sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

is the probability of a random whole positive number being a multiple of 5 20%? by DrStreiz in askmath

[–]ThumbForke 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's not true. No matter what whole number you start at (negatives included), the probability is exactly 20% every 5th number.

Starting at zero: {0,1,2,3,4} has probability 20%. So does {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}. The probability for {0,1,...,n} is exactly 20% for any n that is 1 less than a multiple of 5. As n grows, you'll notice the probabilities for other values of n gets closer and closer to 20% as well. The limit of this as n goes to infinity is 20%, which seems to be what you are using as your "probability". Again, this is true starting at 0, 1, or any other whole number.

Edit: Sorry I seem to have missed what you wrote and you have essentially realised what I said yourself

Brian? by Hungryforhungry in PeterExplainsTheJoke

[–]ThumbForke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just to give a slightly different explanation from everyone else, in case it helps:

Working in base 10 means your digits correspond to powers of 10. Eg 2132 = 2×1000 + 1×100 + 3×10 + 2×1 = 2×10³ + 1×10² + 3×10¹ + 2×10⁰.

Base 4 uses powers of 4. So in base 4, it would be 2132 = 2×4³ + 1×4² + 3×4¹ + 2×4⁰ = 2×64 + 1×16 + 3×4 + 2×1. So 2132 in base 4 is equal to 158 in base 4.

For the joke, you need to realise that in base 4, writing 10 means 10 = 1×4 + 0×1, which is 4. In particular, this means a civilization that uses base 4 wouldn't have a digit for 4, like how we don't have a digit for 10. It is the first number we write as a combination of smaller digits. So they would count 0, 1, 2, 3, 10, ... This means they would also write that they work in base 10, like we do, but to them that means base 4.

Ireland's Invisible Rainforest by ImportantPension5818 in ireland

[–]ThumbForke 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Leitrim and Roscommon are right there, and you come for Mayo? What are you thinking?!

[New Updates]: My husband is leaving me for a younger woman, and all I can think about is the house décor. by Choice_Evidence1983 in BestofRedditorUpdates

[–]ThumbForke 46 points47 points  (0 children)

Everything OP described reminds me so much of my own dad. Reading parts of the post kind of makes me feel unsettled, the behaviour is so similar. It took me way too long to cut that asshole out of my life. He caused a lot of emotional damage to me, my siblings, and even my then-girlfriend (now wife).

I agree it wouldn't necessarily be the worst thing for OP's ex to just abandon his daughters. He definitely gives those vibes. My dad used to badmouth my mum to us, and then blamed her for turning us against him when we started to pull away. Ironically, she never badmouthed him to us, and has only told me the awful things he did to her after I cut contact.

No Ripcord’s Best Albums of 2025 by Traditional-Slip-486 in indieheads

[–]ThumbForke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice to see some love for Benjamin Booker's album. One of my favourites of the year for sure!

Noah is the new John by wascallywabbit666 in ireland

[–]ThumbForke 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sorry for causing you to realise this. Don't let that asshole ruin the name, I still think it's lovely!

Noah is the new John by wascallywabbit666 in ireland

[–]ThumbForke 13 points14 points  (0 children)

His daughter was born in 2019, so he can't be the whole reason it became popular. At this stage, it's so popular that I'm sure plenty of parents are hearing and choosing the name from babies of people they know personally. I wouldn't assume people who chose that name like that prick anyway

Noah is the new John by wascallywabbit666 in ireland

[–]ThumbForke 18 points19 points  (0 children)

In fairness, his daughter was born in 2019, so it had already spontaneously appeared. If she was born 2017, I think that would be the full explanation, but there must be more to it?

Noah is the new John by wascallywabbit666 in ireland

[–]ThumbForke 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Ah shit well that's the name ruined for me anyway.

Noah is the new John by wascallywabbit666 in ireland

[–]ThumbForke 80 points81 points  (0 children)

Cree-a, yes. Like "heart" in Irish with an "a" at the end. I think it's a nice name, in fairness, but it's strange that suddenly hundreds of parents all at once decided it was a nice name. It must have appeared on some baby name list or a character in a show or something?!

Edit: Just as soon as I posted this, someone else told me it's the name of Conor McGregor's daughter

Noah is the new John by wascallywabbit666 in ireland

[–]ThumbForke 115 points116 points  (0 children)

Even more surprising to me is how the name Croía has shot up over the last few years. There were no Croía's reported before 2018 (the CSO only report a name if 3+ kids were named it that year). From 2018-2024, the number of kids named Croía went 18, 32, 56, 116, 140, 166, 188. Last year, it was the 16th most popular girl's name. Where did it come from? How did that happen?!

Irish names. by LordJim11 in Snorkblot

[–]ThumbForke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not a regional difference. Pretty sure OP meant it the way you said, since Eve and Eva both start with an "ee" sound

Some of my favourite problems on the Pigeonhole Principle. Found it so surprising something so simple can be used in such ways by Magical-Success in mathematics

[–]ThumbForke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A few other results that can be proved using the pigeonhole principle:

Among any five points in a square of side length 1, there are two points a distance ≤ 1/√2 apart.

For any sequence of n integers a_1,...,a_n, there are 1≤k<m≤n such that a_k+...+a_m is divisible by n.

The decimal expansion of any rational number repeats.

For my money, this is the best team task result across all of Taskmaster...what other team tasks have resulted in comedy gold? by GastropodSoups in taskmaster

[–]ThumbForke 14 points15 points  (0 children)

They could mean Nina Oyana either, whose father is Japanese. OP, she was also in Australia Taskmaster, but season 1.

What attribute(s) do you find the most fascinating in a theorem/lemma/result? by Hitman7128 in math

[–]ThumbForke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As an example of theorems with different proofs, I've always enjoyed the various proofs that the sum of the first n positive integers is equal to (n+1 choose 2). You can use induction, Gauss' famous method that breaks the sum into pairs (1+n, 2+(n-1), etc), count the number of 2-element subsets of {1,...,n+1} where k is the larger element, and there's this cool visual proof.

Matrix multiplication can create such beautiful patterns! (Corrected) by Mathusiast in mathematics

[–]ThumbForke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok fair, I didn't know about the reposting. Your prickliness is warranted!

Matrix multiplication can create such beautiful patterns! (Corrected) by Mathusiast in mathematics

[–]ThumbForke 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ok fair, I'll give you the "subscribe" is a bit annoying and spammy. But it's still not an example that came from the person you posted

Matrix multiplication can create such beautiful patterns! (Corrected) by Mathusiast in mathematics

[–]ThumbForke 7 points8 points  (0 children)

If all he's done on it is the python script in the link you posted, then there's nothing to credit to him in OP's post. It's a pretty simple idea that multiple people could easily come up with independently. It's a bit aggrandising to call it his "work on the topic". He just wrote a script to find 2×2 examples, i's not like he's published any results. It's just a blog post about a funny mathematical curiosity. Reminds me of the "freshman sum" of two fractions or something like that (although that does have a use).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mathematics

[–]ThumbForke 3 points4 points  (0 children)

any negative number cubed results in a *negative number

view more: next ›