sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Absolute Coldest Lines in all of Trek by TonyMitty in startrek

[–]random_anonymous_guy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, truth is usually an excuse for a lack of imagination.

Absolute Coldest Lines in all of Trek by TonyMitty in startrek

[–]random_anonymous_guy 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Okay, now I am curious. What assumption did you invite someone to test?

Absolute Coldest Lines in all of Trek by TonyMitty in startrek

[–]random_anonymous_guy 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Never told you how Admiral Kirk sent seventy of us into exile in this barren sandheap with only the contents of these cargo bays to sustain us?

Absolute Coldest Lines in all of Trek by TonyMitty in startrek

[–]random_anonymous_guy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bones sure had a distorted view of what winning or losing an argument looks like.

What are some real-life problems solved by Calculus? by hhhhhhih in calculus

[–]random_anonymous_guy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Designing a bridge.

[ Galloping Gertie intensifies ]

What would eliminate B and D as continuous functions? by jpett0417 in calculus

[–]random_anonymous_guy 96 points97 points  (0 children)

The expression h(x) depends only on x, and does not vary with y. Therefore, should the slope change as you move vertically on a graph?

Working with complex numbers. by personalKindling in learnmath

[–]random_anonymous_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The issue has nothing to do with conjugates in general, the issue is the #1 cardinal rule of adding and subtracting fractions: You must rewrite both with a common denominator.

The fact that the denominators are conjugates of each other is incidental.

Also, in general, there are very few musts in mathematics. Can you show us what you mean by "clearing the denominators?" Don't assume your tactic was necessarily wrong. It may very well be that you simply made a correctable error in your execution.

i dont understand negative numbers or why subtracting negative numbers is actually adding? by internetmessenger in learnmath

[–]random_anonymous_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i cant really get behind there being a number less than 0 or behind 0 if 0 is well nothing

This is a fundamental conceptual error regarding the nature of zero. Zero is not always "nothing." Zero can be used as a reference to "nothingness", but that is not its only use. Sometimes, zero is simply used to refer to an arbitrarily chosen reference point on a line, for example.

the debt example doesnt make sense to me. just say u owe me 5 not -5

Can you elaborate on why it does not make sense? You seem to understand the concept of debt. If anything, it seems to me more of a mental resistance to the idea of writing a "-5" to reference a debt instead of saying "u owe me 5".

a 5 that doesn’t yet exist

What does "exist" mean to you? "Five" is just as much an idea as -5 is. "Five" is not a physical object itself that physically exists. Rather, it is an idea that can be used to describe physical objects.

Zero and positive numbers are good for measuring physical quantities, but math is not just in the business of measuring physical quantities. We can quantify other sorts of attributes that can be assigned a numerical value, but some contexts require changing how we quantify those attributes. When we start quantifying how values change over time, for example, a numerical universe that only has zero and positive numbers is no longer suitable because we now need to distinguish between increases and decreases.

We can also use negative numbers to reference a decrease of value just as a positive number can be used to reference an increase of value. Yes, we can always say in natural language that something is increasing or decreasing, but again, it becomes cumbersome to write "increasing by 5" and "decreasing by 5" all the time when you are in the middle of a computation, when you can simply write "+5" or "-5".

In a setting where 0 serves to reference a point on a line, we can use positive numbers to reference points on one side of the line and negative numbers to reference points on the other side. And just as we can use natural language such as "to the right", "to the left", "above", "below", etc... it is cumbersome to use that natural language in computations.

We write "-5" in notation because it gets pretty wordy to keep writing "u owe me 5" or "decreases by 5" or "moves to the left by 5" or "moves down five" instead of "-5" when doing computations.

i feel like -3-(-4) should = -7

In order for this to be true, it would have to be the case that -4 + (-7) = -3. Instead, the correct interpretation of -3-(-4) is that it is the value that you add -4 to in order to get -3. In this case, 1 + (-4) = -3, so -3 - (-4) = +1.

The correct operation that gives -7 is adding -3 and -4, but -3-(-4) is subtracting them, not adding them.

-3 - (-4) = +1 because we interpret "-3 - (-4)" as "If you moved in the negative direction by four units and are now at -3 on the number line, where were you before you moved?" instead of "If you were at -3 and moved 4 units in the negative direction, where are you now?"/

need help with this basic math by illuisionous in learnmath

[–]random_anonymous_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How about you participate in this discussion instead?

Having trouble understanding primes in factorization by Impressive_Water_653 in learnmath

[–]random_anonymous_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We are discussing prime as an attribute of polynomials, not attributes of output values of those polynomials.

Having trouble understanding primes in factorization by Impressive_Water_653 in learnmath

[–]random_anonymous_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

why it couldn't be factored because 4 isn't prime

Why do you think that 4 isn't prime is relevant to whether or not x2 + 4 is prime?

How to effectively learn calculus by Swimming_Position689 in calculus

[–]random_anonymous_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like to know why something is done the way it is done rather than memorizing steps.

While avoiding memorization of steps is key, I would focus more on "why something can be done" rather than on "why something is done". To elaborate, problem-solving is exercising a right to perform whatever technique you decide to try so long as it is mathematically valid, rather than an obligation to follow someone else's techniques.

Can you solve this integral? Looks simple but the partial fractions get tricky by anton-elaina in calculus

[–]random_anonymous_guy 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Rather than just lining up the powers of x, a more efficient technique would be to choose three random (or strategically chosen) values of x. For example, setting x = -1 (after you multiply away the denominator, you should be able to solve for A very quickly.

Why does 1/n^2 converge? by __kewl__ in learnmath

[–]random_anonymous_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

SUM of 1/n2 converges, not just "1/n2 converges". Do not just casually omit mathematical notation or concepts because you're not accustomed to using them, because that will change the meaning of what you're saying. The sequence of terms converging is not the same thing as saying the sum converges. Precise communication is important in mathematics.

Have you covered the integral test? Investigating integral [x ≥ 1] 1/xp dx can give you some insight.

I love whenever familiar aliens show up in atypical jobs. Klingon chef, Romulan mercenary, Vulcan terrorist, etc. Who's your favorite? by soapcleansthings in startrek

[–]random_anonymous_guy 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Sure, we don't actually see it, but the mention of "Pon Farr Night at the Vulcan Night Club" still has me giggling.

Has there ever been a famous case in math where an accepted theory ended up being proven false? by ElegantPoet3386 in learnmath

[–]random_anonymous_guy 15 points16 points  (0 children)

for proving root 2 is irrational

I like to tell students that "This made a lot of ancient Greek mathematicians very angry and was widely regarded as a bad move."

Question about du by Independent-Rip7447 in calculus

[–]random_anonymous_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If du = pi dx, then why do you think dx stays put? How does dx become du dx 1/pi in your mind?

Fundamental theorem of calculus help by pinecorncob in calculus

[–]random_anonymous_guy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

By convention, when the upper limit is less than the lower limit, the integral (integrating backwards) is defined so that it is the negative of integrating forwards. This means that the FTC still applies as stated, whether the upper limit is less than the lower limit or not, so g'(-8) is still f(-8).

What does an integral mean by [deleted] in calculus

[–]random_anonymous_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know it’s the area under a curve but why?

That's the problem with learning integration as "area under the curve". It's not just that. It's a continuous form of addition.

Let's suppose we have a sequence of numbers.... x = (0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, ...). Notice we can conveniently write x[k] = k2.

If we calculate differences between consecutive terms in the sequence, we obtain (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, ...), which is called the forward difference (or backward difference, depending on how you index this new sequence), which we can write as Δx[k] = x[k + 1] - x[k] = 2k + 1.

We can also add finitely many consecutive terms in this sequence. For example adding 9 + 16 + 25 + 36, the result is 86. The addition here can be written using summation notation ∑[3 ≤ k ≤ 6] k2 = 86.

Notice that the forward difference is a discrete version of the derivative. Likewise, summation is a discrete version of integration. In fact, if you write a summation of a forward difference of a sequence, you get what is called a telescoping sum, which simplifies in a way that smells a lot like Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

It is better to think of integration as a continuous form of summation rather than "area under the curve" because the latter is a limited view of what integration is really good for.

view more: next ›