Geekspeak: Why Life + Mathematics = Happiness. Graham Tattersall
newtons – after the great man himself.
Newton was involved in just about every field of mathematics and physics on which our modern lives are based. He formalised our understanding of gravity and force, coining the term ‘gravity’ from the Latin word gravitas, which means ‘weight’. He invented differential calculus, and designed a type of reflecting telescope that is still called a Newtonian telescope.
Strangely, he got his knighthood not for his scientific advances but for his work as Warden of the Royal Mint. He stabilised the currency by linking the value of silver coins to the value of gold – a kind of precursor to the Gold Standard, used off and on until the Second World War.
He probably wasn’t much interested in the kind of inter-body attraction we are calculating. He seems to have had only one girlfriend, whose affections dimmed as he immersed himself in science.
One newton is about the force needed to lift a 100-gram weight, so the force between you and your partner is only about the force needed to lift 0.000074 grams. Maybe Newton had already calculated that his force was too small to hold people together.
It is a measurable force, but you would be well advised to rely on the force of your personality, or other attractions, to keep your partner close.
SPEAK GEEK
A MAN WHO WEIGHS 100 KG AT THE NORTH POLE WOULD WEIGH ONLY 99.65 KG AT THE EQUATOR.
Your net weight is the result of two forces. The first force is gravitational: it pulls your body mass downwards, towards the centre of the Earth. The second force is upwards, and is caused by the rotation of the Earth constantly trying to fling your body into space like a stone on a string being swung round your head.
At the exact point of the North Pole, the Earth experiences no rotation, and so there isn’t any upward force. On the other hand, the Earth’s rotational speed at the equator is at its maximum – about 1,500 kph – and a small amount of the Earth’s gravitational pull is cancelled out by the upward ‘flinging’ force. Hence the weight loss.
Beat that for a diet, Professor Atkins.
HOME ALONE
How many piano tuners are there in Boston?
How much do you have in common with a Bushman in the Kalahari Desert? You both need food and shelter, shade from the sun when it’s hot, and a source of heat for warmth when it isn’t. Like him, you nurture your children. On the other hand, how often does a Bushman peruse the menu in a cappuccino bar?
We aren’t all the same, of course, but each of the different societies that exist across the world can be placed in one of a fairly small number of distinct categories. Western industrial, agricultural, developing countries – these are labels that provide us with a convenient picture of a particular social, economic and cultural behavioural pattern.
Within those broad categories there are finer divisions that are culturally specific, and instantly understood by people belonging to a particular cultural group. If you’re British, try dividing the list of words below into two groups with a common thread in each group:
| Tuscany | Govan |
| satellite TV dish | pinstriped |
| Benidorm | Surrey |
| opera | cricket |
| comprehensive school | wages |
| pearls | hire purchase |
| Financial Times | director |
| football | salary |
| accordion |
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