Galileo Invents Empiricism
Unable to solve a geometry problem, Galileo resorts to cutting out paper shapes, and spins his failure as a grand discovery: empiricism. (Historically, Galileo estimated the area under a cycloid by cutting out paper shapes and weighing them.)
Transcript
[1] Galileo at his desk, papers covered in curves: "HOW IS THIS PROBLEM SO HARD"
[2] Cutting paper shapes: "Gah! Dumb scissors! Why will nothing work!"
[3] Surrounded by scraps and crumpled pages: "Think, Galileo, think! There must be a way to spin this…"
[4] Holding up a paper cutout: "BEHOLD! I HAVE INVENTED EMPIRICISM!"
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Free for classrooms, worksheets, slides and other non-commercial use under CC BY-NC 4.0, with credit to Ben Orlin.
Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2019-03-20-galileo-invents-empiricism/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)