Pi Stuff Quick Update
Just a short addendum to the previous Pi Day post — I was numerically verifying that the area under the curve of the basic Gaussian function was the square root of π. Which, I asserted, is pretty interesting since we all learn at some point that π is defined using circles, and there’s no circle in this plot:
Cool. Since then, the great 3 Blue 1 Brown dropped a video exploring this relationship in much more depth, so here you go:
Until next time, keep on Stackin’!
On Deck:
Still coming up: an article describing an astonishingly successful and simple tool in a physicist’s toolbox: Dimensional Analysis! And not just using it to convert between systems of units, but to guess at the form of complex equations. It seems to work way better than it has any right to!
If you’re a student/teacher and want to see lots of worked examples that I like to include in my classes when I teach the “standard” University Physics 1 and 2 courses, feel free to browse the (growing) collection of 150+ videos at
And if something is especially cool and you’re inclined to leave a “tip” I’m not above coffee or pizza. In fact, following Douglas Adams, I’m not above accepting coffee or pizza in the same way that the sea is not above the clouds.
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