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increpatio
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« Reply #120 on: 16:26:30, 02-07-2007 » |
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I read a book on the Riemann Hypothesis once, which had this joke on page 212. A topologist walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender, being a number theorist, says, "I'm sorry, but we don't serve topologists here".
The disgruntled topologist walks outside, but then gets and idea and performs Dehn surgery* upon herself. She walks into the bar, and the bartender, who does not recognise her seeing as she is now in a different manifold, serves her a drink.
However, the bartender thinks she looks familiar (or at least locally similar) and asks "Aren't you that topologist that just came in here?"
To which she responds, "No, I'm a frayed knot."
* Dehn surgery is defined as the operation of drilling a tubular neighbourhood of a knot in S3 and then gluing in a solid torus so that its meridian curve goes to a (p,q)-curve on the torus boundary of the knot exterior. Every compact connected 3-manifold comes from Dehn surgery on a link in S3 Alas, I've never looked at surgery theory myself, so had to look that one up to figure out the construction : ) not the best joke I've heard. Here's a more musical one (not saying it's better, but...)
What’s an abelian group under addition, closed, associative, distributive, and bears a curse? |
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martle
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« Reply #121 on: 16:35:32, 02-07-2007 » |
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While I'm trying to figure that one out, 'patio and Tommo, what exactly IS the Riemann hypothesis? And the Hodge one too, while you're at it? Or can't you say in under 10,000 words?  |
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Green. Always green.
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George Garnett
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« Reply #122 on: 16:40:58, 02-07-2007 » |
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The Ring? (Hobbity or Nibblythingies according to taste  ) |
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« Last Edit: 16:43:09, 02-07-2007 by George Garnett »
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increpatio
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« Reply #123 on: 16:53:32, 02-07-2007 » |
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Yeah. While I'm trying to figure that one out, 'patio and Tommo, what exactly IS the Riemann hypothesis? And the Hodge one too, while you're at it? Or can't you say in under 10,000 words? Why not ask us to cover Langland's while your at it *grumble*. Hodge isn't trivial. I haven't worked myself up to the level of understanding that, and I'm feeling like I'm headed off in a completely different direction researchwise at the moment. |
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« Last Edit: 17:05:43, 02-07-2007 by increpatio »
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Chafing Dish
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« Reply #124 on: 17:30:05, 02-07-2007 » |
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While I'm trying to figure that one out, 'patio and Tommo, what exactly IS the Riemann hypothesis? And the Hodge one too, while you're at it? Or can't you say in under 10,000 words? Well, you know about Pythagorean triples? x 2+y 2=z 2It's true for x=3, y=4 and z=5 I think the Riemann hypothesis is that for any n>2, there are no three integers x,y,z that can satisfy the equation x n+y n=z n. So far, thousands of words and symbols have been written on this hypothesis, but no one has been able to prove it. Actually a proof was made some 10 years ago, and it took another few years for anyone to understand it well enough to figure out that it wasn't a proof at all, that it contained an error. Another group of people is trying to prove that the hypothesis is unproveable. Which is really quite devious, don't you think? Fascinating stuff, but not funny ha-ha. |
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« Last Edit: 17:32:31, 02-07-2007 by Chafing Dish »
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #125 on: 17:33:05, 02-07-2007 » |
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When did Fermat's last theorem become the Riemann hypothesis?  (And where did I read that if it's unprovable it would have to be true because if there were a counterexample then it would be provable?) |
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Chafing Dish
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« Reply #126 on: 17:34:39, 02-07-2007 » |
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Yes, that was Fermat. Shame on me.  ...but the part about it being unproven is still true, no? Where is the geeky bla-bla room? |
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« Last Edit: 17:44:47, 02-07-2007 by Chafing Dish »
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Chafing Dish
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« Reply #130 on: 18:04:07, 02-07-2007 » |
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But it was proven only under spatial conditions that don't exist on earth, I think.  |
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George Garnett
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« Reply #131 on: 18:08:14, 02-07-2007 » |
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Back to funny hahahah, fellow geekies?
Ah, but Fermat's marginal comment counts as Funny HaHa, doesn't it? (Not that I can prove it, of course.) |
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increpatio
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« Reply #132 on: 18:20:55, 02-07-2007 » |
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While I'm trying to figure that one out, 'patio and Tommo, what exactly IS the Riemann hypothesis? And the Hodge one too, while you're at it? Or can't you say in under 10,000 words? Well, you know about Pythagorean triples? x 2+y 2=z 2It's true for x=3, y=4 and z=5 I think the Riemann hypothesis is that for any n>2, there are no three integers x,y,z that can satisfy the equation x n+y n=z n. EDIT: oops..totally missed all the posts since ... my bad |
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« Last Edit: 18:30:12, 02-07-2007 by increpatio »
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Chafing Dish
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« Reply #133 on: 18:46:10, 02-07-2007 » |
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Back to funny hahahah, fellow geekies?
Ah, but Fermat's marginal comment counts as Funny HaHa, doesn't it? (Not that I can prove it, of course.) Actually, his line was even funnier: "I have proven it, but there is no room to write out the proof here." |
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increpatio
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« Reply #134 on: 18:49:00, 02-07-2007 » |
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Back to funny hahahah, fellow geekies?
Ah, but Fermat's marginal comment counts as Funny HaHa, doesn't it? (Not that I can prove it, of course.) Actually, his line was even funnier: "I have proven it, but there is no room to write out the proof here." I thought it was something more like "I gotz ur proof lols". |
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