Me [describing Euler’s constant]: “So we use ‘e’ because it was named after him.”
Student: “So that’s why we can’t use ‘e’ as a variable or for anything else?”
Me: “Pretty much.”
Student [thinking deeply]: “If I ever find a constant, I’m going to change my name to Xavier.”
Me: “Why would you want to do that? Wouldn’t you want it named after your own name?”
Student [grinning]: “No, because then they would name the constant as ‘x’ and have to rewrite all the textbooks because they can’t use ‘x’ as a variable any more.” (12/13/18)
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