Jump to content

Wikipedia:Main Page history/2023 December 13b

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Welcome to Wikipedia

,
6,756,780 articles in English

From today's featured article

Reverse of a 1983 half sovereign
Reverse of a 1983 half sovereign

The half sovereign is a British gold coin denominated at one-half of a pound sterling. It was first struck in 1544, but was discontinued after 1604. In 1817, as part of the Great Recoinage, half sovereigns and sovereigns were reintroduced. Until the half sovereign was discontinued as a currency coin, it was struck in most years and circulated widely. In addition to being coined in London, it was struck at the colonial mints in Australia and South Africa. It was replaced in Britain from 1914 by paper currency, and was discontinued in Australia in 1920 and South Africa in 1926. After that, it was struck in the coronation years of 1937 and 1953. It has been struck for sale by the Royal Mint as a collector's piece since 1980, and as a bullion coin since 1982; it does not circulate due to the value of the gold it contains. In addition to the portrait of the reigning monarch, the coin features in most years an image of Saint George and the Dragon, designed by Benedetto Pistrucci. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Meeples
Meeples

In the news

Donald Tusk in June 2023
Donald Tusk

On this day

December 13: Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day in China (1937)

Beyoncé
Beyoncé
More anniversaries:
Animation of a linear Bézier curve

A Bézier curve is a parametric curve used in computer graphics and related fields. Related to the Bernstein polynomial, it is named after Pierre Bézier, who used it in the 1960s for designing curves for the bodywork of Renault cars. Other uses include the design of computer fonts and animation. Bézier curves can be combined to form a Bézier spline, or generalized to higher dimensions to form Bézier surfaces. This animation shows a linear Bézier curve, the simplest type, generating a straight line between the points P0 and P1. This is equivalent to linear interpolation.

Animation credit: Phil Tregoning

Other areas of Wikipedia

  • Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
  • Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
  • Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
  • Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
  • Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
  • Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
  • Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:

Wikipedia languages