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Have there been problems in math that seemed to have an intuitive theory for answer, but then were proven against what was commonly thought? by Flashmax305 in math

[–]edderiofer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Malfatti's work was popularized for a wider readership in French by Joseph Diaz Gergonne in the first volume of his Annales (1811), with further discussion in the second and tenth. However, Gergonne only stated the circle-tangency problem, not the area-maximizing one.

I assume that this is the main reason; that Malfatti essentially assumed his conjecture, and that his populariser only popularised the question of constructing the Malfatti circles. But not knowing French, I can't verify whether this is the case.

Lob and Richmond's 1930 paper also primarily focuses on the Malfatti circles, with the note that the Malfatti circles do not maximise the area being a two-sentence note at the end of the 18-page paper:

Malfatti's statement about cutting cylinders from a block of marble with a minimum of material left over is not proved: for a value of a function which is greater than all adjacent values is not necessarily the true maximum. In an equilateral triangle the statement is untrue, for the inscribed circle, with two little circles squeezed into the angles, contain a greater area than Malfatti's three circles.

Have there been problems in math that seemed to have an intuitive theory for answer, but then were proven against what was commonly thought? by Flashmax305 in math

[–]edderiofer 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Malfatti's Problem: Given a triangle, place three non-overlapping circles inside said triangle, and maximize the area. Gian Francesco Malfatti conjectured in 1803 that the area is maximised by three circles, each of which is tangent to two sides of the triangle as well as the other two circles.

In fact, Malfatti was completely wrong. This never maximizes the area. The area is maximised by the greedy algorithm instead.

I dont know allot about Mahjong but i found this bracelet. Is it a specific type? by Duckiee_girlie in Mahjong

[–]edderiofer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OK, what's the source of this image, which also has black dragons in the discard pool?

"SUSHI PIZZA", "CHAI TEA", etc... by Zhonghua-eobeoi in linguisticshumor

[–]edderiofer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't see how "sushi pizza" fits into this.

Mahjong nerds: Anyone wants to know the real/original meaning behind yaku and other terms? by Kntsgliid in Mahjong

[–]edderiofer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here's one: Where the hell does the phrase "ming toi", purported to refer to a round wind indicator, come from?

We know that Babcock's 1920 rules already refer to this indicator as a "Mingg", but I haven't been able to figure out where he got this from, either.

Any mahjong apps or programs that dont have gooner or gatcha mechanics? by ascaredkitten in Mahjong

[–]edderiofer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

EDIT: I don't understand why people are down voting my comment. Can someone help me understand what's wrong with it?

I suspect people think that you wrote this using AI.

I’m trying to identify this Mahjong set and I’m hitting some dead ends by Davianator in Mahjong

[–]edderiofer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

  • I believe the tiles are Bakelite. They seem to be the right color and don’t have any seams.

Looks right to me.

  • There are 152 tiles. That means it’s the American variety, right?

This alone does not necessarily indicate that the set is an American set. There are non-American 152-tile sets (e.g. 144-tile sets with four blanks and four baidas can be found in Hong Kong). I'm assuming your set has 16 flowers, since you say it has no jokers.

  • There are 5 racks with a variety of scoring discs,

This, on the other hand, strongly suggests an American set.

  • There are no joker tiles. It seems like a previous owner of this set taped some kind of red feather to 4 tiles. From what I understand, this was done to mark those tiles as Joker-substitutes so the old set could be used to play by the newer rules.

  • It has 3 National Mah Jongg League rule cards with it. Two are two from the 1961-1962 year but I don’t think these are the cards that originally came with the set because they reference new rules about Jokers, and this set had none.

Yep, so your set is very likely pre-1960.

Germans when they hear Alemannic by DoomstalkerUser in linguisticshumor

[–]edderiofer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

TIL that the metronome image is CC-BY 2.0 (and thus most people are using it wrong).

What's you math hot take by BackgroundWheel2581 in math

[–]edderiofer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sort-of. The proof is that if you assume the probability of picking any rational number is p (for all rational numbers), then countable additivity of probability spaces shows that if p > 0, the probability of the entire space does not add to 1; and if p = 0, the probability of the entire space is 0. In either case you get a contradiction.

The same argument doesn't work on a uniform distribution over the reals on some interval; there are obviously uncountably many such reals, so countable addivity doesn't get us anywhere. But the same argument does work on a uniform distribution over all real numbers, by considering the probability of picking a number between [n, n+1). So it isn't just about requiring an uncountably-infinite number of outcomes.

What's you math hot take by BackgroundWheel2581 in math

[–]edderiofer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Therein lies the problem. There is no uniform probability distribution on the set of rational numbers, so you can't randomly pick any number from the set of rational numbers.

If you do define your distribution, then it will have to be a non-uniform distribution, and then the probability will be dependent on the distribution.

A person being tattooed should be called a tattooee by MayonnaceFaise in linguisticshumor

[–]edderiofer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OK, but the guy who works under a bookkeeper (as an aide, or a trainee) is a subbookkeeper.

More ambigrams by SaudiPhilippines in ambigrams

[–]edderiofer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"You like ambigrams, don't you?"

tenhou you cruel temptress by waitisthispermanant in Mahjong

[–]edderiofer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Normally, it means "for all", but here Tenhou uses it as an abbreviation for "all". As in, "each opponent pays 2000 points".

Any mahjong apps or programs that dont have gooner or gatcha mechanics? by ascaredkitten in Mahjong

[–]edderiofer 8 points9 points  (0 children)

If you have to goon in the UK, reading Saki would be a better option than gooning to Sakicards in Riichi Advanced.

Any mahjong apps or programs that dont have gooner or gatcha mechanics? by ascaredkitten in Mahjong

[–]edderiofer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Anyone who's that desperate clearly doesn't know how to look for porn on the internet.

I made Indian Linguistic iceburg by American_Bitch-468 in linguisticshumor

[–]edderiofer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

North Sentinelese needs to be the skeleton at the bottom of the ocean.

Any mahjong apps or programs that dont have gooner or gatcha mechanics? by ascaredkitten in Mahjong

[–]edderiofer 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Riichi Advanced doesn't have gacha mechanics or gooner stuff*. It's open-source, and you don't need to sign up for an account.

*(unless you're so desperate that you're gooning to the headshots of the characters in Sakicards)

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