On Wed, 20 Oct 1999, Brian J. Beesley wrote:
> I thought the legal value of pi was 4, in Indiana. Actually the
> timber trade still calculates the volume of logs in an absurd way
> which implies that pi = 4.
I've seen this discussion before... if I recall, their estimation of PI
was better for their purposes... the absurdity would be assuming that
trees are perfect cylinders. ;-)
> > But then, define random! If I toss a (`fair') coin, I'd say that it's
> > random. However, a very quick viewer (or a computer) might see the moment
> > before the coin hits the ground (and stays there), what it will turn up
> > as. In other words, then the randomness is _not present_ at that time.
> > Now, if you go backwards, you can probably calculate (if you're VERY
> > quick -- remember this is all theoretical) this earlier on, perhaps all
> > the way back to when the coin leaves your hand. Who knows, perhaps even
> > further? :-)
Ah, this has the ring of Schroedinger to it... The apparatus required to
measure the flip of a coin that precisely early on may just have to
interfere with the results. ?? Air density, air flow, speed, direction,
and position in three dimensions...
Brings a tear to one's eye.
---Chip
\\ ^ //
(o o)
---oOO--(_)--OOo------------------------------------
| Chip Lynch | Computer Guru |
| [EMAIL PROTECTED] | |
| (703) 465-4176 (w) | (202) 362-7978 (h) |
----------------------------------------------------
_________________________________________________________________
Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm
Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
