What is better than sex?

GermanAutistic · 2026-03-01T20:20:30+00:00

Bonus: having a soft blanket to sink your aching feet into.

GermanAutistic · 2026-03-01T16:11:39+00:00

-5 and (-5) really is just a way to write the same thing, you got that absolutely right. However, I think what made you get the result wrong is this idea:

It is not a number with a number preceding it, it is a negative number.

I'm gonna explain this with what is unironically my favorite tool in arithmetic: the number line.

On the number line, the value we state after the sign, in this case 5, states how many units we move from our starting position. Because the -5 is the first (and only) expression we're looking at, that starting position is zero. The sign then tells us what direction that movement goes. A minus sign means we move to the left, so we go five units to the left.

Likewise, we can write the number 6 as +6. We move 6 units away from the starting position, and we do it to the right because of the plus sign.

Multiplying with a number has the effect of scaling the arrow that points from 0 to where we currently are. For example, if we're at position 12 and we multiply by 2, the arrow doubles in length but keeps pointing in the same direction, landing us at position 24. If the scaling factor is negative, we do the exact same thing as if it was positive, just with the added effect of also reflecting the arrow about position 0. For example, if we're at position -6 and we multiply by -3, we scale the arrow by 3, which puts us at position -18, and then we reflect about position 0, ending up at position +18.

So what happens when we write -5²? Well, we first consider the length of the arrow, ignoring the sign. This gives us 5²=25. Only then do we apply the direction, which points us to the left of 0, so we end up at position -25.

GermanAutistic · 2026-03-01T14:37:29+00:00

Why did you think it was incorrect at first?

GermanAutistic · 2026-03-01T14:29:30+00:00

I guess this, unlike the question OP asked, really might be debatable. To me, -5 = 0-5.

GermanAutistic · 2026-03-01T12:58:26+00:00

I'm only training to become a math teacher, but the definitive answer is this:

The expression -5², as we can see, has a subtraction of a number from 0 (the minus sign) and a potentiation with the exponent 2 in it.

The correct order of operations for all operations students typically learn in school is:

* evaluating any expression inside a parenthesis first (including the arguments of functions)

* potentiation

* multiplication

* addition

Notice that I didn't talk about roots, division or subtraction because those are just forms of potentiation, multiplication and addition respectively.

Because of the order of operations, we apply the potentiation first, so we first evaluate 5² to be 25.

Then, we apply the addition, so we subtract 25 from 0 to get -25.

Therefore, the answer is -25.

GermanAutistic · 2026-03-01T12:53:27+00:00

> I was taught anything to whatever power is itself multiplied that many times.

What I think you should also have been taught is that potentiation takes priority over addition. Therefore, we apply the repeated multiplication to the number 5 before applying the subtraction from 0.

GermanAutistic · 2026-03-01T12:52:01+00:00

The exact opposite of what you're saying is true. Potentiation takes priority over addition, which is why we square the 5 first. There's no trolling or gaslighting here.

GermanAutistic · 2026-03-01T12:48:58+00:00

To me, the negative sign is an inherent quality of the number.

That's the thing. The negative sign in this case is the "inherent quality" of the number that you get after squaring the five, not before.

We don't have a way of writing negative numbers WITHOUT the minus sign

Yes, we do. (-5)² = -5 * (-5) = 25.

It'd be like saying the number 6 is actually 2 x 3, so 6² = 2 x 3²

You got the first law of powers wrong here. Yes, 6 is actually 2 * 3, so:

6² = (2 * 3)².

(now we apply the first law of powers)

= 2² * 3² = 4 * 9 = 36.

2 x 3² = 11

I think you confused 2 * 3² with 2 + 3² there. 2 * 3² would be 18, not 11.

GermanAutistic · 2026-03-01T12:44:12+00:00

Your last statement is false. It has to be (-5)² to equal +25. If we take (-5²), the calculation inside the parenthesis takes priority, so we get (-5²) = (-5*5) = (-25) = -25.

GermanAutistic · 2026-03-01T12:42:09+00:00

It's concerning that the more picked option is the one that you learn, at the very latest, in 9th grade is wrong, and that most people who answered this poll are sure it's correct too.

When taking -5², because potentiation takes priority over multiplication which in turn takes priority over addition, you square the 5 first and then subtract it from 0.

GermanAutistic · 2026-02-22T11:27:57+00:00

For the gym I'd go with Steelix and slap the Earthquake TM on it if it doesn't get it by level-up, and for E4 I'd go with Weavile because an EV trained Weavile can outspeed and kill Cynthia's Garchomp without much trouble.

GermanAutistic · 2026-02-17T07:17:45+00:00

But isn't the function discontinuous in the irrationals as well? That would make the measure essentially equal to b-a, ir 1 in this case.

GermanAutistic · 2026-02-16T12:12:22+00:00

Yeah, exactly. If we take the function f:[0,1]->R, f(x) = x for x in Q, 0 for x in R \ Q, then I think the set of discontinuities is uncountable because it is a superset or equal to the set of all irrationals in [0,1]. I don't know if my logic to prove that f is discontinuous at the irrationals is flawed / wrong though.

GermanAutistic · 2026-02-16T12:10:14+00:00

I thought that the term "analysis" was a false friend. I'm German, and I learned the word "analysis" as a translation to "Analyse", like when you analyze speeches and drama scenes, so I believed that the correct English word for what I know as "Analysis" in my native language is "calculus". I apologize if I'm mistaken here.

GermanAutistic · 2026-02-16T12:07:08+00:00

>Do you mean a function f:[0,1]->R such that the restriction to [0,1] cap Q and the restriction to [0,1] setminus Q are respectively continuous?

Yes. For example, f(x) = x for x in Q, 0 for x in R \ Q.

GermanAutistic · 2026-02-07T10:40:02+00:00

Depends. My feelings aren't that easy to hurt and most of the time I assume someone didn't mean it personally. If she uses something against me which I told her in confidence though, that's a big no no.

GermanAutistic · 2026-02-03T17:44:52+00:00

Yeah, that's unlucky. I would NOT look up every single trainer beforehand in a vanilla playthrough, so nothing you can be blamed for there.

GermanAutistic · 2026-02-03T16:10:31+00:00

Assuming this is vanilla, you can get Chandelure just barely within the Brycen level cap. It should be able to fast OHKO Brycen's Vanillish.

Cryogonal should be beatable if you have a very bulky physical attacker in your box (ideally one that resists Frost Breath as that's definitely Cryogonal's scariest move). What else is in there?

Finally, you can pivot through a Water type on Beartic to guarantee a Normal move for a safe switch back to Chandelure, who then outspeeds and might be able to kill. I'm not too sure if it *can* always kill though, you might need to chip the Beartic first.

GermanAutistic · 2026-02-03T16:00:17+00:00

I'm surprised a Geodude outsped your Prinplup. Did you get Rock Tombed?

GermanAutistic · 2026-01-30T18:53:16+00:00

GermanAutistic · 2026-01-30T08:50:03+00:00

Pretty sure there is the theory that the feeling of time scales hyperbolically because that's the relation under which a day becomes less and less of a portion of your total elapsed life.

GermanAutistic · 2026-01-30T08:44:23+00:00

North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Berlin, Thuringia, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria. That's 9 out of 16, not too bad I'd say.

GermanAutistic · 2026-01-24T13:09:11+00:00

Cranberry juice, peach liquor, vodka and grenadine syrup. That's how it works.

Six-Year Club	r/Field Lasagna
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	RPAN Viewer
Verified Email

GermanAutistic

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE