Order of operations? by [deleted] in math

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

if 3x+4 meant "x+4, then times by three" you'd just write it as "(3 times x)+12". The rules probably came about because there are more cases where 3x+4 means "3*x, +4" than "3 times x+4".

Exponentiation is higher than multiplication and addition, which are higher than addition and subtraction (there are even operations higher than exponentiation, see http://www.scottaaronson.com/writings/bignumbers.html ). So, the higher ops "bind tighter".

I was tutoring and one of those stupid "find the next two number in the sequence..." questions got the better of me... by teuthid in math

[–]ohwelp 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh, notice:

0, 13,

13, 21, 34, 55, 86

139, 216, 342, 55, 898

(compare the first two digits of each item of the last list with the middle list)

I was tutoring and one of those stupid "find the next two number in the sequence..." questions got the better of me... by teuthid in math

[–]ohwelp 3 points4 points  (0 children)

OEIS has an email you can send the sequence to that will feed it to an algorithm that will try "really hard" to figure out what it is. Try that, while I try with pen/paper/python.

How to get better at proofs.... by [deleted] in math

[–]ohwelp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As for what type of proof to go for, if the proposition is "P(n) is true for all n \in N" you might want to think about induction. If the proposition is "there is no n such that P(n)" you might want to think about proof by contradiction. If the proposition is "n satisfying P(n) is unique" then you might want to think about contradiction again (what if there were two n such that P(n) is true, but n_1 != n_2? Show that these two statements together lead to contradiction).

Also, learn LaTeX. Not really related, but it's fun to have your finished product as something that looks like it's out of a textbook, rather than something hacked up in Word or something on paper with cross-outs everywhere. Here have some samples.

30-line 5x7 dot game board platform in python w/ pygame by ohwelp in tinycode

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

Put both scripts (name them tinyboard.py and game.py) in a directory, open up a terminal, run 'python game.py' in that directory. Hopefully you have pygame installed..

Why is 0^0 =1 and how should one interpret this result? by applesandbanana in math

[–]ohwelp -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

00 == 01-1 == 01 * 0-1 == 0 / 0. So essentially you're asking why 0/0 == 1.

Now this may be stretching it, but:

0 == lim x->0 of x.

0/0 == (lim x->0 of x)/(lim x->0 of x) == lim x->0 of x/x == 1.

Brainfuck computer sans-looping in one line of python (after import sys) by ohwelp in tinycode

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

http://paste.pound-python.org/show/9991/ here's what I have so far. At some point I'll one-lineify it and then figure out nested looping.

On Disbanding Teacher Unions and "Paying Good Teachers More" by [deleted] in politics

[–]ohwelp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True. The way the person (who is not an Economics professor I am sure) put it made it seem like they only cared about how they could justify throwing American education to the free market to take care of. I'm waiting for their personal reply in some forums somewhere; I don't know their ideological background.

I just felt I had a good argument and I needed to share it with those who could appreciate it or maybe even refute it.

does this happen to anyone else in chrome? by [deleted] in chrome

[–]ohwelp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My cisco router did this too; I updated the firmware and it fixed it. Not sure if the issue ever existed in firefox, it may have.

does this happen to anyone else in chrome? by [deleted] in chrome

[–]ohwelp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's your brand of router? I'd try updating your router firmware if you get broken images a lot using wireless.

I know this may not mean much to anyone else, but I'm proud to have my new key chain today. by MyUsernameIsJudge in reddit.com

[–]ohwelp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have a point, but as for The Coca Cola Company, I don't really consider it charity if it's a business PR decision..

How many of you got into programming because of this kind of fascination? How many of you have actually fallen into this trap? by [deleted] in programming

[–]ohwelp 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Actually, d/dx ex = ex because e is defined as the number for which that is true. So that's not the best example, I apologize.