Quick! Name the greatest equation of all times. That’s a challenge only a scientist or mathematician could love – which is why it was made in Physics World magazine. From the 120 responses, the top vote getters were Maxwell’s equations (which shouldn’t count since it’s a set of four) and this one:
Well, at least I understand all the pieces.
My favorite nominee, however, was 1 + 1 = 2. The classics are always in style.
Thanks to Atrios (of all places!) for the link.
I brought this up in all my classes today- first I had them make guesses about the most important equations.
Not surprisingly, no one guessed Euler’s Eqn, but every class had an e=mc^2 most had 1 + 1 = 2 and a couple brought up the Pythagorean theorem. All my physics kids wanted v = gt or d = 1/2 a t^2.
I think the math teachers were more surprised than anything when their 9th graders asked them about Euler’s equation in class today!