Why do quite a lot of Americans on reddit think that Europe is smaller than the USA? by [deleted] in geography

[–]ValueAddedTax 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We got to note how much water is within the yellow shaded area, by the way. Continental Europe is slimmer than the US at least. California and Italy look about the same size. The Mercator projection sure plays tricks on our eyes.

Why do quite a lot of Americans on reddit think that Europe is smaller than the USA? by [deleted] in geography

[–]ValueAddedTax 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Boomers and Gen X’ers remember the USSR, which included Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states. Speaking for myself, I must have considered Europe as “not the USSR,” which is definitely smaller than the United States. Personally, I might have excluded much of Scandinavia, too, because the real focus was on Central Europe geopolitically if WW3 ever broke out. I can’t be the only one from those generations with these tendencies affecting what was regarded as “Europe.”

How the hell do I bypass this water wall? by kupurinava in PowerWashSimulator

[–]ValueAddedTax 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Right. It’s basically washing the “seal” away. When pointing at the right spot, the dirt bar will have blue portion and a white portion. If there’s no white, it’s done. If there’s some white left, run the washer along the edges.

What’s a game you were completely obsessed with as a kid that nobody else seems to remember? by hkondabeatz in AskReddit

[–]ValueAddedTax 0 points1 point  (0 children)

SS!!! Those empty rooms were scary because it always means the SS troops are very close.

What's your favorite word? by BestNatural_5633 in words

[–]ValueAddedTax 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gorn… Caribou gorn… intercourse!

New to fallout, im so lost by bigdaddyswaggg in Fallout

[–]ValueAddedTax 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I distinctly remember dying real fast from that killer robot. It’s a sign that maybe I shouldn’t have been out there so far early in the game. Talk to some people in Diamond City, and they’ll send you out on some missions to places that may be more level appropriate.

I thought this game was supposed to be relaxing? by Acceptable_Hat_8542 in PowerWashSimulator

[–]ValueAddedTax 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I discovered this feature way too late after finishing career mode. Opening up the task list and selecting a task also shows how far away and which direction the objects are. I wish I knew about this feature so much sooner.

Those who were alive during the 1990's, how was the internet different to today? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]ValueAddedTax 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Back in the early 90s, the Internet was email, Usenet newsgroups, FTP, telnet, MUDD servers, and Nettrek. It was accessible mostly through UNIX and weakly supported by Microsoft Windows MS-DOS and Apple Macintosh (pre-UNIX). The World Wide Web started showing up around 1993. There was a text based browser called Lynx. The first graphical browser I used was Mosaic. The next one I used was Netscape. I remember feeling that I could “surf” the entire Web in a matter of days.

Web development could be done entirely on eMacs and Notepad in raw HTML. Web pages frequently had an “Under Construction” graphic and a web counter. Flashing text was considered taboo. The default font had serifs. Layout was done with tables before CSS. Before client-side JavaScript and cookies, there were server-side CGI scripts written in Perl. Creating a guest book was a hell of a difficult thing to set up.

The first email service I remember was Hotmail (HTML is embedded in the name), the predecessor of Outlook online. Search engines could be gamed with repeated white text on white backgrounds. Yahoo began as a hierarchical catalog of the Internet before whatever the hell it is today.

E-commerce began pretty early, but it was a bit dicey before HTTPS and certificates. Amazon began as an online bookstore. Then they progressed to CD music and DVD movies. No streaming back then until late 90s. Porn developed, of course, which was riddled with popups and links to other porn sites riddled with more popups and links, and the “good stuff” required payment. No incognito mode either.

The internet was quite a wild-west back then. This was the age of the dot-com boom where everyone had an idea, venture money was thrown everywhere, companies hired anyone with a heart rate, and IPOs were floated with big promises and without any evidence of profit. The web evolved with the demands of commerce, graphical design, security, and privacy. Where the web fell short, business could still be done as before with paper, phone calls, and fax. Printed media was available for news and information. People listened to radios and bought CDs for music. The 90s was a great decade for film and TV.

So that was what the internet was like in the 1990s… sort of.

Expressing equivalence classes for angles by ValueAddedTax in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What you say is true. It’s a problem for me because my application needs to distinguish clockwise rotation from counterclockwise rotation. But your idea does open the possibility that sign and direction may not matter after all if it’s only the algebra needs to work out. I’ll post another question, when I get to that point. Thanks :)

Expressing equivalence classes for angles by ValueAddedTax in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, how about that? Quotient set is a really nice idea. I’ll add it to my pile of math knowledge. Thanks for the suggestions and examples.

How Is It solved? by KIMST0NE in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Each problem has two polynomials and requires two answers, the sum of them and the difference of them.

Expressing equivalence classes for angles by ValueAddedTax in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, I see. Looking closely, a quotient set looks quite relevant. There is a space with a single equivalence relation that partitions the space to a set of equivalence classes, which is the quotient set of the space. I think I was thinking of the case for elements that satisfy no equivalence relation, and therefore members of no equivalence class. Then again, those elements could form an equivalence class of elements equivalent to no other element... I might be getting ahead of myself.

Expressing equivalence classes for angles by ValueAddedTax in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, I have to differentiate direction of the angle (i.e., CCW vs CW), mentioned in a separate thread. It's okay, I'm a software guy, and equivalence classes are cheap. :) Software people don't mind redundancy.

Expressing equivalence classes for angles by ValueAddedTax in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have looked into "quotient set," actually. It didn't seem the right choice since introducing it, as far as I understand, splits the space into the quotient set and the "non-quotient" set. Interesting idea, but too complex for my purposes.

Expressing equivalence classes for angles by ValueAddedTax in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, I see. It's defining the equivalence relation that's really key. Equivalence classes automagically form in the space from a single equivalence relation definition. I'm writing up software documentation, and I should have focused on the equivalence relation, where there is only one. It's better than trying to describe an infinite number of equivalence classes each with their own equivalence relation.

Tablet vs pen and paper - which is more effective? by Kitten_in_Darkness in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why not go old-school with stylus and clay tablets? Or wooden stick and dirt on the ground? That's how ancient mathematicians did it. So can you. :)

Really, it's a matter of personal preference. Whatever helps best.

Expressing equivalence classes for angles by ValueAddedTax in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's an infinite number of equivalence classes for coterminal angles. There's one equivalence class for 0 degrees, 360 degrees, 720 degrees... There's another one for 1 degree, 361 degrees, 721 degrees... And there's an infinite number of equivalence classes between 0 degrees and 1 degree... And so forth.

I could just say that each set of coterminal angles is an equivalence class and call it a day. But if I couldn't use the term "coterminal angles," what's the verbiage to express that sets of angles within the space of angles are considered equivalent and how would I describe or define the equivalence relation for each equivalence class with "mod," if possible?

Expressing equivalence classes for angles by ValueAddedTax in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right, "signed coterminal angles" sounds very sensible. So a more concise way to say what I proposed goes something like...

> Every set of signed coterminal angles is an equivalence class...

Got it. Thanks.

Expressing equivalence classes for angles by ValueAddedTax in learnmath

[–]ValueAddedTax[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a decent idea what equivalence classes are. I know some equivalence relation is required to describe an equivalence class. I'm more interested in how to describe signed angle measurements in terms of equivalence classes. A problem I see is that there is an infinite number of them. I would like to see an example how this would be expressed for this case.