Rohit, this takes the cake for old bits, as in bits from the 1700s!
In France, women were supposed to know the basics of physics and
mathematics. One of the more popular books of the time was "The
Philosophy of Isaac Newton, for Ladies" (words to that effect in
French). In it some fashionable dude and a marquise talk at length
about what was known in physics. At one stage the guy mentions the
inverse square law, to which the marquise replies along the lines
quoted, with stuff like "When a loved one moves 8 times further away,
one feels 64 times less emotion"...
-- Rob.
Note to any feminazis in the audience: feel free to distort this into
a sordid tale of degrading patronization designed to humiliate women.
.-. Robert.Harley@inria.fr .-.
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