" I can't even think of what to say here.

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