jordan

I'd do four things that are a bit of what everyone has said so far. First, alow myself to give and take my powers at will Second, spend some time with histories famous people. It's tough to say exactly who I'd choose now, but many scientist, politicians and some ordinary people from different time periods Third, grant myself and a few others knowledge of the workings of everything in the universe. Then play around with the knowledge for a bit. Finaly, create a new universe that I can stay in from the beginning while watching and helping them grow and discover new things about the universe (I would not have knowledge of this universe, as discovering it is most of the fun).

If adam or zarkov were still around...

It was phi. I believe Robert Langdon was using it to teach a class about anatomy and how phi was a proportion often found in plants and animals. On the website I posted a while ago, there is a nice little section on the left detailing where all this apears. Some I think is a little bit of a stretch, but it's is interesting for a minute or two.

I do it around here because I am usualy working on homework while intermitently reading something new. I found that if I typed in shorthand online it wound up in an essay I was writing. I think it is a lot easier to type and write in all one style than to try and switch between the two. Now writing in spanish, that's another problem.

I think their history would be very different then ours. The main problem I see is "carbon based life". This leaves so many possibilities that the odds for anything similar to our past would be very small. A carbon based life could require, by nature, very different technologies to live. Even humans, living on a planet similar to Earth would likely learn at a different rate. We look back and see that learning wasn't steady, but there were times of great advances and times of none at all. Should Newton and Kepler and Galileo not come along and made the progress for science that they did, who knows where we would be. Even Einstein, 100 years ago had a profound impact on what we know understand, that without 1 of these guys, we would be very different as a culture.

I don't read too many scifi books, but I liked Contact a lot, and Andromada Strain was good also.

I beleive you refer to phi. The proportion which everything is said to look best. For example, a rectangle with sides in a ration of 1:1.618 is said to be the most pleasing to look at. http://goldennumber.net/

Did you mean color?

Mabey I'm missing something, but is there any specific relationship between n and tau in this?

http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2743& http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2743& Mr.L's posts are the ones to read carefully. Basicly though, it is possible to travel at both the speed of light and greater than the speed of light, just never crossing from one side to the other. Particles traveling faster than the speed of light can't slow down below it and those below it can't speed up above it.

Again with the integration, Wolfson. I have the answer to this one, just don't know how to write it properly. Mabey integration can help. If you feel like explaining it I'll be here or on AOM's. Oh, how does my squares equation look?

Ok. I think I have the answer. It is difficult to explain though without proper math symbols on the keyboard. At least for the squares part, the answer is n^2+(n-1)^2+(n-2)^2... That just covers squares though.

Just an general missunderstanding then. What is this K-line you refer to?

I did say internal causes. The external (ecological) ones would probably best take hold when the civilization is very young and unadvanced. I was aware of my folly, but in answer to the question, I can't envision anything else. I hope some day we will get ansers to the question. That would be cool, assuming their not hostile.

I do think civilizations would need some type of advanced technology, if it were to be an internal extinction. I could be missing something, but wouldn't it be difficult for a race to defeat itself with basic materials? Again, I have to base this on humanity's past, but I think it would be nearly impossible that some cavemen (for lack of a better term) could kill out the world's population with just some stone tools.

I agree entirely that ti-89 should not be used as the crutch they are, but there are still many careers in which the more advanced math is never seen or used. Mabey I don't realize it (like you said), so can you explain where you see it?

Are talking specificly about a math-based career? The arguement is that if the career is not, then it doesn't matter if you know the theory. If your career is math related, then it should be obvious that you wish to learn the theory anyway.

Let me know if you ever get it and how it is.

Did you get the anser you were looking for, then? Looking at TV today, I find it hard to believe a large number of people could be facinated by scientific-based series which, if it's like the book, explains what the modern understanding of the universe. It seems like most people would find it too boring. Wow, our two seperate converstations seems to have just found something in common.

How much do you think you would have/will benifited, assuming your career goals, if you had learned all the theory behind what you were taught?

Do you have a general idea of what the series was about? Population density could play a big part in it. Once again, you seem to be answering your origional question by aplying human ideas to what other civilizations mught be. Another would be stress related to environmental strain. Low food/water/light could all contribute even in small groups (I had to use human needs once again for simplicity, but the idea would remain for whatever this civilization is dependent upon). This also assumes they haven't overcome all of this is some way.

What would you think they might be like? Is this "Cosmos" also by Sagan? I was looking thorugh some boxes of old books in the basement and one I looked at was a Cosmos by Sagan. I don't know what a TV series would get from the book, though, as it is strictly factual.

Have you read the book? It's a very good one. As to your question, it is difficult to envision a society entirely different from ours. Since war and destruction have played such huge roles in our history, people will assume that an advanced society will not only have developed weapons, but ones much greater than our own. There was a point in our history were the most destructive-minded person could not have destroyed our civilization. With the advent of new weapons, it is a very real threat, though. I believe the movie also mentioned an advanced transportation system and something to show her her father. These are human ideas adapted to a futuristic civilization. It seems the best we can do is to envision ourselves x number of years ahead and assume that that is what another civilization of the same age is like.

I'm struggling between two ideas. I see fafalone's idea of a seperate class for those who wish to learn the theory and those who don't (This might just appease my wish of learning math faster than I currently am without consideration for the benifits of all the other students). I also think that keeping everyone in the same class but teaching the theory from the beggining might help. When students are told to solve equations but not why they work, they 1) forget the ideas invovled in the concept quicker 2) struggle through concepts that include combinations of basic ones It could very well just be me, but I take the time to learn why most math equations produce the correct answer, whether the teacher explains it or not. After I find my answer, I can remember and aply everything to it quicker and easier. Mabey this isn't the case for everyone, so let me know if I'm off on this idea. If everyone does find this true, mabey teching the basic theories would allow students to grasp more complex ones easier, thus calculators would be acceptable because the theory would be there.

Since it has been established that time will cause "tidal locks", what is it that would cause this to happen?