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Simply Curious

My thoughts on and your responses to interesting topics in the Physical Sciences

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Author: Simply Curious

Bucking down to the Bakhshali manuscript

Posted on June 5, 2018June 7, 2018 By Simply Curious 2 Comments on Bucking down to the Bakhshali manuscript
Bucking down to the Bakhshali manuscript
Recreational Math, Uncategorized

The Bakhshali manuscript is an artifact discovered in 1881, near the town of Peshawar (in then British India, but now in present-day Pakistan). It is beautifully described in an article in the online magazine of the American Mathematical Society and I spent a few hours fascinated by the description in the article (written excellently by … Read More “Bucking down to the Bakhshali manuscript” »

Schrodinger’s Zoo

Posted on February 22, 2018February 22, 2018 By Simply Curious No Comments on Schrodinger’s Zoo
Schrodinger’s Zoo
Quantum Mechanics

I have been enjoying reading Richard Muller’s “Now: The Physics of Time” – Muller is an extremely imaginative experimental physicist and his writings on the “arrow of time” are quite a nice compendium of the various proposed solutions. Even though none of those solutions is to my liking, they are certainly worth a read. Meanwhile, … Read More “Schrodinger’s Zoo” »

Why do chocolate wrappers stick to things

Posted on February 1, 2018February 1, 2018 By Simply Curious No Comments on Why do chocolate wrappers stick to things
Science in Daily Life

Here’s something I saw while lazily surfing the net this morning. Someone throws a candy wrapper towards the floor and it sticks to the curtain or a book cover. How long will it stick? First, the reason this happens is because of static electricity – and this is why this rarely happens in humid climates … Read More “Why do chocolate wrappers stick to things” »

Is the longest day the warmest day?

Posted on December 31, 2017April 17, 2018 By Simply Curious No Comments on Is the longest day the warmest day?
Is the longest day the warmest day?
Cosmology for Pedestrians, Science in Daily Life

I woke up to a snowy day on the 30th of December, here in New Jersey and immediately realized two things! It was colder and darker than at the same time on the shortest day of the year, the 21st of December. I suppose you could blame the colder weather on the polar vortex swinging … Read More “Is the longest day the warmest day?” »

Can you travel faster through time?

Posted on October 28, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on Can you travel faster through time?
Particle Physics

If you watch science fiction movies, the most dramatic effects are obtained through some form of time travel. Pick some time in the future, or the past and a fabulous machine or spell swoops you away to that time. I have always had a problem with this simple approach to time travel. One obvious objection … Read More “Can you travel faster through time?” »

Coffee, anyon?

Posted on October 26, 2017June 6, 2018 By Simply Curious No Comments on Coffee, anyon?
Coffee, anyon?
Particle Physics

Based on the stats I receive from WordPress.com, most readers of this blog live in the US, India and the UK. In addition, there are several readers in Canada, Saudi Arabia, China, Romania, Turkey, Nigeria and France. Suppose you live in the first three of these countries. In addition, let’s say you go to your … Read More “Coffee, anyon?” »

The unreasonable importance of 1.74 seconds

Posted on October 23, 2017October 23, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on The unreasonable importance of 1.74 seconds
Particle Physics

1.74 seconds. If you know what I am talking about, you can discontinue reading this – its old news. If you don’t, its interesting what physicists can learn from 1.74 seconds. Its all buried in the story about GW170817. A few days ago, the people who constructed the LIGO telescope observed gravitational waves from what … Read More “The unreasonable importance of 1.74 seconds” »

New kinds of Cash & the connection to the Conservation of Energy And Momentum

Posted on October 12, 2017October 12, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on New kinds of Cash & the connection to the Conservation of Energy And Momentum
Classical Mechanics, Cosmology for Pedestrians, Science in Daily Life

Its been difficult to find time to write articles on this blog – what with running a section teaching undergraduates (after 27 years of ), as well as learning about topological quantum field theory – a topic I always fancied but knew little about. However, a trip with my daughter brought up something that sparked … Read More “New kinds of Cash & the connection to the Conservation of Energy And Momentum” »

The Normal Distribution is AbNormal

Posted on September 15, 2017September 15, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on The Normal Distribution is AbNormal
The Normal Distribution is AbNormal
Science in Daily Life, Statistical Mechanics

I gave a talk on this topic exactly two years ago at my undergraduate institution, the Indian Institute of Technology, in Chennai (India). The speech is here, with the powerpoint presentation accompanying it The Normal Distribution is Abnormal And Other Oddities. The general import of the speech was that the Normal Distribution, which is a … Read More “The Normal Distribution is AbNormal” »

Mr. Olbers and his paradox

Posted on August 31, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious 2 Comments on Mr. Olbers and his paradox
Mr. Olbers and his paradox
Cosmology for Pedestrians, Science in Daily Life

Why is the night sky dark? Wilhelm Olbers asked this question, certainly not for the first time in history, in the 1800s. That’s a silly question with an obvious answer. Isn’t that so? Let’s see. There certainly is no sun visible, which is the definition of night, after all. The moon might be, but on … Read More “Mr. Olbers and his paradox” »

The Great American Eclipse of 2017

Posted on August 21, 2017August 22, 2017 By Simply Curious 2 Comments on The Great American Eclipse of 2017
The Great American Eclipse of 2017
Science in Daily Life

I really had to see this eclipse – met up with my nephew at KSU, then eclipse chasing (versus the clouds) all the way from Kansas to central and south-east Missouri. The pictures I got were interesting, but I think the videos (and audio) reflect the experience of totality much better. The initial crescent shaped … Read More “The Great American Eclipse of 2017” »

Mr. Einstein and my GPS

Posted on August 16, 2017August 17, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on Mr. Einstein and my GPS
Mr. Einstein and my GPS
Gravity, Particle Physics

I promised to continue one of my previous posts and explain how Einstein’s theories of 1905 and 1915 together affect our GPS systems. If we hadn’t discovered relativity (special and general) by now, we’d have certainly discovered it by the odd behaviour of our clocks on the surface of the earth and on an orbiting … Read More “Mr. Einstein and my GPS” »

Master Traders and Bayes’ theorem

Posted on August 13, 2017August 14, 2017 By Simply Curious 1 Comment on Master Traders and Bayes’ theorem
Master Traders and Bayes’ theorem
Finance, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics

Imagine you were walking around in Manhattan and you chanced upon an interesting game going on at the side of the road. By the way, when you see these games going on, a safe strategy is to walk on, since they usually reduce to methods of separating a lot of money from you in various … Read More “Master Traders and Bayes’ theorem” »

Fermi Gases and Stellar Collapse – Cosmology Post #6

Posted on August 10, 2017August 11, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on Fermi Gases and Stellar Collapse – Cosmology Post #6
Cosmology for Pedestrians

The most refined Standard Candle there is today is a particular kind of Stellar Collapse, called a Type 1a Supernova. To understand this, you will need to read the previous posts (#1-#5), in particular, the Fermi-Dirac statistics argument in Post #5 in the sequence. While this is the most mathematical of the posts, it might … Read More “Fermi Gases and Stellar Collapse – Cosmology Post #6” »

Coincidences and the stealthiness of the Calculus of Probabilities

Posted on August 5, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious 2 Comments on Coincidences and the stealthiness of the Calculus of Probabilities
Coincidences and the stealthiness of the Calculus of Probabilities
Science in Daily Life

You know this story (or something similar) from your own life. I was walking from my parked car to the convenience store to purchase a couple of bottles of sparkling water. As I walked there, I noticed a car with the number 1966 – that’s the year I was born! This must be a coincidence … Read More “Coincidences and the stealthiness of the Calculus of Probabilities” »

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A young Einstein at his desk, contemplating the world with his mind!

My Recent Posts

  • A story of commutators October 21, 2020
  • Schrodinger’s Cat Lives again! November 27, 2019
  • Three pieces – and some puzzles September 9, 2019
  • Tales of Karatsuba May 14, 2019
  • Error Correcting Codes and the Quantum version February 6, 2019
  • Modulo arithmetic & cards November 13, 2018
  • Gauge invariance, Global and Local Symmetry October 17, 2018
  • Binary/Ternary codes and card tricks October 14, 2018
  • p-‘s and q-‘s redux October 14, 2018
  • Minding your p-‘s and q-‘s October 13, 2018
  • Math, Rhythmic patterns & A Card Trick September 30, 2018
  • Of Baby Hummers and clock arithmetic with Aryabhata and Archimedes September 15, 2018
  • Gedankenexperiments #1 August 8, 2018
  • The Indian musical drums June 24, 2018
  • The Rule of 72 – and what does the Swiss National Bank have to do with it June 21, 2018

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