How many times have you sat down at a table, plopped your arms up only to find the whole table shifting towards you? How many times has that happened to you + drinks spilling all over your lap? Me? at least one of each incident.
Some of us even try to find ways to "un-wobble" it. The folded up napkin technique is sometimes successful but then that leaves your napkinless. I've also seen the matchbook technique but what if you don't smoke? So what's a frustrated person to do? According to one scientist, all you need to do is turn the table top.
Yup, Andre Martin, a physicist at CERN found that by rotating the table (working under the assumption all the legs were even to begin with), the ground would eventually yield up four areas at the same level. He took it a step further to see if a mathematical formula could prove his technique.
Okay, I'm going to pause here for a moment and comment on ANY person that finds fun in postulating mathematical formulas in the freetime. YOU ARE SMART and that makes you SO HOT. Your brain must be "ginormous" and I have always wanted a walking human calculator as a friend. You would definitely complete my circle of power, which consists of a doctor, dentist, real estate agent, banker, police officer, scientist and a rich person.
Back to the topic at hand. Andre Martin's recent paper arguing that proof indeed exists. Rotate a table for long enough and you will inevitably produce stability. Mind you, Martin makes several assumptions. The table must be round, its legs are all even to begin with and the ground should never have an inclination between any two points of more than 15%.
Ummm, I really can't comment anymore. I have no idea why I found this interesting. If you've read to the end of this entry, please tell me what you will walk away with. Have you learned something new?