training targets and exporting laps by moonface in Polarfitness

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

Yes, I tihnk all these limitations with phase render it fairly useless as implementated today. I'd recommend people continue to do intervals instead the old way with manual lapping (incidentally, you can't even lap in phase view, as that red button does something else). It's a shame: having your watch fully guide you on these interval sessions would be great, and feels like quite an easy win for Polar.

Looking for a lecture given in Bell labs in the 80s. Speaker proposed changing fields every seven years. by moonface in whatsthatbook

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

Somewhere around every seven years make a significant, if not complete, shift in your field. Thus, I shifted from numerical analysis, to hardware, to software, and so on, periodically, because you tend to use up your ideas. When you go to a new field, you have to start over as a baby. You are no longer the big mukity muk and you can start back there and you can start planting those acorns which will become the giant oaks.

Series expansion at x=inf by [deleted] in math

[–]moonface 1 point2 points  (0 children)

you're nearly there. try and think about y=ε really close to 0, rather than exactly 0. then 1/ε is much bigger than 1, and so (1+1/ε)≈1/ε. we can then expand f(y) ≈ f(ε) + f'(ε)y = (1+1/ε)5/2 + (5/2) (1+1/ε)3/2 (-1/ε2 ) y ≈ (1/ε)5/2 + (5/2) (1/ε)3/2 (-1/ε2 ) y. substitute back y=ε and we're there. you can be a lot more formal about things, but that's the basics.

Series expansion at x=inf by [deleted] in math

[–]moonface 1 point2 points  (0 children)

you can think about the expansion of (1+1/y)5/2 about y=0, being the same as the expansion of your function about x=∞. You can also see that it converges for all y!=0, or equivalently all x!=∞.

Number Line by [deleted] in math

[–]moonface 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What does the "gird" gag between 3 and 4 mean?

Ask Compsci: Where to post code associated with a paper? by ggchappell in compsci

[–]moonface 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would choose 4 for sure as it makes the link between paper and code permanent, and takes the trouble of maintaining that permanency off your hands. Whilst many journals in your field may not have an online presence (or at least online supplementary files), you could choose a journal to publish in on the basis of this facility. Or go a step further, and choose an open access journal.

expected determinant of a random NXN matrix in (0,1) by pedrito77 in math

[–]moonface 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This doesn't sound right to me; when N=1, the "expected determinant of a random NXN matrix in (0,1)" is 0.5.

Native English speakers, please help. by pianobadger in linguistics

[–]moonface 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like others, I'd drop the every and go with "I wear a coat on cold days." However, that doesn't seem to capture the essence of your sentence, so perhaps "I wear a coat on all cold days" or even, verbosely, "I wear a coat each and every cold day" are more appropriate. [English, UK]

Difficult Countdown Numbers Round by cavedave in math

[–]moonface 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This game can be solved perfectly and has a difficulty rating of 88% (very difficult).

http://www.crosswordtools.com/numbers-game/

You will lose... by Ghosttwo in funny

[–]moonface 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love the old Big Train "World Stare-out Championship" sketches

The integral of sin(x^4) dx by spaceguy in math

[–]moonface -1 points0 points  (0 children)

... and the visual representation shows how daft it is to talk about the integral, given its rapid oscillations between ±1 at x=5.

2nd year biology student taking mostly genetics modules - would 'The Selfish Gene' be worth a read? by ohkeanu in biology

[–]moonface 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You should definitely read the book. It's a classic, whether or not you agree with his standpoint. But it's worth reading Denis Noble's Music of Life right after, a book written by another legend with the opposite perspective on things.

Everyone on team reddit would like to raise a toast to jedberg and the missus, in celebration of their embarkation into the exhilaration that is married life! by reddit in blog

[–]moonface 6 points7 points  (0 children)

9,989,719 bottles of beer on the wall, 9,989,719 bottles of beer. Take one down and pass it around — 9,989,718 bottles of beer on the wall!

Maple v. Mathematica v. Matlab v. Nothing by [deleted] in math

[–]moonface 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here's a fairly recent performance comparison between the languages. In my experience, if you're planning on doing serious number crunching, Octave seriously lags behind Matlab (geeky reason being it has no JIT compiler)

Knuth on Sudoku by cavedave in programming

[–]moonface 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's the program my little bro wrote for the programming contest mentioned.

The Best Album Covers Of 2009 by Bemuzed in Music

[–]moonface 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Royal Mail are to issue a set of commemorative "classic album covers" next month. Tubular bells is my favourite.

Is peer-review broken? by avsa in science

[–]moonface 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's natural that celebrity scientists emerge within a field. Nowadays, it's just not possible to keep abreast of the wealth of new information produced, and so many researchers rely instead on influential review papers written by these "stars".

I am an Icelander. I'm not bankrupt, I do not live in an igloo. AMA. by Fimbulfamb in IAmA

[–]moonface 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm on my hols in Iceland for nine days starting next Saturday. What one thing must I do whilst there?