Oh snap! One of the greatest things just happened to me. I was trying to figure out the proof for Stirling’s Formula and Apostol Vol. 1 (The math textbook for Ma1a) doesn’t have the proof. Well, I just happened to buy a copy of Apostol Vol. 2 early so I decided that:
1. Since ironic things always happen to me.
2. I should use irony to my benefit!
So I started out by reaching for Apostol Vol. 2, and in the process, I blurted out: “This can’t possibly have the proof to Stirling’s Formula!” I mean, if the second volume did have a proof, then why did my professor and TAs keep saying that Apostol didn’t have Stirling’s Formula? Sure, Volume 1 might not have the proof, but if Volume 2 had it, they probably would have photocopied it for us or told us about it. Then, I quickly flipped to the index and looked for “Stirling”. Sadly, I couldn’t find it.
At this point, you probably wonder why I’m writing this post if my trick didn’t work. And then upon reading this sentence, you’re thinking to yourself: “Well, obviously, Mike is tell us something that somehow relates to this irony trick. He would have tricked me with this suspense if this weren’t true.” But then upon reading the previous sentence, you might think that since I know you are expecting that, that I would purposely do what you wouldn’t suspect. Of course, you’re wrong: the trick didn’t work. I just felt like writing for fun and profit.
Okay, you win, I flipped to the next page, lo and behold, the book had a proof to Stirling’s Formula! That was an awesome experience. It was ironically good.
On another note though, I already had 3 versions of Stirling’s Formula proof, but couldn’t figure it out. So hopefully, Apostol’s version might help.
On an end note, by inserting that break inbetween the action, I have effectively killed the pacing and suspense of the previous paragraphs. This indicates that I am a horrible writer.