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Comment by jandrese | Hacker News Reader

Some people have too much time on their hands.

I agree; they really shouldn't spend their time leaving disparaging comments of other peoples' hobbies.

Seriously! I wish I'd rather done an analysis of countries' shapes, and a measure of their rectagularity, viewed by hundreds of thousands/millions of people online than made this comment, where all I do is agree with you against the annoying snarkiness of the grandparent!

On a different note, agree with one of the higher level comments. Egypt doesn't look as rectangular as other countries: perhaps it's the country whose concavity and convexity are best cancelled?

Edit: Co-incidentally, the comment I was referring to was yours, parent post. I was unaware when originally posting.

Saying someone has way too much time is a compliment, not a criticism.

I've literally never heard that phrased as a compliment.

I wish I had as much free time as that.

> For example, if I’m in the mood to think about shapes— and I often am— I might imagine a triangle inside a rectangular box. I wonder how much of the box the triangle takes up? Two-thirds maybe? The important thing to understand is that I’m not talking about this drawing of a triangle in a box. Nor am I talking about some metal triangle forming part of a girder system for a bridge. There’s no ulterior practical purpose here. I’m just playing. That’s what math is— wondering, playing, amusing yourself with your imagination.

http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/mnewman/LockhartsLament.pdf

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