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Author Topic: Random Stuff Part III  (Read 650206 times)

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Awaclus

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #25 on: January 07, 2016, 03:25:50 pm »
+1

Random Stuff III. We didn't need this.
 

According to my choked browsers, II apparently went on too far unfortunately.

I use Excel the same way. I build formulas through multiple simple cells before I combine them to the final format I need.

I do that too. It makes it a little easier to update years later. I do like to combine formulas to avoid needless calculations, but it can be tricky to decipher a really long and convoluted formula.

Although I'm not sure that combining would reduce the calculations.

If you have IF(VLOOKUP(A1,A:B, 2)=2, TRUE, FALSE) in C1, then would that save processing time compared to having VLOOKUP(A1,A:B,2) in C1 and IF(C1=2, TRUE, FALSE) in D1? It seems the same number of steps, but is there a saving when the nested function is resolved within the main function?
We didn't need part II, either.

Random stuff is at least 67% more skippable than people think.
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LastFootnote

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #26 on: January 07, 2016, 03:32:20 pm »
+7

Random stuff is at least 67% more skippable than people think.

Whoa, it's 167% skippable?
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liopoil

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #27 on: January 07, 2016, 04:51:06 pm »
+3

Random Stuff III. We didn't need this.

But since I'm posting here, I'll mine as well ask people why showing your work with basic math (basic to you, not me) is so important.
Never show your work. You know the answer, your reader knows the answer, so what's the point of showing your work? Even if your reader wants to know how you came up with the answer, that's none of their business. Even if there is a chance that you made a silly mistake, don't bother showing work because there's a risk you'll copy things down wrong. Besides, you might confuse your reader by using a method which wasn't the one they had in mind, so it's better to just give the result and have them assume you solved it the same way as them.

(Note for anyone who was going to take this post seriously: don't take this post seriously)
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Witherweaver

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #28 on: January 07, 2016, 04:54:09 pm »
+6

The idea of "showing your work" is stupid.  Your work is the answer.
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scott_pilgrim

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #29 on: January 07, 2016, 05:03:39 pm »
+1

Random Stuff III. We didn't need this.

But since I'm posting here, I'll mine as well ask people why showing your work with basic math (basic to you, not me) is so important.

It depends on what you mean by basic math.  I usually think in big steps.  I try to get the intuition behind a problem first, and then make sure that each step in the reasoning actually works.  When you break things down small enough, you know that something is obviously true and you don't need to show work for it anymore.  If you're in fourth grade multiplying 56 by 47, you probably don't need to show by hand that 6 times 7 is 42 (by actually adding 6+6+6+6+6+6+6), because you're at the point where you've memorized that already.  If you're in algebra you may not be expected to show how you got 15*3=45 because it's expected that you can do that easily at this point.  If you're in calculus you won't need to show every step in solving an equation like 5x+12=2x-6 because it's assumed that you can do that easily.

After a certain point, there are diminishing returns for showing your work.  There are all of the advantages Tables mentioned, but if you (and your audience) can do something so consistently that you're unlikely to make a mistake with it anyway, then writing down all the details takes more time than it will save you in the long run.

Of course, this really only applies to more computational math.  In more proof-oriented math, you could say that the entire problem itself is to show your work.  But even then, you generally assume that your audience can accept a lot of the basic details without you stating them, or else you at least refer them to other work that has worked out those details for you.
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ConMan

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #30 on: January 07, 2016, 05:24:52 pm »
+1

Working in a place where maths (and related exercises) underpins a lot of what we do but where there are plenty of people whose job is not to understand the particularly complicated aspects of it, I've learned that it is really important to have done all your working and recorded it, but to only present what's relevant. Found an equation that will save the organisation a million dollars? Great - have a colleague double-check the working, but when you present it to management they probably don't even want to see the equation, let alone the working, they want to see the plan that will let you put it into production without unduly affecting exisiting work.
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enfynet

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Re: Random Stuff Part VI
« Reply #31 on: January 07, 2016, 07:47:42 pm »
+2

Of course, this really only applies to more computational math.  In more proof-oriented math, you could say that the entire problem itself is to show your work.  But even then, you generally assume that your audience can accept a lot of the basic details without you stating them, or else you at least refer them to other work that has worked out those details for you.
You mean Proofs like this one?

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eHalcyon

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #32 on: January 07, 2016, 08:00:43 pm »
+2

Step 1 should be addition, not multiplication.

The statement in step 4 is not axiomatic and needs further proof.  For the record, the actual line is that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil".

The proof is flawed!
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Witherweaver

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #33 on: January 07, 2016, 08:02:33 pm »
+2

"root" does not imply square root.
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enfynet

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Re: Random Stuff Part VII
« Reply #34 on: January 07, 2016, 08:04:40 pm »
+2

Step 1 should be addition, not multiplication.

The statement in step 4 is not axiomatic and needs further proof.  For the record, the actual line is that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil".

The proof is flawed!
Well of course the proof is flawed, but that doesn't make it less of a proof.
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LastFootnote

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Re: Random Stuff Part VII
« Reply #35 on: January 08, 2016, 01:27:51 am »
+1

Well of course the proof is flawed, but that doesn't make it less of a proof.

Prove it!
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Awaclus

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #36 on: January 08, 2016, 04:17:29 am »
+1

Step 1 should be addition, not multiplication.

But multiplication is the equivalent of "and". "Or" is the equivalent of addition.

Well, at least in some contexts.
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Qvist

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #37 on: January 08, 2016, 05:51:03 am »
0

Man, the English language has sometimes some weird pronunciation, like the pronunciation of the word "gauge" makes no sense at all. It has neither an "e" nor an "i" in the word what you would expect.

ashersky

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #38 on: January 08, 2016, 06:25:49 am »
0

Man, the English language has sometimes some weird pronunciation, like the pronunciation of the word "gauge" makes no sense at all. It has neither an "e" nor an "i" in the word what you would expect.

How are you pronouncing it?
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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #39 on: January 08, 2016, 06:52:04 am »
0

ɡeɪdʒ

ashersky

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #40 on: January 08, 2016, 07:14:33 am »
0

ɡeɪdʒ

Makes sense.

Think of it as gay-eej.

Speaking of pronouncing things, while in Germany, I realized German is impossible.
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Kuildeous

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #41 on: January 08, 2016, 07:46:38 am »
0

I have passing knowledge of Spanish and Japanese (well, less passable than before; I can read translation dictionaries). I am amused that I can mostly pronounce words from both languages the same way. Assuming romaji of course. There are some notable differences, such as J, and Japanese has some subtle rules for double letters.

So I like to think that I can order the dishes okay in Mexican and Japanese restaurants. From my very limited exposure to linguistics, it seems that a lot of foreign words can be BSed by using the same vowel-pronunciation scheme as Spanish and Japanese. I know not to try that nonsense in French or German restaurants.
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Witherweaver

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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #42 on: January 08, 2016, 08:45:12 am »
0

I like gawj.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I think gaw-j for the verb form and gay-j for the noun form.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2016, 08:46:21 am by Witherweaver »
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Re: Random Stuff Part III
« Reply #45 on: January 08, 2016, 11:47:28 am »
0

I like gawj.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I think gaw-j for the verb form and gay-j for the noun form.

I though the verb gawj was written gouge?  As in I'll gouge out your eyes and eat them for breakfast.

Gauge is more like gauge the distance from here to there. 

I guess I could look it up, but I feel right.
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Re: Random Stuff Part VI
« Reply #46 on: January 08, 2016, 11:49:20 am »
0

A new random stuff thread? I noticed we got up to random stuff V in titles, why stop there?
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Re: Random Stuff Part ∞
« Reply #47 on: January 08, 2016, 11:55:41 am »
+2

A new random stuff thread? I noticed we got up to random stuff V in titles, why stop there?

Why indeed?
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Re: Random Staff Part III
« Reply #48 on: January 08, 2016, 02:15:31 pm »
0

On a completely unrelated note, who is watching this year's AGDQ - Awesome Games Done Quick? I tend to plug it every year and it's almost over for this year, sure, but still has 2 more days to go and has raised just shy of $600,000 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation so far. If you want to watch awesome games getting completely ruined by extremely talented and experienced gamers - or even if you don't, since chances are you'll enjoy some of it anyway - go check it out.

http://www.twitch.tv/gamesdonequick for the stream directly

https://gamesdonequick.com/ for their main site and the easiest place to donate.
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...spin-offs are still better for all of the previously cited reasons.
But not strictly better, because the spinoff can have a different cost than the expansion.

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Re: Random Stuff Part Ax²+Bx+C
« Reply #49 on: January 08, 2016, 02:24:50 pm »
+1

A new random stuff thread? I noticed we got up to random stuff V in titles, why stop there?

Why indeed?
I think this may be getting out of hand.
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