A Ton of Crap
Page 40
UNSOLVED MATH PROBLEMS
Navier-Stokes Equations The Navier-Stokes equations describe the motion of fluids (which are gases and liquids) in space. Though these equations are crucial in fluid mechanics, understanding of the solutions is not complete. It is believed that to explain and predict turbulence (another problem in physics that remains unsolved despite its importance and significance in engineering and science) and breeze, one can use the Navier-Stokes Equations, but relatively little is understood about the equations.
ANTHROPOLOGY
Archaeology Archaeology studies the ancestors of humans, along with their cultures and ways of life, through analyzing fossil remains and artifacts. Evidence like animal bones, pottery, and stone tools are used to learn about the culture of early humans, and their interactions with each other and their environment. In archaeology, one assumes that there are basic continuities with humans over a specific time and place; however, it is also understood that each society is living in that particular time, and is thus, a product of that time period.
CHEROKEE
Creating New Words Because the Cherokee language is polysynthetic, the ability to create new words can be easily done. For example, the word policeman is didaniyisgi (written as ), which actually means “he catches them finally and conclusively.” The word for attorney is ditiyohihi (written as ), literally meaning “he argues repeatedly and on purpose with a purpose.” Words have also been taken from the English language and have been adopted into Cherokee (for example, kawi means “coffee,” and the word gasoline is the same in Cherokee and in English).
LESSON 35F
KOREAN WAR
The End of the War Dwight Eisenhower became president in 1953, and no real progress had been made in the negotiations. On June 8, both sides came to an agreement with a document known as the Terms of Reference, which dealt with prisoners of war. Once the POW issue was resolved, the sides focused on a peace treaty. On July 27, 1953, China, North Korea, and the UN signed an armistice (South Korea refused). Along the 38th Parallel, a buffer zone was created between the North and South. North Korea and South Korea remained separate, and because the treaty was never signed by the South, they are technically still at war with one another.
EXISTENTIALISM
Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre was a French existentialist who lived from 1905 to 1980. Among other things, Sartre wrote novels, screenplays, and plays. One of his most famous works was his book Being and Nothingness, which focused on the consciousness of being. Sartre suggests that appearance is the only reality, and that there are two kinds of being: in-itself and for-itself. In-itself refers to inanimate objects that just exist without any active or passive consciousness, while for-itself refers to something that is cognizant of its awareness. When a person gazes at another person, the person goes from a being-for-itself to a being-in-itself.
UNSOLVED MATH PROBLEMS
Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture deals with number theory. The conjecture deals with arithmetic data, the elliptic curve, the number field, and the Hasse-Weil L-function. The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture was deemed one of the seven most important open problems by the Clay Mathematics Institute. The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture states that if ζ(1) is 0, then the number of rational points is infinite. If ζ(1) does not equal 0, then the number of solutions is finite.
ANTHROPOLOGY
Applied Anthropology Applied anthropology uses the ideas and concepts of anthropology and relates them to current problems and issues of the present-day in an effort to help solve them. Applied anthropology can be used on a large scale, such as impacting the study of economic development patterns or public health methods, and it can be used on a smaller scale, for example, helping in the design of airplane seats or work stations. Essentially, what applied anthropology does is it takes anthropology, something that is mostly thought of as scholarly and academic, and applies it to the real world.
CHEROKEE
Useful Cherokee Phrases Here are some helpful phrases to use when speaking with a Cherokee person. Note that these are written phonetically.
Hello. O-si-yo.
Good morning. O-s-da sunalei.
Good evening. O-s-da sv-hi-ye-yi.
Good night. O-s-da sv-no-i.
How are you? (T)do-`hi-tsu?
Thank you. Wa-do.
What is your name? Ga-do-de-tsa do?
What is this? Do-i-s-di-hi-na?
I don’t understand. Tla-i-go-li-ga.
Is this where you live? Hi `yas-di `ste nv `sv?
What are they doing? Ga-do-a-na-du-ne?
Goodbye. Do-na-da-`go-v-I (to one person). Do-`da-ga-g`hv-i (to a group of people).
LESSON 35 QUIZ
The 38th parallel divided Korea into, North Korea and South Korea. Which of the following is true?
North Korea was controlled by the United States and South Korea was controlled by the Soviet Union.
South Korea was controlled by the United States and North Korea was controlled by the Soviet Union.
South Korea was controlled by China and North Korea was controlled by the Soviet Union.
North Korea was controlled by China and South Korea was controlled by the Soviet Union.
At the beginning of the war, South Korea had very little weaponry because:
South Korea had lost them all to China.
The Soviet Union refused to provide too many weapons, fearing they would use them to attack the North.
America refused to provide too many weapons, fearing they would use them to attack the North.
South Korea had lost them all to Japan.
Existentialism is:
The philosophical study of human reason
The philosophical study of mental activity
The philosophical attitude that questions whether one could obtain knowledge
The philosophical study of what it means to exist
Kierkegaard’s Knight of Faith proves:
There is no God.
Faith is a reason to rise above ethics.
Acts are committed based on ethical and social codes.
God did not want Abraham to really kill his son.
Which of the following asks the question: “If a problem’s solutions can be verified rapidly, then can the solutions be computed rapidly”?
Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
P versus NP problem
Yang-Mills existence and mass gap
Riemann hypothesis
Which of the following suggests that all nontrivial zeros are at ½ + bi?
Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
Riemann hypothesis
Yang-Mills existence and mass gap
P versus NP problem
Which of the following examines the similarities and differences among societies with topics such as race, class, sexuality, and nationality?
Applied anthropology
Archaeology
Cultural anthropology
Linguistic anthropology
To study the ancestors of humans, archaeology uses:
Pottery
Fossil remains
Stone tools
All of the above
Sequoyah is responsible for:
Creating a polysynthetic language
Creating Kituhwa
Creating Otali
Creating the written Cherokee language
Because the Cherokee language is polysynthetic:
It is impossible for new words to be created.
The letters used from the Latin alphabet do not feature the same sounds.
New words can easily be created.
There are only two dialects to the language.
ANSWER KEY: b, c, d, b, b, b, c, d, d, c
Lesson 36
HISTORY: Civil Rights
Brown v. Board of Education, Rosa Parks, Project C, Desegregation of the University of Alabama, The March on Washington, Civil Rights Act of 1964
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p; LANGUAGE ARTS: Franz Kafka
About Franz Kafka, Kafka and Existentialism, “The Metamorphosis,” The Trial, The Castle, Amerika
MATH: Diophantine Equations
What Are Diophantine Equations?, Examples of Diophantine Equations, Hilbert’s Tenth Problem, Linear Diophantine Equations, Exponential Diophantine Equations, General Method to Use for First-Order Equations with Two Variables
SCIENCE: Mitosis
Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, Cytokinesis, Meiosis
FOREIGN LANGUAGE: Khoisan Languages
About Khoisan Languages, Hadza, Sandawe, Khoe, Tuu, Other Click Languages
LESSON 36A
CIVIL RIGHTS
Brown v. Board of Education On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court announced one of the most important verdicts relating to a change in civil rights. The case revolved around Linda Brown, an African American third grader, who, in order to get to her elementary school, had to walk a mile, even though a white school was closer to her. Brown was denied access by the school principal, and the case went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” was, in fact, not equal at all, and that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional.
FRANZ KAFKA
About Franz Kafka Franz Kafka is considered one of the most important existentialist writer. Kafka, a Jewish man from Prague, lived from 1883 to 1924. Kafka grew up studying at German schools, which was considered the language of the elite at the time, and worked for a large insurance company. Kafka’s work often explores themes of alienation and the absurdity of life. The only work published during Kafka’s lifetime were his articles and short stories. His three novels, which are considered masterpieces, were unfinished when he died, and Kafka wished them to be destroyed. However, Kafka’s friend Max Brod did not comply with his wishes and had them published.
DIOPHANTINE EQUATIONS
What Are Diophantine Equations? Named after Diophantus of Alexandria of the third century, Diophantine equations are equations that feature indeterminate polynomials, where variables are only allowed to be integers. In other words, the value of variables like x and y have to be whole numbers. Diophantine equations relate to algebraic surface and algebraic curves, and involve finding the values of the integers so that the equations work out correctly. Diophantus was one of the first people that introduced symbolism into algebraic formulas. While some equations have a finite solution, others have no solution at all. You’ve already seen plenty of Diophantine equations throughout this book.
MITOSIS
Prophase If you recall from earlier, mitosis is cell division. Following interphase, which prepares the cell for division, the next step in the cycle is prophase. In prophase, the chromatin will condense and become chromosomes, which have duplicated and now have sister chromatids. The chromatids are identical to each other and are connected, forming an X. The mitotic spindle, which moves the chromosomes, is formed and set up away from the nucleus. By the end of this step, the nuclear envelope is broken down into vesicles.
KHOISAN LANGUAGES
About Khoisan Languages The Khoisan languages do not belong to any other language families, and are indigenous to eastern and southern Africa. These are the click languages found in Africa. Several of these have become extinct, most of them are endangered, and very few have a written language. These languages feature click consonants as phonemes. Though previously believed to have been related, the Khoisan languages are in fact separate from each other; however, they are grouped together because they all feature the click consonant. The name Khoisan is derived from the Khoi-Khoi group found in South Africa and the San group (or Bushmen) found in Namibia.
LESSON 36B
CIVIL RIGHTS
Rosa Parks On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. A white passenger told her to give up her seat and move to the “colored section,” which was in the back of the bus. Parks refused and, as a result, was arrested. In response to her arrest, the African American community of Montgomery, led by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., boycotted the city’s public transportation. The boycott lasted for 381 days and reduced revenue by 80 percent. On December 21, 1956, the buses were desegregated.
FRANZ KAFKA
Kafka and Existentialism Kafka’s work explores fully the concepts of absurdity and dread. Kafka wrote about characters in a surreal world who only wanted to be recognized and accepted by those around them. His work invokes concepts of cruelty, pity, and injustice. He placed rationality in the irrational. His work shows that there is nothing a person can do to give meaning to his or her relationship with the world.
DIOPHANTINE EQUATIONS
Examples of Diophantine Equations You have seen countless examples of Diophantine equations. The values of x, y, and z are unknown and represent real values.
The Pythagorean theorem is one example of a Diophantine equation:
a2 + b2 = c2
Another example is Pell’s equation, where n is a constant:
x2 – ny2 = ± 1
The Erdős–Straus conjecture states:
This can also be stated as the polynomial equation:
4xyz = yzn + xzn + xyn = n(yz + xz + xy)
MITOSIS
Metaphase In metaphase, chromosomes are aligned along the middle of the nucleus of the cell and are held in place by microtubules of spindle fibers. This is known as the metaphase plate. Chromosomes are oriented so that kinetochores, a protein structure on the chromosomes, are facing the pole, and each tail of the chromosomes are facing each other. The organization allows for the new nuclei to receive a single copy of each chromosome when separation occurs (in the next phase).
KHOISAN LANGUAGES
Hadza Hadza is spoken by around 800 people in Tanzania, and around half of those that speak Hadza remain hunters and gatherers. The Hadza language is not related to any other Khoisan language. Even though it features clicks, the words found in the language are unique and do not originate from any other languages. It has been suggested that the Hadza people and the Jul’hoan people have the most different mitochondrial DNA found within any group of people, and that perhaps these people were the first to split from the family tree. This would suggest that their languages are the closest to the original human languages, and that the first languages featured clicks.
LESSON 36C
CIVIL RIGHTS
Project C Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference created a plan to challenge the segregation of Birmingham, Alabama, and this plan came to be known as “Project C” (for confrontation). Their strategy involved sending a message about the horrors of segregation through nonviolence, with boycotts, rallies, and peaceful demonstrations. The police reacted to these nonviolent actions with police dogs, violence, and fire hoses. On April 12, 1963, Martin Luther King was arrested. While in prison, King wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
FRANZ KAFKA
“The Metamorphosis” One of Kafka’s most well-known stories is “The Metamorphosis.” The story revolves around Gregor Samsa, who one day awakes to discover that he has turned into a large insect (it is never mentioned what kind). The story follows Gregor as he deals with this situation, and how his family deals with it. Ultimately, the family cannot stand to look at Gregor anymore and Gregor dies, giving the family relief that he is gone. The story deals with the absurdity of life, the disconnect between one’s body and one’s mind, alienation, and how much sympathy a person can have.
DIOPHANTINE EQUATIONS
Hilbert’s Tenth Problem In 1900, German mathematician David Hilbert created a list of twenty-three mathematical problems that had not been solved at the time. His tenth problem proposed a question as to whether there was an algorithm that existed that could determine if there was a solution to any random Diophantine equation. There is an algorithm that exists for first-order Diophantine equations (meaning the variables do not have any powers greater than 1). A mathematician named Matiyasevich was able to prov
e in Matiyasevich’s theorem that it was impossible to create a general algorithm.
MITOSIS
Anaphase The chromosomes that are paired begin to separate at the kinetochores. The kinetochores then start to move toward the poles. Once this has happened, the polar fibers will elongate, which starts to spread the poles farther apart from one another. The sister chromatids then separate, and move toward their related poles.
KHOISAN LANGUAGES
Sandawe Around 40,000 people in Tanzania speak Sandawe. It is believed that Sandawe is related to Khoe, with its closest relatives being those languages found in Namibia and Botswana. The language features two dialects, a southeastern dialect and a northwestern dialect. The differences between the dialects include the talking speed, the dropping of some vowels, and slight grammatical differences. The language features fifteen clicks that act as consonants.