Archive for the ‘math’ Category

free coffee for smart people tuesday

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

First, the answer from last week: Don Knuth, truly an important historical figure in computer science.

Now, this week’s question:

I brew a pot of coffee and end up with 8 cups of drinkable delight.  Assuming my entire brewing process conforms to the Golden Cup standard, what is an acceptable mass (in grams) of the soluble coffee particles in said delight?  Accuracy to the decigram is sufficient.

Bring in the correct answer for a free 450mL beverage of your choice.  I recommend a peppermint mocha this week.

mandelbrot set

Monday, November 10th, 2008

mandelbrot zoom video, set to classical music.

23 unsolved math problems

Monday, October 6th, 2008

the kind nerds at NetworkWorld.com have assembled a list of the world’s 23 toughest math questions. unfortunately, due to my obligations as the mastermind of the smart coffee revolution, i haven’t had much time to devote to lending my supreme brain power to these problems.

it is safe to say, however, that there is a direct correlation between the progress of the brew nerds coffee takeover and the probability that these problems are solved. how i wish i could be there for the magical moment when the perfect cup of coffee hits the lips of an unsuspecting mathematical genius, making these 23 problems seem like mere rocket science to him (or her).

Sierpinski carpet fractal cookies

Monday, June 30th, 2008

while perusing the internet for delectable treats suitable for accompanying the universe’s best coffee, i happened upon an article from fellow intellectuals at evil mad scientist laboratories that details how to create these fractal cookies in the likeness of a Sierpinski carpet:

The guide can be found at this location in the www.

Suffice to say, I’m now on a quest to obtain a Play-doh extruder so that I can make these, and other various forms of pixel cookies.

coffee takeover equation

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

on monday, july 14th, 2008, the coffee consuming masses will stand in awe as brew nerds will unveil another coffee distribution facility, in the neverending pursuit of complete earthly coffee conquest.

that means, exactly 143 days after the brew nerds prototype model began supplying area winston-salem nerds with mind blowing coffee, the operation has now doubled in size.

using this data and a small bit of optimism, i have created the following exponential growth model to determine the number of brew nerds stores there will be at any given time:
N = e^(1.774069008t)
[or more accurately: N = e^(366ln(2)t/143)]
where N is the number of Brew Nerds stores and t is time, measured in years since the opening of the first store (2008).

furthermore, at the rate of growth, i can estimate that it will be 5.4206113 years (5 years, 153 days, 12 hours, 33 minutes, 18.58170182 seconds) until brew nerds overtakes the evil mermaid, who currently operates 15,011 stores.

and lest i forget, here are the details surrounding the opening of the new brew nerds store:
opening date: july 14th, 2008.
location: 305 w. 4th street, winston-salem, nc (formerly “sin coffee bar”).
coffee iq: 160

note: calculations performed on ti-84 plus silver edition graphing calculator.

singing calculus nerds

Friday, May 30th, 2008

these fellow nerds would have certainly been my friends in high school.

neglect, halo 3, employees, and a+bi

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

it appears this blog has fallen victim to slight neglect and has suffered from a long interval between posts. to my faithful readers, i send my deepest apologies.

the fact is, there hasn’t been much to blog about in the life of leonard the coffee nerd.

last weekend, there was a halo 3 tournament at the local mall. not wanting to spend the rest of my existence in a state of “what might have been”, i headed over to put my skills to the test. unfortunately, i suffered an early demise, at the hands of some energetic teenagers. however, in my defense, video game prowess is widely considered (by the intellectual community) to be the pursuit of a geek, rather than that of a nerd. i am quite a sore loser and decided that there were more important endeavors to participate in, so i didn’t wait around to see who would be crowned the halo 3 mall champion.

the store is operating very smoothly. my employees have been eagerly gaining a wealth of knowledge concerning the best practices of making great coffee. they have also showed unwavering dedication and have completely embraced the brew nerds way. it increases the levels of serotonin in my brain when i see them engaged in the task of providing the masses with great coffee.

in my personal time, i’ve been investigating the subject of complex variables. it’s a topic of mathematics that has given me a lot of grief at times, but that i find most intriguing. mere mortals cannot wrap their brains around the concept of imaginary numbers, much less performing high level mathematical operations on them. i suppose that’s what seperates the brew nerds from the rest of the pack…

quote of the day

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

A Mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.

-Paul Erdos

happy π day

Friday, March 14th, 2008

or more accurately, happy 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078
164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822
317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288
109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234603486104543
266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917
153643678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657
595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248
912279381830119491298336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021…
day!

today (3/14) is pi day. for your reading enjoyment, here are some interesting factoids:
1. pi represents the relationship between a circle’s diameter and its circumference.
2. pi is an irrational number.
3. pi has been calculated to over 1 trillion decimal places (via computer).
4. the symbol for pi was first used in 1706 by William Jones, but become popular after being used by Leonhard Euler in 1737

for more π day fun, go here.
what will you be doing to celebrate pi day?