Difference between revisions of "866: Compass and Straightedge"

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(Created page with "{{comic | number = 866 | date = February 28, 2011 | title = Compass and Straightedge | image = compass and straightedge.png | imagesize = | titletext = The Gr...")
 
(Explanation)
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The comic is an observation that no amount of technical knowledge can substitute for human companionship. This comic is funny because [[Cueball]] is a stick figure so technically it is possible to create friends with a straightedge and a compass. Just one circle with the compass and 5 lines with the straightedge.
 
The comic is an observation that no amount of technical knowledge can substitute for human companionship. This comic is funny because [[Cueball]] is a stick figure so technically it is possible to create friends with a straightedge and a compass. Just one circle with the compass and 5 lines with the straightedge.
  
{{w|Ferdinand von Lindemann}} was a real German mathematician. In 1882, he proved that pi is not a zero of any polynomial with rational coefficients or a transcendental number.  
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{{w|Ferdinand von Lindemann}} was a real German mathematician. In 1882, he proved that pi is not a zero of any polynomial with rational coefficients, i.e. it is a transcendental number.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==

Revision as of 02:38, 29 December 2012

Compass and Straightedge
The Greeks long suspected this, but it wasn't until April 12th of 1882 that Ferdinand von Lindemann conclusively proved it when he constructed himself the most awesome birthday party possible and nobody showed up.
Title text: The Greeks long suspected this, but it wasn't until April 12th of 1882 that Ferdinand von Lindemann conclusively proved it when he constructed himself the most awesome birthday party possible and nobody showed up.

Explanation

The comic is an observation that no amount of technical knowledge can substitute for human companionship. This comic is funny because Cueball is a stick figure so technically it is possible to create friends with a straightedge and a compass. Just one circle with the compass and 5 lines with the straightedge.

Ferdinand von Lindemann was a real German mathematician. In 1882, he proved that pi is not a zero of any polynomial with rational coefficients, i.e. it is a transcendental number.

Transcript

I learned in high school what geometers discovered long ago:
[Cueball, holding a compass and straightedge, looks sad.]
Using only a compass and straightedge, its impossible to construct friends.


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Discussion

No, the comic is funny because many geometrical theorems prove something along the lines of "With a compass and straightedge you cannot construct..." (e.g. a square and a circle with the same area) If you have knowledge of this type of proof, the humor is that you think he's about to talk about something that is impossible in geometry, but really he's talking about the inapplicability of geometry to real life. This is often a difficulty with nerds and brainy people, they try to apply their theoretical knowledge to human relationships and fail. 75.103.23.206 19:53, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

And then there's the converse: people who are able to apply theoretical knowledge and succeed. 76.106.251.87 04:33, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

At least in germany there is a "Straight Edge" movement of people that don't drink alcohol, tell they can have fun without sex before marriage, that if they show interest in a relationship they really mean it and paint an "X" on their Hands in order to warn everybody about this. "Straight edge" and "X" might possibly be a reference to that...--Gunterkoenigsmann (talk) 15:46, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

The explanation mentions that there are "three such constructions", but doesn't go any further. What they are should at least be addressed (or linked to), even if we're not going to elaborate on the "why" of their impossibility. For the uninitiated, they are squaring the circle, trisecting any angle, and doubling the cube. 76.106.251.87 04:33, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

If such constructions are "impossible with the use of modern algebraic techniques," then why don't we just use older algebraic techniques?  ;) 213.203.138.251 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Those "modern algebraic techniques" just did prove that you can't solve this constructions by using only "classical geometry".--Dgbrt (talk) 18:14, 29 June 2013 (UTC)

I tried forming a club for compasses and straight edges but no one signed up :( ~JFreund

Could the “most awsome birthday party“ bear another deeper meaning, for example be analogue to the rational polynom with rational coefficients? 162.158.202.100 04:30, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

Could this "most awesome birthday party" be a reference to Stephen Hawking's party for time travelers? Spagovir (talk) 18:33, 10 August 2017 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure you're right, it sounds like a Hawking party reference to me too. - CRGreathouse (talk) 06:17, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

Anyone think of adding a reference to 710 Collatz Conjecture? Where in a similar vein, he begins by explaining the steps for applying the conjecture, then finishes up by losing all his friends. 108.162.246.17 16:26, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

There's some irony in the fact that Randall *could* give Cueball friends using only a compass and a straight edge, since Cueball himself can be drawn using only a compass (for the round head) and straight edge (stick figure).