There was at least one Mars probe that crash landed due to unit conversion (or lack there of) between subcontractors. And I believe there was an early launch failure (perhaps a Venus probe?) due to a minus sign. And I recall a space shuttle laser experiment that ended up pointing the laser up instead of down. Not sure I'd classify any of these as true math failures. And there was the case of the atrium that collapsed, killing a bunch of people, due to the contractor placing fasteners in the wrong place, doubling the load. But that wasn't a math error either. I think it was similar to the classic physics problem with window washers deciding to tie one end of their rope to their building rather than their platform, instantly doubling the load on the rope. (The other end of the rope is tied to the platform, and the rope goes over a pulley above that is fastened to the roof.) --ms On 20-Dec-15 20:21, James Propp wrote:
Has anyone compiled a list of disasters caused by errors in basic math?
I don't mean things like the vibration-induced collapse of the Tacomah Narrows Bridge; that involved a fairly sophisticated mistake and a lack of imagination. I mean things like the Hubble Telescope debacle, which I gather in part stemmed from a failure to keep track of units and do necessary conversions.
I'm asking because on their final exams, many of my students changed 3^n + (-2)^n to 3^n - 2^n. Next time I teach the course, I plan to explicitly remind them about this common mistake (and to exhort them not to commit it), but even more than that, I'd like to tell them about some memorably terrible thing that happened as a result of somebody somewhere neglecting to use parentheses where they were needed, or misusing them in some fashion.
And even more, I'd like to see a compendium of such adverse outcomes, so that any time I want to warn the students away from a particular kind of mistake, I can say something like "If you make this mistake on my exam, you might lose points. And if you make this mistake after you graduate, you might kill hundreds of people."
(I don't know if crosses-along-highways are a universal thing, so I'll pause to explain that here in the U.S. they signify places along a roadway where a fatal accident occurred.)
Jim Propp _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun