From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Sat Aug 18 2001 - 10:44:48 MDT
Terry W. Colvin wrote:
>
> Fortean Times 145, May 2001, p. 49
>
> The night side of science
(snip)
> It is certainly true that Newton's hermetic interests led to one of the most
> infuriating conundrums in science education --- the seven colours of the
> rainbow. Most people can see six colours relatively easily, but find indigo and
> violet almost impossible to differentiate --- and this is because they are.
> Newton deduced that there should be seven colours because of the number's
> hermetic significance, so he made sure there were. We've been saddled with his
> assumption ever since.
Another error in Newton's logic. He was indeed a bridge between the old
and the new. How many of you know that Newton reasoned that the
probability of flipping two coins and coming up with two heads is 1/3
since the outcomes are: one coin is heads and the other coin is heads,
one coin is heads and the other coin is tails, and one coin is tails and
the other coin is tails? (I gained this wisdom from my colleague Jim
Shanteau--who mathematically models decision processes, but I don't know
his source.)
Thad Cowan
-----------------
Asimov wrote in one of his science essays something along the
lines of: "As a kid I could never see this "indigo" colour. I
just saw "violet", except I called it "purple". Actually, being
from Brooklyn, I called it "poiple"."
--
James H.G. Redekop
------------------
>How many of you know that Newton reasoned that the
>probability of flipping two coins and coming up with two heads is 1/3
He has lots of modern company. This is essentially the same error made by
those who lambasted Marilyn vos Savant over her "Let's Make a Deal" puzzle.
Some of those were mathematicians, who should know better.
Dave Palmer
--
Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com >
Alternate: < terry_colvin@hotmail.com >
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