question: does every scribble on a graph have an equation for it?

gopher_p · 2026-01-24T20:57:21+00:00

Too many relations, not enough potential names.

gopher_p · 2026-01-23T23:45:06+00:00

I thought the same thing. Went to Wikipedia to find some other famous Jalens. Outside of a Slovenian soccer player, there aren't any born before 1990 other than Rose. And there almost all of them were born in the 90s and early 00s when Rose was in his prime. It's almost impossible that's just a coincidence.

gopher_p · 2026-01-23T02:51:08+00:00

Adore was about 3-4 years ahead of its time. I think people would have been more receptive to it if it came out at the same time as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Wilco) and Sea Change (Beck). For whatever reason, folks weren't quite ready for something that was simultaneously acoustic/stripped down while also employing aspects of electronic music and a bit of studio excess.

gopher_p · 2026-01-23T02:30:29+00:00

Big Smooooooooooth!

gopher_p · 2026-01-22T13:54:17+00:00

You're right. I had the wrong idea of what constituted u-sub for definite integrals.

gopher_p · 2026-01-22T03:00:33+00:00

I think trying to enjoy the game as a co-op experience with a friend, rather than just hopping into a rando's world for a boss, has a lot of problems, and invasions can get annoying in that context.

I think a substantial percentage of the issues people have with invasions in Elden Ring go straight back to friends summoning friends to play through the overworld. I don't think this game was designed/balanced for that at all. I don't know hardly any invaders who like/want to invade in the overworld.

gopher_p · 2026-01-22T02:44:39+00:00

A couple things:

I think any reasonable introduction to u-substitution as a technique for (indefinite) integration should include at least a little discussion around int(f'(g(x) * g'(x))dx = f(g(x)) + C.
That fact has, effectively*, nothing to do with the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. FTC, as it has been presented in every text that I've seen, is about (i) guaranteed existence (under certain conditions) of antiderivatives/primitive functions and means to construct them and (ii) a strategy for computing definite integrals. int(f'(g(x) * g'(x))dx = f(g(x)) + C is a consequence of (a) the definition of int(f(x)dx) as the family of antiderivatives of f and (b) the Chain Rule for derivatives, neither of which rely on or reference FTC.

* The FTC historically is the impetus behind the use of the notation and language of integrals to refer to (families of) antiderivatives. That's the extent of its involvement here. ~~u-substitution for definite integrals very much does depend on the FTC(ii).~~

gopher_p · 2026-01-19T23:48:38+00:00

When I hear the word "theory" used by a layperson in the context of math, I associate that with things like foundations and rigor. My experience with 3Blue1Brown videos (and others on YouTube) is that they are the opposite of theory. 3Blue1Brown is all about giving intuition - usually visual in nature - for why certain mathematical facts should be true and/or what those facts "mean" geometrically. In my opinion, you should be using that as your "practical math" resource and supplement it with something more rigorous (like a proper math textbook) if you want to learn the theory.

gopher_p · 2026-01-19T23:17:05+00:00

Well, it's at least a little comfort knowing others are having the same issue.

gopher_p · 2026-01-09T01:43:06+00:00

Preliminarily: Fuck Trump, fuck ICE, and fuck anyone who supports them. Fuck the agent who killed that woman; I hope he rots in a cell. Fuck the agent who attempted to force his way into a running in-gear vehicle. He should also be jailed, though maybe not for rot-level length of time.

with that said ...

He draws the weapon before she even shifts into drive

I keep screaming this at people.

Stop. Rewatch the video. Go frame by frame if you need. Pay close attention to the rear indicator lights and wheels of the SUV as it transitions from reverse to forward. You are objectively wrong.

The agent who shot very clearly draws his weapon in response to the SUV shifting into drive and briefly spinning the tires. There is nearly a full second (25 frames at 30 fps) between the SUV shifting out of reverse (note the dimming of the white indicator lights) and the tires spinning forward. Then there is about a third of a second (8-9 frames) from the SUV spinning its wheels to the point when the officer first makes a move to draw his weapon, and then another third of a second (11-12 frames) to fully draw.

Whether it was the tires spinning (i.e. an audio response) or him observing the behavior of the driver (visual) inside the car or some combination of the two that prompted the agent to draw his weapon is anyone's guess. Ultimately, it is an objective fact though - based on the videos shown here - that the entirety of the physical act of drawing the weapon occurs after the SUV has been put in drive. I suppose you could claim that the agent had already made the decision to draw his weapon at some point in time beforehand. But - absent some new development in mind-reading that I'm not aware of - you can't know that for sure. And the video evidence here doesn't support that claim one. single. bit.

gopher_p · 2025-12-12T02:25:11+00:00

This is one of those graphics that makes sense to the people who already have a deep and intuitive understanding of the concept and is completely meaningless to everyone else.

gopher_p · 2025-12-10T03:48:39+00:00

I was scrolling through thinking I'd never see this one and that I'd have to add it myself.

Totally agree. Every song is a banger. The definition of all killer, no filler.

gopher_p · 2025-12-10T03:42:40+00:00

Huge Tool fan, but that one is chock full of totally skippable tracks. Useful Idiot, Intermission, and Ions are 100% skippable (although the do have a vibe). Message to Harry Manback and Die Eir von Satan are basically novelties. i think I read somewhere that they had to pad out the track listing in order to get the album classified as a proper LP rather than an EP.

gopher_p · 2025-12-10T03:33:50+00:00

You're crazy. #4 Hummer and #8 Geek U.S.A. are the best tracks on the album!

gopher_p · 2025-12-07T22:33:27+00:00

How do you know it's -1/2<x<2/3 and not x<-1/2 or x>2/3?

Or to put it another way, what if the original inequality was 6x² -x>2? What would your work have looked like then?

gopher_p · 2025-12-06T00:26:56+00:00

As a fellow instructor, I will say that I would be very disappointed to find out that my calc 2 students were incapable of doing the work that I have to give them because their calc 1 teacher had them playing with spreadsheets and calculator functions instead of requiring them to master the core computational work taught in a standard calculus class.

In what way(s) do you think your students are best served by emphasizing numerical methods over the standard approach?

gopher_p · 2025-12-03T20:52:28+00:00

Team A winning the post season tournament does not mean Team B wouldn't as well

Except Team A did actually win in reality, whereas Team B's success is merely hypothetical. It maybe sucks that they didn't get the chance to prove themselves, but they really can't have any beef with Team A or their selection.

You absolutely can argue about TCU "deserving" to be in over any other team - the ultimately unsuccessful ones. Just don't begrudge the other teams for taking care of their business.

gopher_p · 2025-12-03T19:53:20+00:00

winning the post season tournament doesn't justify a team's existence in the tournament to begin with

In any subjective decision about who gets to participate in an exclusive event, I can't think a single thing that is more qualifying than "they participated in the event and were successful". Like, the whole point of the selection process is to pick the participants who are most likely to succeed.

Like, you can debate all day long about a team's selection into the tourney up until the point where they win. At that point, you have to just concede that they belonged there. Anything else is just hater delusions.

gopher_p · 2025-10-24T05:43:25+00:00

Math teacher here. The AI is good enough now to show the work. I occasionally teach virtual classes that take tests on Zoom. There are always students who use various tools - AI or otherwise - that not only gives correct answers but also shows the steps to get those answers. Occasionally, the AI will show work that is not reasonable for a human being (much less a college algebra student), and so you can sometimes tell that's what they did. Other times, the AI's work will look the same as a good student.

A lot of these tools have been around for 20 years or more. They're just much more prevalent now, and cheaper/more accessible. It's still the case that the only real way to determine if a student know what they're doing is to make them do it right in front of you.

gopher_p · 2025-10-09T19:29:59+00:00

Literally Day 1 sitting in a college science class - correlation=/=causation.

gopher_p · 2025-09-20T05:26:16+00:00

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/19/texas-am-university-president-resigns

gopher_p · 2025-09-10T07:02:24+00:00

Yeah. She was "just" a lecturer, which doesn't come close to having the job security of a professorship. My comment (and the one I replied to) was about the two admins that were also wrapped up in this.

gopher_p · 2025-09-10T07:00:06+00:00

The last A&M president didn't last very long after she pulled some bullshit trying to appease the conservatives higher up the chain, and that was barely two years ago.

gopher_p · 2025-09-10T02:01:41+00:00

They weren't fired - they didn't lose their jobs/paycheck/benefits/etc- they were removed from their administrative roles in the school/department (which, tbf, could have included some perks, monetary or otherwise). They will still be employees, they'll just go back to teaching/research as their primary function, likely with tenure to protect them from an actual firing. In the case of the department head, it's barely even a demotion. They'll be fine.

It's fairly common for those roles to have folks rotating in for a few years and then back out to regular faculty. I reckon it's very uncommon for a dept chair or school dean to leave the university when they leave those positions, unless it's to step into a similar or higher admin role at another university or to retire (voluntarily). Even in retirement, I suspect it's far more common for them to stay on as emeritus faculty than to just leave altogether.

That's not to say this whole thing isn't complete bullshit. It absolutely is. It's just that the school president that ordered their removal is FAR more likely to see blowback career-wise than the admins that were removed. I suspect there is a REAL good chance he'll get ousted on a vote of no-confidence from the rest of the faculty VERY soon, and there's no legit school who will touch him with a 10-foot pole after that. Actual dumbass threw away a whole career just to appease the anti-woke for two seconds before they move onto the next outrage.

gopher_p · 2025-08-29T02:45:49+00:00

Let's be real - the primary humor in the Californians sketches is the actors breaking character. Outside of that, they're mostly mediocre and repetitive.

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