List of All Articles with Tag 'a'

A pedestrian in downtown San Francisco was found critically injured and trapped underneath a driverless car Monday night. But the company that operates the autonomous car says it's not at fault.

For many of us, the mere words “Pythagoras’s theorem” are enough to revive pencil-smudged exercise books and desperate attempts to copy classmates’ work. And yet, it turns out the name that has struck dread in countless school kids over the centuries is about as accurate as this writer’s attempts at geometry. Because although it is assumed that the legendary Greek philosopher Pythagoras himself was to thank for the equation a2 + b2 = c2, it turns out it was being used some 1,000 years before his time. Archaeologists have found the equation on a Babylonian tablet which was used for teaching back in 1770 BCE – centuries before Pythagoras’s birth in around 570 BC, as IFL Science notes. Another earlier tablet, from between 1800 and 1600 BC, even features a square with labelled triangles inside. Translations of the markings, which followed the base 60 counting system used by ancient Babylonians, prove that these mathematicians were familiar with Pythagorean theorem (although, obviously, they didn’t call it that) as well as other advanced mathematical principles. In a paper dedicated to the discovery, data scientist Bruce Ratner wrote: "The conclusion is inescapable. The Babylonians knew the relation between the length of the diagonal of a square and its side: d=square root of 2. "This was probably the first number known to be irrational. However, this in turn means that they were familiar with the Pythagorean Theorem – or, at the very least, with its special case for the diagonal of a square [...] more than a thousand years before the great sage for whom it was named." And yet, one key problem remains unsolved: why did the equation become equated with the famous Greek? Well, most likely because Pythagoras wanted it to be. In his paper, Ratner points out that although the Ionian icon is widely considered the first bonafide mathematician, little is known about his specific mathematical achievements. Unlike his successors, he didn’t write any books that we know of, so there’s no written evidence of his work. However, we do have proof that he founded a semi-religious school called the Semicircle of Pythagoras, which followed a strict code of secrecy. As Ratner explained: “Pythagorean knowledge was passed on from one generation to the next by word of mouth, as writing material was scarce. Moreover, out of respect for their leader, many of the discoveries made by the Pythagoreans were attributed to Pythagoras himself. “Consequently, of Pythagoras’ actual work nothing is known. On the other hand, his school practiced collectivism, making it hard to distinguish between the work of Pythagoras and that of his followers. “Therefore, the true discovery of a particular Pythagorean result may never be known.” Still, he stressed, even though Pythagoras wasn’t the brains behind the most famous formula in maths, he does deserve a little credit for putting it on the map. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

A NASA rover has captured incredible footage of a “dust devil” sweeping across the surface of Mars. To many on Earth, dust devils are known to form vertical columns of particles and hot air when the weather is particularly warm. But, astronomers have now observed a dust devil forming on Mars and it was absolutely huge, reaching an astounding 1.2 miles high. Images of the phenomenon were captured by NASA's Perseverance rover, which made its way to the Red Planet on 30 July 2020 and landed in February 2021. The machine’s cameras captured the plume of air and particles moving from east to west, travelling at a speed of around 12 miles per hour at Thorofare Ridge, on the western rim of the planet’s Jezero Crater, on 30 August 2023. The rover was located around 2.5 miles from the passing dust whirlwind when it captured the incredible scene in a series of photographs. NASA used the image data received from Perseverance to create a moving image made up of 21 frames taken four seconds apart, sped up 20 times. A NASA blog post about the phenomenon explained: “Using data from the imagery, mission scientists determined that the dust devil was about 2.5 miles (4 kilometres) away, at a location nicknamed ‘Thorofare Ridge,’ and moving east to west at a clip of about 12 mph (19 kph). “They calculated its width to be about 200 feet (60 meters). While only the bottom 387 feet (118 meters) of the swirling vortex are visible in the camera frame, scientists used the dust devil's shadow to estimate its full height at about 1.2 miles (2 kilometres).” It comes after alien enthusiasts were given a new reason to get excited about potential life on Mars, after scientists found cracked mud on the Red Planet. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

By Jody Godoy and Luc Cohen NEW YORK Sam Bankman-Fried is set to go on trial on charges

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Short video app TikTok said it will halt transactions on its platform in Indonesia from Wednesday following the

Experts have been left baffled after the body of a female orca (Orcinus orca) was found on a beach and inside there were seven sea otters that had been swallowed whole. The dead animal washed up on the Commander Islands (Komandorski Islands) on the Bering Sea coast in 2020 - far from its typical area, according to the study published in Aquatic Mammals. But there has been further confusion due to otters not being associated as part of an orca's normal diet, with the species preferring seals, sea lions, dolphins, and whales. Six of the seven otters were inside the orca's stomach while the other one was lodged in the orca's throat, raising a possible answer to how the mammal died. Dr Olga Filatova, a cetacean researcher at Moscow State University described what they had found as "very unusual" and noted that otters are not associated with an orca's - aka a killer whale's - diet. “...killer whales normally do not eat sea otters - there were some observations of them harassing and killing sea otters, but very few proofs of actual consumption," she said. What's more, the fact that the otters were swallowed whole is also different from how orcas typically consume their food as they normally rip it apart. Therefore, this particular orca swallowing seven otters whole has raised some eyebrows. Some possible theories Dr. Filatova has come up with as to understand what happened include the idea that the orca was "very hungry, or sick, or crazy". Meanwhile, this bizarre case could possibly be the answer to the recorded decline in sea otters in the area. “Investigating the stomachs of stranded killer whales is crucial to directly confirm feeding on particular species," Dr Filatova and her colleagues concluded. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

By Luc Cohen NEW YORK Sam Bankman-Fried is set to go on trial on Tuesday on fraud and

By Josh Ye HONG KONG Apple has started requiring new apps to show proof of a Chinese government

The European Union’s climate commissioner-designate pledged to complete the bloc’s plan to reduce emissions if he’s permanently approved

Hong Kong and China Gas Co., part of billionaire Lee Shau Kee’s business empire, is accelerating an expansion

FC 24 Road to the Knockouts Team 2 release date is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. ET. At that time, Team 1 will leave packs making way for a new set of promotional items from UEFA competitions.

Assassin's Creed Mirage is coming out on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Here's how you can pre-load the game onto all platforms.