When it comes to maths, I don’t really consider myself a noob.
Of course, there’s a lot I don’t know. In fact, it’s a common belief that the last mathematician to know ‘everything’ (that is, to at least be familiar with everything) was David Hilbert — and that only really applies to the early 20th century.
Today, there is simply no way for you to be an expert in every field or even, in a substantial number of fields. There’s simply too much to know. You’d be spending the whole span of your life, playing catch-up with what’s been done and what’s being done.
But yeah. I’m not a noob, y’know?
For example, I think it’s safe to say I know my way around integration. Single, double, or triple integration — no problem. Laplace integrals, Fourier integrals, Elliptic integrals — piece of cake. Even more deviant and exotic creatures like Error functions, Fresnel integrals, Airy integrals, and so on and so forth I’ve encountered.
Today, however, I met a new beast. At first glance, I treated with disdain.
After longer, more protracted glance, I’m happy to report I’m still…uh…pretty repulsed by the whole thing.
The formula in question was derived by the Australian mathematician, John Henry Mitchell in 1898. The formula, which can be used to calculate the wave resistance for ships of different forms, was intended to revolutionize the Naval Engineering community.
It didn’t.
The popular theory is that the engineers took one look at the formula, went “Eeewww”, and promptly burnt the article.
People then go on to theorize that Mitchell’s short career (10 years?) in research mathematics was due to his disgust at the reception of this work.
But looking at the formula, can you really blame the community?
Yuck.
Things I Don’t Care to See #138: A quintuplet integration.
P.S. If you’re feeling particularly bad about the poor Aussie, don’t be. His work in the 1898 paper is now seen as one of the most important and revolutionary contributions to hydrodynamic ship resistance.
If only I can be so lucky.
Jonathan Weatherhead says,
HAHAHA that would make a fine bonus question on a test;-)
Nishant says,
I want to know how he derived something like that.
No…wait…I don’t.
Phil says,
Nishant,
The derivation is not so bad. In fact, I’m writing a paper on it as we speak. You can think of the quintic integral as reducing to a triple integral. Two of those three integrals represent integration over the hull of the ship. The remaining integral represents integration in wave-space — i.e. adding up the assortment of waves.
I’ve seen worse. But never five integrals, before. At least not in a physical application.
Alexandra says,
Hi there!
I’ve been reading your website on a regular basis for a while now. I’m a big fan!
This post reminded me of a time when I was in highschool and was solving triple integrals. My younger sister once saw the endless lines of equations in my Math notebook and was totally baffled: “You’re writing rubbish! dxdydz?! That’s not even a REAL word!”.
What? That’s not in the dictionary? Go figure!
Dan says,
When you check the wikipedia article that Phil so diligently posted, you’ll notice one thing:
DAVID HILBERT HAS A REALLY COOL HAT.
some girl says,
Yes, but can he knit?