Science & Mathematics Questions & Answers

When we were small, we used to look up to the sky and often see a white trail left by a jet aircraft. Rocket! Rocket! We used to yell, jump up with joy, clap our hands and strain our eyes as the ‘rocket’ disappeared into the horizon. Soon, the white streak would change into a broken, twisted cloud path. And …

The Time Preference Theory of Interest is also known as The Agio Theory of Interest. It was presented by Bohm Bawerk, who said that interest is an agio (reward) or (premium) for time preference. People prefer present income, present consumption and present satisfaction of wants, which means that people are impatient to spend. To induce them to postpone their consumption, …

The universal recycling symbol is an internationally recognized symbol used to designate recyclable materials. It is composed of three chasing arrows that form a Mobius strip or unending loop. In 1969 and early 1970, worldwide attention to environmental issues culminated in the first Earth Day. In response, then Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, a large producer of recycled paperboard which …

It’s a software that facilitates speed learning, particularly of languages. It’s based on an algorithm which calculates the precise moment when a person is likely to forget something she has learnt. The program would then remind her about going over that information once again, during those times. It was invented by Piotr Wozniak.

When you look up into the sky on a clear night, you see lots of stars twinkling there. The sun is a star, and it shines by its own light, which is formed by bursts of energy from the inside of the sun rising to the surface. The sun is extremely hot so hot that it would turn anything as …

The strength of any material is its ability to resist stretching, pressing together, and tearing what the scientists call tension, compression and shear. No one material is the strongest for all purpose. For example, cast iron is immensely strong in resisting steady compression, but is easily broken by a sharp hammer blow. Some materials are made stronger by the addition …

The stroboscopic effect is a phenomenon due to interrupted illumination of a moving object. When an oscillating body is seen in periodically interrupted light (a series of light flashes occurring at a definite rate) it appears different. If the periodicity of the vibrating body is same as that of the flashing light, the body appears to be stationary. In movies, …

There is only one place where the horse is ridden according to traditional rites which have come down from the days of chivalry – the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Its beginnings can be traced from 1572. The art of haute ecole had hardly changed since it was developed by Louis XIII’s Master of the Horse. The riding Hall was …

Allethrins are compounds used in household insecticides like mosquito coils because they have low toxicity for humans. They are sourced from chrysanthemum flowers, found in Asia and eastern Europe. These plants are cultivated for ornamental, culinary or insecticide-preparation purposes. The flowers are pulverized and the allethrin compounds found in the seed cells are extracted and sold to insecticide makers.

Frank Sortino, now the director of a pension research institute in San Francisco, developed the Sortino Ratio. Many global Mutual Fund rating agencies prefer this risk-adjusted return measure over the Sharpe Ratio, because it is simple and easy. The Sortino Ratio is similar to the Sharpe Ratio, except that instead of using standard deviation as the denominator, it uses downside …