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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Researchers from the University of Kent, the Research Institute for Environment Treatment and Vita-Market Ltd have discovered the universal mathematical formula that can describe any bird's egg existing in nature, a feat which has been unsuccessful until now.
Egg-shape has long attracted the attention of mathematicians, engineers, and biologists from an analytical point of view. The shape has been highly regarded for its evolution as large enough to incubate an embryo, small enough to exit the body in the most efficient way, not roll away once laid, is structurally sound enough to bear weight and be the beginning of life for 10,500 species that have survived since the dinosaurs. The egg has been called the "perfect shape."
Analysis of all egg shapes used four geometric figures: sphere, ellipsoid, ovoid, and pyriform (conical), with a mathematical formula for the pyriform yet to be derived.
To rectify this, researchers introduced an additional function into the ovoid formula, developing a mathematical model to fit a completely novel geometric shape characterized as the last stage in the evolution of the sphere-ellipsoid, which it is applicable to any egg geometry.
This new universal mathematical formula for egg shape is based on four parameters: egg length, maximum breadth, shift of the vertical axis, and the diameter at one quarter of the egg length.
This long sought-for universal formula is a significant step in understanding not only the egg shape itself, but also how and why it evolved, thus making widespread biological and technological applications possible.
The actual article is pay-walled, but the abstract is available.
Journal Reference:
Valeriy G. Narushin, Michael N. Romanov, Darren K. Griffin. Egg and math: introducing a universal formula for egg shape, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14680)
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday August 30 2021, @10:39AM
Ostrich egg + Chicken = Preparation H
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @12:59PM (2 children)
well not really, but this guy posted the formula from paper and tried implementing in python code.
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2021/08/28/empirical-egg-formula/ [johndcook.com]
the more important question: which was first, the formula or the egg?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @07:52PM (1 child)
Thanks for the johndcook link. The egg formula may actually be useful for fitting certain test data that we see (and the data is problematical to fit...).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @09:26PM
Well, a comment made on that page:
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday August 30 2021, @01:45PM (1 child)
I have certainly seen eggs with irregular bumps small and large on their surface, four ideal forms - no matter how many parameters they have, seem inadequate to capture the individual uniqueness that certainly exists on some scale in every real egg.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @04:49PM
The complexity of the universe is astonishing. Absolutely mind boggling. On every scale, the egg has been optimized - geometrically, chemically, physically. And it turns into a fucking chicken!
(Score: 5, Informative) by legont on Monday August 30 2021, @03:14PM (1 child)
Diameter fixed to the length, if even true, is not a parameter. In fact here is what the short summary says:
Why idiots believe they can write articles about scientific subjects? Because they are used to social science. Just saying.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 31 2021, @08:31AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday August 30 2021, @10:46PM (4 children)
I find it hard to believe that such a fairly basic shape, the egg, hasn't been adequately characterized mathematically, until now. We have all kinds of curves: circular arc, parabola, and catenary, to name just a few. And with splines, we can make a smooth curve that fits just about anything. Eggs obviously have rotational symmetry, and it'd seem one of these curves rotated about an axis ought to produce an egg shape.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday August 31 2021, @12:56AM (1 child)
You say that, but look at Pi: it's like round and simple and shit, and they still haven't found the last digit. And it's not for lack of trying!
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday August 31 2021, @05:52AM
That's just because they used the wrong base. In base pi, it's simple: pi in base pi is just 10, and the last digit therefore is 0.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 31 2021, @08:35AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 31 2021, @09:50PM
Ok genius, since that's all you need to do, I'll give you a simpler one. Just write down the equation for the circumference of an ellipse. I'll start you out: a circle is 2*pi*r, and that's a specific ellipse, so just simply generalize it with a few parameters.