One day, an MIT student passed the famous mathematician John von Neumann in the hallwa...

"Excuse me, Professor, could you please help me with this calculus problem?" "Okay, but only if it's something quick, I'm a very busy man," the mathematician replied. "I'm having difficulty wi…

Top stories for Long   One day, an MIT student passed the famous mathematician John von Neumann in the hallway and asked him Alessandro13 • Posted Jan 22 "Excuse me, Professor, could you please help me with this calculus problem?" "Okay, but only if it's something quick, I'm a very busy man," the mathematician replied. "I'm having difficulty with this... Read more » 754 85   Is Hertz's decision to dump EV's including Teslas for conventional ICE ones an indication that EVs are not as good? https://driving.ca/auto-news/industry/hertz-electric-vehicles-gasoline-sale-ev-rental Scott King Walker, Driving since 1986. • Updated May 23 Last year I was travelling to California for a conference, and I reserved a "mystery car" with Budget. It was the same price as their lowest class of tiny-car, and it offer... Read more » 119 5   Why do public opinion about New York City's congestion pricing change after it was implemented? Steven Haddock, lives in Toronto, ON (1959-present) • Answered May 12 This has happened everywhere that congestion charges have been implemented. At first, drivers, particularly those that have to drive through the congestion zone, are afraid ... Read more » 50 3   My friend is planning to put ghost pepper extract in his sandwich to catch the thief in his office. Can he get sued if the culprit gets injured? Ken Carter, MS Information Technology Management (2015) • Updated Tue In another life, I was a supervisor for a large company. One of my employees consistently had her food stolen from the refrigerator in the employee lounge. On one such occas... Read more » 600 26   What will it take to make the United States like Japan with low crime? Anthony Zarrella, Conservative Catholic, Attorney/Councilor, Constitutionalist • Answered May 7 Replace us all with first- or second-generation Japanese. No, really, I'm serious. If you look at crime rates in various countries, and then you look at crime rates among ear... Read more » 1K 102   Why are many people decrying the recently announced Trump tariffs given that many (probably most) other countries implement large-scale tariffs and non-tariff barriers of their own? Krister Sundelin, lives in Gothenburg, Sweden • Answered April 4 Hello, Sam K #1182. Consider the case of the EU vs the US up until a few days ago. The US imported about €500 billion per year from the EU. Tariffs worth €7 billion was impos... Read more » 113 3   Why might someone with a broken leg have to wait hours for an ambulance, even if healthcare is supposed to be universal? Michael Anderson, lives in London • Answered May 11 It's universal, not infinite. The first thing you hear from the call handler when you ring 999 is the operative asking if the patient is breathing and conscious. That allows... Read more » 274 12   What does the US English term "to own the libs" mean? Does it hark back to slavery? Alex Johnston, Professional proofreader and editor (in English) • Answered May 8 This is a term generated by the American right. The 'libs' are the liberals, who are whoever the right defines as their political enemies. To 'own' someone in this context is... Read more » 742 72   If the world starts dumping US treasury bills, then who buys them? CEO1, Bunch of Degrees, astonishingly long life, lots of travel • Updated Mon I am China. I have $1 trillion in 30 year U.S. Treasury bills that earn interest at a range of interest rates from 3.2% up to 4.29%. <<Once sold, the yield is fixed to matu... Read more » 584 72   When chefs release cook books, do they give the full recipe they use at their restaurants or do they hold back on mentioning 1 or 2 ingredients? Volker Eichener, Professor at Hochschule Düsseldorf • Updated April 10 Hold back is the wrong wording. What they do (or rather the editors) is they simplify their recipes. It starts with the equipment. At home, you simply cannot cook like the re... Read more » 1.6K 64   Why is the statement "0 is even" a sophism? David Joyce, Ph.D. Mathematics, University of Pennsylvania (1979) • Answered May 8 By any definition of even and odd, the number zero is an even number. Definition: An integer [math]n[/math] is even when there exists an integer [math]m[/math] such that [math]n=m+m.[/math] In other words, it can... Read more » 157 26   What do sci-fi shows get wrong about nanobots? Mats Andersson, M Sc. Physics & Computer Science, Uppsala University (1991) • Answered May 12 Everything, really. Consider this: Nature already has self-replicating entities that can build copies of themselves out of whatever is around. They've been perfecting this at... Read more » 614 26 Read more in your feed

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