Why 28 + 47 = 72, Not 75, For Black Holes

“As long as space is curved and you have mass, you can’t move through it without emitting gravitational radiation. In the most severe cases of all, it even affects the way you do addition. It took 100 years from the first prediction of gravitational waves until the first direct measurement of them, and that achievement has never looked more spectacular. As our observations improve, we’ll be able to pin down more subtle effects superimposed atop this simple approximation. But for now, enjoy the simplicity of the black hole math that everyone can do!”

Want to know how much mass gets turned into energy when two black holes merge? A whopping 10% of the smaller black hole’s mass.

Must be some type of new math about two black holes merging to form a “common core.”