In classical mechanics you want to understand the motion of all constituents of a system in detail. The trajectory of each ‘particle’ can be calculated from the forces between them and initial positions and velocities. In statistical mechanics you try to work out what can still be said about a system even though – or…
Tag: Probability
Revisiting the Enigma of the Intersecting Lines and That Pesky Triangle
Chances are I made a fool of myself when trying to solve an intriguing math/physics puzzle described in this post. I wanted to create a German version but found it needs a revision. I will just give you my stream of consciousness as I cannot make it worse anyway. The puzzle presented by Quantum Boffin…
I Want to Be Antifragile and Have Skin in the Game
Having read The Black Swan and Antifragile by Nassim Taleb I might have become an orthodox member of the Taleb Cult. The more Taleb’s ideas struck a chord with me intuitively, the more I try to scrutinize them. I jumped to the 1-star reviews amazon.com to challenge my gullibility, and I tried my best to…
Physics / Math Puzzle: Where Is the Center of Mass?
On randomly searching for physics puzzles I have come across QuantumBoffin‘s site. The puzzle is about how to determine the center of mass of a body using the plumb line method, given there is some uncertainty due to experimental errors. You have found three plumb lines not intersecting in a single point; thus the three intersections of…
elkemental Force 