http://www.mathispretty.com Exploring the beauty of mathematics Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:46:49 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_317" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kahunapulej/326062731/"][/caption] One hundred students line up to walk by one hundred closed lockers. The first student walks by opening every locker that is closed. The second student then walks by and opens every second locker that is closed and closes every second locker that is open. The ... http://www.mathispretty.com/?p=314 Over the next few months, I'm learning the theories of Special and General Relativity with a group. Part of this learning experience is teaching each other the content of the different sections of the book we're studying (The Geometry of Spacetime: An Introduction to Special and General Relativity). The first ... http://www.mathispretty.com/?p=292 [caption id="attachment_325" align="alignleft" width="158" caption="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/36/80558500_2c68cac608.jpg"][/caption] This blog has been under a heavy spam load for some time. In the midst of deleting some of spam comments (no I do not want to visit your porn site even if you like my post very much), I accidentally deleted all of the real ... http://www.mathispretty.com/?p=288 Richard Dawkins is quite cranky when it comes to the subject of creationists, the most famous of which have a long history of misrepresenting his life's work. In his new book, The Greatest Show on Earth, he begins with the goal of graciously persuading creationists of the truths of evolution. ... http://www.mathispretty.com/?p=191 I'm misusing twitter now as a personal micro-blog. Go to szymborska there now to read about Alice and the Mad Hatter at the Washington Park Arboretum, the best library in Seattle, and to see Frog becoming friends with a horse name Amos. http://www.mathispretty.com/?p=177 The move up to Seattle to join Amazon was an old fashioned road trip. I traveled up here in my old Honda with my Pop, Sky, and Frog. We visited Powell's and Japanese tea gardens in Portland and had a barbecue at a friends on our first night here. It ... http://www.mathispretty.com/?p=167 I was hired by Amazon three months ago to work on large systems -- i.e., software that spans thousands of computers. Amazon is one of only a few companies that works with software at this scale. I'm currently working in their cloud computing division that allows you to rent virtual ... http://www.mathispretty.com/?p=147 Do you have the next great idea in search? Have you invented the next Ruby on Rails? Are you dreaming of turning the programing world upside down by releasing a programming language that anyone can use? To change the world, it's essential that Windows, Mac, and Linux users can easily install ... http://www.mathispretty.com/?p=144 There are several great lists on well-written mathematics books on Amazon and other sites, but they all cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. There is nothing for the poor, aspiring mathematician on a budget. So here, for first time, is a collection of books that are inexpensive and meet ... http://www.mathispretty.com/?p=135 Wislawa Szymborska has long been one of my favorite poets. The Ball As long as nothing can be known for sure (no signals have been picked up yet), as long as Earth is still unlike the nearer and more distant planets, as long as there's neither hide nor hair of other grasses graced by other winds, of other ... http://www.mathispretty.com/?p=130