Dark Bilious Vapors

But how could I deny that I possess these hands and this body, and withal escape being classed with persons in a state of insanity, whose brains are so disordered and clouded by dark bilious vapors....
--Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy: Meditation I

Home » Archives » December 2004 » Yuk o'the Day:

[« Cui bono?] [Like I say, I'm not a true Memphian..... »]

12/17/2004: Yuk o'the Day:


Because I haven't posted a good mathematics joke in some time:

A mathematician and an engineer attended a physics lecture on Kulza-Klein theories involving physical processes occurring in spaces with 9, 12 and even more, dimensions. The mathematician clearly enjoyed the lecture, while the engineer looked generally confused. Afterwards, the mathematician commented on "the wonderful lecture." The engineer said, "How do you understand that stuff?" The mathematician replied, "I just visualize the process." "How can you possibly visualize something occurring in 9 dimensions?" The mathematician countered, "Easy. First, you visualize it in N-dimensional space and then let N go to 9!"
This reminds me of the discussion I had (as a philosophy student) with a math major, who told me that she could never stand to major in philosophy because "it's too abstract"....

Len on 12.17.04 @ 04:34 PM CST



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