Timeline for Where can square roots come from when they are not distances?
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7 events
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| Mar 17, 2016 at 12:32 | comment | added | Sebastian Goette | @FedericoPoloni As eigenvalues of 2x2 matrices, in other words, as roots of polynomials of degree 2. Or do you have in mind a more general collection of matrices producing square roots as eigenvalues? | |
| Mar 17, 2016 at 8:22 | comment | added | Federico Poloni | As a matrix guy, I would say that the square root here arises as an eigenvalue of the transformation $\begin{bmatrix}1 & 1 \\ 1 & 0\end{bmatrix}$, so a more general answer in this theme would be as eigenvalues. This may just be my skew view on things, though. | |
| Mar 15, 2016 at 15:01 | comment | added | Vladimir Dotsenko | @PerAlexandersson one would think that the regular pentagon, once you draw all the diagonals, exhibits the (sort of) same kind of self-similarity as the spirals you mention.. | |
| Mar 14, 2016 at 21:50 | comment | added | Per Alexandersson | @MoritzFirsching: That is true! However, is that the underlying explanation for shell spirals and sunflowers? I thought it was more related to some type of optimization theorem... | |
| Mar 14, 2016 at 20:06 | comment | added | Moritz Firsching | well, perhaps not quantum physics or probability, but the golden ratio can of course be interpreted as distance between two non-adjacent vertices of the regular pentagon with unit edge length... | |
| S Mar 14, 2016 at 19:55 | history | answered | Per Alexandersson | CC BY-SA 3.0 | |
| S Mar 14, 2016 at 19:55 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by Per Alexandersson |