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Apple, Rounded Rectangles, Odd Numbers, Square Roots
Written by Jimmy
I’m a simple guy. I get fascinated by the silliest things. Well, this one has made me happy all day. I’m reading Isaacson’s book on Steve Jobs. And we’re in the middle of the introduction of the original Mac. There’s all sorts of stuff that Jobs has to figure out for the first time, like graphical interfaces, fonts, use of a mouse, the metaphor of a desk top, of a ‘window.’ It is useful to remember some one had to put all the together.
So there’s a big issue about bit maps and how much processing power it takes to create certain shapes. And a guy needs to do a work around on something so he doesn’t have to use square roots. And the work around involved a mathmatical fact. There, I got to the cool thing. The cool thing, which I didn’t know, was that every number that squares (that has a square root without decimal places) is the sum of odd numbers before it. Sounds confusing, but here you go.
1. 1 is a square number, the square root is 1 (1)
2. 4 is a square number, the sqaure root is 2 (1+3)
3. 9 is a square number, the square root is 3 (1+3+5)
4. 16 is a sqaure number, the square root is 4 (1+3+7)
5. 25 is a sqaure number, the square root is 5 (1+3+5+7+9)
6. 36 is a square number, the square root is 6 (1+3+5+7+9+11)
7. 49 is a sqaure number, the square root is 7 (1+3+5+7+9+11+13)
8. 64 is a square number, the square root is 8 (1+3+5+7+9+11+13+15)
9. 81 is a square number, the square root is 9 (1+3+5+7+9+11+13+15+17)
10. 100 is a square number, the square root is 10 (1+3+5+7+9+11+13+15+17+19)
Now, I’m very agnostic. But, if you want to make an argument for God, I would start with this, follow it with rainbows and then Nick Cave’s Into My Arms
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Jimmy