Yet more proof that one's math skills actually deteriorate with each successive math class one takes...


vtpilot45: you know the multiplication symbol thing that acts like the summation but just tells you to multiply instead?
vtpilot45: large pi
vtpilot45: you multiply each term right?
itsumademootaku: yes.
vtpilot45: this doesn't make any sense
vtpilot45: Multiplication from i = 2 to n of the function 1 - 1/i^2
vtpilot45: i = 2, m = 3/4; i = 3, m = 2/3; i = 4, m = 15/32; i = 5, m = 225/1024...where the hell is the pattern?
vtpilot45: There has to be some function that simplifies it all.
itsumademootaku: well, thanks to my new calculator, I'm pumping out the following values: when n=10, 11/20. n=20, 21/40 n=100, 101/200
itsumademootaku: That looks like a nice pattern.
vtpilot45: That pattern would have me believe n+1/2n.
vtpilot45: ... oh son of a bitch.
vtpilot45: yeah, that doesn't work. At 2, you get 3/4 which is right, at 3, you get 2/3 which is right, at 4, you get 5/8, which is wrong.
itsumademootaku: No it's not.
vtpilot45: Yes it is.
itsumademootaku: 5/8 is what my calc gives me.
vtpilot45): ... oh my god
vtpilot45: oh for the love of christ.
vtpilot45: guess what I was doing.
itsumademootaku: forgetting to multiply?
vtpilot45: more like, multiplying wrong.
itsumademootaku: AHAHAHAHA
vtpilot45: it's been a long day
itsumademootaku: I love the fact that I'm actually keeping up with my homework this quarter. I actually end up having MORE spare time...with which to laugh at you.
vtpilot45: wait, you got 5/8? I got 15/32. Check me.
itsumademootaku: My calculator definitely gives me 5/8.
vtpilot45: Nevermind. I fucked up.
vtpilot45: but I fucked up in an entirely new manner.
itsumademootaku: This is funny. It's like watching a train derail.
vtpilot45: This isn't the worse it gets either. A guy I know, a math major, actually looked at 1 + 1 and blanked.
vtpilot45: He had to break out his graphing calculator, then defined that it was base 10, did a buncha calculus in order to determine that 1 + 1 was indeed = to 2.
vtpilot45: After 15 minutes of that, I just looked up at him, punched 1 + 1 onto his calculator, and pressed enter.
itsumademootaku: You realize this is going straight into my lj, right?
vtpilot45: As it should.