 Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic is a Bay Area writer and editor. Her first book Suffering Succotash: A Picky Eater's Quest to Understand Why We Hate the Foods We Hate, a humorous non-fiction narrative and exposé on the lives of picky eaters, will be released by Perigee Books on July 3. My husband is a calculus professor and one who brings food items into the classroom with surprising regularity. No, he doesn't bring pies on Pi day - though he can recite the string up to a couple dozen digits - but he does bring Pringles. As a teaching aid. This afternoon when I walked into his study, I nearly tripped over a plastic Safeway bag filled with six red cans of Pringles. "Is it Pringles Day already?" I asked, nudging the bag. Pringles Day is the day Dr. Mathra lectures on the classification of critical points in multivariable calculus, and he uses the saddle-shaped Pringles to illustrate his points. After class, the students get to eat his illustrations. It's their favorite day. Personally, I've never been turned on by Lays Stax. Not only are they covered with the stink of being the unoriginal upstart that is so obviously trying to rip-off the adored-for-decades potato chip, but they're not thin and delicate enough, they're not oily enough, and they're not addictive enough. However, none of the above is Dr. Mathra's complaint with them. "It's ridiculous!" he fumed, "They set themselves up as a Pringles competitor, but it's an entirely different curvature!" The shape of the Lays Stax - known as a parabolic cylinder - is way less mathematically interesting than the hyperbolic paraboloid of a Pringles, which is also known as a saddle. In math, the Pringles saddle shape exemplifies how you can stand at the flat point of a surface and not be at the highest point of your surroundings or at the lowest point of your surroundings. Basically, you could call the saddle "the taint" of critical points. T'aint the highest point, t'aint the lowest. "Um, sure. If you wanted to be crass about it," Dr. Mathra mumbles. The big three types of critical points in multivariable calculus are the bottom of a bowl (aka the local min), the top of a dome (the local max), or in the middle of a saddle (saddle point). "The Lays Stax shape isn't even as interesting as a bowl - it's a wishy-washy bowl. I mean, you can make the Lays shape with a piece of paper," Dr. Mathra explains. (In my twelve years of being married to him, I have frequently found that being able to make something with paper is met with derision.) See, you can't replicate the Pringles saddle shape with a piece of paper without cutting the paper and actually adding more paper to it and that makes it more mathematically desirable. Sensing he has my attention throughout all of this raving, Dr. Mathra continues, "They've got these Lays Stax right next to the Pringles as though they are equivalent. How can they do that? One is a positive semi-definite quadratic form and the other is an indefinite quadratic form - they're not even the same definiteness!" When I don't react, he insists, "Oh, come on - that will KILL in class tomorrow!" And why should you, the non-calculus student, care about the Pringles saddle form? The principal application of calculus is optimizing, or determining whether you are at a maximum. You use calculus whenever you want to optimize, well, anything. "If you are at a local max (the top of a dome), everywhere you go moves you down. If you're at a saddle, there's a way you can go that will take you up." Knowing this is important when thinking about increasing filthy lucre, precious time, diminishing resources, or a supply of Pringles. And that, my friends, is why Pringles will always, always beat Lays Stax. Flavor is subjective. Math is irrefutable. |
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(Paperback) Gelfand was one of the leaders of the great soohcl of mathematics which, somehow, thrived in Soviet Union. I used uncountable times the copy of our library, as the original English edition, in the excellent translation of R. Silvermann, became very hard to find. I put it in the top of the list of books I wanted to buy. Now Dover put it into their catalogue. Great choice. I already ordered my copy!This is the best book on the Calculus of Variations. It contains, for instance, a wonderful treatment of Noether's theorem, hardly to be surpassed. The Hamilton-Jacobi equation is also treated with brilliance and clarity. Gelfand (and Fomin!) developed a style in which the precision of the mathematics does not interfere with the general panorama. The applications are very well selected and perfectly illustrate the theory. A great book, a great mathematician who can write, a great translator, by less than 10 bucks!
I haven't used Pringles in my Calculus. I have distributed fig Newtons and Leibniz biscuits, given that these men founded Calculus. Also appreciated.
Eww. An otherwise interesting and entertaining article was ruined by a vulgar joke about halfway through. This is an article written for CNN, not a casual conversation for friends (at which point the joke would be more appropriate, assuming you know your audience). Totally unnecessary and unprofessional – you should learn to filter the content and respect your varied audience.
if you're referring to ""taint", the context in which it was used was appropriate and not vulgar as the word 'taint is not in itself vulgar, rather, the frequent association with the perineum in the jocular form is what leads dirty-minded folks to assume this innocuous word is guilty by association.... Some terms are perfectly innocuous (i.e., the "Hairy Ball Theorem") and perfectly appropriate for their application, it's the dirty-minded people who misinterpret such terms that ruins things.
Dr Mathra and Stephanie need to invest in better-quality lubricants.
Now I remember why I hated calculus...don't like the parafin taste of Pringles!
I love the way Pringles fit on your tongue. It allows the most flavor sensation all at the same time.
Speaking of chips, the absolute best chip ever made was Mrs. Gibbles Nibbles sour cream flavor. If anyone knows where you can get these let me know. I beilieve they are no longer on the market.
Now I remember why I took Calculus
This made me hungry. Does that add up?
Claiming a superior potato chip shape under the ruse of mathematics is the t'ain't of journalism.
How do you know the Stax aren't *negative* semidefinite?
...and all of this just makes me wonder why Pringles Park in Jackson, TN is not shaped like a hyperbolic parabaloid (not even close). Think it's not possible? Check out a picture of ANZ stadium and see if it doesn't look at least a little like a Pringle (or the stadium in Capetown where they played part of the World Cup, or the design for Qatar's proposed lusail stadium).
I love the math!! I think pringles is still owned by proctor and gamble. Proctor and gamble has a long history of animal testing for cosmetics and cleaners. I try to avoid their products, even ones that were not tested on animals, because I don't support that kind of animal testing.
I know, making rabbits take a math test is just cruel!
If you don't let them use their toes
Could you ask Dr. Mathra if Pringles stack better than Lays? My guess is yes since I think there would be 'gaps' as you stacked the Lays Stax from the "positive definite curvature'
A lay is always better than bring pringled in the can.
Reblogged this on Trail Mix and commented:
And THIS, my dear friends, is just one more reason to love Pringles.
The "taint" of critical points. Mathematicians are clueless. They even have a theorem called the "Hairy Ball Theorem"...
The genteel version is, "tain't one or the other."
Yes, I know what you were thinking.
Actually, it is the mathematicians that are "in" on the jokes. They know EXACTLY what they are saying. :-)
My kid beat up your calculus student, and then ate his potato chips. So, there! Welcome to the real world!
Cool, and then he grew up and made minimum wage while my calculus-studying son became a doctor.
It's unlikely your son who grew up to be a doctor took a whole lot of calculus...more likely organic chemistry and biology...although the generalized logistic differential equation does have a few applications in terms of blood pressure. But face facts, calculus is more the language of engineering, not medicine...
Too funny! My BS, MS, PhD engineer husband who then became a neurosurgeon swears that his engineering classes/background did almost nothing to get him into or through medical school. But it sure comes in handy when he spends his free time calculating the mathematics of practically everything around him :)
Dr.'s like any other profession, start out in college the same as everyone else, which means often they will take classes that they don't need, like swimming, or country line dance. At least in the very beginning. It's a way for colleges to milk money off mom and dad.
Calculus is offered even in high school, and in college, if you want a phd in any of the sciences, eventually you'll have to take it. Besides, I don't care how good they are at biology, if they don't have the critical thinking skill to pass calculus, then I don't want them so much as removing a hangnail off my little toe!! I know plenty of smart people who just can't do caluclus, but tinkering with my body is something I just don't think you can go cheap on.
Are you Nelson Muntz's mom?
In school, the jocks and bullies called the nerds many things. After graduation, do you know what they call them? Boss.
Called them for a job.
The real world of the minimum wage worker who needs to perfect the right intonation when asking " do you want fries with that?" The real world of engineers, scientists, doctors. Nope. Got to wonder about a parent who thinks the real world consists of ignorant idiots beating up on the educated who will be the people who employ them, save their lives and build bridges that the minimum wage worker can bicycle home across.
I see that bumper sticker on occasion, I always wonder what sort of parent thinks it is funny. I have come to believe it is a parent who needs an assistant french fry bagger.
As the beat-up calc student – now all grown up and earning an awesome salary.... I say let the morons eat pringles, and take my trash, and my dig ditches, and serve my buttery popcorn when I go to the movies.
Welcome to the real world indeed.
I was hoping this article would say that a cylinder whose height is twice the radius has the minimum surface area and maximum volume. I learned this when I took Calculus using Lagrange Multipliers.
is that the same as the height is equal to the diameter?
twice the radius? silly way to put that...
Twice the radius is clearly superious. Diameter? Please.
Really? "height is twice the radius" takes fewer letters than "height is equal to the diameter". So is the former really better? In fact, is this a linguistic or mathematics question?
Well, this is why we teach elementary kids that the formula is Pi*D but when we study it in more advanced classes we say 2*pi*r. Everything is based on the Radius where possible, because the very formula for the shape is based on the distance of the object from the point in space it occupies. When you are doing formulaic comparisons for volume versus surface area, you use the integral of pi*r^2 dh for the disks and washers method of calculating volume and the integral of 2*pi*dr*h for the cylindrical shells method, so then keeping the usage of radius versus diameter makes lots of sense here so that you don't have to keep switching back and forth. All serious math folks know that you worry about Radius rather than diameter.
I'm a Civil Engineer and I took Calculus: I,II,III DifEq, Statics, Dynamics, Physics: Mechanics, E&M, Thermo, Quantum et al. We never used a formula that involved diameter. Always used radius here.
I got my BS in electrical engineering and masters in telecommunications engr... Just wondering why you'd take E&M and Quantum as a Civil engr... I took those classes since E&M was required and quantum because I got a minor in physics.
I went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For CEE majors you have to take Physics: Classical Mechanics, and E&M. You then must take either quantum OR thermo. After I took Classical Mechanics and E&M, I went to a community college to retake E&M. In order for the credit to transfer back to UIUC, I had to take a total of 2 physics classes at the community college. At the community college they combine quantum and thermo in 1 course. So I ended up taking everything at the community college and got all A's :)
Well we also have the problem here in the South where the teacher says "Remember class, Pi R Squared". One student replied, "No teacher, Pie are Round, Cornbread are Squared!"
That comment about cornbread in the south being square is so not true. Everyone knows that true southern cornbread is made in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet (round). At least everyone with any modicum of math knowledge on here appears to agree that Radius is indeed the superior defining characteristic of circular objects (computer guy here with both math and computer science degrees for what it's worth).
I am quite sure there is no such title as "Calculus Professor"..."Professor of Mathematics" who teaches calculus (and usually other courses), yes...but NOT "Calculus Professor"...
Oops, forget one of my two previous comments. (stumble fingers)
By design I weave the seats of my benches in hyperbolic parabolas. Very comfortable, I use to like Pringles but now prefer the unpredictable shape of thicker, kettle cooked chips. Sort of chaotic.
I use to like Pringles but have moved onto less predicable shapes of thicker chips. However, almost daily, I weave the seats of my benches, which are hyperbolic parabolas, designed on purpose. Very comfortable.
This broad and her husband have to be on crack. Pringles are nasty. They weren't made in heaven. In fact, they were crafted in the worst recesses of hell. They don't taste like potato chips. They taste like nasty mashed potatoes which were shaped into a potato chip.
The flavor isn't the question. Some people like them and some do not. What is great is that a teacher is using their shape to teach kids
Sounds like perfect fodder for Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory!
And people wonder why and how our education system here in the USA has gone to hell!
This quotation:
"They've got these Lays Stax right next to the Pringles as though they are equivalent. How can they do that? One is a positive semi-definite quadratic form and the other is an indefinite quadratic form – they're not even the same definiteness!"
... I TOTALLY read in Sheldon's voice – an especially petulant version of it, in fact.
I wonder if there's any similar snack device that illustrates a perfect inflection point,...
Unfortunately, having recently discovered that I have celiac disease, Pringles unlike Lays Stax have gluten. This is a very entertaining story that has succeeded in making me pine for Pringles but stuck with Stax.
Oh man... that sucks : /
What a loser.
Lays Stax are the best – for one reason alone. Lays are GLUTEN FREE, where as Pringles – are not. Pringles with all their wonderful varieties – are poisonous to anyone with Celiac Disease, a growing population throughout the world. Lays – are safe and delicious. Thank heavens for Staks!
You shouldn't be eating chips AT ALL if you have celiac disease. Nor should you be eating processed foods. So you can claim Pringles have 'poison' for you, all you want, because you are a hypocrite.
@sun- Why not eat chips when you have celiac disease? The problem isn't processed foods, it's gluten. If it's gluten free there's no reason (in regards to the disease) not to eat it.
I think I would like this prof!
Great article. But please don't call the saddle "the taint" of critical points. Just don't. Seriously.
this
Awesome. Just awesome.
Bending any material with a positive Poisson's ratio will result in a saddle shape, so they are incredibly common. The professor should be teaching his students about anticlastic bending and it's implications on sheet metal, beams, etc. instead of buying Pringles so he can listen to himself talk :-p
Pringles taste like oily cardboard and they're always broken inside their awesome carton. Buy a bag of chips.
Yes, because there are never any broken chips in bag... and usually are not greasy either.
i have to agree...pringles are not the greatest tasting snack.
Bags of chips are 3/4 air, zero calories, zero fat, the new weight loss chip!
@Mike: Chip makers also don't brag about how awesome their bags are at stopping breakage. Plus chips taste, you know, good.
Dr. Mathra is the coolest math teacher name ever.
...and the name Mathra just makes me want to say "Mothra" in the long, drawn out, high pitched way they said Moooothraaaa! in the movie "Mothra"
1) Very old stock photo, it's also a Japanese grocery 2) Why is there like uber-hate for Lays Stax, and 3) OMG does the editor know what taint means???????
Um, I guess not, and neither do I.
In my opinion, the author provides absolute zero mathematical reasoning as to why the shape of the pringle provides "maximum snack satisfaction" other than a permutation novelty. If it's for maximizing or optimizing packaging, it fails in that regard as well. A flat pringle would provide a couple more chips per can and taste just as good.
actually it will have more taste since the surface area of the saddle shape is greater than that of the round flat disk, leaving less area to deposit the flavoring agent on and less contact area for the tongue, and since the shape is stackable it does allow for more dense chip packaging than traditional chips, which improves portability and reduces shipping costs, and allows for a rigid container that reduces breakage. additionally the shape is more uniform and areodynamic allowing for more predictable flipability of the chip into a gaping maw. of course you are correct in your observation that none of that is discussed in the article so the writer would have failed to prove her thesis even though there are supporting factors to argue.
correction it will have more area for flavoring agent and more contact with the tongue, forgot to change that after flipping the subject shapes.
actually the surface area for taste increases when the chip is broken up in the mouth. So the actual determination of maximum taste would be to what extend the chip's can be divided to increase the surface area to react with the taste sensors of the mouth. And taste would also be relative to the number and sensitivity of the taste buds. So the packaging shape of the chip has nothing to do with taste, except to the extent it has a psychological or emotional appeal to the person buying the chips. Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Psychology mashed together to sell a food item......
A flat chip may be more susceptible to breakage. The shape of the chip allows the chips to be stacked close together in a hug, reducing breakage from shaking around in the shipping process. Broken chips have a negative impact on consumer utility. This shape likely delivers fewer broken chips to the consumer, which maximizes overall utility.
I remember well the reason I will Never by this product again -their TV ad from over 10 years ago....The "Once you pop (the can open) you just can't stop' campaign........a 10 year old girl on a see saw bouncing up and down, the tape cut to make it speed & stop like -with a pack of boys cheering her on, with the 'once you 'pop' you just can't stop' song.......It was Nothing short of utterly por no graphic -and this newly 'popped' girl bouncing on that see saw like a drunken sorority girl getting on witgh a mechanical bull, was a mere child. -but oh well, ANY thing to sell a product.........
I remember the commercial you refer to. I remember everyone in the commercial being fully clothed. I remember children playing on a playground, eating some pringles. I don't remember any lewd, lascivious looks on anyone's face. If you read pornography into this commercial, or any other commercials featuring fully clothed children, the problem lies with YOU, not the advertiser.
Sounds like you need to pop open a can of fun, sir. Taking offense to stupid things like this will get you nowhere.
You sound like a pervert.
... yep, mind in the gutter. keeping my kids away from this guy.
Wars will start and end. People will die by the millions, billions even. Pestilence, famine, disease. Entire species wiped out completely, never to be seen again. Children will be torn from their parents and rendered asunder, their tiny arms grasping desperately at the very last clutches of life.
And it's all okay with you, as long as nobody sees a boobie. Idiot.
Did you seriously just post this? Wow....
What kind of pervert watches that commercial and sees pornography? Stay the hell away from kids.
Old picture. Pringles hasn't used that logo on their cans since 2001.
The can of Pringles in my room disagrees....
I like how taint was incorporated into the article.
Agreed! XD
Bonus Round: The author appears to be clueless regarding its well known alternate meaning (PS: For a hint, UrbanDictionary.com).
Nope - we know. We just reserve the right to get a little naughty on occasion.
Well Lays Stax are superior in taste, texture, and strength in my opinion, but the point about the shape is very intriguing. I love the shape of Pringles and I'm sure Stax are parabolic to avoid a complete copy of Pringles. But Stax are so delicious...
I LOVE Pringles and I buy the Sour Cream & Onion whenever I can, but I don't get this stupid article. They used math to define the Pringles' shape, of which made me drool all the way to the end.
Hey, if you put two chips opposite each other and then put them in your mouth...you have duck lips!
That was always fun!
Reblogged this on Don Lucuis' Chronicle.
This article was wasted on most Americans. They don't believe in calculus, or evolution, or a spherical Earth...
TAK, you make a good point. But I'd refine your comment to say that most Americans just don't take the time or effort to understand these things. Sad that logical analysis is becoming a lost art.
hey don't talk about my coastally deprived brethren like that!
uhhhhh, pull my finger
Which is why they need more of such articles. The media avoids math like the plague. It is like if people begin using the concepts of math, they just might be able begin effective problem solving. Not the touchy feely liberal arts method, of coming with a stupid idea, and the stupid idea that wins is the one that is most eloquently put.
But what if the article made them feel good?
"I think Pringles' initial intention was to make tennis balls. But on the day that the rubber was supposed to show up, a big truckload of potatoes arrived. But Pringles was a laid-back company. They said "F**k it. Cut 'em up"
RIP Mitch!
Like your logic! Shall we open a can with a nice bottle of, uh, ... I'm at a loss. But I'd prefer a can of Pringles over tennis balls any day.
Mitch Hedberg was hilarious. Wish he was still here.
I took a LOT of calculus in college, and took Physics 201 three times before I passed it. Interesting stuff, but I ended up switching my major to History. But the critical thinking, analysis, and logic in my math and physics classes helped me tremendously in my history classes. I spent 15 very successful years in private business, and now teach operations management classes at the college level. I feel that ALL college students, regardless of their area of study, be able to get through a basic calculus course.
THIS article has been on the CNN homepage for several days? WHAT THE HECK!?
I love Pringles.
Greg, did you expect actual news, an important issue, or something? LOL
I majored in math in college and my eyes glazed over halfway through.
I wonder what multi variable calculus is like. Engineers at my school had to take 3 semesters of calculus and one of differential equations. The first calculus class was differential, the second integral, and I don't remember what the 3rd class I took was about. My son had troubles with the 3rd semester, so he found an engineering discipline where it wasn't required. Construction engineering management majors could take accounting in its place. Calculus helped me change majors, as my mechanical engineering advisor told me "You're not mechanically adept, are you? You should think about changing majors." About that time, I took a second semester physics test with some gaussian integration in it and had this PHD in Nuclear Physics come up to me in the hallway and hug me and say "I'm so proud of you. The class average on the physics test was a 27 and you got a 93 and only 3 out of 400 students got the gaussian integration problem right and you were on of them." I went down and changed my major to Nuclear as I figured he thought I was smart and the mechanical engineering instructor did not. That was about 40 years ago and now I'm happily retired, until I see the Repuglicans are trying to mess with my pension and benefits. To me that's like someone breaking in your house and trying to steal from you. I'm definitely voting for Obama and the Democrats all the way.
Only took a few minutes for some silly person to make a tie into the politics. You do know that not everything is tied to politics and this was intended to just be a fun article. Quit being a stick in the mud and attempt to enjoy yourself.
Way to use the nuclear option on that article!
So, when are they going to come out with M&Ms in the Pringle's shape?
if only they could design the container so that i could fit my hand in to reach the bottom chips.
Don't you understand, that is what evolution is for. Besides, if the Pringles can changed, it would not be as useful for a wireless internet range extention antenna. Seriously, google Pringles can antenna for instructions.
Don't you understand, that is what evolution is for. Besides, if the Pringles can changed, it would not be as useful for a wireless internet range extention antenna. Seriously, google "pringles can antenna" for information..
The guy who invented the can was actually buried in it. Wikipedia: "Pringles, as a product brand, is especially known for its packaging, a tubular paperboard can with a foil-lined interior and a resealable plastic lid, which was invented by Fredric J. Baur. Baur (1918-2008) was an organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Cincinnati-based P&G. Baur's children honored his request to bury him in one of the cans by placing part of his cremated remains in a Pringles container in his grave.[20][21][22]"
Pringles Aren't Potato Chips, British Court Rules
(Newser) – It’s official: Pringles are legally no longer considered potato chips in England—and manufacturer Procter & Gamble couldn’t be happier, Reuters reports. In an effort to avoid the UK's tax on chips, P&G went to court to argue the tube-dwelling snacks were actually more like cakes or biscuits. It turns out Pringles aren’t even made of potatoes.
Pringles are actually made from dough, P&G argued, featuring a unique taste and texture and a shape that’s “not found in nature.” The court was convinced. “This appeal is allowed,” the judges said, “because Pringles are not, on the facts found, products 'made from the potato, or from potato flour or from potato starch.’”
Think you're eating potatoes when you eat Pringles? Think again. Pringles have little potato in them. Enjoy.
42% potato... also a lot of wheat...
So what. They taste good. Wheat is food.
What a waste of time! Would anybody like to hear about my conversation about debits and credits that I had with my wife? This article was nothing but the author trying to show how smart her and her husband are and how stupid everybody else is!
And in your case, a resounding success!
LOL ! Josh, that was a witty reply, I can't help break out laughing and reply to it!
Lays Stax fan?
*"she" - But thanks for the irony. :-)
Actually, since hyperbolic paraboloids are not rotationally symmetric on a horizontal axis, if you turned a hyperbolic paraboloid Pringle up-side down, it wouldn't nest with a right-side up Pringle.
I suspect Pringles are actually sections of hyperbolic hyperboloids, not hyperbolic paraboloids.
So does this mean no civil unions? I mean, I am progressive and all, and, so, what does this mean? I am so confused.
my grandma loved those. she died of stomach cancer though.
My thoughts go out to you. Seriously, they really do.
There's no such thing as a "calculus professor."
There are math teachers, and math professors.
That was my first side thought when reading this.
Except for when they solely teach calculus?
And dental hygienist.
So a "math professor" that teaches a calculus class is not a "calculus professor"?
If you ask someone who the person that taught them calculus was, would you say "Who was your math professor for calculus" or would you say "Who was your calculus professor"?
When I talk about the professor that taught me calculus, I say "My calculus professor..."
And, are you sure that no where in the world is there a "math professor" that only teaches X number of calculus classes each semester and no other math classes? You know this for a fact?
You're just being ridiculous.
I prefer to eat natural taint, zero calories!
T'aint that the truth!
Actually, 42 calories per fluid ounce on average, if you don't mind dealing with the facts.
This sounds like a shameless plug for Safeway and Pringles.
I used to use Pringles as a teaching aid for a Musculo-Skeletal Anatomy class! They make perfect Saddle Joints, which are found in the thumbs.
The perfect thing about the Pringles curvature is that when you slide one whole into your mouth, curve down of course, you get the maximum tongue coverage for maximum salt and starch saturation of the taste buds.
Great for math...horrible for human consumption. Anything in that shape isn't "natural"...just examine the ingredients.
crunch crunch chunch... Lighten up dude... crunch crunch chunch...
As opposed to supernatural? Maybe preternatural? Are you saying the preservatives are warped in from a different reality?
unowhoitsme: so you're saying that there's a shape that nothing natural can be sliced into?
Is that what their tuition money goes towards? What do they do with Goobers I wonder?
A hyperbolic paraboloid can be easily folded out of a piece of paper without cutting. Done by doing a square accordion fold towards the center of the paper. It the process it can also be used to demonstrate several other mathematical results.
This article makes me wax nostalgic....it acurately captures almost all my conversations with my ex-husband. He, too, would get quite excited, and unfortunately confrontational, over something beautifully mundane. LOL!
I feel I should make the obligitory "A topologist can't tell the difference between his coffee cup and the donught he dunks in it" comment.
Though these concepts aren't *that* hard for students to pick up, these pringles are probably designed for a first or second year course, and well within the reach of most people and far more useful than most people believe.
My mother used to make cinnamon buns that were Möbius strips. To make them, she cut strips of the dough to the right dimensions, then cross her arms in an odd way, pick up the ends of each strip, untangle her arms, and mush the ends together.
I can visualize that – kind of a twist motion with the strip, then press the doughy ends together to make the mobius. That reminds me of a piece of art by Escher.
I love the comments more than the article. It's good to know eggheads waste oxygen too.
I only eat snack foods with a shape that I can replicate with paper. For obvious reasons, eating anything else would be foolish, and down right dangerous. He may be a math wiz, but he has no common sense.
What is the perfect amount of potato to be in a potato chip? Is it 42% potato content? Ew...
u Suck Maria eho doesnt like pringles or his stache
oh yay, another tiresome health freak...
An amusing and informative article.
Here is a joke for the author's husband: What is a mathematician's favorite song? "Take It To The Limit" by The Eagles
And a frequent joke for high school students
"integrate (1/cabin)d(cabin)" = ln(cabin)+c, or a log cabin by the sea.
Change your +c constant to -ln(c). So you have ln(cabin) – ln(c). Use properties of ln to make it ln(cabin/c) which would make it a houseboat.
so pringles are negatively curved space? more appetizing than "the taint of snack foods!"
Tain't so! I way I read the artical. It depends on where you are looking at it. Fron the doom down it's negative, but from the bowl up it's all positive! And that's how I like my bowl filled up.
Great little article!
My math professor at the University of Cincinnati developed Pringles way back in the day. The man is genious. Harrison Stebbins is his name.:) this is awesome I have to share this with him.
Did he invent SPAM, too?
Monty Python invented Spam.
Spam Spam Spam Spam Spamity-Spam!
Just be thankful he doesn't teach tensor anaylsis.
I like both calculus and Pringles, but I fail to see the purpose of this piece.
pompous blather
No one "likes" calculus...
Calculus is fun. Euclidean geometry, on the other hand...
I derive pleasure from calculus
The shape is also known as a pseudosphere, or more properly a section of a pseudosphere, an equally wonderful figure in non euclid geo. Sad that this is wasted on the majority of CNN readers, who, I suspect, are at a min.
I'll take a tesseract over your three-dimensional pseudo-taint.
clicked on the video below because I was board, totally knowing what to expect. Then as I watched, My eye wandered back up to your user name and I about fell out of my chair laughing.
bored*
Loved it. I would have watched all of it if I didn't have to get up and get ready for work. Cheers!
LM F AO!
bite me
Egghead likes his booky-wook!
Taint, eh?
That was a wasted 2 minutes!
Hell yea
and you were so upset about it you spent another 60 seconds leaving a comment?
That was delightful.