Mathematician remembered

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Tom

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Tom said:
...named after Karl Friedrich Gauss, the German mathematician......Gauss was honored with his "photo" (image) and a diagram of a Gaussian (aka "normal" or bell-shaped) distribution on a German bank note. I have one around here somewhere..., but haven't laid eyes on it since we last moved.

I was cleaning up the garage this morning and look at what I found .... that 10 DM note (two of them actually). So, for the mathematicians and statisticians out there, you might appreciate seeing this.
 

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Tom said:
I was cleaning up the garage this morning and look at what I found .... that 10 DM note (two of them actually). So, for the mathematicians and statisticians out there, you might appreciate seeing this.

Looks more like the navigators and geodocists would be interested:  I see a sextant, a triangluation network and it looks like a regression curve for error.  The small print is not that clear: Who is the old boy?  Humbolt?
 
I believe that's Carl Lichtenstein; German physician, botanist and explorer.

Interestingly, my Dad's uncle had a scrapbook full of old German money from their depression era, back when companies printed their own money. Everything from 1m to 10,000,000m notes. Unfortunately, as he told it, the depression was so bad that when you got paid you immediately made for the nearest grocer and bought whatever you could get with your pay, for the next day it might be worthless.
 
As I said, it's Gauss. Here's one account of his academic background. The curve is a normal (aka Gaussian aka bell-shaped) distribution. Here's the probability density function shown by the curve on the note. Here's a Wiki for the PDF.
 
OK, Gauss.  That explains the normal distribution curve.  The triangulation net would be a least squares regression problem.  However, why the sextant?
 
Tom said:
I was cleaning up the garage this morning and look at what I found .... that 10 DM note (two of them actually). So, for the mathematicians and statisticians out there, you might appreciate seeing this.

Save them. There's no such thing as a DM anymore since they went to Euro. The government told the Germans to turn in all their DMs when they went to Euro and being good Gernans they did what they were told. Very hard to find DMs these days. I carry both a 10 and 20 DM note all the time in my wallet. It's an Air Force thing. If I run across someone from my old outfit and they ask to see a note, if I don't have one I'll have to buy drinks for all at the bar. Those DM notes are my insurance policy.  ;)
 
Smoky,

A Wiki (short for Wikipedia) is an online encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to. Click here for more info.
 
Actuall, Wikipedia is just one Wiki.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki for the more general definition.  Specifically:

A wiki (IPA: [ˈwiː.kiː] <wee-kee> or [ˈwɪ.kiː] <wick-ey> (according to Ward Cunningham) is a type of website that allows users to add and edit content and is especially suited for constructive collaborative authoring.

 
Feel free to edit the one that's wrong  ;D
 
Tom said:
LOL Karl. Gauss was sure one smart dude.

Especially sincer he invented the deGAUSSing coil, the essential tool of 50-70's TV technicians.

I wonder what he had to do with magnetism.

I know; look it up!
 
Gaus had a lot to with magnetism, but he didn't invent the degaussing coil or, for that matter, degaussing.
 
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