(no subject)

I just discovered that the math department has a `problem of the month' contest here, so I just solved the January problem. Hopefully I'll win a neat book or something.

The problem is this: ``Given rational numbers x, y, z such that 1/x + 1/y + 1/z, show that the distance from the point (x,y,z) to the origin (0,0,0) is rational.'' It's very simple to prove algebraicly. Just let x=a/b, y=c/d, z=e/f for integers a, b, c, d, e, f. Then f/e = - (b/a + d/c) = - ((bc + da)/ac). Plug this into sqrt((a/b)^2 + (c/d)^2 + (e/f)^2) and it comes out quickly. I imagine there must be a `cooler' way that they're looking for.

I have teeth coming in (way in the back) and they *hurt*. Been taking Aspirin at maximum recommended dosage.

Played with a copy machine for a little while and made myself some Estonia-themed letter writing stationary.

Kanelbulle, Baguette med Brie

SEK 27

Huxley on Swedes

Of the Swedes, Aldous Huxley (of Brave New World fame) wrote in his book Along The Road: Notes and Essay of a Tourist:

``And as for Scandinavia -- it is well known that there is no part of the world, excluding the tropics, where people so freely divest themselves of their clothing. The Swedish passion for nature is so strong that it can only be adequately expressed when in a state of nature. `As souls unbodied,' says Donne, `bodies unclothed must be to taste whole joys.' Noble, nude and far more modern than any other people in Europe, they sport in the icy waters of the Baltic, they roam naked in the primeval forest.''