1
0^0
Clever student: I know! $latex x^{0}$ = $latex x^{1-1}$ = $latex x^{1} x^{-1}$ = $latex \frac{x}{x}$ = $latex 1$. Now we just plug in x=0, and we see that zero to the zero is one! Cleverer …
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Visit askamathematician.com → RSS feedOn Hacker News Aug 2011 – Jul 2021
2
Why was it so hard to take a picture of a black hole?
Physicist: Black holes and space are both black, so there’s that. But while black holes tend to be very small, space is bonkers big and filled with just enough stuff to give astronomers thin…
3
What are “actual pictures” of atoms actually pictures of?
Physicist: Actual pictures of atoms aren’t actually pictures at all. There are a few good rules of thumb in physics. Among the best is: light acts like you’d expect on scales well abov…
4
What does 0^0 equal? Why do mathematicians and high school teachers disagree?
Clever student: I know! $latex x^{0}$ = $latex x^{1-1}$ = $latex x^{1} x^{-1}$ = $latex \frac{x}{x}$ = $latex 1$. Now we just plug in x=0, and we see that zero to the zero is one! Cleverer …
5
Is there such a thing as half a derivative?
The original question was: Another one of those questions of the type “does this make sense”. You have first derivatives and second derivatives. f'(x), f”(x) or sometimes dy/dx …
6
Is π the Same in Every Universe?
Mathematician: That depends on what you mean by “universe.” Here’s a framing: A circle of radius R centered at a point P is the set of all points in the plane with distance R fro…
7
What does it mean for light to be stopped or stored?
Physicist: We’ve gotten a handful of questions since this was published and led to articles like this, this, and, this. In a nutshell, some dudes in Germany (Georg Heinze, Christian Hubrich,…