Talk:453: Upcoming Hurricanes

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I wonder, is there a reason why Randall chose cos(x) over sin(x)? Is there a y-axis somewhere on the map? Not that it matters; just curious... Bobidou23 (talk) 23:24, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

cos(x), sin(x), they're the same thing, plus or minus pi/4... -- IronyChef (talk) 02:57, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

Something seems off about this explanation. Like reading a blog. 76.122.5.96 05:14, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

If something is less than satisfactory, you are fully welcome (and even encouraged) to edit the explanation to be better. lcarsos (talk) 06:37, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

Whoever said hurricanes cannot form within 5 degrees of the equator was wrong... It is not likely but it is possible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Agni http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Vamei 152.2.128.198 14:36, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

This title-text seems strangely prophetic after Tropical Storm Sandy in 2012. -- 107.204.46.198 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Yes, I agree. David1217 (talk) 17:18, 19 January 2013 (UTC)
There is more to win from predicting something that is going to happen than there is to lose from predicting something that doesn't happen. Tharkon (talk) 19:30, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

Has anyone any idea what the "&" symbol is about in Hurricane Where-The-Hell-Is-Bermuda? 141.101.97.215 12:32, 13 May 2014 (UTC)

Regarding Hurricane cos(x):

  • If Equator is the x-axis and the y-axis goes through the Prime meridian of Greenwich it would be possible to say if this was a true cosine function hurricane.
  • A cosine would be 1 (the maximum value) at x=0 (i.e. the maximum value would occur under Greenwich), whereas a sine would be 0 at x=0.
  • If it had been a basic cos(x) without any constants added, then it should have been centered along the equator instead of as it is - ranging from about 5.5° to 9.5° north latitude.
  • But if the formula was of the form a*cos(b*x)+c with a, b and c given constant, the wave could move to the center of this range with c=7.5°. With the constant a=2° the wave would move between the max and minimum of the range, and then b could be chosen to make the wave length fit with the path shown in the map.

-- -- Kynde (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

There is no reason to assume the axes are on the meridian and equator. Tharkon (talk) 02:41, 7 September 2014 (UTC)
Disclaimer: I know I'm pretty late to the whole "cos(x)" discussion, but here are my 2 cents.
  • Probably no great surprise that Randall wrote "cos" while drawing a sine function. Assuming he did not have any special reason to prefer one over the other, there was a 50/50 chance of him writing "cos" rather than "sin" to label the curve, and a 50/50 chance of him drawing a sine rather than a cosine function -- taking the leftmost point as the origin and not considering other, arbitrary phase offsets. And, finally, there was a 50/50 chance that the choice of label would not agree with the curve drawn.
  • Observation: The letters in "cos" all have the nice feature that, if written in uppercase as is Randall's usual style, they are indistinguishable from lowercase, which is the usual style for trig functions appearing in textbooks and scientific journals. Not so with "sin". So, probably by accident, using "cos" allowed Randall to write in his usual style while still having a function label in the style people are used to seeing in print.
Incidentally, Randall has used both lowercase (see #184) and uppercase (#1047, 3rd row below "World Population" table entry) to write "sin".
Redbelly98 (talk) 23:49, 31 July 2018 (UTC)

The details for Hurricane cos(x) mentions a trivia section, which is not present in this article. Just some random derp 17:41, 21 June 2015 (UTC)

I was about to post the same comment but then I decided to read these first. 108.162.237.158 07:52, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

Is it just me or is long island missing from the map?? --Effy (talk) 10:15, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

Does anyone know what map projection is being used here? 172.69.90.29 11:40, 27 May 2022 (UTC)