Any love here for Bored of the Rings?

kehrk · 1 day

This reminds me of a time I was at my gf's place for an Easter party. I had just gotten my new laser pointer, and was playing with it with her niece and nephew (I think?). Pointing it at the floor, moving it around....they seemed to enjoy chasing it. I think you know where this is going.....so they smashed into each other, head to head, full speed.

She was not amused.

(But I was)

TrimHopp · 2 days

Glad you like it; one of my life goals is to write a fantasy novel, where magic works like computer programs. When was the last time you read a dual fantasy novel/intro to computer science textbook?

TrimHopp · 2 days

I think of it as analogous to computer programs. Sauron developed this brand new framework (platform?) called Rings. He then open-sourced it, and helpfully offered to help out with developing applications, all the while gaining insight into the applications; maybe even explicitly but subtly putting in backdoors.

The elves, though, were suspicious of Sauron's helpfulness, so they forked the project, just to be safe, and so they could fix some security vulnerabilities, not to mention re-purposing and re-specializing the Create and Maintain routines, while getting rid of the morally questionable Destroy routines. They also closed the source (this was before GPL) so no one could see how to hack new vulnerabilities.

So then Sauron wrote his Master Control Program, which had all the exploits he had collected built-in. Problem was, most of the exploits wouldn't work on the elven rings, since they had forked; but it was still the basic framework, so some of the vulnerabilities were inherent. Still, in order to run and manage all the exploits, and break into the newly hardened elven apps, a LOT of computing power was required.....so Sauron pumped up his MCP app with his Maiar essence. Finally, once the elves started seeing attack packets, they yanked their Ethernet, just to be sure.

alicesonmarie · 3 days

Oh he's talking out of his alright, but to say the problems he encounters are not widespread is just wrong. He is saying basically to give up, to dismiss the battle for relevancy in math education as unwinnable. This is obviously the wrong answer, but neither is ignoring the battle.

only2shirts · 3 days

WMNF might be interested

me0341 · 4 days

Mongkolratanaram. That's Wat.

Hensroth · 4 days

ಠ_ಠ

Mitcheypoo · 5 days

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking.

Let's say you have 3 games: game A has you bet on a dozen and spin the wheel, and then do it again. Game B has you bet on a color and spin the wheel, then do it again. Game C has a bet on 2 dozens per spin.

For Game A, there are 3 possibilities: Win both, win 1, win none. Winning either one has a chance of 1/3, so:

Win both: 1/3 * 1/3 = 1/9
Win none: 2/3 * 2/3 = 4/9
Win 1: leftover probability of 4/9

For Game B, it is similar:

Win both: 1/2 * 1/2 = 1/4
Win none: 1/2 * 1/2 = 1/4
Win 1: leftover probability of 2/4, or 1/2

Game C:

Win both: 2/3 * 2/3 = 4/9
Win none: 1/3 * 1/3 = 1/9
Win 1: leftover probability of 4/9

Now suppose you bet 1 dollar each spin. Your payouts are:
Game A:

Win both: $6
Win none: $0
Win 1: $3

Game B:

Win both: $4
Win none: $0
Win 1: $2

Game C:

Win both: $3
Win none: $0
Win 1: $1.50

Finally, do a dot product on each game, and you find that the expected payout for each game is $2. Each one is exactly the same.

Mitcheypoo · 5 days

I was all ready to downvote, then I read the punchline. Well done!

Charkov · 7 days

That's 3 concerns :). Moving on....

How can parents help their child's numeracy in the young years, i.e. how should the child's elementary and middle school mathematics education be best managed?

Not entirely sure, but mplonk's idea of count everything, estimate and verify sounds like a good start for young kids. Learning some math on your own would also help tremendously, as in any subject. One thing you might do is learn how basic techniques work, like column multiplication and long division. Most importantly, talk to your kids when they have questions like they are intelligent human beings. If you don't know, say so. If you want to work together toward an answer, say so, and do so.

How can the Algebra curriculum be presented as a more cohesive whole, rather than as a smattering of different techniques that don't unite in any meaningful way until high math?

This is a big one for me. It really shouldn't take 2 years for the things they teach you in Alg I and II. Hell, college does it in one semester, and that still may be too long! The reason is that Algebra is the first math topic that can be considered a "language, as the cliché often goes.....but it's a very simple language. Most of the stuff in Alg I/II is learning different things you can do with that language. Quadratic formula/completing the square? Just examples of stuff you can do with algebra. Conic Sections? More stuff you do with algebra, and Cartesian Coordinates. But the language itself? Very simple. The hard part of math, like programming, is not the syntax, it's the problem solving, the reasoning skills. And this explanation has an extra bonus, because that's also an answer to "what is it good for?" Math is problem solving, but it's taught like it's vocabulary. This is bad, needless to say.

How can specialty math classes be offered to increase student interest in the discipline? Specialty as in interesting electives, not just highly advanced courses.

Some ideas off the top of my head:
* Great Unsolved Problems (i.e. the Millennial Prizes)
* History of Math
* Bio of one math great in particular (HoM as a prerequisite)
* How math is done (exposition into how new math is created, with examples from real life and history. Also have a component of learning proofs)
* The mathematics of X (X is an everyday situation or something of interest to them. It could either be something that actually involves math, like video games, or something where X is solely an attention-grabber, like porn)
* Math in pop culture (explaining the math of things like Proof, CSI, A Beautiful Mind, Futurama, etc. I'd avoid Numb3rs; it looked pretty bad, mathematically. It may not be salvageable)
* Survey of math topics (obviously, keep this light. Only the most talented at connecting with kids should teach this class)
* Mathematical Recreations (puzzles, obviously, but also light, playful introductions to serious topics, and/or more in-depth treatments of simple subjects like the Triangular numbers) * Math and Art (I have a professor that does a college class like this)

Charkov · 7 days

This a real demon and angel on shoulders situation for me.

Demon: Come on, just tell them.....it's the truth, after all, and you'll feel better!

Angel: WTF is wrong with you? They'll get all pissy, and then you won't be able to help the kids!

I think a middle road that emphasizes keywords like "understanding" and "memorization" is the way to go. If you're feeling daring, you can remind them that you're the teacher, you're here because you know the subject well, which implies you have some idea how to teach it. The logical next step "and you don't you goddamned morons" is left as an exercise to the listener.

BTW, your earlier comments in this thread stole the words from my brain. Bravo!

Charkov · 7 days

such as Gödel's incompleteness theorem

That is a spectacularly bad idea. Take all the misconceptions and sensationalism around it, and put into a middle or high schooler's head, which is already tumbling toward a dislike for math as arbitrary.

4011isbananas · 8 days

No sound for me....

edit: I let the whole thing play silently, and then it froze at one point and the sound started from the beginning, with a frozen picture. Weird.

KaratInversion · 8 days

Ok yeah; that one definitely should not be...

igonjukja · 8 days

Obligatory (first paragraph)

KaratInversion · 8 days

lol at your friends. Don't get me wrong, I certainly understand why it diverges, but there's still this sense of "no......nooooo.......wait; really?" In hindsight, that may not be what the questions was asking....

KaratInversion · 8 days

The divergence of the Harmonic Series still feels unreal; it's just.....so.....slow....

ummwut · 9 days

lol....Well, it's a bit beyond your level, but....

There's all sorts of operators that work on numbers and expressions. Among these are multiplication, logarithms, exponentiation, etc. Then there are operators that work on functions; they convert one function to another. Having just finished Calculus, you should be able to name 2 (or 3, depending on how you want to count).

An important subset of these function operators is called the integral transforms. These are when you take an integral, usually from 0 or [;-\infty;] to [;\infty;]. An integral of what, you ask? Well, the integrand is the product of the kernel of the chosen integral transform and the function which you are taking the transform of. To see what the hell I'm talking about, look at the Wikipedia article for the Laplace Transform. That exponential term is the kernel; change that, you get a different transform. The f(x) is just whatever you are transforming.

Now a few things that are important about this transform. First, we're taking a definite integral, so we should be getting a number! Well, we don't because of that s. Instead, we get a brand new function, this one of just s. This is commonly shortened to "we are converting to the s-domain." You can also convert back using the Inverse Laplace Transform. When you do, you should get the original function back; just like doing the inverse operator to the result of an operation will get you the original number.

But that's no fun. What we really want to know, is can we do stuff in the s-domain, and have it affect the regular function in some useful way? Would I be talking about this if the answer was no? It turns out, this integral transform behaves nicely in a few ways. First, adding and multiplying by a constant works exactly the same in both domains; if you double or triple a function, you also double or triple its Laplace Transform. If you add a couple of functions and transform them, it's the same as transforming each on its own, and adding the transformed versions. So, yeah, that's.....nice.

The real fun starts when you ask about multiplication, differentiation, and integration. If you multiply 2 functions and transform them, the answer is not the product of the transforms; it's more complicated than that, much as in differentiation and integration. That's not important right now. What IS important is that differentiating regular function (wrt x) does not register as differentiation (wrt....s, right?). It registers as......multiplication by s! Oh, you want to differentiate twice? Just multiply by s² . Half-differentiate? s^1/2 . Then transform back.

As I said, beyond your level, and plenty of subtleties got skipped, but that's the idea.

ummwut · 9 days

Have you looked at Wikipedia? The one technique I know is convert to the s domain (Laplace Transform), differentiate/integrate, and convert back.

B-Con · 9 days

Please, somebody fucking tell me this is a prank....

jljorgenson18 · 9 days

math GRE, about half of it was calculus

This is ONLY the case if OP is talking about the math SUBJECT GRE. The reasoning GRE, i.e. the one that most schools look at, is just like the SAT, but theoretically harder.

magnoliafly · 9 days

Of course, it's pouring rain now....

aristotle2600 · 10 days

Well, I'm look at an application right now and it says 7 years....

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