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

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Arbitrage arguments in Finance and Physics

Posted on August 2, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious 1 Comment on Arbitrage arguments in Finance and Physics
Arbitrage arguments in Finance and Physics
Finance, Gravity, Science in Daily Life

Arbitrage refers to a somewhat peculiar and rare situation in the financial world. It is succinctly described as follows. Suppose you start with an initial situation – let’s say you have some money in an ultra-safe bank that earns interest at a certain basic rate . Assume, also, that there is a infinitely liquid market … Read More “Arbitrage arguments in Finance and Physics” »

The earth is flat – in Cleveland

Posted on August 1, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on The earth is flat – in Cleveland
The earth is flat – in Cleveland
Science in Daily Life

  I stopped following basketball after Michael Jordan stopped playing for the Bulls – believe it or not, the sport appears to have become the place to believe and practice outlandish theories that might be described (in comparison to the Bulls) as bull****. There’s a basketball star, that plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers. His name … Read More “The earth is flat – in Cleveland” »

Special Relativity; Or how I learned to relax and love the Anti-Particle

Posted on July 29, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious 3 Comments on Special Relativity; Or how I learned to relax and love the Anti-Particle
Special Relativity; Or how I learned to relax and love the Anti-Particle
Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics

The Special Theory of Relativity, which is the name for the set of ideas that Einstein proposed in 1905 in a paper titled “On the Electrodynamics of moving bodies”, starts with the premise that the Laws of Physics are the same for all observers that are traveling at uniform speeds relative to each other. One … Read More “Special Relativity; Or how I learned to relax and love the Anti-Particle” »

Can a quantum particle come to a fork in the road and take it?

Posted on July 27, 2017July 28, 2017 By Simply Curious 2 Comments on Can a quantum particle come to a fork in the road and take it?
Quantum Mechanics

I have always been fascinated by the weirdness of the Universe. One aspect of the weirdness is the quantum nature of things – others relate to the mysteries of Lorentz invariance, Special Relativity, the General Theory of Relativity, the extreme size and age of the Universe, the vast amount of stuff we don't seem to … Read More “Can a quantum particle come to a fork in the road and take it?” »

A digression on statistics and a party with Ms. Fermi-Dirac and Mr. Bose (Post #5)

Posted on July 27, 2017May 12, 2018 By Simply Curious 1 Comment on A digression on statistics and a party with Ms. Fermi-Dirac and Mr. Bose (Post #5)
Cosmology for Pedestrians

To explain the next standard candle, I need to digress a little into the math of statistics of lots of particles. The most basic kind is the statistics of distinguishable particles. Consider the following scenario. You’ve organized a birthday party for a lot of different looking kids (no twins, triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets …). Each kid … Read More “A digression on statistics and a party with Ms. Fermi-Dirac and Mr. Bose (Post #5)” »

Cosmology: Cepheid Variables – or why Henrietta couldn’t Leavitt alone …(Post #4)

Posted on July 24, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious 4 Comments on Cosmology: Cepheid Variables – or why Henrietta couldn’t Leavitt alone …(Post #4)
Cosmology: Cepheid Variables – or why Henrietta couldn’t Leavitt alone …(Post #4)
Cosmology for Pedestrians

Having exhausted the measurement capabilities for small angles, to proceed further, scientists really needed to use the one thing galaxies and stars put out in plenty – light. The trouble is, to do so, we either need detailed, correct theories of galaxy and star life-cycles (so we know when they are dim or bright) or … Read More “Cosmology: Cepheid Variables – or why Henrietta couldn’t Leavitt alone …(Post #4)” »

Cosmology: Distance Measurements – Parallax (Post #3)

Posted on July 24, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious 2 Comments on Cosmology: Distance Measurements – Parallax (Post #3)
Cosmology: Distance Measurements – Parallax (Post #3)
Cosmology for Pedestrians

This post describes the cool methods people use to figure out how far away stars and galaxies are. Figuring out how far away your friend lives is easy – you walk or drive at a constant speed in a straight line from your home to their house – then once you know how much time … Read More “Cosmology: Distance Measurements – Parallax (Post #3)” »

Cosmology and the Expanding Universe ..(Post #2)

Posted on July 23, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious 5 Comments on Cosmology and the Expanding Universe ..(Post #2)
Cosmology and the Expanding Universe ..(Post #2)
Cosmology for Pedestrians

Continuing the saga about the cosmological red-shift.

A simple sum

Posted on July 21, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on A simple sum
A simple sum
Recreational Math

This calculation was inspired, a few years ago, by trying to find a simple way to explain the sum of the first natural numbers to my (then) twelve-year-old daughter, without the use of calculus. As many people know, the sum of the first natural numbers is found very easily, using the method that Gauss (apparently) … Read More “A simple sum” »

A course correction – and let’s get started!

Posted on July 21, 2017July 23, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on A course correction – and let’s get started!
Cosmology for Pedestrians

I have received some feedback from people that felt the posts were too technical. I am going to address this by constructing a simpler thread of posts on one topic that will start simpler and stay conceptual rather than  become technical. I want to discuss the current state of Cosmology, given that it is possibly … Read More “A course correction – and let’s get started!” »

A simple connection between Entropy and Information

Posted on July 20, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on A simple connection between Entropy and Information
A simple connection between Entropy and Information
Statistical Mechanics

This article follows a simple example laid out by Jaynes (1996). Jaynes’ example is one that shows how one’s computation of the change in entropy in a physical / chemical process depends on the precise variables that one uses to label the macro state. If you use different variables (say you are insensitive to properties … Read More “A simple connection between Entropy and Information” »

Here’s an alternative history of how quantum mechanics came about…

Posted on July 19, 2017July 19, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on Here’s an alternative history of how quantum mechanics came about…
Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Mechanics was the result of analysis of experiments that explored the emission and absorption spectra of various atoms and molecules. Once the electron and proton were discovered, very soon after the discovery of radioactivity, it was theorized that the atom was an electrically neutral combination of protons and electrons. Since it isn’t possible for … Read More “Here’s an alternative history of how quantum mechanics came about…” »

Another physics blog? Why?

Posted on July 19, 2017July 19, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on Another physics blog? Why?
Another physics blog? Why?
Uncategorized

I graduated in 1993 with a physics Ph.D and after a short post-doc, went off to work as an options trader and “quant”. After 22 years in that area, I realized that physics is actually back to being interesting again – 22 years ago, people were saying that fundamental physics was all done, with the … Read More “Another physics blog? Why?” »

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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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