February 2012
64 posts
Programming calms one down immensely.
lifeandcode:
True dat.
Except when debugging, and then it’s
Partition Function
isomorphismes:
5 = 5 5 = 4 + 1 5 = 3 + 2 5 = 3 + 1 + 1 5 = 2 + 2 + 1 5 = 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 5 = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
There are 7 ways to split up five things. Seven different ways you could divide up 5 balls, 5 dolls, 5 wrapped-up candies,
How many ways are there to divide up 4 things? 8 things? 20,000 things? 198^198 things? Even if you had a few days to write a computer program that would...
2 tags
WatchIs it possible to deduce the shape of the universe without stepping outside of it? Henri Poincaré thought so. Similar to how the Greeks were able to discern the spherical nature of the earth (and even its rough diameter) using mathematics, he proposed that we should be able to make conclusions about our universe. Stanford University mathematician Keith Devlin explains the Poincaré Conjecture,...
5 tags
“We live in a world where we have to hide to make love, while violence is...”
– John Lennon
5 tags
“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I...”
– Pooh, Winnie-the-Pooh, A. A. Milne (via best-book-quotes)
2 tags
8 tags
Mathematician Sees Artistic Side to Father of... →
This year a series of events around the world will celebrate the work of Alan Turing, the father of the modern computer, as the 100th anniversary of his birthday approaches on June 23. In a book chapter that will be published later this year, mathematician Robert Soare, the founding chairman of the University of Chicago’s computer science department, will propose that Turing’s achievement was...
11 tags
Faster-than-light neutrino results were due to a... →
un:
discoverynews:
theweekmagazine:
And not just any mistake. A LOOSE CABLE.
“There was a good reason the measurements and reality weren’t lining up: a loose fiber optic cable was causing one of the atomic clocks used to time the neutrinos’ flight to produce spurious results.”
oops
KNEW IT!
oh damn! there goes that neutrino-walks-into-a-bar joke…
“Everybody loves change… except for the change part.”
– Alan Kay
10 tags
“I view a mathematics library the same way an archaeologist views a prime digging...”
– Robert Ghrist (via isomorphismes)
3 tags
RIP Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn →
Q: What would happen if a black hole passed... →
very bad things
3 tags
Sounds From True Stories - Music for Activities...
thevinylspinner:
David Byrne is best well known as one quarter of the synergy of the 70s/80s post-punk/new wave/art rock band Talking Heads. Hell, it’s the first thing that comes to mind when many people hear his name. But to stop there is to also do him quite an injustice. Yes, Talking Heads is where he got his start, and undoubtedly they’re one of the most important and influential bands of...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2012-2-19) →
Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble (8)
Eric Clapton (4)
B.B. King (3)
Joe Bonamassa (3)
Buddy Guy (3)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
Scientists confirm Alan Turing’s 60-year-old... →
10 tags
“[Quantum mechanics] describes nature as absurd from the point of view of common...”
– Richard Feynman, one of the greatest theoretical physicists since Einstein (via heycheri)
“When I see an old movie, like from the ’40s or ’50s or ’60s, the people look so...”
– Rudy Rucker (via wilwheaton)
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2012-2-12) →
Bon Iver (4)
Two Door Cinema Club (4)
Arctic Monkeys (4)
Mumford & Sons (3)
Vampire Weekend (3)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
3 tags
Gaming the Quantum. →
arxiv-math:
Authors: Faisal Shah Khan, Simon J. D. Phoenix
In the time since a merger of quantum mechanics and game theory was proposed formally in 1999, the two distinct perspectives apparent in this merger of applying quantum mechanics to game theory, referred to henceforth as the theory of “quantized games”, and of applying game theory to quantum mechanics, referred to henceforth as “gaming...
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been....”
– Isaac Asimov (via whomadewho)
So Relevant.
(via stfuconfederates)
I will never cease to be amazed at how many people refuse to change their beliefs in the face of statistics and evidence and studies and history. Just mind-boggling.
-Jess
(via stfuconservatives)
1 tag
2 tags
Learn Python The Hard Way, 2nd Edition →
2 tags
The mathematical equation that caused the banks to... →
The Black-Scholes equation was the mathematical justification for the trading that plunged the world’s banks into catastrophe
6 tags
“[…] Mathematics is buried deep in the very fabric of who we are. It is an...”
– from The Mathematical Traveler by Calvin C. Clawson (via mathmajorsloth)
2 tags
What Every Computer Scientist Should Know About... →
Floating-point arithmetic is considered an esoteric subject by many people. This is rather surprising because floating-point is ubiquitous in computer systems. Almost every language has a floating-point datatype; computers from PCs to supercomputers have floating-point accelerators; most compilers will be called upon to compile floating-point algorithms from time to time; and virtually every...
Kids are the future - teach em to code →
4 tags
"Whether or not God plays dice, I do" →
intothecontinuum:
A $100,000 offer is being made by quantum computing/complexity theory researcher Scott Aaronson to whomever can disprove the possibility of scalable quantum computation. Although very primitive, small-scale quantum computers have been developed and realized in in the field, the question of whether or not a large-scale quantum computer can exist to handle arbitrarily large...
3 tags
Illegal prime - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia →
An illegal prime is a prime number that represents information that it is forbidden to possess or distribute. One of the first illegal primes was discovered in 2001. When interpreted in a particular way, it describes a computer program that bypasses the digital rights management scheme used on DVDs. Distribution of such a program in the United States is illegal under the Digital Millennium...
11 Free Philip K. Dick Short Stories
technoccult:
Open Culture rounded up 11 Philip K. Dick short stories that you can download for free - legally. It includes his first published story, “Beyond Lies the Wub,” which is also the source for the illustration above.
Original Article
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2012-2-5) →
Amy Winehouse (11)
Leonard Cohen (10)
Weezer (2)
Brian Lopez (2)
Blue Öyster Cult (1)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz