Category Archives: Mathematics

Human Alchemy

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Nathan

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy – This is an amusing take on well-known fairy tales focuses on what happens after the stories, and that it isn’t always just living happily ever after. The princes from Cinderella, … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy, Authors, Book Reviews, Fairy Tales, History, Humor, L. Frank Baum, Language, Magic, Maps, Mathematics, Middle Ages, Monsters, Mythology, Nursery Rhymes, Oz, Oz Authors, Philosophy, Relationships, Religion, Russian, seanan mcguire, Theosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When the World and I Were Young

Posted on January 5, 2022 by Nathan

Continuing on the theme of calendars from another recent post, I’ve done some investigation into different calculations of the age of the world. The Jewish calendar and the traditional Byzantine one both date from the Anno Mundi, or Year of … Continue reading →

Posted in African, Babylonian, Chinese, Christianity, Eastern Orthodox, Egyptian, Greek Philosophy, Hinduism, History, Judaism, Mathematics, Mayan, Mythology, Native American, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Semitic, Zoroastrianism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s Supernatural How Spaced Out We Can Be

Posted on December 31, 2021 by Nathan

They Might Be Giants, BOOK – This album was originally supposed to be finished in 2020, but since Coronavirus got in the way of just about everything, it was delayed until late this year. I really hadn’t had the time … Continue reading →

Posted in Albums, Art, Authors, Book Reviews, Conspiracy Theories, Current Events, Dreams, Games, Health, History, Humor, Language, Mathematics, Monty Python, Music, Mythology, Politics, Relationships, They Might Be Giants, William Shakespeare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

As the Hours and the Days and the Weeks and the Months and the Years Go By

Posted on December 29, 2021 by Nathan

With this year soon coming to an end, I was thinking about whether there’s any connection between the number of days in a year and degrees in a circle, and apparently there is. Of course, a modern year doesn’t have … Continue reading →

Posted in African, Astronomy, Babylonian, Christmas, Easter, Egyptian, Greek Mythology, History, Holidays, Islam, Judaism, Mathematics, Mesopotamia, Mythology, New Year's Day, Norse, Religion, Roman, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Idris Lives

Posted on September 21, 2020 by Nathan

It’s a common theme in many mythologies to have a figure who is regarded as the inventor of writing, and often also a keeper of esoteric knowledge. Greek mythology had Hermes, the Egyptians had Thoth, Babylon had Nabu, and Judaism … Continue reading →

Posted in African, Arabian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek Mythology, Islam, Judaism, Language, Magic, Mathematics, Mythology, Names, Norse, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Feeding the Meter

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Nathan

It seems like Americans really hate the metric system. Metric really makes more sense in a lot of ways, being based on decimal measurements. On the other hand, it is true that we get a general sense of what feet, … Continue reading →

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Millions Upon Millions

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Nathan

I was reminded recently of how I used to like to look at the Table of Numbers in the dictionary, which probably sounds boring. I was fascinated by all the names for really large numbers, quadrillions, quintillions, and all that. … Continue reading →

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The Math Behind the Mission

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Nathan

Hidden Figures – I didn’t know a whole lot about this movie prior to seeing it, but I enjoyed it. It’s the story of three black female mathematicians who worked for NASA during the early days of the space program, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cold War, Gender, History, Mathematics, Prejudice, Science, Space Program, VoVat Goes to the Movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Your Letters Are Numbered

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Nathan

Since I wrote a post about the development of the alphabet, I thought I’d also do one on numerals. For some cultures, they’re actually the same thing. Both Hebrew and Greek letters each had a numerical value, starting with the … Continue reading →

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