Re: (OT) Re: OpenGL scenegraph

[Erik <br0ke@math.smsu.edu>]

On 07-Sep-99 Jan Ekholm wrote:
> On Mon, 6 Sep 1999, Bert Peers wrote:
> 
>>
>>
>>Jan Ekholm wrote:
>>
>>> :-) I found a short paper on quaternions, but it started off with saying
>>> that quaternions are an extension to complex numberss. Hmm, I've always
>>> disliked those phantasy-numbers, they seem to be totally useless.
>>
>>Hehe, so are real numbers.  Some real numbers (ie the ones that are not
>>a fraction (*)) like pi or e can't ever be written down, neither as a
>>fraction or as
>>a finite behind-the-comma sequence of digits.  In fact fractions aren't real
>>either, as any civil engineer knows "how much is 7/2 ?  answer 3.499999" ;)
> 
> <snippety snip>
> 
> Oh, I didn't mean to offend math... :-) I just don't like math that much,
> and don't like to prove stuff just to see som stupid matrices work.I want
> math to be something where you have a nice documented formula into
> which you shove numbers and get nice results in the other end of
> the formula. Math is a tool for me. It should work out of the box. I don't
> want to tinker with it.
> 
> That's why I don't want to nor know how to use math as math-hackers do.
> 

math is a tool. You need to know which formula to use and how to use it, what
the numbers mean, and all that math-hacker stuff you don't want to know...
otherwise you're trying to use a hammer to put in a screw, or use a screwdriver
to plane a board... I don't think math formulas should be a magic black box in
any circumstance. Proper use and understanding of the right formulas can give
very effecient accurate answers, bad application or the wrong formula can give
off answers and probably a lot slower... Graphics, physics, stuff like that all
rely heavily on a sound understanding of some relatively advanced princeples.
Some of the neatest stuff requires an intimite understanding of very advanced
concepts (do quats counts as very advanced? cuz they give me wood). Not
learning math and not wanting to learn math is a very bad move, imho,
especially for a video game/gfx coder :) 

> ---------------------+------------------------------------------------------
>  Jan 'Chakie' Ekholm |    CS at Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
>     Linux Inside     | I'm the blue screen of death, no-one hears you scream
> 
> 

        -Erik <br0ke@math.smsu.edu> [http://shells.clipboard.com/~br0ke]

The opinions expressed by me are not necessarily opinions. In all
probability, they are random rambling, and to be ignored. Failure to ignore
may result in severe boredom or confusion. Shake well before opening. Keep
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