Humidity and dew point

Feeling uncomfortably warm…

Runner: Must be the humidity.

Meteorologist: Partly, yes.

Runner: But it’s the moisture in the atmosphere, isn’t it?

Meteorologist: Dew point. At a cooler dew point like 6 degrees Celsius you feel comfortable, but if the dew point rises to 18 or 20 degrees C you feel sweaty and uncomfortable.

Runner: I’ve seen dew point on the weather forecast.

Meteorologist: Dew point. The atmospheric temperature when water droplets condense and form dew. There’s a formula which takes account of pressure and humidity. Dew point is a better measure to predict what to wear.

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Voice-over

The actual formula is Td = T - ((100 - RH)/5.) where Td is dew point temperature (in degrees Celsius), T is observed temperature (in degrees Celsius), and RH is relative humidity (in percent). This table sums up how dew point relates to how you feel.

Mapmaker: Inō Tadataka

A worthy second life...

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Inō postage stamp

Ian: This Inō was an interesting man. No ordinary person for Edo. Businessman, scholar, surveyor, cartographer.

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Ivan: First a businessman, then a scholar?

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Ian: Retired from business at 49. Then studied western astronomy, geography and maths.

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Ivan:  productive second life that extended his retirement?

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Ian: A long one. Lived to 73. Physically strong too. By his seventies he’d walked more than 35,000 kilometers to map Japan.

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Ivan: A contract?

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Ian: Not at first. Used his own money, then negotiated with the government suggesting it was important to map the coastline, arguing that Russians were arriving in Hokkaido.

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Voice-over

Inō Tadataka (伊能 忠敬)  lived in the Edo Period  between 1745 and 1818. His atlas of Japan was completed by his disciples 3 years after he died. Evidently he knew how to foster followers who completed his work and archived appropriately.

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Contrasting Two Economists

Test question…

Yusuke: What kind of question is this? "Identify the men in the photograph and explain their ideas." Do you recognize them?

Masa: No idea. But we could google images of economists and see what comes up.

Yusuke: Some keywords might also help.

Masa: Like solving clues in a detective story.

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Voice-over

The question...

Identify the two men in the photograph. Explain their different approaches to economics. Leave responses as comments below.

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Square Root Day Dinner

Laura comes home to find an odd dinner prepared by George on his cooking night.

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Laura: What’re these funny cubes on my plate?

George: You know what day it is?

Laura: It’s the 3^rd of March.

George: And the year?

Laura: 2009. So?

George: Don’t you see? 3.3.9. It’s square root day. 3 times 3 equals nine.

Laura: But there are three groups of nine, makes 27.

George: Don’t you see Laura? They’re CUBES. 3 cubed is 3 x 3 x 3 = 27. 27 cubes. 9 cubes of feta, 9 cubes of carrot and 9 cubes of cheddar. My JOKE!

Laura: George, don’t you think you may have just a little too much time on your hands? Maybe you should have another go at politics.

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Voice-over

Numerology: ascribing special power to numbers. Astrology gave rise to astronomy. Pseudomaths preceded mathematics. 

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