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General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 03/04/2023 15:34:08

Title: The first scene in "A Beautiful Mind"
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 03/04/2023 15:34:08

The movie starts off with a mathematics professor telling his new PhD hopefuls that mathematicians were the most important factor in winning WWII. Is that a ridiculous thing to say?

Title: Re: The first scene in "A Beautiful Mind"
Post by: Bored chemist on 03/04/2023 15:42:24

You should discuss it with the codebreakers.

Title: Re: The first scene in "A Beautiful Mind"
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 03/04/2023 19:42:11

Quote from: Bored chemist on 03/04/2023 15:42:24

You should discuss it with the codebreakers.

I don't speak codebreaker.

Title: Re: The first scene in "A Beautiful Mind"
Post by: alancalverd on 03/04/2023 20:11:05

And once the codes were broken, the invention of integer programming made the Pacific war logistics easier to plan. Problem with simple linear algebra was that it would demand 0.7 of an aircraft carrier and 3.5 destroyers for a given mission: fractional ships don't float.

Artillery is physics, and physics is mathematics. Air navigation is mathematics.