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I borrowed the title of this post from the television series - I miss you, Charlie!
This has nothing to do with Germany, per se. Just a celebration of geek hood...
Driving in the car with J, is often accompanied by unexpected conversational topics and questions (Mommy, what makes a planet a planet?). This evening, he said, "So, Mom, what is it with the number 3?" Instantly, of course, I think, 'it's the first odd prime'... But I do not say this aloud. I ask J, "What do you mean?" "You know, he says, people are always counting to 3... Like when you want us to hurry up and get ready for bed." "Actually, I count down from 5." "Oh, oh, right. I mean when people say 1,2,3 go. Why 3?" Hmmm, a little disappointed that he didn't realize I was counting down from 5. Says a bit about the amount of attention paid to dear old Mom... But he does seem to be on to something. We count to 3, to 5, to 10, but who counts to 6? Or 4? Or 7? And who picked these 'special numbers' to count to?
I have some numbers that I like. For a while here, mostly in December, the temperature outside hovered over 4 degrees Celsius. Every time I would look at the reading on the digital thermometer and it said '4 C', I would get a little silly... 4 degrees C is the point of maximum density of water at 1 atm. Water is as dense as it can be, I would think to myself. This is similar to the little giggle I get when I look at the clock and it is 3:14. Pi-oclock! Of course, the 2 digit decimal approximation is not really Pi-oclock, Pi-oclock must happen at some point between 3:14 and 3:15...
Next time someone asks you to pick a number between one and ten, do me a favor: pick e. (e is the base of the natural logarithm, a very special number).
How do I count down from e? I usually hold up a hand and fold down my fingers one at a time. If I get all the way to my thumb and those shin guards are still on the floor, then someone (usually somebody under the age of 10) loses a privilege.
ReplyDeleteI really like pi o'clock. I'm going to be looking for it this afternoon.
I'm fond of 7 and 12. How many notes in a diatonic scale? How many days in a week? How many notes in a chromatic scale? How many hours on a clock face, how many months in a year? The "circle of fifths" maps keys onto a 12-hour clock face: keys progress clockwise by ascending 5ths, counterclockwise with descending 5ths. 0 sharps/flats at midnight, 6 sharps/flats at 6:00; increase by 1 sharp per hour moving clockwise, increase by 1 flat per hour moving counterclockwise. Any 7-hour span gives you the pitches to fill in a 7-note diatonic scale. (Start at 11:00 for C major/A minor).
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