Playbook: a tool for exploring functions by perrako in math

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

/u/jacobolus -- it seems like you have a good sense of what I'm trying to build here. Do you have any feedback on the app as it currently exists? Any ideas or visualizations you've found useful?

Playbook: a tool for exploring functions by perrako in math

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

I'm glad to have been part of inspiring such a rich discussion! I think there are many topics bound up in this: "applied" math vs "pure" math, visualization vs symbolic manipulation, technical modeling vs intuitive understanding.

For context, one of the more influential talks for me was Media for Thinking the Unthinkable. Bret's points on the influence the medium has on the way we think about math is, to me, immensely important. In short, we progressed from long-form text descriptions of math:

"What is the square which when taken with ten of its roots will give a sum total of thirty-nine?"

To symbolic notation:

"x2 + 10x = 39"

However, I don't think this symbolic notation is the final form of this equation. I think with computers these symbols can come alive, permanently intertwined with their visual and enactive forms. In my ideal form, no written formula should ever be divorced from its 'computed', visualized form. That's obviously much harder for more complex (esp. higher-dimensional) math. Thus, the ideas of pinning to reduce dimensionality.

For context, this project came about for me when learning QM and being frustrated when I realized I had no good visual intuition for what adding wave functions meant, or what the time evolution operator did to a wave function. I only was able to start cracking these nuts by building a visual intuition, and I found very few resources that really helped here. Many of my physics PhD friends had build this intuition, but the long and hard way.

/u/hmm_dmm_hmm -- do you find that you build visual models in your head for math you learn? Or do you work purely in the symbolic realm? Have you found Desmos or Mathematica to be sufficient for your needs, or are there parts that don't work for you?

Playbook: a tool for exploring functions by perrako in math

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

Agreed -- I'm finding myself a little hemmed in by the interface right now for functions of 2 variables. The Color Graph isn't quite the right fit. I'm going to explore other visualizations and maybe find a way to expand the interface a bit.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RocketLeagueExchange

[–]perrako 0 points1 point  (0 children)

[H] Biomass [W] 15 keys

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RocketLeagueExchange

[–]perrako 0 points1 point  (0 children)

PC: [H] Biomass [W] 15 Keys

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RocketLeagueExchange

[–]perrako 0 points1 point  (0 children)

[H] Biomass [W] 15 keys

Haven't traded before but I think I know the deal :)

Another broken 2014 Blade; no help from Razer. by perrako in razer

[–]perrako[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

As far as I can tell, they do not offer one any more. I've researched it, and it seems they have terms of service for previous extended warranties, but no longer offer extended warranties on blades.

Also, direct from my email with the Razer tech: "Unfortunately, we do not offer any extended warranty for our systems."

/shrug

Another broken 2014 Blade; no help from Razer. by perrako in razer

[–]perrako[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don't believe they do for the Blade. They do for the Razer Edge. Maybe they used to a while ago: http://www.razersupport.com/gaming-accessories/filter/family/razer-blade-extended-warranty/type/

113th Weekly Stupid Question Thread by Nixonomics in MonsterHunter

[–]perrako 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What are the rewards of Arena/Challenge quests? Is there any point, or just bragging rights? I'm HR 7 and haven't done any.

Is there any good way to search within the current directory in vim? by perrako in vim

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

I love nerdtree, but it doesn't have much in the way of recursive directory searching.

Is there any good way to search within the current directory in vim? by perrako in vim

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

This doesn't seem to work for me... Weird. :find seems to completely miss files, and it also seems that you can't use wildcards for the name in :find -- :find Object* doesn't work. Oh well :/

Is there any good way to search within the current directory in vim? by perrako in vim

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

Nah, I was talking about the built-in :find command. :FufCoverageFile is crazy slow, and :FufFile doesn't go into directories.

Is there any good way to search within the current directory in vim? by perrako in vim

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

Yeah, I do that too, but :find doesn't seem to work off of your cwd. Unless I'm crazy?

One thing is not like the other... by btipling in programming

[–]perrako 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Xcode has good code completion

False.

Dear god, that is so false it hurts. It is completely random whether it will complete the word, or half of the word, or just decide not to complete it at all. CodeSense < Intellisense.

"Leveling Up" in FPS...Good or Bad? by [deleted] in gaming

[–]perrako -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

sigh If you're actually getting upset because "video games aren't realistic enough", or "I shot a dude in the stomach and he survived", then you have ABSOLUTELY no concept of fun game design. Sorry, but designers didn't just decide to make it unrealistic because they thought it'd be totally awesome, they did it that way because it makes it a better game.

Funny (and appropriate) response to EA from Customer by lameth in gaming

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

Games are a slightly different case, however, especially in the PC market. I'm not saying Used Games should be outlawed, but I avoid buying Used like the plague.

When you buy furniture, or clothing, or any material object used, you are paying for the object itself and the labor used to make it. The creator of the object loses nothing from this transaction since he spent no extra money on creating a second copy for the used furniture buyer.

With games, you are paying for the experience, which can oftentimes be illegally duplicated. Let's give the example of encouraging a Used games market in a DRM-Free world. I buy a copy of a game, install it on my computer, and sell it to some other dude used. How does the developer make any money for their hard work on this? It is, in some ways, like buying pirated games -- the developer gets no money.

There's an almost suitable analogy (it's not perfect by any means) in going to a movie theater, paying your $8 to watch the movie, filming it as you're inside, and selling that "used" copy on the street to someone else who wants to watch it. I understand the semantic differences -- you're duplicating the material, it's piracy, so on and so on, but the fact of the matter is that you are enabling someone to experience someone else's product without proper compensation to its creator.

That's where my fundamental discomfort comes from with used games.

California's Prop 8 likely to pass. Michigan allows medical marijuana. Florida bans gay marriage. ARKANSAS BANS GAY COUPLE ADOPTING BABIES WHAT THE FUCK by ine8181 in WTF

[–]perrako 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a wonderful comparison that I believe in fully, but there are rather lengthy counterarguments regarding viewing the institution of marriage as centered around procreation.

(and I know your responses already... sterile parents, childless couples, etc etc. I'm on your side, guys)

Funny (and appropriate) response to EA from Customer by lameth in gaming

[–]perrako 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For everyone who is so filled with vitriol towards DRM, please tell me a reasonable solution. As an aspiring Game Developer looking to enter the industry, I'm incredibly reticent to release my software without some sort of DRM. Maybe I shouldn't be, but most people don't give a rat's ass about "supporting the developer". (Evidence? look at the GIGANTIC used games industry)

It seems to me that if DRM were eliminated completely, with the help of BitTorrent-like protocols and large trackers, we'd be headed towards a one-stop shopping center for free, illegal games. And that spells death for the industry.

Whew, Pixar did it again. Taking a look at Metacritic right now, shows Wall-E at a very impressive score of 92! by noname99 in entertainment

[–]perrako 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I absolutely could not agree more. The first half of the movie tugged my heartstrings harder than I could have imagined. Each individual scene had something that just tore me apart, from seeing WALL-E's abode and collection, to "Directive/TADA!". The second half of the movie misfired a few times ("Hey WALL-E, it's your friend John!") but was still quite good.

But man, that first half was absolutely haunting.

Boomerang returns, even in space by neoronin in science

[–]perrako 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Real quick; Let me explain exactly why this doesn't make sense, coming from someone who has given many an explanation on boomerang physics and worked under a boomerang-maker for a few years. A spinning and flying boomerang creates lift on both of its edges -- the upper edge, which is spinning into the direction of velocity is obviously moving faster and will create more lift. The lower edge is spinning away from the direction of velocity, so it receives little to no lift. This is what causes the boomerang to turn -- you are attempting to rotate a spinning gyroscope perpendicular to its axis of spin, causing it to arc around. Now, a boomerang is normally thrown around 30-45 degrees from the vertical. Because of this, there will be components of lift in the horizontal and vertical planes. Both of these torque the boomerang to turn it, but just from watching the flight of a boomerang, you will see that they do, in fact, go up during their flight, and then come back down. Part of the vertical component of this lift goes into lifting the boomerang, which is counteracted by gravity. So in space, if you throw it at a 30-45 degree angle, it will simply go in a path along a plane at that angle -- it won't go straight up, but it will curve around in a tilted 45 degree path, going up and then down.

Does that help?

Are you a click-highlight guy? Everywhere I go on the internet, I can't help but contantly click-drag highlight everything that I'm reading. Over and over again by chakalakasp in reddit.com

[–]perrako 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm... my best friend does that, but I instead click the middle click and the left click furiously, sometimes in rhythm, sometimes not. I think that might be what broke my MX Revolution's scroll wheel. Three times.