Posted by John Nichols on November 15, 2007 at 15:44:41 from 165.91.197.159 user Mcneacail.
In Reply to: Re: Fireworks and Responsibility ! posted by Dave Thewlis on November 13, 2007 at 20:45:13:
Eureka (Greek "I have found it") is an exclamation used as an interjection to celebrate a discovery. It is most famously attributed to Archimedes; he reportedly uttered the word when, while bathing, he suddenly understood that the volume of an irregular object could be calculated by finding the volume of water displaced when the object was submerged in water. After making this discovery, he is said to have leapt out of his bathtub and run through the streets of Syracuse naked. Archimedes' insight led to the solution of a problem that had been asked of him by Hiero of Syracuse, on how to assess the purity of an irregular golden crown: by dividing the object's weight by its volume, one could calculate its density, an important indicator of purity. This story first appeared in written form in Vitruvius' books of architecture, two centuries after it supposedly took place.[1] Some scholars have doubted the accuracy of this tale, saying among other things that the method would have required precise measurements that would have been difficult to make at the time.
Of course in Texas, he would be arrested for exposing his buttocks, and if he did it twice he would be on the sex offenders list forever. So it is not just children with antisocial behaviour it is also maths people.
JMN