There's a funny moment in tonight's episode where Sheldon gets stuck on a rock-climbing wall and remarks, "What part of an inverse tangent function approaching an asymptote don't you understand?" I thought it'd be helpful to take a moment and examine that joke. A linear asymptote is essentially a straight line to which a graphed curve moves closer and closer but does not reach. In other words, given a function y=fn(x) with asymptote A, A represents a number that, no matter how big (or, given the function, small) you make x, y will never make it to A. The particular example Sheldon quotes is the inverse Tangent function, or Arctangent, which has two asymptotes. If you graph it, it sort of looks like a horizontal S:
No matter how big you make x (that is, how far you move to the right), the function is never going to hit that top line (π/2), and no matter how small x gets (moving to the left), y is never going to be smaller than - π/2.
The more you know, the funnier it gets
9 comments:
That is hilarious! I thought I would never stop laughing. I was laughing so hard I started having a brain hemorhage, and Debby had to take me to the ER to get sedated.
Actually, I think Sheldon's joke could be likened to digging a hole. The dirt you dig out would represent the linear asymptote, and if you make it inversly tangential by distributing it on the surface, equally in opposite directions (Archtangent or two asymptotes,) regardless of how much dirt you take out of the hole, the resulting facing piles of dirt (Archtangent,) will never reach the height of Pi/2, which is inversely proportional to -Pi/2 (the depth of the hole.)
"What part of that don't you understand?!" Hah! Cracks me up. All you have to do with any quandry is relate it to hole digging, and it makes total sense.
And you thought nobody would dare comment on this.
Dad/David
HUH?
I also thought it was great the first time I saw it, although It did take me a minute to comprehend it, its been a while since I have dealt with calculus. I guess just think of a goal that will always be just our of reach, and this example will do you well.
Good relation to whole digging.
Jason
I think Dad is so far removed from math that he actually forgot to do long division. And the only thing that can be likened to digging a hole is suicide. Especially when the holes are full of cold water and they are only 6 inches wide.
By the way, that show is hilarious. Especially Sheldon.
You've got to admit Colin - that was a pretty good comparison for a guy who barely passed calculus and never wants to go back. Besides, I've never seen the show and I'm not sure who Sheldon is. The hole digging analogy was mainly for Jason, because he loves to dig holes.
Dad
I've kind of developed a twitch in my right bicept. I think it is because I haven't dug a whole in a while. I need a fence post to rot, a tree to die the mail box to be ran over. Something! Someone, help me out here! I need a hole to dig. I think I am going to start digging a pool in the back yard like encino man.
Jason
Who in the world would ever want to go back to Calculus?!
So wait...I get the math, but I'm missing the joke. Isn't that sad?
I'm with you Becky, and I even took a semester of university-level calculus.
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