…ome hapless guy got slammed with a “penhora,” which translates into English as “distrainment”—the seizure of personal property to enforce the payment or discharge of an obligation. In this particular case, the subject of the distrainment had suffered the seizure of 1/6 of his assets. He petitioned the court for relief, claiming that he was suffering grave economic hardship.
The court solemnly pondered the petitioner’s request, noting the necessity of proportionately balancing the petitioner’s well-being against his responsibility to discharge his legal obligations. Upon consideration, the court ruled that the distrainment of 1/6 of the petitioner’s assets had been too severe and ordered a relaxation of the order. The new order instead stipulated a seizure of 1/5 of his assets.
This would be hilarious, if it wasn’t somewhat less than funny for the recipient of the Judge’s generosity.
But it goes to show that maths is necessary for all sorts of careers, not least those in the distinguished legal profession…
The GoW came across the Gresham College YouTube channel earlier today, featuring some interesting clips from a lecture by cosmologist and Gresham College Geometry professor, John Barrow, on everyday maths.
The Gresham College is a venerable London institution devoted to providing free lectures and events for the public, in the best of traditions.
The venerable Gresham College
In the clip below, Barrow shows the maths behind bank numbers and what’s known as the ‘Luhn Test’.
If the God of Whizz was of an uncharitable turn of mind he might suggest that the world of finance has recently honoured mathematical accuracy more in the breach than in the observance.
In this vein, the Financial Times’ Gillian Tett suggests that mathematicians must get out of their ivory towers to restore credibility to the idea of ‘financial mathematics’, whose reputation the Credit Crunch and international financial crises have done so much to sully.
As Gillian Tett suggests:
What really damaged the financial system in recent years was not so much “maths” or “economics”; instead the crucial problem was bad maths (and economics) that was used and abused. Now, more than ever, mathematicians need to get out of their ivory towers or back offices and state that loudly, not just for their sake, but for economists. And, of course, those bankers.
The God of Whizz agrees, and humbly suggests a course of primary maths tutoring for the wizards who did all that financial abusing.
Our Google overlords yesterday recognised a day of significance to every fan of that most famous of irrational numbers – pi.
Google Celebrates Pi Day
Pi (as any fule kno) describes the relationship between a circle’s radius and its circumference or area, or between a sphere’s radius and its surface area or volume.
If you’re wondering why yesterday could be described as Pi Day, remember that in America Sunday 14th March is written 3/14/2010. The first three digits of the date match those of the magic pi – 3.14159…
Maths-Whizzers can find out how to derive pi for themselves in one of our Year 7 exercises. Check it out here.
If you’re interested in finding out more about our online maths tutor, then head on over to our homepage.
