wtf is Polymath?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath
and since when does it take a whole sheet of paper to find an angle based on the height and base width of a triangle ??
It doesn't. Dave was just being thorough in showing his calculations.
I must be missing something here (am I Polymath?)
The only thing missing is that we aren't finding an angle based on the height and base width of a triangle. We made one equation that gives the total angle on a straight razor whether you hone it with no tape or any reasonable number of layers of tape. Did you use three layers of tape? The equation works. Did you use no tape? it works. One layer? works.
Of course my Pythagorean theorem involves making a square with another identical triangle, then calculating IT'S area, then dividing by two.
That's the equation for the area of a triangle. 1/2 base times height.
what is it I am missing here?
Pythagorean theorem is a² + b² = c². It finds the length of the hypotenuse.