Friday, August 29, 2008

All Things Today

Article of the Day Farlex, Inc. Friday, August 29, 2008 Article of the Day is a free service of TheFreeDictionary.com
Perfect Numbers Friday, August 29, 2008 In mathematics, a perfect number is an integer that is the sum of all of its proper, positive divisors not including the number itself. The first perfect number is 6, because 1, 2, and 3 are its proper, positive divisors and 1+2+3=6. Euclid, a Hellenistic mathematician living in the third century BCE, discovered a formula that identifies the first four perfect numbers. What is the second number in this set?
The Lafarge Poisoning Case Thursday, August 28, 2008 In one of the first trials followed by the public through daily newspaper reports, Frenchwoman Marie-Fortunée Lafarge, who stood accused of poisoning her husband with arsenic, was found guilty of murder. Her conviction in 1840 was the first to be based heavily on direct forensic toxicological evidence. During the trial, local experts presented contradictory testimony regarding the presence of arsenic in the victim's body, and it was ultimately exhumed and tested using what new detection method?
Space-Time Wednesday, August 27, 2008 In physics, space-time is a four-dimensional continuum consisting of three dimensions in space and one dimension in time. This mathematical model, which is an integral part of Einstein's relativity theory, combines space and time into a single continuum that allows physicists to more uniformly describe the workings of the universe. The merger of space and time is often represented as a measure of distance expressed in units of time, a calculation that involves dividing distance by what constant?