Murphy says...

Following is an article I found in a book. Thought to share it here...

" Everyone has heard of Murphy's first law: "If anything can go wrong, invariably it will." But hardly anybody has even a foggy idea of who Murphy was.

" The search for Murphy's notebooks led to a garage in Toledo, Ohio; an inventor's junk loft in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania; and the home of a retired female blackmailer in Sarasota, Florida. It was learned that Murphy had no first name, that he never could hold a job, and that his writings were returned by the post office for insufficient postage. It seems everything Murphy wrote about had some explanation for why things go wrong. Consider a few more Murphy classics:

Nothing is ever as simple as it first seems
Everything you decide to do costs more than first estimated.
Every activity takes more time than you have.
It's easier to make a commitment or to get involved in something than to get out of it.
Whatever you set out to do, something else must be done first.
If you improve or tinker with something long enough, eventually it will break."
By making something absolutely clear, somebody will be confused.
You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, and that's sufficient.

So,what do you think? Was Murphy right? Wrong? Could you elaborate any of the points? Have you any experience which agrees with any of the points? Don't forget to comment about it.

Markdown

Appears as

*italics* or _italics_

italics

**bold** or __bold__

bold


- bulleted
- list

bulleted
list


1. numbered
2. list

numbered
list

Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

[example link](https://brilliant.org)

example link

> This is a quote

This is a quote

    # I indented these lines
    # 4 spaces, and now they show
    # up as a code block.

    print "hello world"

# I indented these lines
# 4 spaces, and now they show
# up as a code block.

print "hello world"

Math

Appears as

Remember to wrap math in $ ... $ or \[ ... \] to ensure proper formatting.

2 \times 3

2 \times 3

2^{34}

2^{34}

a_{i-1}

a_{i-1}

\frac{2}{3}

\frac{2}{3}

\sqrt{2}

\sqrt{2}

\sum_{i=1}^3

\sum_{i=1}^3

\sin \theta

\sin \theta

\boxed{123}

\boxed{123}

Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

Markdown	Appears as
`italics` or `_italics_`	italics
`bold` or `__bold__`	bold
- bulleted - list	bulleted list
1. numbered 2. list	numbered list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1 paragraph 2	paragraph 1 paragraph 2
`[example link](https://brilliant.org)`	example link
`> This is a quote`	This is a quote
# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"	# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

A very witty and philosophical note thank you...

Mariano PerezdelaCruz - 6 years, 2 months ago

Oh, it's all life as usual. Try to do a start up company, and you'll discover how practical these observations are.

Let me add one more of my own:

Just because you've managed to convince everyone else of your idea doesn't mean you're right.

Michael Mendrin - 6 years, 2 months ago

I agree. It's amazing to note the nature of Mathematics here. People argue on concepts and theories in other branches of science. They stay put to their argument. In case of Mathematics, the debate ends and soon enough two mathematicians agree with each other.

Following is a comment (or opinion) I found here, I am copy-pasting it..

"I've been trying to study some different sciences in my life, ranging from biology to mathematics, and if I try to explain to people why I like mathematics above the others, I think the most important reason for me is that mathematicians, in the end, almost always seem agree about something.

"I mean, sure, sometimes, I disagree about something, with some other student, but I'm sure that either he can convinces me that I am wrong, or I can convince him that he is wrong. Or if we are really stubborn, I'm sure that we can go to a teacher, and how stubborn we may be, in the end, one will be convinced that he is actually wrong.

"Well, in all other sciences, the opposite seems to be true. If you for example look at health sciences, then you hear a scientist, that studied this matter for years say almost the exact opposite of some other scientist. And those scientists debate with each other, and in the end they still disagree.

"Even if in physics, you have great minds like Albert Einstein, who was convinced that "God doesn't play dice." and disagreeing about this subject with other scientist until the end of his life..."

Soumo Mukherjee - 6 years, 2 months ago

I think the reason why "mathematicians usually end up in agreement" is because there is no place for "different opinions" in mathematics. Either something is proven to be true, or proven to be false, or it simply has to be left on the shelf as "undecided". One doesn't take sides, and say, "Well, that's what you think, but I don't agree with that!" Contrast that with politics and even the way too many people look at science, "So that's just a theory! My opinion is just as good as yours!", and believe that "facts" are decided by popular appeal. With all the screaming out there, it's nice to have one place where, like playing chess, the conclusion is unambiguous--either a theorem is true, or is false, or it's undecided, and everybody is okay even with the last, and can go to have a good night's sleep without knowing if it's true or not.

@Michael Mendrin – Yeah, very subtly pointed out power of Proof over Empiricism.

This can help us to discuss topics as "Mathematics In Other Universes". Mathematics would overlap much more than other discoveries or body-of-knowledge or sciences Aliens have (if they had any.) Some would posses great capabilities in visual thinking. Some would have a much better number system. Some may be far behind us. It would be similar to the way mathematics developed or evolved or emerged here.

We could have also inscribed something mathematical (rather mathematical patters than notations) on The Pioneer Plaque

I couldn't get point no. 6 . Did anyone get it?

That's the idea behind the old truism, "If it ain't broke don't fix it"

In my opinion the moral behind is that if you try to improve for instance a prototype beyond perfection you finally will fail . Obviously the wisdom to decide when much is enough is always elusive.

Okay. I can relate it to my experiences in painting classes. Whenever I tried to 'improve' a painting, after a threshold I would spoil it. I can imagine an unrelated one: suppose a diamond cutter is continuously trying to make a diamond perfect, after a time, he will eventually damage it more.

..the wisdom to decide when much is enough is always elusive.

your this line was witty :)

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$