When someone explains the theory of relativity to you, and someone else

[hedgehog]

Poll question: When someone explains the theory of relativity to you, and someone else

explains the concept of derivatives, if you're like me, you understand these things for a brief moment of time, then get confused again.



Which explanation do you forget first?




Edit - I'm talking about the derivatives they invented on Wall Street!

[Bicoastal]

1. Duuuuuuuuh...wha? Whoooaa...

:dunce:

[The Traveler]

2. Relativity is straight forward

Economics is, by an large, mystical. I majored in physics because I sure as hell couldn't figure out economics ...

:)

Trav

[hedgehog]

4. Physics kept me awake for hours figuring out the homework

problems. I can't even listen to a five minute explanation of the difference between term insurance and the other kind.

[baldguy]

3. I understand relativity. I do not understand derivatives.

Derivatives are equivalent to financial alchemy - attempting to create gold out of thin air.

[bananas]

5. Which kind of derivatives?

Derivative_(disambiguation)

Derivative (disambiguation)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Derivative, in calculus, is a measurement of how a function changes when the values of its inputs change.

Derivative may also refer to:

* Derivative (finance), a contract whose value is derived from that of other quantities
* Derivative (chemistry), a type of compound which is a product of the process of derivatization
* Derivative Inc., a spin-off of Side Effects Software, creators of Houdini (software)
* Derivative suit or derivative action, a type of lawsuit filed by minority shareholders
* Derivative work, in copyright law, a modification of an original work
* Formal derivative, in mathematics, an operation on elements of a polynomial ring which mimics the form of the derivative from calculus
* Aeroderivative, a mechanical drive gas turbine derived from an aero engine gas turbine

See also

* Derivation
* Derived, in phylogenetics, a trait present in an organism, but absent in the last common ancestor of its group

[hedgehog]

8. Calculus derivatives make sense and have their own kind of beauty

Financial derivatives, not so much!

[Believing Is Art]

12. Oh! Then I get derivatives!

Except d(investment)/dt doesn't seem to exist right now . . . something about a singularity.

[Believing Is Art]

6. Hmm

We send the people trying to fix our economy far away from any significantly large body and bring them back in a couple of days. They'll have had a lot longer than we think to work things out. Now on to building a vehicle capable of this endeavor . . .

[hedgehog]

18. I think you're on to something.....or is that just on something?

[Believing Is Art]

20. I wish the latter

Sadly, I am fluent in relativity-related humor while sober. :-(

[BlooInBloo]

7. Neither. Been drilled into me too much....

But as time passes, I find that I do lose track of details, like how to prove Noether's theorem (relevant to relativity) and the like. The notion that the laws of physics are invariant in a certain class of situations isn't itself difficult, however. (Which class of situations you choose will result in different relativities, naturally.)

The day I forget any basic fact about differentiation is the day they put me in a home with Alzheimer's, I would imagine.

[hedgehog]

11. Clearly, the idea of the financial derivative is so offensive to the

thinking mind that you have wiped it's existence from your memory!

[BlooInBloo]

13. Ah - yes - I wasn't thinking about derivative in the financial sense...

Thanks for setting me on the right track.

I can certainly imagine losing large parts of stochastic calculus from my ready-to-tap mental database. That doesn't concern me.

[drmeow]

9. Talk about derivatives is like

legalese - its designed to obfuscate but it can usually be boiled down to something you don't want to hear.

The complexity of relativity is because the constructs are complex.

[datan]

10. which relativity

you mean special relativity don't you? high school maths is sufficient to understand that...general relativity on the other hand needs college level calculus...

derivatives is also about calculus...which is why you get all the greeks like delta, rho etc.

which is why a lot of banks hire physics PhD's to model their derivatives books

[bananas]

14. Which kind of relativity?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativity

Relativity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Relativity may refer to:

Physics

* Special relativity, a theory of physics formulated by Albert Einstein
* General relativity, Einstein's theory of gravitation
* Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, which refers to both special relativity and general relativity together
* Principle of relativity, used in Einstein's theories and derived from Galileo's principle
* Galilean relativity, Galileo's conception of relativity
* Numerical relativity, a subfield of computational physics that aims to establish numerical solutions to Einstein's field equations in general relativity

Popular culture

* Relativity (M. C. Escher), a lithograph print by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher

Television

* Relativity Theory (The Outer Limits), 1998 The Outer Limits episode
* Relativity (TV series), mid-1990s American drama series
* Relativity (Voyager episode), 1999 fifth-season episode of Star Trek: Voyager
o USS Relativity, the Wells class starship featured in that episode
* Relativity, 2001 Farscape episode

Music

* Relativity Records, record label
* Relativity (band), a band founded by Scottish folk musician Phil Cunningham and other members of Silly Wizard
* Relativity (Indecent Obsession album), a 1993 album from band Indecent Obsession
* Relativity (Emarosa album), a 2008 album from band Emarosa
* Relativity an EP Released By Electronic Band Grafton Primary

See also

* Relative (disambiguation)
* Relativism, the philosophical view that the meaning and value of human beliefs and behaviors have no absolute reference

:hide:

[hedgehog]

15. The one about how if a guy is shooting photons at you from a train,

it doesn't matter if the train is moving toward you or away from you. I sort of understand time slowing down, but not the speed of light business.

[villager]

16. Yes, but what happens if economic collapse from derivatives moves at or near the speed of light?

Do we get a "white dwarf" economy, from the implosion?

Or a black hole?

Are the known "laws of economics" altered around this black hole? ;-)

[ddeclue]

19. DUZY Alert!

:rofl:

[Believing Is Art]

21. Like I said earlier up thread

d(investment)/dt does not exist due to a singularity. The derivatives didn't collapse, they just ceased to exist.

[villager]

28. So it's all quantum-ish: We only "perceived" them to exist in the first place,

but they didn't really!?

[Believing Is Art]

29. There once was wealth

But instead of a applying a smooth and continuous function that is everywhere differentiable to the investments, the geniuses on Wall Street applied one that they didn't fully understand that led to a steep downward plunge, so the value of these investments approaches negative infinity. There is no limit to their stupidity. Egads!

[ddeclue]

17. I understand relativity much better - but to be fair, I'm an engineer

and actually studied relativity at a college level.

Derivatives? Who knows?

:shrug:

[Believing Is Art]

22. I've been arguing for a long time

that business majors and politicians should be required to take a thermodynamics course. If any of them understood the laws of conservation, it would put a stop to this supply-side and trickle-down crap.

[ddeclue]

30. On second thought I understand both derivatives AND integrals...

but that's calculus not investments...

:rofl:

[Dr.Phool]

23. Is this a Krugman joke?

[NoSheep]

24. "I don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"

Can you add that to the poll choices?

[hedgehog]

27. Too late to edit!

[specimenfred1984]

25. How about the theory of being ripped off and lied to by criminals?

Then, giving the very same criminals 100s of billions of tax dollars? That's pretty easy to remember.

[JackRiddler]

26. Ding-dong! Thanks!