W2 = Y2 + 800(xn,2_x2) + 1700(yn,2_y2) - Confused? Better read on then.....

@James72 (26790)
Australia
June 30, 2009 12:37pm CST
I was just reading an article and this equation was referred to. Any idea what it might be? I'll give you a clue then..... "Colorimetrists"! Nope? Well it had me completely bamboozled too until I read on and found out that the equation W2 = Y2 + 800(xn,2_x2) + 1700(yn,2_y2) represents the very essence of "whiteness"! (And a Colorimetrist by the way, is a researcher that studies color perceptions). OK. So, thanks to the above, I know this and YOU know this, so what happens now? Nothing I don't reckon. But hey, at least we all know now! Have you ever read about scientific breakthroughs or discoveries and wondered what the heck they were doing trying to work out things like that in the first place? or wondered what the heck they're supposed to do with the knowledge once they gain it? I wasn't sure what else to ask really and just wanted to share that equation. God knows why. Any comments about anything at all?
8 people like this
15 responses
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
30 Jun 09
Dawn doesn't DO algebra or anything that resembles it. How about a silly poem? Roses are fragrant. Skunks are stinky. I'm on a call Just waving my pinky. (taking a bow)
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
30 Jun 09
LMAO! After I posted this discussion, I immediately looked at it and realised that I'd given myself a better than average chance of getting little or no responses! And then came Dawn..... Roses are red Flowers are pretty A discussion like this Just might be called sh!tty!
4 people like this
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
30 Jun 09
Algebra stinks. Algebra sucks. James throws rocks And Dawn ducks.
4 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
30 Jun 09
James runs to the side and grabs another If Dawn ducks again There's gonna be bother!
4 people like this
• United States
30 Jun 09
I love math and equations and calculations. However, this equation is absolutely pointless to me or anyone else that reads this! LMAO! If there is anyone, anyone at all that finds this equation useful, please let me know how and what on earth it was useful for! Thanks for sharing yet another scientific useless breakthrough! Happy Mylotting! LOL
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
30 Jun 09
Damn! After your opening line there I thought it might have been YOU that could've shed some light on this! lol. Oh well, we shall just admire it's complexity and leave it at that I guess. Maybe it comes in handy when we're trying to whiten our teeth?
2 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
30 Jun 09
It's fate that draws us all together and it's the destiny of us all! Who knows..... One day one of us may cure tinea!
2 people like this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
30 Jun 09
There are many world famous scientists on myLot. The trus function of this site is to allow us to test our more outlandish theories in a safe environment that is conducive to scientific endeavour and discovery. We also like to eat chocolate and talk rubbish. Two things that we excel at.
3 people like this
@alokn99 (5717)
• India
30 Jun 09
Whiteness equation:- Something to do with measuring how wite a material is in comparison to ideal white light... Oh never mind, i'd probably never understand what ideal white light is anyway. White is white right and what more whiter than white and less whiter than white. I very often wonder to what use do most of these equations get put to James. Hey for a long time i could not figure out what they would do with v=u+at, or A=2X pieXr and e=mcsquare had me long pondering as well. I guess they have some uses. We seemed to have dicovered that the greeks had made some equations some centuries ago. Maybe a few centuries from now some descendants will say " They used differential calculus back then and they knew the speed of light". No No they must have some use for it. They sure must.
2 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
30 Jun 09
So the later it gets for you over there, the more mathematical you become yes? You sound credible on this one my friend, I must say! E=MC2 can be explained accurately by only a handful of people even today I think, so it just goes to show how complex Einstein's mind must have been! Pi gets a heck of a lot of use, so I'll give kudos to that one I suppose. Good old 3.14, we love ya! lol. The Greeks, Romans, Mayans were all unbelievably savvy when it came to equations that's for sure. Even the Pyramids here in Egypt were designed to be mathematically concise. That's an interesting comment regarding the future too and especially when we consider the advancements in space travel. The types of equations they must come up with to determine trajectory, velocity and the like would probably cause our heads to explode if we tried to understand most of them! What IS a certainty though is that mathematics applies to far more aspects of our existence than we probably realise. I never considered there'd be an equation for "whiteness", put it that way!
2 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
30 Jun 09
He was certainly a man ahead of his time! Imagine what he could've come up with if he had access to the supercomputers of today?
1 person likes this
• India
30 Jun 09
pi was simpler to prove than E=mc2. They just took a thread, measured it, made a loop, measured the radius and calculated the ratio. But what a useful constant it came out to be !!! It had so many applications, in temperature, energy, and areas and volumes of all the circle related stuffs... Einstein was a great guy, how did he do that, nobody can understand. I heard he solved the unsolvable Schrodinger equations orally (thats what one of my professors said) For Late Mr. Albert Einstein ---
2 people like this
@hiddenwing (3719)
• China
30 Jun 09
Schrodinger equation - At the beginning of the twentieth century, experimental evidence suggested that atomic particles were also wave-like in nature. For example, electrons were found to give diffraction patterns when passed through a double slit in a similar way to light waves. Therefore, it was reasonable to assume that a wave equation could explain the behaviour of atomic particles. 

Schrodinger was the first person to write down such a wave equation. Much discussion then centred on what the equation meant. The eigenvalues of the wave equation were shown to be equal to the energy levels of the quantum mechanical system, and the best test of the equation was when it was used to solve for the energy levels of the Hydrogen atom, and the energy levels were found to be in accord with Rydberg's Law. 

It was initially much less obvious what the wavefunction of the equation was. After much debate, the wavefunction is now accepted to be a probability distribution. The Schrodinger equation is used to find the allowed energy levels of quantum mechanical systems (such as atoms, or transistors). The associated wavefunction gives the probability of finding the particle at a certain position.
I have a more difficult one, which we learned in high shcool! Yeah, it makes sense. The long-time asymptotics is analyzed for finite energy solutions of the 1D Schrdinger equation coupled to a nonlinear oscillator. The coupled system is invariant with respect to the phase rotation group U(1). For initial states close to a solitary wave, the solution converges to a sum of another solitary wave and dispersive wave which is a solution to the free Schrdinger equation. The proofs use the strategy of Buslaev and Perelman (1993): the linerization of the dynamics on the solitary manifold, the symplectic orthogonal projection, method of majorants, etc.
3 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
1 Jul 09
Good Lord hiddenwing! I just woke up, read your response and my brain is on the verge of exploding! I wonder if Buslaev and Perelman managed to attract many women? The pic you provided was strangely calming though, I must say. It provided a simplistic balance to an otherwise bamboozling premise! I feel this sudden desire to lock myself in a room and read the Encyclopedia Britannica now, just so I have the slightest chance of coming up with a more relevant reply!
2 people like this
• China
30 Jun 09
There is something wrong with the uploading of the picure for the equation! So, it wasted me 10 minutes. I was very so sorry about that I used 10 minutes making nosense! As you can see, the pic that I uploaded ended up to be a blackboard! How tragedic! haha I gotta get something done now! It's great to read each discussion of yours anyway!
3 people like this
• China
22 Jul 09
Your response is just great! I had already made full use of it! "My brain is gonna explode! "How classical!
1 person likes this
@Wizzywig (7847)
30 Jun 09
Thanks for sharing this but, what I really needed to know is the equation which represents the very essence of purpleness.... U+(h+lb)+(es+s) = t(OTT)x3:7 x 52. (I think...)The ones that get me are the public funded committees and enquiries that take thousands of pounds and the brain cells of geniuses (genii??) to tell us what we have all known for years. and... this raspberry and vanilla twist vodka looks like the stuff they give you to rinse your mouth at the dentist...(tastes a bit like it too!!)
3 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
30 Jun 09
I think the equation you just provided is Aubergine, not purple. lol. Oh yes, these goverement funded studies completely defy explanation sometimes! 5 million dollars later and yep, we can safely say that grass IS indeed green. (And that's actually not far from the reality of it all in some cases too) I tried a pepper (capsicum) flavoured vodka a while back and it was absolutely hideous. I didn't need any funding to come to that conclusion either. God it was awful.
1 person likes this
@Wizzywig (7847)
30 Jun 09
Well, I think if I have a few more glasses, I wont care about the taste....I've just done 5 days hard graft in sweltering heat and now I have 2 days off there's a bottle of cheap fizzy vino screaming my name .... yes, ok vino, I'm on my way
2 people like this
@Wizzywig (7847)
30 Jun 09
I dont know what the temperature was outside but, enclosed in the curtains within a room full of bedbound incontinents who need to be washed, have dentures cleaned, be rolled, lifted etc and buzzers going off to call you to attend to someone who wants to know if anyone wants a lift/why that dog is under the bed/where have they put their car/can i fetch them one of those thingies..... it was warm enough for my friend to agree to me taking a small giraffe called Nigel as my 'guest' to her wedding reception ... Hello, Nigel...are you out there? .... call me!
2 people like this
• India
30 Jun 09
It does make some sense... But you know what, there's something I didn't get.. Where did that "xn" come from ??? x is nowhere in the equation... Am I sounding like a dork ???
2 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
30 Jun 09
Yep, you're sounding like a dork alright! I have no idea where the xn came from either. I don't have the slightest idea where ANY of it came from actually! (Other than the entire thing came from a magazine article! lol) Maybe the xn is code for "WTF"?
2 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
30 Jun 09
Keep myself busy??? Keep myself CONFUSED is more like it!
2 people like this
• India
30 Jun 09
maybe it is !!! Or maybe it is not... wait, maybe it is.... Oh heck who cares ?! wait maybe it says "Think about me to keep yourself busy !!!"
2 people like this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
13 Jul 09
Could you imagine that on a crayon? Whew.. well, atleast learned something new today which is good..now if I can just remember it all..
1 person likes this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
14 Jul 09
Well, in a sentence or discussion would be hard. But maybe a physic could tell someone that their auras has the essence of W2= Y2 + 800(xn,2_x2) + 1700(yn,2_y2) to them...Or if that bride got any paler she would be W2= Y2 + 800(xn,2_x2) + 1700(yn,2_y2). Otherwise totally useless information, but always good to know. lord imagine if kids had to learn their colors that way..I would be lost..
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
14 Jul 09
Describing a perfectly white aura would be an ideal use for sure! It would be one heck of a weird pick up line though..... "Hi, did you know that W2= Y2 + 800(xn,2_x2) + 1700(yn,2_y2) is the formula for perfect white? Well you should, because that's what your teeth are!" lol.
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
14 Jul 09
It would have to be a HUGE crayon! Either that, or you'd need a magnifying glass to read it! Now that you've learned this, the question now I guess is how the heck will you ever get to use it in a sentence?
@CanadaGal (4304)
• Canada
16 Jul 09
My comment has to be that you're quite the (E=mc2) = smrta$$ I love it!! I'd also like to add the comment that it's a gorgeous day outside here in London, Ontario today. And that I think I might take a bike ride with the boys to go swimming this afternoon. I'd also like to comment that cubed and chilled watermelon rocks!! Oh wait... that's an opinion. Sorry.
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
16 Jul 09
Gorgeous day, bike riding, swimming, time with family, cubed and chilled watermelon..... It sounds like absolute bliss to me! I'm sitting here in hot and dusty Cairo and there's not a watermelon in sight, let alone a bicycle! lol. Enjoy you lucky thing you!
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
17 Jul 09
I missed this reply yesterday, sorry for that! I can only guess by now that everyone's been fed a few times since and it's also going to be a brand new day by the time you read this yourself. Hopefully it's yet another beautiful one, but no wind!
@CanadaGal (4304)
• Canada
16 Jul 09
The wind is still a bit cool outside.. .sigh... a bit much for swimming perhaps? I'll have to wait and see what the boys think after I finally feed them lunch. It's 1pm now... I'd better get a move on that! LOL!
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Aug 09
Well, it sure LOOKS impressive! That counts for something! I am absolutely certain that this universe can be expressed as a (highly complex) mathematical equation. I LOVE complex mathematical equations! I am not proud to confess though that I still have to count on my fingers, even if I'm just adding 8+6... even if I have already added it 5 hundred times in the course of my life!
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
21 Aug 09
I kind of like them too actually, but I sure as heck can't understand most of them! There's probably an equation for each and every little colour section you're doing on the figurines you paint and I wonder how an entirely completed one would look on paper if someone were to write them all down? It's probably gponna be 10 pages or so long! I hope for your sake you never lose any of your fingers too zig, you'd better steer clear of the gasoline just to be on the safe side.
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
21 Aug 09
The Fortified Manor House! Wow, it sure looks like it's gonna require some patience to paint! So many little details to consider. Even the tiled roof alone must be challenging. I've said to you before that there's no way I'd have the patience to do something like this and that Manor would end up being called "Medieval Ruins" instead by the time I flung it across a room! I really do enjoy hearing your enthusiasm for this zig, we should all be so lucky to be doing something that makes us feel this way! This is almost as rewarding for me as the time you found those chocolates and the time my interaction with you triggered you sales at the market you were at! If you came back to tell me you'd finally demolished and burnt a couch, that would send me over the edge I reckon!
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Aug 09
Hahahahaha... Medieval Ruins! But yeah, I know that feeling! The other day I was painting a sorceress, but I was not following the directions because they suggested painting her hair yellow. Sorceresses do not have yellow hair, surfers have yellow hair!!! So I made her a red head (surprise surprise) and dry-brushed some sparkly gold over it.... I was trucking merrily along until I came to the face. OMG, it's a good thing she was made out of pewter rather than plastic because I would have had her snipped up into teeny pieces, with all my paints smeared into a muddy mess over her, then I would have stomped the mess into the ground. As it is I ended up scraping the paint off her face so many times that I scraped off the tip of her nose and practically flattened her teeny little lips. In the end she turned out really well though... provided you don't look at her face with a magnifying glass! And as far as that couch goes... it is a given that you will one day have me giving you my report on that scenario... it's just a matter of time. There are a couple of couches waiting for it. I think I'm gonna leave it to my brother though, hehehehe.
1 person likes this
• United States
5 Jul 09
Finally! They have discovered the secret formula to describe the color of my husbands legs! rofl But please leave the accelerated math equations to the professionals. I can't do math unless there is a $ and a decimal involved and in some dire cases of extreme need I can figure out % off sale prices in my head.
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
5 Jul 09
Hahahahahahahahaha, oh you must be so proud! I'm not so bad at math if we're talking standard situations like tallying up a bill and stuff like that. When it comes to equations like this whiteness example though, someone may as well be trying to convince me in Swahili to buy a hooker 'cos I'd have about as much luck understanding THAT scenario too. I hope to God there's no Swahili speaking albino tribe out there somewhere, because if there is, I've probably just insulted the crap out of 'em!
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
5 Jul 09
Oh man, I've dealt with the "local dialect then giggle in my presence" scenario for a few years now and it drives me crazy as well. It's great when I manage to pick up a few choice phrases though and can ask them what's so funny!
• United States
5 Jul 09
When I worked in Baltimore MD as an area manager 70% of my work force were from Kenya and they all spoke Swahili. I threatened to fire all of them for insubordination because the minute I would walk into a room they would start talking to each other and then glance at me and laugh. DROVE ME NUTS!
1 person likes this
• Regina, Saskatchewan
16 Jul 09
Well now I know what happened to Michael Jackson.................he was the Colorimetrists guinea pig! ROFL
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
17 Jul 09
Hahahahahaha. Well, he wouldn't be NOW of course, but the potential was there a few weeks back!
1 person likes this
• Regina, Saskatchewan
17 Jul 09
God, I'm glad I'm not a celebrity! LOL
1 person likes this
• Regina, Saskatchewan
16 Jul 09
I read a list somewhere of all the black people in the U.S. who are in positions of power, prestige, etc. The last line was a picture of a very white MJ and the caption "Bet he's kicking his a*s now!" LOL
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
30 Jun 09
Now when this equation is applied to the infamous Crosby/Astaire theory of white christmases we discover that what we are really talking about here is snow. I expect that there is a heavy fall this Christmas in Cairo. Mery Christmas Old Bean!
2 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
30 Jun 09
Oh yes, Christmas in July and in the Middle East too! If they show "It's a wonderful life" on TV as well, I'm gonna shoot myself. You set the standards of scientific advancement yesterday Mr Pike. After reading this equation, how could I NOT share it and continue carrying that inane lukewarm torch?
1 person likes this
• United States
2 Jul 09
Oh, yes, I have plenty of comments to make, but none of them really have anything to do with this.........this.........this........why the heck would we even want to know that W2=Y2 + 800(xn, 2_x2) + 1700(yn,2_y2) is the essence of whiteness? Are our brains not already filled with enough crap to last a life time? What next? The essence of blackness, or redness, or..........how the hell do they come up with this stuff, anyway? Are they going to start teaching this in science classes? Is it something that we are going to need to know in the future? Is it going to benefit out children, or grandchildren in some significant way? PFFFFFFTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
3 Jul 09
You feel better now you;ve got that off you chest Diddly? LMAO. I do have to agree with you here though because there is NO practical use for such an equation in a person's every day life and never will be really. I guess it has SOME use for certain specialists though, I'm just not sure who! There's a few MJ jokes in here too I suppose because this equation would've been of great importance to him, but I'll side-step those for now.
@savak03 (6684)
• United States
1 Jul 09
My thought is usually how much money they spent to figure that out and what possible practical application it could have. Some studies are so stupid that it is a total waste of money and intelligence. Good morning James.
2 people like this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
1 Jul 09
Heya savak, long time no see! I've seen many a pointless premise get ridiculous amounts of funding before and it really does defy logic at times. A million bucks just to say that frogs hop at a 45 degree angle??? Alrighty then! It can be that inane at times too!
1 person likes this
@SViswan (12051)
• India
5 Jul 09
lol...I WAS one of the geeks that everyone is talking...the one who understood such equations. But this one stumps me. But you know what, James....the world is made of all sorts of people. Some people like to spend their time constructively instead of wasting them on mylot! They come up with equations on why the sky is blue and white is white! They discover why grass grows on the ground and birds fly in the sky. Then there are others who come up with wornderful captions for things I don't even understand(I'll save the special captions for another discussion). Coming back to the equation you mentioned....there would be other colorimetrists out there who are at this moment going ' Now why didn't I come up with this myself!!!...It's as simple as that?'
@SViswan (12051)
• India
5 Jul 09
Thank you for the welcome, James! Ooops...that comment was not directed at you. It was just an attempt at satire...guess I failed...lol. I should use more emoticons to make myself clear. Everything I said here was in jest and not to be taken seriously...except for being a geek earlier..lol
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
5 Jul 09
I'm not THAT sensitive! I never pegged you as a geek though, I must say!
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
5 Jul 09
Heya Sandhya, nice to see you back! "Some people like to spend their time constructively instead of wasting them on mylot!" Ouch! I like to think of my own time here more as me finding a balance in life that allows me to embrace many things that make me happy. I do get your point about people having specific interests and focuses in life though. From botany and zoology to quantum physics and accounting, there are core areas of fascination that people won't notice if the interest isn't there! I can relate to the "D'oh!" moments too. Many a time in High School for example, I'd sit there going over and over material and sometimes struggle with an equation or a calculation. Then all of a sudden I'd see the answer on the board and wonder how the heck I missed it! It never centred around formula's for whiteness though. I'm happy to have stumped you with this equation too, Ms Geek! lol.