The Origin of Trigonometry

Trigonometry had to start with sea-people. It is the conclusion of British, German, and U.S.A. navies' experts that celestial—offshore—navigation be¬ gan with the South Pacific's island peoples. Much has been published on this subject. What is not as well pubHshed is the fact that the navigators on all those islands live entirely apart from the other humans in their native groups. When the supposedly God-ordained chieftain of those islands finds his prestige and popular credence declin...

 Putting Statistics in Perspective

Now let's get a handle on what it really means to have a 1-in6,500 or a 1-in-13,000 chance of dying. It's as if you lived on an island in the South Pacific with a population of 650. You make your living by swimming around in the azure waters around your idyllic paradise and spearing fish for dinner. Yum, yum. About once every ten years, a stray shark happens by and eats a swimmer. That's a 1-in-6,500 chance of any one person being eaten by a shark, just the same as the odds of dying in an aut...