#199 - Marginalia

[nathansnider]

The Passage of a Few People Through a Rather Brief Moment in Time #199:

***Please note the special announcement at the end of this message!***

MARGINALIA

It is impossible to separate a tricycle into two tricycles, or a quadricycle into two quadricycles, or in general, any cycle with wheels numbering greater than two, into two like cycles. We have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this, which this announcement is too short to contain.

So... it is entirely possible that Fermat was bluffing (or at least mistaken in his reasoning) when he made his famous conjecture, written in the margins of his copy of Diophantus's Arithmetica. We cannot know this. But in the centuries of attempts to develop a proof, mathematicians were inspired to develop quite a few innovations in the field of number theory that might not have arisen otherwise.

This week, like Fermat, we are riding in the margins. If what we produce happens to inspire centuries of bike rides to come, then so much the better.

25 miles or so; several hills; close to a mile of unpaved riding, but nothing too crazy.

***Announcement***

This ride is by no means our last theorem. Do not worry; there are many theorems to come! However, there is no Passage Ride next Wednesday night. Instead, for our 200th ride, we are starting a series of four weekend Passage Rides, which will take place on Saturdays during the day. Stay tuned for the details of those. For now, what you should know is that we will be taking the Metrolink out of town for these rides. A weekend pass for the Metrolink costs $10, and we will probably be taking trains that leave Union Station around 9AM and returning on trains that start their journey back around 5PM. 

The rides themselves may be a little longer than the usual Passage Ride--perhaps 35 or 40 miles--and will progress at a slightly more leisurely pace, with stops for lunch and such. So there you have it. Next week, there is no ride on Wednesday, the 22nd. There *is* a ride on Saturday, the 25th. Take note.