• The first stage of the forum upgrades has now been completed but they remain in a degraded state with some features missing, normal posting/reading should now be possible.
    Please read this thread for more details.
    New user registrations are currently disabled.
    Some other features of the forum are also currently disabled.

Put a flat earthier into space


I need to thank this thread.

Over the last couple of years I've said I need to do a few things outside my comfort zone and one is more public speaking. For a few years (minus the covid years) my wife has gone to a maths conference with the focus on how fun can be had with maths and puzzles, but some hard core maths too. I went 3 years ago and quite enjoyed it. After she saw what I did looking into this curve of the earth square rule, she suggested putting it into slides, adding a bit of humor and presenting it at the conference. I did and it was really well received.

This was me as a non-mathematician presenting to a room full of mathematicians. The organiser was really excited about it because it touched on some work he had done in the past. There are reasons why a parabola fits closely to a cosine wave for a proportion of it's range. He grabbed a wipeboard and went into a load of stuff and showed how you could take it further and determine the distance to the moon, after using a pendulum to measure gravity. Quite a lot to digest in 5 minutes of scribbles but fascinating stuff - I need time to think it through and understand! I'm now in touch with a few mathematicians and physicists chatting about random stuff and while I feel like the thicky in the room, it is opening doors to some really interesting discussions.

Either way, if it was not from some of the inspiration of this thread I'd have never stood up in front of a bunch of strangers doing a short stand-up maths routine. A lot of job interviews need presentations now, so if I can stand and do that, I can do any interview presentation.

Thank you all those involved in this rather strange ramble.
 
DaveH said:
I need to thank this thread.

Over the last couple of years I've said I need to do a few things outside my comfort zone and one is more public speaking. For a few years (minus the covid years) my wife has gone to a maths conference with the focus on how fun can be had with maths and puzzles, but some hard core maths too. I went 3 years ago and quite enjoyed it. After she saw what I did looking into this curve of the earth square rule, she suggested putting it into slides, adding a bit of humor and presenting it at the conference. I did and it was really well received.

This was me as a non-mathematician presenting to a room full of mathematicians. The organiser was really excited about it because it touched on some work he had done in the past. There are reasons why a parabola fits closely to a cosine wave for a proportion of it's range. He grabbed a wipeboard and went into a load of stuff and showed how you could take it further and determine the distance to the moon, after using a pendulum to measure gravity. Quite a lot to digest in 5 minutes of scribbles but fascinating stuff - I need time to think it through and understand! I'm now in touch with a few mathematicians and physicists chatting about random stuff and while I feel like the thicky in the room, it is opening doors to some really interesting discussions.

Either way, if it was not from some of the inspiration of this thread I'd have never stood up in front of a bunch of strangers doing a short stand-up maths routine. A lot of job interviews need presentations now, so if I can stand and do that, I can do any interview presentation.

Thank you all those involved in this rather strange ramble.
Click to expand...
Well done mate congratulations
 
DaveH said:
I need to thank this thread.

Over the last couple of years I've said I need to do a few things outside my comfort zone and one is more public speaking. For a few years (minus the covid years) my wife has gone to a maths conference with the focus on how fun can be had with maths and puzzles, but some hard core maths too. I went 3 years ago and quite enjoyed it. After she saw what I did looking into this curve of the earth square rule, she suggested putting it into slides, adding a bit of humor and presenting it at the conference. I did and it was really well received.

This was me as a non-mathematician presenting to a room full of mathematicians. The organiser was really excited about it because it touched on some work he had done in the past. There are reasons why a parabola fits closely to a cosine wave for a proportion of it's range. He grabbed a wipeboard and went into a load of stuff and showed how you could take it further and determine the distance to the moon, after using a pendulum to measure gravity. Quite a lot to digest in 5 minutes of scribbles but fascinating stuff - I need time to think it through and understand! I'm now in touch with a few mathematicians and physicists chatting about random stuff and while I feel like the thicky in the room, it is opening doors to some really interesting discussions.

Either way, if it was not from some of the inspiration of this thread I'd have never stood up in front of a bunch of strangers doing a short stand-up maths routine. A lot of job interviews need presentations now, so if I can stand and do that, I can do any interview presentation.

Thank you all those involved in this rather strange ramble.
Click to expand...
You've got to get nukey to do his presentation on his musings surely? Imagine the look on their faces ha ha.
 
junglist31 said:
You've got to get nukey to do his presentation on his musings surely? Imagine the look on their faces ha ha.
Click to expand...
I'd pay good money to watch that.
Should set it up for charity 😂
Must be a map of the tunnels between the cells.

You must be logged on to see external links

Looked for the general space thread too but couldn't find it
 
Last edited:
Kevj said:
I’ve not watched the video yet, but the article suggests it’s going to be good.

You must be logged on to see external links
Click to expand...
It's well worth a watch, it's mad the efforts they had to go to, but great for getting an insight into how minds operate for NASA missions.

Obviously it's all fake because the egg would crack when it hit the dome.
 
The occulation of Mars today was an interesting test to the 'interesting theory' aired on here. We had what was apparently a projection of mars (a changing planet so excused as a hologram suspended in a crystal and projected to an ice dome) that looked like it passed behind the moon (a secondary reflection of the sun and looks completely different to the sun). The light from the two didn't merge at all like it would if you project two things in the same place. But similar to an eclipse, the exact time Mars seemed to be going behind the moon differed depending on your location. These times and the fact it happened was mathematically predicted many months (actually years) ago.

Compare this to the standard model where the moon goes round the earth. The earth and mars go around the sun. Is it possible that mars can pass behind the moon? Yes, especially if mars is at opposition (the opposite side of the earth to the sun, like it is today) and there is a full moon (like it is today). So that bit works. Now consider how the time might have been different for those in other locations. Do people standing in different places have slightly different views of how two objects align which are at different distances? Yes. Does mathematical modeling of the planet's orbits predict accurately when such occulations will happen? Yes.

Oh, that seems to be a whole lot of yes vs a whole lot of no. Does that say something?
 
DaveH said:
I need to thank this thread.

Over the last couple of years I've said I need to do a few things outside my comfort zone and one is more public speaking. For a few years (minus the covid years) my wife has gone to a maths conference with the focus on how fun can be had with maths and puzzles, but some hard core maths too. I went 3 years ago and quite enjoyed it. After she saw what I did looking into this curve of the earth square rule, she suggested putting it into slides, adding a bit of humor and presenting it at the conference. I did and it was really well received.

This was me as a non-mathematician presenting to a room full of mathematicians. The organiser was really excited about it because it touched on some work he had done in the past. There are reasons why a parabola fits closely to a cosine wave for a proportion of it's range. He grabbed a wipeboard and went into a load of stuff and showed how you could take it further and determine the distance to the moon, after using a pendulum to measure gravity. Quite a lot to digest in 5 minutes of scribbles but fascinating stuff - I need time to think it through and understand! I'm now in touch with a few mathematicians and physicists chatting about random stuff and while I feel like the thicky in the room, it is opening doors to some really interesting discussions.

Either way, if it was not from some of the inspiration of this thread I'd have never stood up in front of a bunch of strangers doing a short stand-up maths routine. A lot of job interviews need presentations now, so if I can stand and do that, I can do any interview presentation.

Thank you all those involved in this rather strange ramble.
Click to expand...

So all the maths proves that the earth is flat then?
 
BiG said:
So all the maths proves that the earth is flat then?
Click to expand...
Quite the opposite.

Or to be more precise lets say that maths doesn't prove the earth is spherical, but the maths which models the earth and orbits etc works perfectly and strongly suggests in the absence of any other explanation that the earth is a globe in orbit around the sun. Otherwise we are looking at a fantastic coincidence that every bit of astronomy mathematics models globes and orbits but just happens to match observations from a flat earth in a way that nobody can explain.
 
DaveH said:
Quite the opposite.

Or to be more precise lets say that maths doesn't prove the earth is spherical, but the maths which models the earth and orbits etc works perfectly and strongly suggests in the absence of any other explanation that the earth is a globe in orbit around the sun. Otherwise we are looking at a fantastic coincidence that every bit of astronomy mathematics models globes and orbits but just happens to match observations from a flat earth in a way that nobody can explain.
Click to expand...

I only read the first sentence. Which leads me to the conclusion that this “maths” thing is a lizard-people plot to undermine the efficient and proper operation of God’s created universe. And Trump.
 
BiG said:
I only read the first sentence. Which leads me to the conclusion that this “maths” thing is a lizard-people plot to undermine the efficient and proper operation of God’s created universe. And Trump.
Click to expand...
Actually I didn't notice you had quoted an earlier post rather than what I wrote this morning so I thought you were replying to something else!
 
legend7 said:
Wonder if this is Nukey.

You must be logged on to see media items
Click to expand...
I suspect that is a piss take that a lot of people are taking seriously. But still worrying if people can take kids out of school then teach them utter garbage unchecked. Those kids are not going to pass any exams and will struggle to function in the real world.

Still, it is a useful exercise, because you can look at that and say "how do we get eclipses?", "Why do flights from Rio to Sydney apparently go faster than any other commercial flight (and boats), break the sound barrier and go over Greenland as the shortest route?". etc. If parents are going to teach kids this stuff, they need to teach critical thinking, work out all the pitfalls that don't work on that model, try building a spherical one and see that it works, and reach some sensible conclusions from there.
 
Zidane said:
What is an the other side of the flat earth, another 'planet' ?
Click to expand...
Pizza base.
DaveH said:
I need to thank this thread.

Over the last couple of years I've said I need to do a few things outside my comfort zone and one is more public speaking. For a few years (minus the covid years) my wife has gone to a maths conference with the focus on how fun can be had with maths and puzzles, but some hard core maths too. I went 3 years ago and quite enjoyed it. After she saw what I did looking into this curve of the earth square rule, she suggested putting it into slides, adding a bit of humor and presenting it at the conference. I did and it was really well received.

This was me as a non-mathematician presenting to a room full of mathematicians. The organiser was really excited about it because it touched on some work he had done in the past. There are reasons why a parabola fits closely to a cosine wave for a proportion of it's range. He grabbed a wipeboard and went into a load of stuff and showed how you could take it further and determine the distance to the moon, after using a pendulum to measure gravity. Quite a lot to digest in 5 minutes of scribbles but fascinating stuff - I need time to think it through and understand! I'm now in touch with a few mathematicians and physicists chatting about random stuff and while I feel like the thicky in the room, it is opening doors to some really interesting discussions.

Either way, if it was not from some of the inspiration of this thread I'd have never stood up in front of a bunch of strangers doing a short stand-up maths routine. A lot of job interviews need presentations now, so if I can stand and do that, I can do any interview presentation.

Thank you all those involved in this rather strange ramble.
Click to expand...
Made me smile, as I have a paralell story...this place is like a research centre for me, a test bench even.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top