Maths and Physics
Equation of the Month - Duplication formula for the gamma function: formulae such as these come from a number of sources. In this case it could be derived from the definition of the beta function, but it is also a special case of the Chowla-Selberg formula
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Feb 11
David Waymont: How to Multiply Big Numbers Starting from small numbers (1-bit) up to the techniques used to calculate pi to billions of digits. Mar 11
Peter Mumford: Oliver Heaviside The electrical engineer who coined many of the terms in electrical circuits, promoted vector calculus, rewrote Maxwell's equations in a form we recognise today, and invented the Heaviside function and operational calculus. Apr 8
Dave Waymont: Gauge Theories How are forces related to symmetries? How does electromagnetism arise out of complex numbers? Why is charge quantised? The schedule may change, so please check again closer to the date
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The Maths and Physics Group meets on the 2nd Wednesday of the month in the Lower Classroom at the Holy Trinity Parish Centre (which is here) from 9.30 am until 10.45 am. Most meetings consist of one of our members giving a talk on a subject of their choice, but we are open to suggestions. There is also a WhatsApp group for people to ask each other questions, or to point out interesting news articles or books they've read.
New members are very welcome. You don't need to be Einstein be a member! You just need to be interested in maths or physics (or engineering, technology, astronomy ... ). Contact [email protected] for further information.
Previous Talks
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Video: Time keeping at the NPL
A Discussion in the Philosophy of Science Projective Geometry The Physics of Pens and Pencils Video: On the Origin of Time The Theremin AC Circuits Leonhard Euler Discussion: Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics Video: How geometry has affected Physics Quantum Computing Concepts Behind the Black-Scholes Formula Quaternions and Octonions Telescope Construction - a personal perspective Video: Prof Chris Clarkson Dark matter, dark energy etc Making a telescope that can't see stars Playing with a Stirling engine Why do so many physicists go into financial services? Bell's Inequalities and Aspect's entanglement experiment Heat and Thermodynamics |
Video: Geometry of Chaos
Sphere-packing in n-dimensions Experiment: Determining the wavelength of a laser Polynomials and (Aero) Planes Radio Telescopes "Welcome to the Loxodrome" (!) The Wonderful World of Non-dimensional Groups Covert Radar Detection of Stealth Planes The Steam Engine The Concept of a Field Audio Compression and MP3 Lightning! Galileo Trisecting the Angle Blockchain, BitCoin & NFTs Three talks on books:
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Lastly, a bit of fun ...
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Easier
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Harder
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Please make all the usual assumptions, and don't worry if you can't solve the problems! Solutions can be found in this pdf.
The questions are best viewed on a desktop as they may contain pictures that cannot be scaled easily for a mobile.
Two new problems will appear next month.
The questions are best viewed on a desktop as they may contain pictures that cannot be scaled easily for a mobile.
Two new problems will appear next month.
Page maintained by Dave Waymont