Today's Google Doodle

Maybe because today is the day for a lot of the parades?? And it's never too early to start drinking, for some. I used to dread going through Penn Station in NYC on St. Patrick's Day, because all the drunken hordes in their Aran sweaters used to pass through there on their way to the bar, whether they were Irish or not.

we don't do parades, just the drinking. and general silliness. occurred to me as I was going to bed (couldn't sleep which is why I'm back here at 2.15am) that perhaps it was tuned in to our summer Time along most of the Est Coast - in Queensland we don't have summer time. would have thought google would be smart enough to know where I am.

FWIW, doodle is animated but not interactive.

joanne said:

we don't do parades, just the drinking. ...

From what we've heard, that's just about every day in Australia, no? ;-)

you'd need to check with marksierra - I think they recently had a parade where he lives, the Moomba parade...
http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/Whatson/Festivals/MoombaFestival/2013/Program/Pages/Parade.aspx

ooooooooooooooooh! are you in for a treat on 2 April! So pretty!
:-D

Today you can smell your way around the web... http://www.google.com/landing/nose/

Today's "doodle" marks the birthday of mathematician Leonhard Euler.

It includes a reference to his famous proof, (eiπ+ 1 = 0) - that is, if "e" (the base of the natural logs) is raised to the power of "i" (the imaginary number that is the square root of -1) times pi (yes, that pi), and added to the number 1, the answer is the number 0.

The reason that it is famous is because, in one simple equation, it unites two irrational numbers ("e" and "pi"), with the base of the imaginary numbers, and the identiy number for addition (zero) and for multiplication (1).

All of these numbers are derived from disparate math approaches, and yet he derived an equation which united them all.

As a freshman mathematics major in college, after our professor took us through the proof, he spun around mischievously (he reminded everyone of Jonathan Winters), and declared, "So, therefore, God exists!" And winked.

[ETA] lower right-hand corner of the "doodle".

An equally puzzling conundrum, and one that could lead to less than divine conclusions: why is Euler pronounced "oy-ler", while Euclid is pronounced "yew-clid"?

When I posed this question to my husband just this weekend, which I thought of during a series of random brain firings while absently staring at a bottle of eucalyptus ("yew-cuh-lip-tiss") shampoo in the shower, having no idea that Euler's birthday was in the offing, his response was (after some prompting from me when he mentioned something about two states): why is Kansas pronounced "kan-ziss", while Arkansas is pronounced "ark-in-saw"?

jasper said:

An equally puzzling conundrum, and one that could lead to less than divine conclusions: why is Euler pronounced "oy-ler", while Euclid is pronounced "yew-clid"?

The mere fact that you know how to pronounce "Euler" could put you in the "math nerd" category. :-D

Thanks, nohero. I'll take that as a compliment, though unfortunately I'm better at the pronunciation than the math. I sort of hit my limits - pun intended - with calculus, though I just managed to hang on with advanced algebra (rings, fields, ...). But I've long since forgotten so much math that I wonder if I'll be able to help my son when he gets to high school. I may have to relearn along with him.

nohero said:

Today's "doodle" marks the birthday of mathematician Leonhard Euler.

It includes a reference to his famous proof, (eiπ+ 1 = 0) - that is, if "e" (the base of the natural logs) is raised to the power of "i" (the imaginary number that is the square root of -1) times pi (yes, that pi), and added to the number 1, the answer is the number 0.

I looked up the some of the terms above so I could try to begin to understand what this is - but I didn't even understand the definitions. Oh, well.

I was bursting with the news of this doodle but didn't want to foreshadow: it's a pretty one as well as elegant in its demosntrations. so glad others love it too!

"euler" is pronounced in the Germanic way: we need umlauts for best modern pronunciation. "euclid" is is prounced in the Greek way, which is ew rather than oi (another Greek letter). And of course, since we're speaking English, we're mangling the true pronunciations a little because that's what we do.

Oiler is a German (Swiss pronunciation. Yew-klid was Greek.

Nothing like a bit of etymology to spoil my fun ; - )

But good point; the translation to the English alphabet obscures the origin and intended pronunciation.

So what about Kansas/Arkansas?

I guess they had done Da Vinci's birthday too many times before? It is today, too.

(and @nohero, I had a math prof who did basically the same thing!)

Did you mean "stein"!

One version of Arkansas:
According to Wikipedia, it's an Algonquin word.

"The name Arkansas derives from the same root as the name for the State of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of American Indians are closely associated with the Sioux tribes. The word is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw (a related "Kaw" tribe) word meaning "land of downriver people" or "people of the south wind". The pronunciation of Arkansas was made official by an act of the state legislature in 1881 after a dispute between the two U.S. Senators from Arkansas."

Apparently it comes from the same root word as Kansas, which makes sense.

And now you know!
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas


Another version:
In 1881, their legislature adopted a movement to be called Arkansaw rather than Ar-kansas. No lie. Look it up!
Source(s):
http://www.anoasis.co.uk/content/2004/11…

I had a server named Euler once (and his brothers Crick and Scope). I felt so bad when "he" got replaced by a new one and i had to kill "him." Like Hal in 2001 A Space Odyssey, but not evil. The replacement servers had standardized, no fun names.

so, not waitstaff then? IT servers?

Right, IT servers for applications.

sandytoes said:

(and @nohero, I had a math prof who did basically the same thing!)

So. it's a classic math nerd joke!

Saul Bass is 93

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOi2nXH4pBo

It's interesting Dave - we seem to have a different vid here for Google Australia, and it's got more colour and more movement... h'm.

Yes, the original one on the Google site is much better than this! I thought this was the same thing.

So we've got Joanne in Australia, Dave in Hong Kong both posting on a message board in New Jersey. MOL..an INTERNATIONAL phenomena! BTW, I think Saul Bass was a family friend of my mom's family back in the early days. At least they grew up in the same neighborhood and went to the same high school

Someone has to take the night shift.

jasper said:

Thanks, nohero. I'll take that as a compliment, though unfortunately I'm better at the pronunciation than the math. I sort of hit my limits - pun intended - with calculus, though I just managed to hang on with advanced algebra (rings, fields, ...). But I've long since forgotten so much math that I wonder if I'll be able to help my son when he gets to high school. I may have to relearn along with him.

I majored in math successfully, but went into IT as a career and barely used any math past what I had learned in 9th grade.

30-some years later, I have forgotten more math than most people ever know and it makes me sad. I alway thought I would review/refresh it as my kids went through school, but by the time they ever needed help (not often) it was too late. When it comes to math, it really IS 'Use it or lose it'.

Now that my youngest (also a math geek) is about to graduate, I'm pondering relearning it (at least through Calculus) and trying to become a volunteer tutor.

That is a very cool Google doodle.

But it's Saul Bass' 93 birthday; he's not 93.

Born: May 8, 1920, The Bronx

Died: April 25, 1996, Los Angeles

its a google doodle show! very cool.

oots

OK: This is the colorful one, used the old embed code. Turn up the VOLUME, too!