Dear Long Live Yorke

[Balloon guy 158]

What's the proper amount of debt to be in so that the write off on taxes offsets the lost money paid in interest on a loan. For this question let's use 37% as the tax rate. Also take into account the desire to buy really cool things that put you in debt in the first place, so factor that as a 1.7% happiness factor over a .65% fear of missing a payment resulting in falling forever in debt because of compound interest escalations rates.One last thing would be the keeping up with the Joneses factor which equates to a 15% overlook why this is a bad deal correction model.Thanks in advance.

[LongLiveYorke 38]

What's the proper amount of debt to be in so that the write off on taxes offsets the lost money paid in interest on a loan. For this question let's use 37% as the tax rate. Also take into account the desire to buy really cool things that put you in debt in the first place, so factor that as a 1.7% happiness factor over a .65% fear of missing a payment resulting in falling forever in debt because of compound interest escalations rates.One last thing would be the keeping up with the Joneses factor which equates to a 15% overlook why this is a bad deal correction model.

Are we assuming that taxes are a real number, or do I have to extend this problem to the complex plane?

[LongLiveYorke 38]

“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” — Albert Einstein

[Balloon guy 158]

Are we assuming that taxes are a real number, or do I have to extend this problem to the complex plane?

With the upcoming elections and the 36% chance a democrat will win the election, I think you should apply a dynamic rather than static reference on the tax issue.That is unless Michelle Obama continues to speak, in which case we can forgo the 36% chance completely and assume a fixed 37% tax rate.Although if you could add the additional 17% Californai top marginal rate into your equation it would probably give me clear proof why I can buy a 3 year old Cirrus SR22.

[Balloon guy 158]

Oh and please use words like Chocolate and On Sale in your explanation as I will be showing this to my wife as proof why I am right again.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

Some twenty years ago a kid in my class asked the astronomy prof, "If the universe is expanding, what larger space is it expanding INTO?" After several attempts to explain that the universe is not contained in anything, but that it can expand without there exactly being a larger containing space into which it expands, he finally said, "There really isn't an answer to this question." Can you take a whack at it?

[Southern Buddhist 1]

Oh and please use words like Chocolate and On Sale in your explanation as I will be showing this to my wife as proof why I am right again.

Wait, we're all thoroughly convinced that you're always right ... does she still need proof because she knows something we don't know?

[JoeyJoJo 18]

Some twenty years ago a kid in my class asked the astronomy prof, "If the universe is expanding, what larger space is it expanding INTO?" After several attempts to explain that the universe is not contained in anything, but that it can expand without there exactly being a larger containing space into which it expands, he finally said, "There really isn't an answer to this question." Can you take a whack at it?

This isn't something you want to ask LLY. He'll just give you some patronizing explanation. Something like:So, it's difficult to answer questions about the shape of the universe without discussing something known as a "metric." See, when we talk about the universe or anything on a very large scale, our normal ideas about space and geometry start to break down. Often scientists try to explain it using phrases such as "the universe is growing" or " the universe is shaped in a certain way," but when they do it, they're really talking about something called a metric.What, then, is a metric? The metric is the way that a person measures "distance." We are used to using what is called the euclidean metric, where the distance (in three dimensions) is given by the square root of x^2 + y^2 + z^2. This is the metric that applies to flat space-time. So, if we are working in a flat universe, then triangles have 180 degrees and we measure the distance between things using the standard Pythagorean theorem in 3-d.But the universe is not 100% flat. Gravity, according to general relativity, "curves" space and gives it a shape. Really what is happening is that gravity changes the "metric," meaning that it alters the way that distances between two places are measured. So, if the metric is altered in a way such that it is increased between two places, than effectively what we think of as "distance" between those places is increased. Just imagine that the metric is a ruler and gravity can alter the shape and length of that ruler. If the ruler gets smaller and smaller, then things measured by that ruler will be seemingly further and further apart.So, how does this apply to the universe? Well, scientists have observed that the universe is "expanding." But this really means that the metric, or the "ruler," is getting smaller and smaller. So, if we measure the distance between here and Andromeda today and it turns out to be 1,000 lengths of our ruler, and our ruler gets smaller, then tomorrow the distance we measure could be 2,000 rules, effectively making the distance longer. This is what we mean when we say the universe is expanding: the distances between every point in space is getting larger and larger.The metric can be bent as well, though. The "shape" of the universe is described by how much our ruler is "curved." Imagine that we have a ruler that is curved. Let's say that it is curved through 90 degrees (a right angle). If we measure the distance of something by putting this curved ruler end to end, then after 4 ruler lengths, the ruler will end up back where it started (in other words, the four rulers put together will form a circle). So, according to our measurement, after 4 ruler lengths in a given direction, we end up in the same spot (because the ruler, or the metric, is curved). Imagine all this on a very large scale.If the universe is curved in this certain way, then if we go out on a spaceship in a straight long for a very long distance, we eventually will return to where we are (if the straight line is defined by following along the ruler, which in this case happens to be curved).The shape of this ruler is determined by the mass density of the universe. There is a critical value for this density where if the universe is denser than this value, it will be curved one way (have negative curvature), if it is equal, it will be flat, and if it is less, it will be curved another way (have positive curvature).So, this answers some of your questions. The universe can indeed be infinite but still be growing because the meaning of growing means only that our rulers are shrinking and thus the distance between things is getting larger.Nothing lies beyond the "edge of the universe" because this concept is ill defined. If the universe is flat, it will go on forever and you will never reach an edge. If the universe is curved in a way and is finite, you won't reach an edge. Rather, eventually after going in a straight line you will end up where you started (just imagine walking on the surface of the earth in a straight line around the equator. The Earth is finite but it doesn't have an edge; you will just walk back to where you started).The possible shapes of the universe are flat (just consider a giant flat grid that goes on forever), curved like a ball (picture the Earth or any large sphere) or curved in another way that one can imagine looks like a saddle (it's hard to find an analogy for it visually, but the description of the metric is well defined).Or something like that. I'd like a little more from him just once.

[LongLiveYorke 38]

Yup.

[speedz99 145]

How and why is the metric getting smaller?

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

How and why is the metric getting smaller?

What I want to know is when did the universe switch from the English System? I blame the french for this travesty.

[LongLiveYorke 38]

How and why is the metric getting smaller?

Well, to say the the metric is getting smaller isn't exactly correct. The metric is a concept that dictates the meaning of distance. Specifically, it is a tensor] which maps two vectors into a scalar. So, it can't be intrinsically small or large. But it certainly changes.The metric, according to Einstein, couples to energy. So the presence of energy in one form or another effects the shape of space around that energy. A common form of energy is mass, and so mass can warp the space around it. We call this effect gravity. The metric of the universe is changing because there is energy in the universe. It has some density of mass which couples to the metric.However, it should appear quite strange that the universe is expanding. This means that there must be some energy which couples to the metric and causes expansion. We call this mysterious energy "Dark Energy," which is just a term that means we're not sure why the universe is expanding. There is room for Einstein's equations, however, for a general source of energy that would drive the expansion of the universe. This was called the cosmological constant. Originally invented by Einstein, it was put into place to ensure that the universe didn't collapse. But not it appears that it may reemerge as the mechanism which forces the expansion of the universe.

[RhinestoneCowboy 2]

How and why is the metric getting smaller?

It was in the pool!!! IT WAS IN THE POOL!!!!!!!!

[LongLiveYorke 38]

It was in the pool!!! IT WAS IN THE POOL!!!!!!!!

Phone call.Kramer: For me? Go...Yeah, what tonight? Yeah, I'll be there...Yeah later. [puts the phone down] Well, somebody's baby-sitting.Elaine: You? I'm more responsible than you are!Kramer: Don't be ridiculous. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to fill my freezer with my own blood.

[speedz99 145]

Stuff that speedz really, really wishes he could wrap his mind around.

Oh.

[RhinestoneCowboy 2]

Well, to say the the metric is getting smaller isn't exactly correct. The metric is a concept that dictates the meaning of distance. Specifically, it is a tensor] which maps two vectors into a scalar. So, it can't be intrinsically small or large. But it certainly changes.The metric, according to Einstein, couples to energy. So the presence of energy in one form or another effects the shape of space around that energy. A common form of energy is mass, and so mass can warp the space around it. We call this effect gravity. The metric of the universe is changing because there is energy in the universe. It has some density of mass which couples to the metric.However, it should appear quite strange that the universe is expanding. This means that there must be some energy which couples to the metric and causes expansion. We call this mysterious energy "Dark Energy," which is just a term that means we're not sure why the universe is expanding. There is room for Einstein's equations, however, for a general source of energy that would drive the expansion of the universe. This was called the cosmological constant. Originally invented by Einstein, it was put into place to ensure that the universe didn't collapse. But not it appears that it may reemerge as the mechanism which forces the expansion of the universe.

This sentence boggles my brain. Einstein "invented" a constant which keeps the universe from collapsing?

[LongLiveYorke 38]

This sentence boggles my brain. Einstein "invented" a constant which keeps the universe from collapsing?

Lol. No, I said that wrong. Einstein believed that the universe was totally static and never changed. This was a philosophical belief. However, the equations that he himself developed didn't allow for this, the universe had to be either expanding or contracting. So, he added an extra part to his equations to make everything hold together. A few years later, it was discovered that the universe was expanding. If it wasn't for his desire to keep the universe as he mentally envisioned it, he could have made the discovery from theory, which certainly would have won him another Nobel prize (again). Now, however the same idea can be used for the opposite effect. Instead of being inserted to keep the universe together, we it could be possible that there exists a so called cosmological constant which drives the universe apart.

[speedz99 145]

Now, however the same idea can be used for the opposite effect. Instead of being inserted to keep the universe together, we it could be possible that there exists a so called cosmological constant which drives the universe apart.

Er...or it's possible that the universe is being driven apart in a manner that follows a cosmological/mathematical constant. It gets so confusing when teachers make it sound like particles/forces/equations/etc "want" things to happen. I'm not trying to nitpick, just doing my best to help prepare you for college professorship...ing. It took my bio professor a few weeks to realize that, for the sake of the slower kids in the class, he should mention the fact that molecules don't make conscious decisions to diffuse down concentration gradients.

[AmScray 355]

Just wondering- at any time during your travels as a physics guy, have you ever encountered anything having to do with thermoluminescence testing?

[brvheart 1,752]

LLY,I know this isn't a math question. But what are your thoughts on this, this, this, and this.

[Balloon guy 158]

LLY,I know this isn't a math question. But what are your thoughts on this, this, this, and this.

Well it's obvious that this is a hoax, and this is an interesting study of the human condition, but this is not so special. this however was cool.*Edit* Links didn't work, I really should have done those in order that you did them, oh well I'll fix it later.

[aadams_22 3]

I dig your handwriting no homo.

ty sir,I take great pride in my hand writing.

[Actuary 3]

Anyone know how to get a thread to stop showing up as I search for "threads Actuary has posted in"I'm kinda getting sick of this one.It makes me feel stupid.Maybe Mr York can tell me how to do this?asshole

[zimmer4141 0]

Problem from my Linear Algebra exam yesterday.Assume A is a 10 x 10 matrix. Also assume that A^2 is the zero matrix. Show that the Dimension of the null space of A is at least 5.My friend and I had no idea how to do it, I didn't even write anything down as an answer, just started summer break a bit early. Any ideas?

[LongLiveYorke 38]

LLY,I know this isn't a math question. But what are your thoughts on ...

I agree with Mr. Hawking. Intelligent life is probably extremely rare and I would guess that we're probably the only form of it in our galaxy. I'm not sure that we'd have the technology to get signals from another galaxy, I think they're way too far away. I think intelligent is rare enough for us not to have found it already, but not so rare that it doesn't exist within the visible universe (14 billion light years radius). I'm a very optimistic person about humanity, but I think we're more likely to destroy ourselves before we ever encounter alien intelligent life.At the same time, I think it's entirely possible that life once existed even on Mars and could even exist in our solar system on maybe Europa or something.