The Grinder - July 4th Edition

A collection of red-glaring rockets and bombs bursting in air, without the rockets and bombs.

The Grinder for 7/4/2011:

 Paint-It-Pink : Ashley has some Battletech math going on --> How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Medium Laser. A good discussion of how to evaluate the relative strength of weapons in Battletech, or any game.

"Can I haz tactix?" 

Found on Operation Odyssey Dawn: If the animation doesn't work, go see it here.

Linkback! --> 程阳：Probability versus Odds


MathOverflow: Which popular games are the most mathematical?

Proof: The 120 cell is a 4 dimensional figure that can be considered the 4 dimensional analog of the dodecahedron. It has 720 five sided faces, 1200 edges, and 600 vertices. This animation shows 3 dimensional cross sections of the 120 cell in a way that is similar to taking 2 dimensional cross sections of a 3 dimensional figure. Translation --> Very Cool animation!

The Number Warior: Q*Bert Teaches the Binomial Theorem (an award winner too). Sort of a long (2-part) video.

Proof-of-False: Do games offer a solution for US Tax Reform?

From doctormatt: A Collection of Dice Problems with solutions and useful appendices

The Math Less Traveled: The Wonderful World of Mike Reilly.

Mike Reilly is a Toy/Puzzle designer and screenwriter, see what he has done at Reilly4Puzzles.

Reinwood's CBT Workbench gives us an AAR for Fourth Succession War: Skondia The Final Battle Kublacon. AND it's got no math in it. Honest!

A small update to my Graph Paper Race post (added link to a relevant article). This continues to be one of my more popular posts.


I didn't plan this, but somehow this has ended up being the most math-heavy edition of The Grinder to date. Oh well, it's all sausage now.