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Re: metric conversions



On Tue, 13 Feb 2001, Jeff Goss wrote:

> tell anyone but sometimes I just use 280 (mental math can only carry so
> much precision!

Don't say that too loudly, a professors of mine at UWO once memorized
PI to 100+ digits, he got board one night drinking Guiness. In EM
theory he would sit there staring at the ceiling while the class
would be banging away at our HP calculators and generally come up
with the answer to about 3 digits of accuracy before we did. It
was truly scary the amount of understanding he had of physics and
such. On occasion he would start out with 'This is just the way it
is', start about 3 black boards of proof, 1/2 the class would be
stunned, the other 1/2 would be trying to take notes, he would warn
us not to bother taking notes as he could not expect 3rd year
Electrical Engineering students to be able to reproduce this.

Of course beyond being able to recite the names of most of the pubs
in/near Oxford, he also will tell his favorite students about some
professional bicycle racing and some amateur motorcycle racing in
his younger days.

Last time I talked to him he still had his late 80's Interceptor
750 and complained about how the modern day sport bikes are too
over grown. 

Thom


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