[LINK] Points, lines & curves

[Steven Clark]

On 13/02/11 12:24, Rick Welykochy wrote:
> Kim Holburn wrote:
>> You can't fill a room with live reproducing rats.  You probably can't even fill the floor of a room with live rats for any length of time and certainly not by expansion.

you can. given enough trays. (or you could just toss them in, or they
could fall in from above).

analogies are great. they help grasp otherwise complex ideas by removing
distracting details. {or adding them, for the literal-minded ^_^}

> I like to go for David Suzuki's thought experiment with a test tube containing bacteria
> and nutrient medium that double in population every minute. Then the room / floor and other
> considerations are moot.
as thought experiments go, it's one most biology students have *done* :D

<rant>
i still maintain that no one should graduate from a
(commercial/professional)* program without spending six months in a
biology course that requires them to (a) maintain a population of
organisms through that whole time - and pass the colony on to the next
student [better if it were their whole degree, but even bean counters
can get attached given time :p] and (b) examine and understand the
ecosystem they are maintaining - with particular reference to 'real
world' analogues [aka lab and fieldwork].
</rant>

but i digress.

(* economics, finance, accounting, engineering, management, etc)

-- 
Steven