Tattoos For the Math and Science Geek? 1186
An anonymous reader writes "I've been thinking of getting a sleeve of math and science tattoos for quite a while now. With the money saved up, the only question remaining is, what equations/ideas should I get? I know for certain that I'm going to include some of Maxwell's equations, and definitely Ohm's Law. So, if you were going to put a tribute to the great math and science minds on your body forever, which ones would you choose?"
Before you do it (Score:5, Insightful)
Think twice. Do you *really* think this will be so important to you forever?
Euler's identity (Score:5, Insightful)
0=e^(i*pi)+1
Don't ask for other people's opinions. (Score:5, Insightful)
If you don't know what you want then just wait until you do. One of the worst things you can do for a tattoo is ask what other people think you should get. You'll end up with something that they want and it may be cool now but years down the road it won't mean anything to you.
Tattoo's are suppose to be for life. If it's something that you foresee down the road that you'll not be interested in and go "why did I ever do that, ugh that's so yesterday" it wasn't a very good idea.
the empty set (Score:4, Insightful)
The coolest math tattoo you could get would be nothing at all. Just hold up your arm and say "it's the empty set" and have them marvel at your coolness.
Seriously, tattoos are lame. Resist the urge. It's going to be an ugly green smear you will regrat.
Re:Before you do it (Score:5, Insightful)
Even worse, what if we find out the laws are wrong?
Re:Before you do it (Score:4, Insightful)
Let me see. (Score:3, Insightful)
Tattoos hurt, they endanger your health, they are expensive, and most of all they are superficial. AKA they are for looks only.
Gee... At one time only drunk sailors thought this was a good idea and now you want to show how geeky you are with them?
Might I suggest Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica the full text of course.
Bazinga!
Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)
Think of how dignified those tattoos will look when you age and your whole body looks like Reagan's neck. Do you really want to explain to your grandkids why you thought a math equation or Mighty Mouse or a kanji character that means "desk" was something that held enough meaning that it required you to permanently scar your body with it?
This applies to everyone who resolves to get a tattoo before deciding what it is of, btw.
Re:Before you do it (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, if he saved up the money for a whole sleeve either a) he is paid ridiculously (or rather well with exceptionally few expenses) or b) he has thought about it for at least a few weeks.
I mean, if he was going for a big cock on his forhead, maybe $60 or so, then I would agree but... a person saving up for a whole sleeve has at least found out how much that costs and been saving up. I guess I am assuming that its a decent artist and going to be a bit more flourish than just written equations in a standard font (I would guess just having some guy scroll a whole bunch of equations on your arm would be pretty cheap overall if you agreed not to tell anyone who did it)
I have a small tatoo that I want to get, I don't need to save up cash for it, but, I have been thinking about it on and off for about 3 years, and havn't found an artist or posted on slashdot for advice... I imagine this one has been stewing a while.
-Steve
Re:the empty set (Score:5, Insightful)
Tattoos aren't in and of themselves lame. People get all sort of lame tattoos, however. There's an awful lot of really beautiful stuff out there too.
You're largely thinking of low-quality ones done in pen ink by some guy in a back room. Those tend to be real crap jobs that over time look like shit.
Modern tattoos done by a qualified artist are an entirely different animal in terms of how they look, and how they hold up over time.
And, really, if the sum total you have to add is "tattoos are lame", why are you even bothering to comment? You obviously have nothing better to contribute to the topic.
Indeed. (Score:4, Insightful)
But then again, I'm an old coot that never got the tattoo thing.
Re:Don't ask for other people's opinions. (Score:3, Insightful)
In fact, I've been thinking of getting a math related tattoo for a while now and just haven't had the perfect thing come up. My two ideas that I've been trying to develop are something involving the unit circle -- and perhaps its relationship to the Fourier transform, or waveforms and therefore music -- and maybe a diagram related to harmonic partitioning.
File under "selfish" (Score:3, Insightful)
Are just a few ways that you could use that money to make a difference in science that will help others. When you die your tattoo will eventually rot away with the rest of your body. But if you sponsored something that helped science or math progress, people would know of you for some time.
Re:Let me see. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think by "superficial", he means that they are purely decorative - even if of some sentimental value to the wearer.
And this is true, but I wouldn't tell someone not to wear their wedding ring just because it is superficial.
I'd be much more concerned about the expense of laser removal once the tattoo fad passes.
And if you don't think that this is a fashion fad, may I interest you in some vintage mid-90s facial piercings? You'll never need cosmetic earlobe repair surgery, because giant, comical rings embedded in your earlobes will be cool forever.
Re:Smith Chart (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't mod me for flamebait but I think that really looks bad. Tattoos rarely look good in their prime, and always end up faded and smudged. They don't make you look tough or interesting, just trashy.
Re:Let me see. (Score:3, Insightful)
>As to being purely superficial, lots of people get tattoos that have a strong meaning to them (and, admittedly, lots don't).
So? That breakup with that one girl has a pretty strong meaning, but it doesn't mean you should permanently remind yourself of it on your skin. There's no shortage of regrettable ink that starts with the phrase "This meant a lot to me."
Strong feelings or "deep meaning" don't necessarily justify anything.
>Somehow I knew a story about tattoos on Slashdot would trot out a bunch of people who know absolutely nothing on the topic.
Or it would attract know-it-alls who would come in the thread and be dismissive without adding to the discussion. Kudos to you!
some people, yeesh... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Before you do it (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I like the fermata symbol (Score:2, Insightful)
Ya know that saying? "People may believe your stupid, but there's no reason to open your mouth and prove it."? I think a modification of that appies here:
People may believe you're a nerd, but there's no reason to tattoo equations on your body and prove it. (Talk about making dating even more difficult!) Also consider the long term implications:
- My niece tattooed a rose on her ankle. It was cute on her young high school body.
Fast-forward 20 years and now it's expanded into a giant red splotch. (i.e. she gained weight)
Re:Before you do it (Score:5, Insightful)
In that case, definitely the most beautiful and famous theorem you can come up with is Euler's identity [wikipedia.org]. e^(i*Pi) = -1.
Re:Seriously? (Score:2, Insightful)
Having suffered from an alcohol induced lack of judgement and a poorly executed arm band which I am now in the process of chemically fading so it can be fixed, I have to echo this sentiment. If you aren't 100% sure what you want, then you don't want a tat bad enough to get one.
Asking anyone else for suggestions of what you should scrawl on your skin for the rest of your life is a recipe for disaster in the highest possible magnitude.
.
Re:Before you do it (Score:5, Insightful)
They ARE wrong, especially Ohm's Law. They're very, very good approximations for most cases, but they're not exactly correct. Even Einstein's equations are probably wrong, and don't agree with actual results in navigation of space probes: see the Pioneer Anomaly.
If you want equations that are exactly correct, stick to proven mathematical theorems, like a^2 + b^2 = c^2, not equations describing physics.
Re:Before you do it (Score:4, Insightful)
Asking Slashdot alone for ink advice means he/she is still not sure what to get. I have a bunch of friends with ink. Each of them thought the whole thing through and two have even gone as far as mocking up the art in Photoshop. If you are unsure of what to get you need to give it more thought, PERIOD.
He/she also better hope that they have a competent artist. It never hurts to search out reputable tattoo shops or ask people who you see with great ink work (they should be more than happy to tell you). I know people who have been victim of just going to any old shop and getting crap work done. And avoid the friend of a friend who does his/her work out of their home or apartment. Either they suck, are slow as hell or disappear before they even start to fill it in and have some or all of the money (I know one case of each). Find a reputable shop with a reputable artist. Sometimes you have to wait a long time (weeks/months/years) before you get in the chair. But if its going to stick with you for the rest of your life you better know the quality of the artist.
Re:the empty set (Score:5, Insightful)
No. Tattoos look like trash. (Score:1, Insightful)
Tattoos aren't in and of themselves lame.
It's a fad.
It's amazing how the dress and look of common trash becomes popular. Yes, tattoos and piercings make one look like trash. It's really hard to take some seriously when there's shit sticking out of their eyebrows, ear lobe things that make one look like a yuppie Bush tribesmen, and a tongue piercing.
yeah, yeah, yeah....don't judge someone by the way they look and I got a problem, blah blah blah blah.
People make snap judgments about others. Get over it. That's why you show up for an interview in a suit. That's why you show up for a date bathed and with your teeth brushed.
Sure, eventually you can win someone over when they get to know you but many folks won't give you the chance if you look like a fad chasing lemming that permanently disfigures themselves to follow a trend.
It makes you look stupid.
I tell you, years ago, I knew this plastic surgeon that was making mega bucks removing tattoos from bikers and I just see all those young folks getting their tattoos removed and his business increasing.
Career hint: Go to medical school and specialize in tattoo removal! Lots of business ahead.
There's a new fashion trend/fad forming. I see a lot of black kids dressing like the 60's brat pack: the hats, plaid shorts, the shoes are contemporary though, and the sun glasses - it's actually a good look. And since black culture drives fashion, music and everything else that's cool in this country, folk's tattoos are about to look REAL dated.
Re:Before you do it (Score:5, Insightful)
We're supposed to be logical and have superior reasoning abilities, and there's absolutely nothing logical or reasonable about getting ink permanently injected into your skin.
Yes, because making snap, blanket statements about people's lifestyle choices is the epitome of logic and reason.
Re:Before you do it (Score:5, Insightful)
Think twice. Do you *really* think this will be so important to you forever?
A good test is to think about your favorite thing when you were one half your current age. If you had that tatooed on you today, would you be happy about it? Your future self may feel the same about your current fashion interests.
Re:Before you do it (Score:4, Insightful)
We're supposed to be logical and have superior reasoning abilities, and there's absolutely nothing logical or reasonable about getting ink permanently injected into your skin.
That's the most common FUD you hear about geeks and nerds. In reality, geeks characterize themselves with poor social skills, a simple single-mindedness that often misses the forest for the trees and an inability to treat viewpoints other than their own as valid.
Your post is symptomatic of that kind of thinking. There are logical reasons to get tattoos, your inability to realize is pathetic.
Seriously? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Before you do it (Score:3, Insightful)
Also what if you ever live in a culture with a dim view of tattoos. It could lead to you not being allowed in certain places or keep you from getting a job. The only thing I would ever consider getting a tattoo of is my name on my chest and my blood type and severe allergy in a couple of languages on my for arm.
Be unique... (Score:5, Insightful)
The older I get, the older that the "hip" crowd gets, and it just looks plain pathetic to be 30+ and have all these tattoos... Just think how bad the population is going to look 20 years from now - you'll have all these 40 yr olds that have way too much "ink" and you'll have none. I can't wait to be one of the very very few people who can say "I didn't get a tattoo because I wanted to be unique" at my 20 yr high school reunion.
Re:No. Tattoos look like trash. (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, it's thousands of years old. At the moment, I would agree, it is a bit of a fad. But, again, in and of themselves, tattoos aren't the problem, it's bad choices on what to get, and where to get it. Admittedly, it's a lot more prevalent.
I actually understand what you're saying, I just don't understand the bile -- it's not like it has anything to do with you. Yes, I see kids getting their neck done, or getting the big ear-lobe thing, and I worry that in a few years those are going to be career-limiters. Because, even as someone involved with tattoo culture, there's certain things I am aware of will give the average person the willies.
When I show up in a suit, you don't see any ink. My eyebrow piercing is long gone, and nobody seems to even notice my earrings anymore. By choice, I don't have anything more extreme that is visible to anybody unless I want it to be.
Well, then 40% of Gen-X is about to look REAL dated. Probably a higher percentage of Gen-Next is well on their way to getting ink. And, shockingly, an increasing amount of boomers are getting inked.
Hell, I know school teachers with tattoos. Typically discrete things that would never actually be shown at school.
You're over-generalizing to all of the "in your face" (literally and figuratively) stuff that people get done, and extrapolating that everybody who has ever gotten a tattoo. Why you're venting this much spleen at the concept of tattoo is hard to guess.
Seriously, it's not your damned lawn, grandpa. Get over it.
Re:Smith Chart (Score:5, Insightful)
It really depends on the tattoo, and how it was intended to look. Other factors include how the person takes care of themselves. A lot of people don't consider, "how will this look in 30 years." The same goes for body piercings. How will it all look when you're collecting your kids from school, when your grandkids are born, or when you're 90+ years old in a nursing home. Likewise, a sleeve (like the article asks) it may seem like a great idea, until you get a job somewhere in the Southern US, at a company with a strict policy about visible tattoos.
I've known folks who had needed to wear long sleeves year round, because they loved the idea of getting a tattoo that everyone would see and appreciate, a decade before. It's all fun and games until it's 110+ degrees outside, and you wish you could toss off the shirt before getting into the oven previously known as "your car", except the office "no visible tattoo" policy extends to everywhere "office" including the parking lot and anywhere visible from the parking lot.
That's not to say don't get one. Just consider what the future results could be. Folks do all kinds of crazy things to themselves. There are a whole bunch of body modifications that can be (and are) done. Is a face tattoo, or even math equations from your ears to your fingertips really the best way to express yourself?
Re:Before you do it (Score:4, Insightful)
mark of sub-average intellect
You mean, like, it identifies him as the type of person to go around making dumb assumptions about people whose choices are different from his?
Re:Smith Chart (Score:3, Insightful)
The "no visible tattoo" policy is the antithesis of the 1st Amendment. Stop giving corporations more power than the government has.
Or the "no visible tattoo" policy is the heart of the 1st Amendment. Stop giving the government more power than it should have. I think the only people that could win a "no visible tatto" lawsuit would be survivors of the holocaust.
No it isn't (Score:5, Insightful)
The "no visible tattoo" policy is the antithesis of the 1st Amendment.
Please people, read the first amendment and try to understand it.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
It starts - and pay attention - "Congress shall make no law".
Do you see anywhere that Congress has made a law that says visible tattoos are bad?
This is a corporate policy. If you are hired, they are welcoming you in the door onto their property - on their terms. If they say you have to wear purple underwear to work here, guess what? YOU DO.
Employment is optional. Nobody has to give you a job. If they don't like your tattoos they don't have to hire you. It is really as simple as that. You have to do what the boss says - it's a job. It is not a right.
So back OT, to the guy who wants a sleeve of math equations, my advice would be DON'T. It's fun, it's nerdy, I can see the appeal. But you are limiting your options.
Re:Before you do it (Score:5, Insightful)
If you fire a cannon, measure where the projectile lands, and conclude that the difference between that and the value calculated by Newton's equations has anythnig to do with relativity, then you have either a very powerful cannon or a very powerful imagination.
Re:Before you do it (Score:1, Insightful)
Your future self may feel the same about your current fashion interests.
Who cares what that old fart thinks? He's probably never done anything crazy like this in his life.
Re:Be unique... (Score:1, Insightful)
If you really have such a yearning to set yourself apart from the herd you probably have much deeper issues than having a tattoo you regret.
HAY GUYZ (Score:1, Insightful)
has anyone said yet "hay tattoos r bad and you shouldn't get 1 cuz they look bad later in life?" just wanna b sure this guy knos lololololol.
Seriously people, how many variations of "don't get a tattoo" do we need to post? Your "i'm more intelligent than you because I didn't get ink on my body" pose isn't fooling anyone - you aren't going to "laugh at people later in life" because they got a tattoo, you are going to be the same quiet, nonconfrontational nerd you are today and you won't say a goddamned thing. Except maybe online.
That's why you are posting comments like this on a message board in the first place - if you really thought it was "stupid" you would just frown and ignore it like the rest of the world instead of feeling the need to post your superior opinions on the internet.
And this is coming from someone who has no tattoos whatsoever. GET OVER YOURSELVES.
How to pick a tattoo (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Smith Chart (Score:3, Insightful)
They don't make you look tough or interesting, just trashy.
To you.
I actually think it looks pretty nice. An abstract, pleasant-looking pattern, without going all stereotypically tribal.
As an aside, they aren't supposed to make you "look tough or interesting". They're supposed to be an outward expression of personal values through art. If you don't like that, I suggest staying away from music, books, and other artforms, as apparently that's not your thing.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No it isn't (Score:5, Insightful)
the question here isn't of law, it's of whether something is right or wrong.
Ah, but it *is* a question of law. That was my whole point.
OP said that the First Amendment somehow made it okay for him to have tattoos and get any job he wants. Which is absolutely silly if you've ever taken the time to read it. The First Amendment only prohibits Congress from making laws that abridge free speech.
The morality of it is a different conversation, and one that has absolutely nothing to do with the First Amendment.
Re:Let me see. (Score:3, Insightful)
Somehow I knew a story about tattoos on Slashdot would trot out a bunch of people who know absolutely nothing on the topic.
Who's to say that some of the naysayers have done their research and actually know what they are talking about? I don't believe a therapist that specializes in suicide needs to have necessarily experienced suicide. So you are into tattoos...your expert opinion isn't necessarily better than one who doesn't have tattoos but have done the research. The experience of getting a tattoo doesn't make one an expert in tattoos.
Re:Before you do it (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:No it isn't (Score:3, Insightful)
Why not? Tattooed people aren't a "protected class". An employer could look you dead in the eye and say you look like a carny so we're not hiring you. They're allowed to have a dress code.
I had to contract with a company that had a strict dress code. Slacks, white shirts, thin black ties mandatory. No facial hair past a mustache and a goatee. All legal.
Of course being a contractor I could look how I wished. But it was really strange the first day. I showed up in a polo shirt, no tie, and a full beard. You'd have thought I had been out in the parking lot clubbing puppies. People would get whiplash when I'd walk by. They'd turn, glare - then notice the Visitor badge and relax. A little.
Re:Before you do it (Score:4, Insightful)
...but he's going to have a lot more work than the guy with short hair and a suit.
You've obviously never met a business major...
Re:Smith Chart (Score:4, Insightful)
Being discharged from a company for being a bigot is a consequence of your speech.
Having to wear long sleeves at work is elimination of your right to speak, no matter what you have to say.
Being discharged from a company for [saying something] is a consequence of your speech.
Being discharged from a company for [displaying something] is a consequence of your "speech".
Having to wear long sleeves at work is good sense if displaying tattoos get you discharged.
Re:How to pick a tattoo (Score:1, Insightful)
Assuming the OP isn't getting inked on his face or hands, even the dumbest tattoo is the world is going to have very few repercussions.
Re:No it isn't (Score:3, Insightful)
Yours is exactly the self-negating attitude I was referring to.
Nonsense. I am merely pointing out that your argument that this goes against the first amendment of the Bill of Rights is bunk. Because it is. Read it and I'm sure you will agree.
They're rights regardless of whether they are in the Constitution.
Perhaps. Perhaps you're a big fan of the whole natural law [wikipedia.org] thing. But I think you'll find that if you get fired for having a tattoo and walk into the local courthouse waving around a copy of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, your case will not go well. At all.
I was merely addressing your legal interpretation, that the first amendment protects you in this way. It does not. A literal reading simply means that Congress cannot pass a law taking away your right of free speech.
So until Congress passes a dress code, your argument does not hold.