Talk:3023: The Maritime Approximation

1.609*3.1416926 looks like 1.852*2.718281828 seems legit 172.71.124.233 (talk) 21:37, 11 December 2024 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I added the basics of an explanation, it definitely needs some work, but it should do as a starting point. Hope I did well! 172.68.22.92 23:06, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

The knot is exactly 1 nautical mile per hour. Meanwhile π/e ≈ 1.155727, which is close to nm/mi = kt/mph ≈ 1.15078 172.70.134.135 23:26, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

This article says one knot is 1.2 MPH, which is true for the number of digits of precision stated. But in context of the claimed precision of 0.5% it would be more helpful to state that one knot is approximately 1.151 MPH. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knot_(unit) 172.71.159.7 00:08, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

Transcendental : relating to a spiritual realm. eg "the transcendental importance of each person's soul". Works for me. 162.158.186.248 (talk) 00:09, 12 December 2024 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Just as a fun fact, "transcendental" in this case is referring to Transcendental number, which are numbers that cannot be expressed as the root of a polynomial, which basically means they cannot be found using algebra alone. I think the two definitions are related, since these numbers "trancend" the "realm" of numbers which can be found with algebra. 172.68.22.82 01:04, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

Another maritime approximation: 1 meter/sec nearly equals 2 knots (actual is 1.94384), perhaps there is an actual explanation for this? 162.158.155.117 (talk) 01:36, 12 December 2024 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

A better mnemonic, which I actually use: miles→km is Fibonacci. 2miles≈3km, 3miles≈5km, 5miles≈8km, 8miles≈13km, 13miles≈21km, 21miles≈34km, 34miles≈55km, 55miles≈89km, 89miles≈143.23km, Fibonacchi would predict 144km. But at that point, you can just remove some less significant digits anyway. For everything in between, you can estimate how far it is from the nearest Fibonacci numbers, that works pretty well, too. Fabian42 (talk) 01:54, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

Yes, similar to this comic the ratio of km to miles (1.6093) is very close to the golden ratio (1.6180) or (1 + sqrt(5))/2. 172.68.54.64 04:28, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

My favorite one is that pi squared is approximately the acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/s^2). The best part is that is NOT a coincidence. 172.71.183.174 06:11, 12 December 2024 (UTC)