Tri, Tri, Tri to Love These Factoids
Sunday
“The Bermuda Triangle,” also known as “The Devil’s Triangle,” is a vast swath of the Atlantic Ocean with points at Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Miami. It is famous as an area of many unexplained disappearances of ships and aircraft over the years. However, several natural factors likely play a role in these disasters, including the many islands and shallow water, abundant waterspouts, methane gas bubbling from the sea floor, “white squalls,” which bring storms on seemingly clear days, and even some evidence that magnetic compass readings vary in that reigon.
Monday
Another tragic triangle in the Atlantic, however, was unmistakably man-made. The Middle Passage leg of the “Triangle Trade” which went from the 17th through 19th centuries and ran between Africa, the Americas, and Europe, brought captured Africans to the Americas in deplorable (and often deadly) conditions aboard slave ships, to then be sold into forced servitude.
Tuesday
Just as a triangle, by definition, has three sides and three points, there are also three ways to categorize them by sides (equilateral, isosceles, and Scalene) and also by angle (acute, obtuse, and right).
Wednesday
Triangulation is a process by which the location of a third point can be determined by knowing when some some sound or signal from that point reaches two other points. In the human world, this can be used for navigation, locating transmissions, and tracking of cell phone locations. Animals also use triangulation to locate prey or others of their kind.
Thursday
The classic “love triangle” is also known as “the eternal triangle.”
Friday
Structural engineers love triangles, and for good reason. More than any other shape, triangles distribute weight and force equally throughout their shape and without deforming, making triangles extremely popular in support and reinforcement structures like joists and bridges.
Saturday
Geometrically, plotting three non-linear points doesn’t just establish a triangle, the simplest polygon, but is the simplest way to establish a plane, as well.