Cafe and Tavern on the math.se

amWhy

00:18

@leslietownes Indeed!

soupless

07:42

Hello!

amWhy

16:37

@soupless Hello, @soupless. I was sleeping when you stopped in here.

Koro

17:47

Évariste Galois

Évariste Galois (; French: [evaʁist ɡalwa]; 25 October 1811 – 31 May 1832) was a French mathematician and political activist. While still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable by radicals, thereby solving a problem that had been open for 350 years. His work laid the foundations for Galois theory and group theory, two major branches of abstract algebra. He was a staunch republican and was heavily involved in the political turmoil that surrounded the French Revolution of 1830. As a result of his political activism, he was arrested...

amWhy

@Koro Galois was a brilliant mathematician; but with respect to his fervent political devotion, I can only say, I forgive him his transgressions. An brilliant football coach does not imply any brilliance out of that domain.

Koro

@amWhy Hello! How are you?

amWhy

Also keep in mind that the "names of political parties" across continents is not consistent.

@Koro Hello! I am doing well. How about you? :-)

Koro

I read about him the first time in Gallian's book and I was sad to learn that he died only at the age of 21 and that too in a duel.

I'm doing fine too, thanks. :).

amWhy

@Koro Wow, that is so very young! Imagine what good he may have done with 20 more years, or many more!

Koro

18:00

Today I also read his wiki page and learnt that he had applied to L'ecole polytechnique but was 'disqualified' in the entrance exam. The wiki suggests that sometimes Galois couldn't express his thoughts to others.

His work was not accepted during his life. :(

@amWhy: The wiki also mentions a letter he wrote to his brother.

@amWhy yes, exactly!!

amWhy

@Koro That's too bad. But it is not rare, to have intellectual brilliance outpace one's social and emotional developement.

Koro

But it is not clear yet as to why he participated in the duel :(.

he was just 21 and that's about 4 years younger than me.

From the closing lines of a letter from Galois to his friend Auguste Chevalier, dated 29 May 1832, two days before Galois's death:
Tu prieras publiquement Jacobi ou Gauss de donner leur avis, non sur la vérité, mais sur l'importance des théorèmes.

Après cela, il y aura, j'espère, des gens qui trouveront leur profit à déchiffrer tout ce gâchis.

(Ask Jacobi or Gauss publicly to give their opinion, not as to the truth, but as to the importance of these theorems. Later there will be, I hope, some people who will find it to their advantage to decipher all this mess.)

amWhy

@Koro Reminds me of an old adage: "Youth is wasted on the young": You might find this post interesting.

"Shaw liked to be paradoxical and contrary, and the paradox here is obvious. From middle age onward we observe the energy, strength and enthusiasm of young people and think, "What I could do with those. Now that I have some wisdom and maturity, I could put those qualities to good use and make something of them, rather than squandering them in childish carelessness."

Seems like a natural progression, @Koro. I think you'll meet that goal!

Koro

18:21

@amWhy Oops. I deleted the message thinking it to be out of context.

the deleted message was:
I'm currently learning Field theory. I hope I'll be able to understand Galois theory after that. :)

amWhy

Hello, @Paramanand!!!

But it's a bit late for you, as you should be sleeping, no? :)

Koro

not too late @amWhy. It's about 12 AM.

Paramanand Singh

Hello @amWhy

amWhy

@Koro Oh, right! The US began DST a week ago Sunday; earlier than most countries in the world. You'll likely again be 11:30 hours ahead of me soon?

Paramanand Singh

Hi @Koro

amWhy

18:29

@ParamanandSingh How's it going?

Koro

Hi @ParamanandSingh

Paramanand Singh

Mostly things are very depressing with news of war

Koro

I think that food prices will rise soon.

flight tickets' prices have already soared up...

amWhy

@ParamanandSingh Very true. I commit to staying informed, but it can wear down on anyone who cares. We've essentially witnessed two leaders in the last 6-8 years, decompenstate right before the world's eyes: google.com/…. And other leaders as well, here and there.

Paramanand Singh

@Koro just a few days after UP (a state in India) election results, the prices of refined oil increased by 25 percent

And today was news of another Corona variant which has mutation of both delta and omicron.

There is no end to the problems being faced by human race at this point of time.

amWhy

18:38

@ParamanandSingh Is that the BA.2, or something else.

Paramanand Singh

@amWhy: did not check the details, but perhaps it is new. BA2 was in news last month

amWhy

@ParamanandSingh Not the least of which is climate change, which seems always "to be taken care of after the current crises.

Paramanand Singh

Oh yes climate has worsened. This has been the hottest March in a decade or so

amWhy

@ParamanandSingh I think you're right; BA.2, still a mutated variant of omicron, is being seen in the US.

Koro

@ParamanandSingh every year sets a new record in north :)

Some people here have started taking booster doses. But not sure if every age group is allowed to do that.

amWhy

18:42

@ParamanandSingh Indeed; droughts, fires due to droughts, then elsewhere, flooding, from severe storms, and coastal flooding.

Koro

@amWhy droughts? Are they very common in some place?

amWhy

And in the US, fires and droughts and flooding , etc., and the political landscape, and the flaunting of depravity on some network t.v. shows, it is quite scary, prospects of a civil war....

@Koro Yes, they exist in parts of California, Oregon, even up to Canada's west coast. But the risk is months of drought, followed my torrential rainfall. But I think between fires along the west coast of North America, and the ever increasing hurricanes on the east coast/gulf of mexico, the seem to be increasingly more severe, and more frequent.

But heck, the sea level keeps increasing globally, as ice in the arctic and antarctic is thawing.

Koro

@ParamanandSingh But it is strange, isn't it? Considering that 2020 was almost a complete lockdown so less no. of vehicles out on road and less number of CO2 generating units operating and therefore less Global warming (let's say the lowest in a decade or so).

So huge CO2 generation happened in 2021/ 22 to the extent that March is the hottest in a decade!!

amWhy

Know, not claiming dooms-day. But humans have to get their acts together.

amWhy

20:08

$$\Huge {\text{Current challenge! Attention!}}$$

Who will guess the correct day on which math.se first reaches 1.5 million questions asked? Proposing a challenge to any/all users who would like to claim the day and month on which the 1.5 millionth question is asked on math.se. Math.se, at the time of this post, needs 16,254 more questions to reach 1.5 million. Mind you every day questions are asked, and some are deleted. Bottom line, this is meant to be fun!!! It's free to guess; no one will anything for having guessed the day!!

leslie townes

20:40

droughts are bad. super common in california. it feels like half of my life has been in a state of drought.

a few years ago it actually rained a normal amount in my hometown and i visited, and i almost didn't recognize it.

amWhy

@leslietownes Yeah, Arizona's been hit hard too, and with the huge demand from the Colorado river, a sort of rationing is taking place.

leslie townes

it's ruining agriculture around here, although i have mostly seen it in the form of high prices, not in the form of stuff not being around anymore. that will change soon.

amWhy

@leslietownes Indeed; the same for Arizona. And it seems the drought and ravaging fires go hand in hand; the drier the brush, trees, etc., the quicker it is eaten as fuel for massive fires.

user21820

@amWhy 10 May (UTC).

amWhy

You're date is reserved for you! Maybe I'll pick my birthday, May 9th, preceding user21820's reserved date! Toying with the idea. I'm thinking I may need to give a time span in which guesses must be submitted. Any thoughts on that window of time, @leslie?

Hello, @Astyx.

leslie townes

20:49

July 14.

everyone's gonna take the summer off, ruining your calculations.

amWhy

I'm asking for your expertise, like should we accept "guesses" on not already reserved days, through March, or ? I just don't want to give users the chance to reserve their choice, say six weeks from now.

@leslietownes I haven't even tried calculations. Maybe I'll consider July 4, or Memorial Day, or Flag day. So my question to you is about fairness to early reserved dates, I.e. this specific challenge. How long to accept submitted guesses as to when?

Anyone's input is welcome. Also, @leslie and @user21820, you can change your mind, say for the next three weeks, if someone hasn't already selected the date you want to claim. After Tues April 12, then, no more guesses or changes?

leslie townes

that sounds good. you want to end it before it's too easy.

amWhy

@leslietownes Exactly!

I'm wrapping up some work before 5:00 pm my time. Then just have some fun! But I'll try to write the nitty gritty before noon tomorrow!!

leslie townes

21:04

it's all futile for everyone else, because it's happening on july 14.

amWhy

@leslietownes Hah!

@leslietownes You might have to cast a lot of down votes and delete votes, to make that happen! ;P

leslie townes

DDOS attacks, everything. all of my options are on the table.

amWhy

@leslietownes Hah!!

leslie townes

if it means the site goes down tomorrow, and goes up on july 14 with 17,000 new questions, it will happen.

amWhy

@leslietownes Now you're on the transcript as person of interest, should foul play emerge!

leslie townes

21:15

it's OK. most of my money is in rubles.

amWhy

Late Sept October, 2018. See first challenge: when will we reach one million questions? From "Whatever quid" chat room.

@leslietownes Hah! I think you mean marbles, right? And steelies, and super balls!! ;P

Did I change the room description at the end to invite all Octupi and Dolphins, while in a silly mood, or after two glasses of wine? We should add your favorite birds, too, @leslie!

leslie townes

oh, that's a long list.

munchkin's favorite bird is the crow.

crows are always around, they have families, and they play together. they are very humanlike.

amWhy

21:31

@leslietownes If they'd only turn the volume down :: says wistfully knowing there's no chance in hell they'll lower their voices ::

leslie townes

you have identified the least cute thing about crows. :D

amWhy

I think the birds that I struggle with most are the hovering scavengers (like vultures...). In movies and novels, it's a classic way of foreshadowing tragedy.

leslie townes

vultures are also very big and scary in person.

amWhy

@leslietownes Indeed. The other critter that horrified me, after reading 1984 as a freshman, was the RAT: If you're not familiar with the text, I can't reproduce the narrative provided by George Orwell. And weirdly, I have never seen a rat, save for video of the "pizza rat", etc.,

leslie townes

22:19

i like rats, they are OK. kinda gross when you see them in person, but that isn't their fault.

amWhy

@leslietownes What spooked me most was the final breaking of a character in 1984, from agents of the "state" who knew how determine each persons ultimate fear. So the protagonist (the guy we follow through the novel, is immobile, strapped to a chair, including at the head.... When the agents of the state strapped a long10 ft care, with hungry rats, to the opening attached securely to protagonist, exposing mainly his eyeballs, and he's forced to watch the rats scrambling at his eyes... I

I cannot share much more. I'm not afraid of rats, just disturbed by the description of the scene, which more haunting, than a film could have down.

Hello, @quid!!

quid

@amWhy May 1st

@amWhy hello

amWhy

@quid May Day!!

Did you enjoy Monday, @quid?

quid

22:37

@amWhy I already forgot

amWhy

@quid Hah!

If you scroll up, @quid, I'm pretty sure I asked you yesterday, here or in wordle?

23 hours ago, by amWhy

@quid I hope your Monday went well!

Mind you, @quid, I asked at you about 00:30, at which point, your evening is young!

quid

@amWhy yes I saw it, I'd thought I'll answer next week ;)

amWhy

@quid Sure, I grant you a one week extension! :-)

quid

Thank!

quid

22:55

I'll leave for now see you!

Transcript for

$Mathematics$ Cafe and Tavern on the math.se