#40270 - 09/28/01 05:07 PM
Re: superellipse
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/04/01
Posts: 2605
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Bear with me on this, it does come back to words.
The mathematical equation whose graph is an ellipse is:
a * (x to the 2nd power) + b * (y to the 2nd power) = 1,
where a and b are any constants. a and be determine the size of the ellipse and how elongated it is. If a=b the result is a circle; thus a circle is a particular kind of an ellipse.
About 20 years ago a Dane, Piet Hein, experimented to see what kind of shape you'd get if you graphed a similar equation but change the 2's above. He found that if you change that number to about one-and-a-half, you get an esthetically pleasing shape, a compromise between an oval and a rectangle: one would roughly describe it as a rectangle with the corners cut off.
The term for that shape is "superellipse" Furniture in the Danish Modern style furniture often uses superellipses as, for example, the share of a tabletops. Danish traffic engineers design traffic ellipses in that shape, to minimize the sharp curves at the ends of the ellipse.
Hein has also authored numbers pithy poems, called "grooks".
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#40271 - 09/28/01 05:07 PM
Re: superellipse
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/04/01
Posts: 2605
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Bear with me on this, it does come back to words.
The mathematical equation whose graph is an ellipse is:
a * (x to the 2nd power) + b * (y to the 2nd power) = 1,
where a and b are any constants. a and be determine the size of the ellipse and how elongated it is. If a=b the result is a circle; thus a circle is a particular kind of an ellipse.
About 20 years ago a Dane, Piet Hein, experimented to see what kind of shape you'd get if you graphed a similar equation but change the 2's above. He found that if you change that number to about one-and-a-half, you get an esthetically pleasing shape, a compromise between an oval and a rectangle: one would roughly describe it as a rectangle with the corners cut off.
The term for that shape is "superellipse" Furniture in the Danish Modern style furniture often uses superellipses as, for example, the share of a tabletops. Danish traffic engineers design traffic ellipses in that shape, to minimize the sharp curves at the ends of the ellipse.
Hein has also authored numberous pithy poems, called "grooks".
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#40272 - 09/30/01 07:38 AM
Re: Caxis
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/04/01
Posts: 2605
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The response to "Caxi's" leaves me empathic with Dr. Bill's plaintive plaint, "Suppose they gave a word-post and nobody came?" I am underwhelmed.
Last hint, combining two hints above: one need merely google Gilbert & Sullivan to find out what Major General Stanley knows about frogs, and then, googling further, check the reference cited by that illustrious Major General.
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#40273 - 09/30/01 07:45 AM
Re: Spartans
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/04/01
Posts: 2605
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Public message to Sparteye: Northwestern 27, Michigan State 26
I do not comment; I merely report.
But to keep this word-related: this of course deals only with the "Spart" part of "Sparteye", and next weekend we are likely to suffer an-eye-for-an-eye from the buckeyes.
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#40276 - 09/30/01 12:10 PM
Re: Spartans
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old hand
Registered: 07/03/00
Posts: 1094
Loc: Cincinnati & Loveland, Ohio, U...
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and next weekend we are likely to suffer an-eye-for-an-eye from the buckeyes.
I'll be at the game, so I'll make sure to let you know.
Though, I don't think OSU will be trying to get revenge for the Sparts. They're not exactly allies if you recall the '98 season.
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#40277 - 09/30/01 12:11 PM
Re: Caxis
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 03/14/01
Posts: 2379
Loc: New York City
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<<"Suppose they gave a word-post and nobody came?" I am underwhelmed."
The second rule of writing: to know your audience.
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#40279 - 09/30/01 06:06 PM
Re: Audience
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/04/01
Posts: 2605
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Well, i'peter, now we know where this audience's attention was!
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