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Redshirts Aren't Likeliest to Die — and Other 'Star Trek' Math Lessons
space.com ^ | 04/13/2017 | Sarah Lewin

Posted on 04/13/2017 8:32:13 AM PDT by BenLurkin

The original "Star Trek" series isn't just a milestone of science fiction, it's also a treasure trove of mathematical ideas — as Space.com discovered when we attended "Star Trek: The Math of Khan" at the Museum of Mathematics on Thursday (April 6).

...

Captain Kirk talks computers to death no fewer than four separate occasions in the original series. The captain often achieves this feat using sentences similar to the "Liar's Paradox": "This sentence is false." It's a paradox because if the sentence is false, then the sentence is stating the truth, even though it is supposed to be false; if the sentence is true, then it must be true that the sentence is false.

A similar statement powers mathematician Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, which in effect proves there's a similarly paradoxical statement like "This statement is not provable" in any given mathematical system, Grime said. If the statement is true, it means there are true mathematical statements that can never be proved, like "holes" in mathematics. If the statement is false, it’s a contradiction, and that means there are contradictions within a mathematical system — so any system without any contradictions will also have statements that are impossible to prove. So something very much like Kirk's computer-busting paradox is something that appears in real mathematics.

...Alan Turing set out to find out whether it's possible to determine whether any given computer program will be able to solve a problem and halt or get stuck working on the problem forever. Ultimately, he proved that you cannot write another program to predict whether a program will finish or not — a result that suggests that you can't definitively determine whether a statement will ever be possible to prove, Grime said.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: startrek
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To: BenLurkin

What will be the fate of these red-shirted Enterprise crew?

Well the girl will sleep with the good captain and it's a tossup between the guys as to who dies....

21 posted on 04/13/2017 9:10:28 AM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: BenLurkin

Not Star Trek related, but ... If Sean Bean is in a movie, he will die. It’s a virtual certainty.


22 posted on 04/13/2017 9:11:09 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Abortion is what slavery was: immoral but not illegal. Not yet.)
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To: Mr. Douglas

What is love?

Knowing that 30 minutes after I put my boots on I’ll warp 9 my arse to the other side of the galaxy.


23 posted on 04/13/2017 9:15:41 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Flinging poo is not a valid argument)
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To: Bratch

24 posted on 04/13/2017 9:17:51 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Organic Panic
What is love?


25 posted on 04/13/2017 9:19:10 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: treetopsandroofs

Ah yes, Landru. You are not of the body!!


26 posted on 04/13/2017 9:20:01 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Mr. Douglas
The green one was the best. :)

The green one was David Bowie's wife the model Imam, in that episode. She was and is smoking hot!

27 posted on 04/13/2017 9:36:44 AM PDT by cpdiii (Deckhand, Roughneck, Mud Man, Geologist, Pilot, Pharmacist. CONSTITUTUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR!)
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To: ClearCase_guy
Not Star Trek related, but ... If Sean Bean is in a movie, he will die. It’s a virtual certainty.

My favorite Sean Bean role was as Sharpe in Sharpe's Rifles. He makes it through 15 movies without dying. E.g. Sharpe's Rifles - Sharpe's Gold

28 posted on 04/13/2017 9:42:19 AM PDT by FateAmenableToChange
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To: ClearCase_guy

Sean Bean Death Reel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEhtsgu6bJg


29 posted on 04/13/2017 9:44:21 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: I want the USA back
1/0 has no truth value. It is meaningless.

Incorrect. Every control system in the world, and every electronic or digital filter in the world depends on the limit of 1/0 creating what are called "poles" in the system transfer function. Without it having a real-world meaning, communication systems and control systems would be impossible.

30 posted on 04/13/2017 9:51:09 AM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Trump won; I celebrated; I'm good. Let's get on with the civil war now.)
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To: NewJerseyJoe

P4L


31 posted on 04/13/2017 10:13:11 AM PDT by NewJerseyJoe (Rat mantra: "Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!")
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To: Mr. Douglas
The green one was the best. :)
Vina

Yvonne Craig (:55) as Marta was eye candy.

32 posted on 04/13/2017 10:13:59 AM PDT by Oatka
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To: cpdiii

Nice Bettie Page haircut too. :-)


33 posted on 04/13/2017 10:38:11 AM PDT by Mr. Douglas (Best. Election. EVER!)
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To: rockrr
Actually, that appears to be a frame from "A Taste Of Armageddon" in which all three of the redshirts returned safe and sound from their mission.
34 posted on 04/13/2017 10:47:21 AM PDT by Parody
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To: treetopsandroofs; Mr. Douglas
.......
35 posted on 04/13/2017 10:51:12 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

>>Not Star Trek related, but ... If Sean Bean is in a movie, he will die. It’s a virtual certainty.<<

Wasn’t he the villain in National Treasure? Arrested in the end, but not killed, as I recall...


36 posted on 04/13/2017 10:59:12 AM PDT by Solidstatechemist (SolidStateChemist)
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To: Parody

“Actually, that appears to be a frame from “A Taste Of Armageddon” in which all three of the redshirts returned safe and sound from their mission.”

A fair trade to get the clueless Ambassador Foxx off the ship. :)


37 posted on 04/13/2017 11:00:36 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: BenLurkin; Mr. Douglas

My assessment still stands.

Mr. Douglas?


38 posted on 04/13/2017 11:02:11 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: BenLurkin
Aww, only Lezlie Dalton (Drea) is still among the living.


39 posted on 04/13/2017 11:15:35 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: BenLurkin
I've always wanted to see a battle between Star Trek red shirts and Star Wars Imperial Storm-troopers.

Guys that can't hit the broad side of a space barn against guys that can't avoid being hit by a random shot fired into their postcode.

"Ceterum censeo Islam esse delendam."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

40 posted on 04/13/2017 11:27:30 AM PDT by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
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