November 2002 - mathfun@mailman.xmission.com

[math-fun] Majorities & minorities
by Henry Baker 16 Nov '02

16 Nov '02

In the last day or two, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to allow one of Bush's appointees to move forward to a vote in the whole Senate. I'm not interested in the politics of this appointee, but to the curious way the vote was recorded. Although the Democrats have the most votes in the Committee, they held a 'voice vote' in which the appointee was approved. They then recorded the votes individually, showing that more individuals voted against than for. (I guess this is a form of 'dark matter' votes, wherein the sum total is large enough, but a census of individuals can't turn up enough to account for the total.) If this bizarre event is allowed to stand, it will go down as yet another form of legal hubris, along with stopping clocks, and making pi rational. I'm curious if there are any real mathematical situations wherein a class loses, but when considered as individuals, they win. I presume we'd have to be talking about infinite sets, though, in order to even entertain such a notion.

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Re: [math-fun] Majorities & minorities
by Henry Baker 16 Nov '02

16 Nov '02

According to the recent rules, you'd have to distinguish 'hard money' (advertising on specific candidates) from 'soft money' (advertising on 'issues' (wink, wink)). There are a lot of people who would be happy to vote for a particular candidate, if they could personally receive their pro rata share of the advertising dollars spent on them. At 08:53 AM 11/16/02 -0800, Thane Plambeck wrote: >This started me thinking about modelling votes by "buying them." Ie ignore all the >(probably inessential, anyway) actual differences between candidates, and just assume that each "side" has >a certain amount of money to be spent buying votes. Is there a sense in which that analyst is >right for certain assumptions (I'm not sure what they might be?) > >Thane > >Thane Plambeck >650 321 4884 office >650 323 4928 fax

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[math-fun] The two Germanys
by Thane Plambeck 16 Nov '02

16 Nov '02

These two signatures from recent math-fun postings challenge my passing familiarity with German plurals and/or the treatment of the dative case. Which is correct? Or perhaps both? Mit besten Gr"usse, Aviezri Fraenkel. Mit bestem Gr"usse, Richard K. Guy. Alles Gute! Thane Plambeck 650 321 4884 office 650 323 4928 fax http://www.qxmail.com/home.htm

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[math-fun] Review 0976.91008
by Aviezri Fraenkel 14 Nov '02

14 Nov '02

I agree with the comments of Professor Richard Guy, and would like to add three further remarks. 1. Professor Guy wrote, "...But as soon as there are two or more N-positions we cannot decide the outcome. We need the simple but powerful theorem...". We could still sidestep that powerful theorem and do everything by means of the P,N,D-positions only: but on the *game-graph* of the game rather than on the input graph. The game-graph has exponential size in the input graph size, so this computation isn't practical. In other words, the Sprague-Grundy theory and its infinite extension enable us to recover a polynomial strategy. 2. In Fig.~2 of the paper a sample problem of a graph with 5 tokens is displayed, which demonstrates that the generalized S-G function can solve the sample game. The simple P,N,D-labeling cannot do this on the graph depicted in Fig.~2, as Professor Guy wrote. Did the reviewer not notice this example, occupying 3 pages? 3. Zentralblatt should publish a corrected review. Mit besten Gr"usse, Aviezri Fraenkel.

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[math-fun] Anagram Antonym Puzzles
by Thane Plambeck 14 Nov '02

14 Nov '02

I generated these a year or two ago. Some of them can very difficult. They are often better attacked as inverse problems (hint). I've loosely sorted on difficulty. For example, pool scene = open close. fare lake thrift leg bleak witch pool scene port fossil stood dense pint remedy hotel script strange wok accuse field andes fount woven primrose henderson text vail legend attic coffin forge midsection barrier peak sweater ire desultory bid reagan sleep fatty divorcee enter palace adorn specimen convey pint evade dial seminole surgery (* bonus / decompose as antonyms in Two Ways! *) Thane Plambeck 650 321 4884 office 650 323 4928 fax http://www.qxmail.com/home.htm

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Re: [math-fun] A problem from the files of David Klarner
by Mike Stay 13 Nov '02

13 Nov '02

> I didn't follow this. Maybe you're talking about the triangle being > attached to the opposite side? It's supposed to be attached to the adjacent > side in the problem. > Oops! -- Mike Stay staym(a)datawest.net

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Re: [math-fun] A problem from the files of David Klarner
by Mike Stay 13 Nov '02

13 Nov '02

I wrote: > There's a simple extension of the trivial case you mentioned: Let E,F be the > midpoints of AB, CD respectively. Then you can cut the rectangle AEFD > lengthwise. I suspect there's a way to cut it where you turn one of the > pieces over... That last sentence should be > I suspect there's a way to cut it [the figure, not necessarily the rectangle] > where you turn one of the pieces over... -- Mike Stay staym(a)datawest.net

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[math-fun] unsubscriptions
by Richard Schroeppel 13 Nov '02

13 Nov '02

I try to process "unsubscribe" requests promptly. David W. Wilson's email address is davidwwilson(a)attbi.com, in case anyone wishes to include him in their "CC:" line. Rich rcs(a)cs.arizona.edu

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Re: [math-fun] Nice knowing you all
by asimovd＠aol.com 13 Nov '02

13 Nov '02

Gee, David, I'm sorry to hear you're leaving. You seem pretty interested in math, so I'm surprised you're making a conscious choice to drop it even as a hobby. I'm very sympathetic to your employment plight, having been without a job myself for longer than seven months (and longer than I care to reveal). I wish you well in all your endeavors. Feel free to come back here anytime you want. Best, Dan Asimov

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[math-fun] Oh my gosh (Re: Nice Knowing You All)
by David Wilson 13 Nov '02

13 Nov '02

I don't know what to say. I got so many replies and good wishes that I am very moved. A lot of people want to get a hold of my books. Give me a day to decide what to do. I have an offer to take them all, if it works out I would be inclined to do that just to save on labor. I wish I could be fair but it doesn't seem practical right now. I will advise on my final decision. Thanks again, I am overwhelmed with sympathy. DW

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