a (sga) question for the ages:

[ekaterinn]

Would Rodney find John insanely attractive right away, even from the side? Or would he have to turn around and ideally display some interest in math? my braincells may depend on your answer!

also, what kind of math would John be interested in? racousraven, do you know of any especially cool math from your NUMB3RS watching?

Comments

[ohtori-akio.livejournal.com]

John is absolutely all about the calculus of variations. And no, that is not because it's my current area of research. Really.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Hee! Is that a very big area of research? Any good books that John might like to read? (No, this is isn't for a very insane, a very AU fic, why do you ask?)

Bonus question: How does John take his coffee? *g*

(And how are you? I haven't heard from you lately...)

[raucousraven.livejournal.com]

Oh dude, I dunno. I do think that John might have this secret, very very orderly way of thinking about math that he just doesn't talk about with other people. If pressed, John might make analogies to ferris wheels and flying: that sense of weightlessness, of helpless forward momentum, of simultaneous knowledge and stillness, of hanging in thin air.

The one commonality I can imagine between Charlie and John (besides the fetchingly disastrous dark hair) is them both wanting to reserve something entirely for themselves. For Charlie, math was his kingdom until his mother passed and his brother pulled him out. For John, well, I really don't know what kind of math he'd do. I do think he'd be one of those maddening people who look vague for an instant before coming up with incredible, innovative answers seemingly out of thin air.

Uh... hope that helps? I don't think that helped. Hrm.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

For John, well, I really don't know what kind of math he'd do. I do think he'd be one of those maddening people who look vague for an instant before coming up with incredible, innovative answers seemingly out of thin air.

*laughs* That does make sense! This is for an AU actually, where John has a master's in math from MIT, but haven't really studied the subject in depth for years. He's in a bookstore right now, looking at math books - so I guess I need something that people would write books on. *g*

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

And I'm halfway tempted to go with fractals for now, simply because they sound cool.

[raucousraven.livejournal.com]

Fractals do sound cool. Especially fractal complexity -- it's an idea (and a model) I find rich in possibilities.

Fermat's Enigma (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?Item=978014026869&Catalog=Books&Ntt=fermat%27s+enigma&N=35&Lang=en&Section=books&zxac=1)
Zero: the biography of a dangerous idea (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?Item=978014029647&Catalog=Books&Ntt=zero%3A+biography+of+a+dangerous+idea&N=35&Lang=en&Section=books&zxac=1)

Those are the two math books I've read most recently. Note that neither is written for specialists! Both are fascinating, but the one on Fermat was also really, really gripping -- couldn't put the thing down, even to go to sleep, although I already knew how it ended.

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Oooh neat! Thank you so much! And, fractal complexity seems interesting...perhaps I'll use that. ^_^

[narnia-girl.livejournal.com]

My grandfather was a Mathamtisian and my grandmother was a librabarian! Does that help?

[ekaterinn.livejournal.com]

Know any good math books then? My co-writer and I are trying to compile a list. *g*

[narnia-girl.livejournal.com]

No don't know any good math books, but I got bored one night and started googleing family and it seems my grandfather wrote an algorithm. "James C. Morelock: Algorithm 229: Elementary functions by continued fractions."