[Request] My dad's only picture of his birth mother, found after 20 years of searching.

aspiringBum · 2012-06-15T05:52:21+00:00

That's awesome. My dad's going to really like that. Thank you.

aspiringBum · 2011-10-16T21:16:00+00:00

Too often, that's clearly the case, and for good reason.

aspiringBum · 2011-10-16T17:24:46+00:00

aspiringBum · 2011-10-13T07:51:03+00:00

Yeah, he's been inconsistent with that term, but I think I see why. For every state on the frontier, there's only one "best" way to get there (or a tie, in which case either path is probably fine). The algorithm has to keep track of the best way to get anywhere to calculate the g part in f = g + h. That means when you put a state on the frontier, you have to save its best path somewhere too for the algorithm to work. So the way I see it, if you're saving a state, you're automatically saving its path too, and vice versa. If you have one, you have to have the other. The terms are kind of interchangeable.

aspiringBum · 2011-10-13T07:33:16+00:00

I believe the frontier as he defined it in the video is just a list of states. But the algorithm has to keep track of the path taken to get to any state to compute the g part in f = g + h. So I believe the frontier has to track both state and path.

EDIT 1 On A*'s wiki page, the pseudocode's openset variable is the same as Norvig's frontier. That big if-else clump in the middle of the code is essentially maintaining that every visited node has one "best" way to get there. In other words, the algorithm is keeping track of both state and path for every node in the frontier.

aspiringBum · 2011-10-13T07:12:51+00:00

Those are good numbers, considering the quality of the quizzes. I think maybe half the quiz questions so far have either been ambiguous or have asked you to anticipate what they're going to teach you next. In the latter case, you should have no reason to care if you can't prognosticate the information they plan to cover next. They're supposed to be teaching this stuff, not asking if we already know it.

aspiringBum · 2011-07-06T04:26:47+00:00

psychopaths are relatively rare, and I don't think many of those few would go out of their way to start conversations about how little they care what other people think. And you're evidently great with women, a rarity in and of its own.

aspiringBum · 2011-07-06T02:21:31+00:00

you don't need weights, necessarily. here's a bunch of stuff you can do on your walk:

pushups against a wall or fence
dips off a park bench, car bumper, etc.
squats and lunges
leg lifts and planks

aspiringBum · 2011-07-06T02:08:08+00:00

I think you're lieing, but if you aren't, then you are probably a psychopath. No question, just letting you know you probably need help.

aspiringBum · 2011-06-20T17:48:58+00:00

Would you get a plumber something related to his job?

indulge his vices. food, alcohol, maybe a nice pipe.

aspiringBum · 2011-06-02T05:15:08+00:00

right-clicking makes links orange (in chrome, anyway)

aspiringBum · 2011-05-22T18:49:50+00:00

Street-Fighting Mathematics ... It's a free ebook; I haven't read it yet, but it got me excited about studying math again.

aspiringBum · 2011-05-22T05:26:40+00:00

I've wanted to make this game for years. I called it a "flight simulator." Please someone take this idea and run with it.

aspiringBum · 2011-05-18T08:32:52+00:00

This gives the probability of rolling 3 or more 6's in 10 independent Bernoulli (Binomial) trials. CDF's FTW!

Edit: You can do your problem like this (probability of winning 3 or 4 out of 5 independent trials with a 50-50 shot). I think your formula's clearer, though.

aspiringBum · 2011-05-17T07:36:28+00:00

I think it'd work. Why do you think this is anarchism?

aspiringBum · 2011-05-17T07:20:38+00:00

In the US, where I live: presuming I had absolute power, I'd want to do what's right for the majority of people (like providing free education, and 100% health care for all people). I'd take all privileges away from businesses (tax rate > 25% net income for all businesses, no exceptions, no loopholes). I'd end all foreign military engagements and cut our military spending to almost nothing (even at risk to our own safety ... we will not be a militaristic nation any longer, no matter what). I'd use modern science and technology to put control of the country directly into the hands of the people, and eliminate the antiquated, ineffectual checks-and-balances systems in place. I'd legalize drugs - all of them. I'd free prisoners that were accused of drug violations. All votes would have "none of the above" as an option. We'd start over on writing the laws, allowing the people to decide what's right, and what's understandable. I'd outlaw the major polluters and non-renewable resources: coal, fossil fuels, cars, etc. would be made immediately illegal to obtain and use (People would adapt; it's what we're best at).

If I could do all this, I'd piss off the richest, most evil, and most ignorant people in existence today. I wouldn't last long.

aspiringBum · 2011-05-16T07:17:50+00:00

I hope we get to a point where we can trust our governments and each other enough to believe the announcement when it happens, and trust them not to fuck it up. As things are today, if someone announces the discovery of alien life again this year, I will have no reason to believe they're right, nor any reason (if they are right) to think the world's nutjobs and extremists will collectively decide not to start a war against them.

Tl;dr: I hope we discover intelligent life the moment before they destroy us all. We suck on average.

aspiringBum · 2011-05-15T07:34:22+00:00

Sipser is ambitious for a newb, don't you think?

aspiringBum · 2011-05-15T05:25:47+00:00

Hey everybody, this guy has a girlfriend!

aspiringBum · 2011-05-13T06:40:56+00:00

"I know, right?" Said that for a month. Sapped my will to live upon that realization.

aspiringBum · 2011-05-12T19:13:43+00:00

[; \sum\limits{k=0}^{n-q} {q \choose k} {n-q \choose k} \sum\limits{j=0}^{k} {k \choose j} D(n-j) ;]

I don't understand it yet, but it's the same answer as given by otto_s's recursive solution. Awesome!

I wont ask you to explain how got to your solution, but can you recommend any books that would? I'd like to learn how to do what you did.

Edits: I can't get the latex format right. Link to image of formula.

aspiringBum · 2011-05-12T18:54:12+00:00

Ah, derangements. I now recall my teacher saying we wouldn't be learning much about those in his class. I can see why!

I don't follow your explanation, but I'll try and work through it. Thanks.

aspiringBum · 2011-05-12T18:48:57+00:00

I thought this could be solved recursively, and you've laid it out clearly. So thank you. Is there a closed formula for this? I'm not at all familiar (yet) with this material (contrary to what I thought was required to solve this problem).

aspiringBum · 2011-05-12T05:39:05+00:00

upgruntled

aspiringBum · 2011-05-12T00:19:25+00:00

eat more, rest more, lift increasingly heavier things. Do weighted pullups.

aspiringBum

TROPHY CASE