gimbal lock
a signature move of graphics programmers where the lock your nuts with the back of their knee.
say that the nuts form a right triangle ABC with the back of the programmer's knee, with angle ACB=90°. Consider angle BAC. tan(BAC) = BC/AC, but BAC is less than 90°. To increase the painfulness, the programmer can make angle BAC closer and closer to 90 degrees by increasing the length of BC, therefore squeezing the nuts more and more. But as we keep doing this, AC stays the same so the ratio BC/AC gets infinitely large, as does the pain in the nuts. So tan(90°) has no geometric meaning. Two legs of the programmer become infinitely long and never meet one another.
say that the nuts form a right triangle ABC with the back of the programmer's knee, with angle ACB=90°. Consider angle BAC. tan(BAC) = BC/AC, but BAC is less than 90°. To increase the painfulness, the programmer can make angle BAC closer and closer to 90 degrees by increasing the length of BC, therefore squeezing the nuts more and more. But as we keep doing this, AC stays the same so the ratio BC/AC gets infinitely large, as does the pain in the nuts. So tan(90°) has no geometric meaning. Two legs of the programmer become infinitely long and never meet one another.
gimbal lock by YONDA July 11, 2006
