FCC Approved

So Linear Algebra took an interesting turn one day in class. Apparently the teacher had looked over the class the day before and he saw hate coming from the students' eyes. He decided he had to do something to make them happy. And thus it was that we learned all about the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). Now we know that whatever uses frequency waves, it is controlled by the FCC (including your cell phone, laptop, the lock/unlock mechanism on you car keys, etc). So this 15 minute example (turned 45 minute example), discussed the theory of how jammers work. Meaning, if a frequency is broadcasted that differs from the prescribed sine and cosine functions (i.e. a cos (1/2*x) instead of a cos (2*x) or something), then the signal is jammed. And that's what causes the static on your television (one example anyway). Then we proceeded to discuss how we couldn't talk about how to build a jammer because our teacher does not want to take responsibility for us being arrested by the federal government and spending prison time.

"This device may not cause harmful interference and must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation." This is what most laptops have under the FCC label. What does it mean? You can't use your laptop as a jammer, and you better allow the government to interfere with your laptop if the need arises. (The latter has become an inspiration for a "movie" between my friend and I).

Another example (an obvious one, but one I find interesting): whenever you are taking off or landing on an airplane, they ask you to turn off your cell phones and laptops. Obviously, it's so that the pilots can have access to the control tower and know when to land. So, if you want to become a terrorist...well, then, don't turn off your cell phone. And then when the control tower needs to let the pilot know that an airplane is taking off, and the pilot can't receive the message because you are jamming the signal, then your plane might hit another plane and BOOM (paraphrased from my teacher). So, potential to be a terrorist by leaving on your cell phones and laptops during take-offs and landings: be aware.

So this brings me to if someone wants to really destroy our country: jam all the frequencies. We would have no communication (except for landlines...unless of course they jam those too, which is possible, but difficult). Our cars would be dead (there's a frequency in the key itself that turns the car on besides the lock/unlock mechanism), our cell phones and laptops would be useless, no TV or radio, etc. We'd be doomed!

Another interesting thing we talked about was the switch from analog to digital TV. Apparently the FCC can fit 6 times more frequency waves using digital waves rather than analog. This means six times more broadcasting stations, which means six times more profit, and so on. The FCC had to make sure that no one would have analog though, because then there is the potential to jam the frequencies for the digital frequency waves that would come to your TV.

Linear Algebra really does have its uses. Send matrices of information using the frequency waves, and then using the integral of cos(nx)*f(x) dx (with bounds going from 0 to Pi) to convert to your TV, radio, etc. using a change-of-bases (ahh no!! the vocab!!! *class joke*), we can then enjoy our show, music, conversation via cell phone, etc.

Yes, this is a random post. But mainly it's because I don't want to forget it. Especially if my friend really wants to make a movie about it ("Help me *insert professor's name*, you're our only hope!"). But that's another story, and not all that interesting to non-math majors, especially ones who don't know this professor. And also because I don't want people to realize just how much a math nerd I truly can be. ^_^

PI DAY!!!

All right! It's that special day of the year again! The time where we wear green and pretend that we're Irish so we can...wait a minute. That's not right. Why on earth are we celebrating St. Patrick's Day? Not only is it several days away, but there's a better day to celebrate before a drunk-ridden holiday (no offense). It's something that many math majors (and non-math majors ^_^) look forward to, because it's a day to celebrate the most common irrational number in the world, used daily by many mathematicians. Albert Einstein was born on this day in 1879, people have contests to see who can memorize to the longest decimal place *cough*, and we eat PIE!!!! What better reason to celebrate Pi Day than by eating pie? Mmm...

And now I do something dangerous. I "quote" wiki (take it with a grain of salt): "The first Pi Day celebration was held at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988, with staff and public marching around one of its circular spaces, and then consuming fruit pies [. . .] The founder of Pi Day was Larry Shaw, a now retired physicist at the Exploratorium who still helps out with the celebrations." So today is the 21st celebration of Pi Day (wow...I feel so old...).

More "quoting": "On Pi Day, 2004, Daniel Tammet calculated and recited 22,514 decimal digits of pi." Sheesh...don't people have better things to do? *shifty eyes* What?! Moving on...

Something interesting that I just found out (which is really awkward, cuz I try to avoid all things policital), Congress officially recognized today as National Pi Day...a couple of days ago! Well...I'm going to stop there before I go political crazy (which would not be entertaining).

So, Pi Day is now a national holiday (too bad we won't get school off for it...especially since Congress is hoping to support math and science in education by making it a recognized day). Now you MUST celebrate. So...eat pie! Wish Albert Einstein a happy birthday (and everyone else whose birthday is today!) and take a listen to this.

Jokes (The kind that are so bad, they're funny)

What has a head and a tail but no body? A coin.
Why did the football coach go to the bank? To get the quarter back.
What makes math such hard work? All those numbers you have to carry.
What did one math book say to the other? "Man, I have a lot of problems!"
What kind of foods do math teachers eat? Square meals.
What comes once in a minute, once in a month, but never in a day? The letter M.
Why shouldn't you take your computer into rush-hour traffic? Because it might crash (especially if it's Vista).
Why couldn't the girl type on her computer? She lost her keys.
Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher? She couldn't control her pupils.
What do pigs put in their hard drives? Sloppy disks.
What's a teacher's favorite candy? Chalk-olate.