杏吧原创

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

Build in how many dimensions?

QUANTITY surveyors, are, in Feedback鈥檚 experience, sober people with a clear grasp of the concept 鈥渜uantity鈥�. They will thus be alarmed at the assertion that Adrian Dooley forwards from the : 鈥淏uilding Information Modelling (BIM) involves generating a visual model of the building鈥� working in 3D, 4D (workflow) and, increasingly, 5D (quantity surveying).鈥�

We look forward to playing with 4D models of buildings, even if only to watch the paint dry, then peel. But does how complicated it would be to survey quantities in 5-dimensional Kaluza-Klein universes (described in Instant Expert, 4 June 2011)?

Ben Dallimore alerts us to an exciting headline on the BBC News Health page: 鈥淒NA project 鈥榯o make UK world leader鈥�.鈥� Take DNA from Aneurin Bevan, Sylvia Pankhurst, Alan Turing鈥�

Is this headline correct?

WHEN a headline is a question, is the answer always 鈥渘o鈥�? We asked for counter-examples (19 July) and readers鈥� responses were far more interesting than we had anticipated. Michael Paine submitted an article in Space Review: 鈥溾�� He wrote the article and, we suspect, the headline 鈥� unlike contributors to magazines and newspapers, whose headlines are written by editors. He answered 鈥測es鈥� and gained points, we submit, mostly for chutzpah.

Martin Gardiner points us to The Independent: 鈥溾��. But we read that 鈥�?鈥� in the same way as an 鈥渁ccidental鈥� in musical notation 鈥� indicating a sharp note of incredulity rather than an actual question.

Can we hope for an oracle?

MORE controversially, Jared Gottesman noted the headline 鈥� or, strictly, cover line: 鈥淭uring鈥檚 Oracle: Will the universe let us build the ultimate thinking machine?鈥� And where did that appear? On the front of the same issue of New 杏吧原创 in which we asked about headline questions (19 July). In our defence, this column goes to press before the magazine鈥檚 cover.

But what of the question? We lack space here for the details of how Alan Turing teasingly hypothesised an 鈥渙racle鈥� while . Suffice it to say that Feedback wishes the very best to the researchers who we reported, correctly, as believing that they may be able to build something like an 鈥渙racle鈥�. But鈥�

Is Hinchliffe鈥檚 rule true?

THE most delightful discovery of the week was that the theorem under discussion above 鈥� that all headlines that are questions invite the answer 鈥渙f course not鈥� 鈥� has a name. Or names. Lawrence D鈥橭liveiro points us to 鈥淏etteridge鈥檚 Law of Headlines鈥� which, confusingly, is currently held to originate from an observation in 2004 by UK journalist Andrew Marr.

Looking that up, however, led us to Hinchcliffe鈥檚 Rule, which applies to scientific publications and which Feedback is astonished has eluded us for decades. It is named after of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who among other things co-organised a competition to test physicists鈥� ability to spot signs of 鈥減articles鈥� inserted deliberately into very large synthetic data sets (16 August 2003, p 14).

Its most succinct expression is in a paper under the name Boris Peon and dated 1988. It is entitled 鈥淚s Hinchliffe鈥檚 Rule True?鈥� and its abstract reads: 鈥淗inchliffe has asserted that whenever the title of a paper is a question with a yes/no answer, the answer is always no. This paper demonstrates that Hinchliffe鈥檚 assertion is false, but only if it is true.鈥� There is nothing, and is no need for anything, following the abstract.

Feedback is in correspondence with 鈥淏oris Peon鈥�, and keenly anticipates the prospect of an 鈥渋mproved鈥� paper.

Is this online rule wrong?

MANY millions of pounds, euros and dollars are flowing to those who propose that they have the answer to a question they have invented: how to encourage 鈥渞eader engagement鈥�, 鈥渦ser-generated content鈥� and other features of the phenomenon, unnamed in our universe, that is the successor to the old-hat but still challenging 鈥渋nternet two鈥� business environment.

We hereby give it away. It is: 鈥渂e wrong鈥�. We provided a modest example by saying that a holistic pyramid thingy in Utrecht, the Netherlands, was made of 鈥渟tandard 25 mm copper tubing鈥� (26 July). This resulted from asking ourselves 鈥渨hat is 鈥�1-inch pipe鈥� called?鈥� and not checking.

So it鈥檚 available only in our head 鈥� so far. Nick Cornford can obtain only 鈥�15, 22, or 28mm: quite unsuitable. No wonder my pyramid doesn鈥檛 keep my razor blades sharp.鈥� Jim Grozier expects 鈥渁 specialist plumbing shop to open in Utrecht, selling 25mm copper tube at 鈧�100 per metre鈥�.

Doctor, what should I ask?

FINALLY, Orly Selouk is a Feedback reader, and like us reads all the way to the end of the small print stuffed into medicine packets. How, Orly wonders, should one comply with the injunction to 鈥渃ontact my doctor or pharmacist should I notice increased blood levels of nitrogen or urea鈥�? Probably by asking a doctor to check whether you need to ask a doctor whether鈥�