God Plays Dice: An exercise for the reader

23 October 2007

An exercise for the reader

"Decode" the following equation, seen on a T-shirt:

${E \over c^2} \sqrt{-1} {PV \over nR}$

7 comments:

Unknown said...: MIT! Nerds... :); October 23, 2007 at 5:43 PM
Aaron said...: The second two factors are easy, but I can't think of any word that starts with sqrt(m^2 + (p/c)^2)... ;); October 23, 2007 at 8:39 PM
Blake Stacey said...: "nR"? What sort of self-respecting physicist measures in moles? That's chemist talk.; October 23, 2007 at 10:53 PM
GB said...: I can hear the engineers now:
"What the heck is mjT?"

Let's see what I can do with that:

E/c^2 sqrt(-1) PV/nR

Now V=IR (Ohm's law)

a=q/m E (acceleration of a particle in an electric field)

Also F=ma

so F/(q c^2) sqrt(-1) PI/n

Now we're getting somewhere.

Let me get back to you.; October 24, 2007 at 2:26 AM
heather said...: John wore this shirt on Beauty & the Geek Tuesday night.; October 24, 2007 at 6:06 AM
Michael Lugo said...: Heather,

I know it was on Beauty and the Geek; that's where I saw it. (Oddly enough, despite going to MIT I don't ever remember seeing that shirt there. Is it a new thing?); October 24, 2007 at 6:08 AM
Anonymous said...: Lets break this up into three terms since it kinda looks like it with the sqrt -1 in the center...

E=MC^2 --> first term is M
obviously second term--> I
PV = nRt (ideal gas) -> T; October 24, 2007 at 11:17 AM

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