This fall has been a fast-paced jumble of things happening, which is good but I feel like I’ve been running a marathon! I’m looking forward to the semester being over and several other things finishing up for a fresh new start in the new year! Until then, I wanted to share two things I’ve learned recently that blew my mind. If these have been obvious to you since birth, maybe just pretend that these are cool concepts to ponder 🙂
One: the word radian comes from the word radius, and is the number of times the radius of a circle fits into the circumference. As in, C = π*2*r. Duh. So one full radian around the circle is just the length of one radius around the circle, and it takes just over 6 of these (2π!) to get all the way around.
How many hours did I spend in high school doing unit circle exercises and this never occurred to me? It’s a miracle I ever made it through calculus, much less an entire engineering undergrad without understanding the etymology behind this word. Thank god for the Khan Academy.
Two: the word “carbohydrate” comes from carbon plus hydrate, or carbon and water, and is basically just a chain of carbons with some hydrogens and oxygens hanging on.
Which is why when you stop eating carbohydrates, you drop a bunch of water weight right away. Because carbon and water! I still prefer being a fat-burning machine anyway, but how cool, and obvious, is that?
I love words.
Anyone else have any “wow, DUH!” moments recently?
