Fibonacci Number(s)

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89…

Engel’s Coefficient

named after Ernst Engel, it is a proportion, the percentage of the income of a person, family, or larger group of people which is spent on food,
by Engel’s Law, the higher the percentage, generally the poorer the person/people

Chandler’s Wobble

named for astronomer, businessman, American, Seth Carlo Chandler Jr., discovered in the late 1800s, it is a small change or motion in the Earth’s axis of rotation, a shift of approximately 15 meters, in periods of 433 days (or 14 months), a free nutation

The Egg Of Columbus

a story illustrating that most people can do something, once shown how, told as an analogy of Christopher Columbus making an egg stand on end
later it was the name of a project of Nikola Tesla which demonstrated principles of a rotating magnetic field model & an induction motor

Hanlon’s Razor

“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”

Van Allen Belt

in physics, either of two regions of high-energy-charged particles surrounding the earth, the inner region centered at an altitude of 2,000 miles & the outer region at an altitude between 9000 & 12,000 miles

Gordian Knots

an expression meaning complicated problems, insoluble dilemas, predicaments, impossible situations, riddles, perplexing obstacles, conundrums, deadlocks..

based on a legendary knot tied by King Gordius (of Phrygia) & cut open by Alexander the Great, supposedly making him the next ruler of Asia, as boded by an oracle

den Gordisk knute

Blaise Pascal

was born 385 years ago today

he was the Pascal of Pascal’s Wager (that it’s better to bet on God, then against, despite lack of evidence or reason)

• “A trifle consoles us, for a trifle distresses us.”
• “Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.”
• “Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.”
• “Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.”
• “Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.”
• “The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.”
• “We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.”
• “Through space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; through thought I comprehend the world.”
• “Hjertet har sine grunner som forstanden ikke kjenner til.”
• “Dette brevet ble lenger enn vanlig fordi jeg ikke hadde tid til å skrive kortere.”
• “Kjærligheten har ingen alder, siden den alltid fornyer seg.”
• “Tanken utgjør menneskets storhet.”

Ockham’s Razor

to William of Ockham and his principle, his lex parsimoniae, that the simplest explanation is usually the best one, at hvis man har to mulige teorier eller forklaringer, og begge stiller likt, da er det mest sannsynlig at den enkleste stemmer, that entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily, or in his words, “entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem” or “pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate”