Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car

The Museum of HP Calculators

HP Forum Archive 21

Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #1 Posted by Maximilian Hohmann on 8 Mar 2013, 10:30 a.m.

Hello!
On my way home I looked at the odometer and the number seemed oddly familiar, so I had to stop and take a photo :-) Quite a lot of kilometers for an Italian car whose brand name starts with "F" but does not end with "errari"... but it is only a teenager compared to our calculators!
max


Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #2 Posted by Marcel Samek on 8 Mar 2013, 10:41 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by Maximilian Hohmann

And that's how you tell a mathematician from a computer scientist: Years ago I took a photo when my odometer read 65535; never even noticed Pi fly by.


Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #3 Posted by Frank Boehm (Germany) on 8 Mar 2013, 10:59 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by Maximilian Hohmann

3941 km/h - you sure it's not a supersonic plane?
;)

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #4 Posted by Walter B on 8 Mar 2013, 11:09 a.m.,
in response to message #3 by Frank Boehm (Germany)

Quote:
3941 km/h - you sure it's not a supersonic plane?
394.1km/h - just taking breath - will switch to the analog scale when exceeding 999.9 and going up to 28,000km/h.
([8-)

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #5 Posted by Maximilian Hohmann on 8 Mar 2013, 11:21 a.m.,
in response to message #4 by Walter B

Quote:
394.1km/h - just taking breath - will switch to the analog scale when exceeding 999.9 and going up to 28,000km/h.
I really submitted my application for the last ESA astronaut selection in 2008, no kidding! That would have been my one and only chance to see 28,000km/h on some display in front of me. Unfortunately, I was well beyond the age limit already.
But this 394 figure looks familiar too, this is more or less what I see on the screen at work (in a different unit though: KT - behind TAS which means not eBay in my world):

Edited: 8 Mar 2013, 11:28 a.m.

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #6 Posted by Walter B on 8 Mar 2013, 11:53 a.m.,
in response to message #5 by Maximilian Hohmann

Hmmh, reminds me we skipped a conversion in WP 34S: knots <-> km/h. Most potential customers of it will probably know a knot being a nautical mile per hour, however. It's the only sector I wished the Soviet Union having been more powerful - pushing SI units in flight applications. Alas, we still classify flight levels in units of royal feet of Henry VIII ...
d:-/

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #7 Posted by aurelio on 9 Mar 2013, 6:42 a.m.,
in response to message #3 by Frank Boehm (Germany)

Quote:
3941 km/h - you sure it's not a supersonic plane?
;)

I was going to notice that 394,1 is shown by the trip km counter, while I realized that it was just a joke......;)
By the way pleasured and honoured if I think that somebody in the world still enjoy italian cars made by F... and not FERRARI!
Edited: 9 Mar 2013, 6:43 a.m.

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #8 Posted by Joerg Woerner on 8 Mar 2013, 8:56 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Maximilian Hohmann

What model is it? 280 scale looks unusual to me.
Joerg

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #9 Posted by Gerson W. Barbosa on 8 Mar 2013, 10:15 p.m.,
in response to message #8 by Joerg Woerner

Just a guess, while we don't have the answer:
http://www.carfolio.com/specifications/models/car/?car=40612
http://fiatcoupeportugal.blogspot.com.br/2008/11/fiat-coupe-20-20v-turbo-plus.html
Edited: 8 Mar 2013, 10:17 p.m.

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #10 Posted by Maximilian Hohmann on 9 Mar 2013, 2:52 a.m.,
in response to message #9 by Gerson W. Barbosa

Quote:
Just a guess ...
Excellent guess, you even got the colour right! Over the years (it's been out of production for more than ten years now with only 50.000 or so bulit) it has gathered a worldwide group of followers around itself not unlike this calculator group here. But i'm not really interested in cars so I'm not an active member of any such group. The designer of this car, American Chris Bangle, went from Fiat to BMW and "ruined" a whole decade of their cars according to true BMW enthusiasts...

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #11 Posted by Gerson W. Barbosa on 9 Mar 2013, 9:05 a.m.,
in response to message #10 by Maximilian Hohmann

Fast and beautiful car! It must be a joy driving it on the Autobahn. The fastest I've ever driven was 186 km/h last year, more than 50% above the speed limit, risking to get a $300 fine.

Edited: 9 Mar 2013, 9:10 a.m.

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #12 Posted by Joerg Woerner on 10 Mar 2013, 12:59 p.m.,
in response to message #11 by Gerson W. Barbosa

Gerson,
Just arrived in Frankfurt and AVIS gave me a Mercedes C class. German Autobahn on a Sunday morning. Empty! 214 km/h ;-))
Joerg

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #13 Posted by Gilles Carpentier on 10 Mar 2013, 3:44 p.m.,
in response to message #9 by Gerson W. Barbosa

I love this car ;)
My italian car which begin by F... and is not a Ferrari has 254.000 km. I hope to get the PI.10^5 number ;)

Edited: 10 Mar 2013, 6:21 p.m. after one or more responses were posted

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #14 Posted by Gerson W. Barbosa on 10 Mar 2013, 5:23 p.m.,
in response to message #13 by Gilles Carpentier

You're only 100 meters away from
e*pi¹⁰ - pi*10² - pi/4*(pi*10² + 1)
pi*10⁵ is more visually appealing, however.

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #15 Posted by Eddie W. Shore on 9 Mar 2013, 1:45 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Maximilian Hohmann

What a great landmark. This comes for cars once in their life time.

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #16 Posted by Dave Shaffer (Arizona) on 9 Mar 2013, 1:58 p.m.,
in response to message #15 by Eddie W. Shore

Quote:
This comes for cars once in their life time.
Maybe not!? One of the most optimistic statements I have ever seen in print was in the manual for my parents Volvo station wagon (from the late 70s or early 80s): "Your Volvo odometer will go to 999999 and start over again."!
Actually, there is a Volvo P1800 which has around 2 million miles on it. (and which Volvo loves to brag about!)

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #17 Posted by Chris Smith on 9 Mar 2013, 2:22 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Maximilian Hohmann

You must be lucky.
I own a F*** of the following type:
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/10/14/fiat-owner-gets-revenge-for-unreliable-van/
It stands for "Fix It Again Tony" around here.
Saying that, 31,415 miles went past unnoticed (apart from a new timing chain, most of the electrics replaced, transmission replaced, exhaust replaced twice). It won't get to 314,159 miles unless it's horse drawn...

Edited: 9 Mar 2013, 2:26 p.m.

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #18 Posted by Gerson W. Barbosa on 9 Mar 2013, 3:35 p.m.,
in response to message #17 by Chris Smith

Quote:
It stands for "Fix It Again Tony" around here.
Fiat arrived in Brazil in 1976. The first Fiat 147s were not nearly as reliable as the cars from the other brands here then (VW, Fort and Chevrolet). As a result, people soon found an alternative meaning for the acronym: "Fui Iludido, Agora � Tarde" (I've been fooled, now it's too late).
P. S.: There is another I had forgotten about:
"F�brica Italiana Atrapalhando o Tr�nsito" (Italian factory ruining the traffic)
and this one in German I've just found:
"Fehler In Allen Teilen" (defects in every part")
All these keep me from buying Fiat, even though they are not true anymore (So far I've had GM, Ford and VW cars only).

Edited: 9 Mar 2013, 3:48 p.m.

Re: Totally OT ... Pi Day for my car
Message #19 Posted by chris smith on 10 Mar 2013, 1:15 p.m.,
in response to message #18 by Gerson W. Barbosa

That's hilarious and very true. Thanks for posting!

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

Go back to the main exhibit hall