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... :)

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)... ;)

Blake Stacey said...

"nR"? What sort of self-respecting physicist measures in moles? That's chemist talk.

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.

heather said...

John wore this shirt on Beauty & the Geek Tuesday night.

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?)

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