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I'm not mad keen on maths; the last time I did anything that amounted to more than simple arithmetic/basic maths was in a previous century. I can't be certain it was the 20th. 
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R. Giskard Reventlov wrote: in a previous century. I can't be certain it was the 20th.
You're either really old or really bad at math 
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Ha: that made me think of this[^].
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There can be only one (if only math were that simple)! 
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Lambert was appalling in the part. Ruined a good story with his faux Scottish accent. And Connery... Oy!
Anyway, fun film.
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R. Giskard Reventlov wrote: Lambert was appalling in the part
Is he ever not appaling?
One of the worst films ever: Beowulf[^] 
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Sander Rossel wrote: Is he ever not appaling?
Excellent point.
Sander Rossel wrote: One of the worst films ever: Beowulf[^]
Never seen it... never will.
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Summoning all my arrogance, I ask myself how someone can get so emotional about a simple logical thing as a math test. Any human being with a maximum of one X chromosome gets emotional only if the test is not callenging enough.
Seriously, math is logical. No opinions or interpretations. If you really understand the underlying logic, then the test will actually be boring. Seeing the connection between abstract definitions and actual problems may be hard, but once ypu got that you will never fail a math test again.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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CDP1802 wrote: math is logical
I've never seen anything that made less sense than math...
CDP1802 wrote: how someone can get so emotional about a simple logical thing as a math test
Me too, but math really gets me angry, sad and desperate... I can do it for a while, but when I have to study for weeks before a test it really stresses me out to a point where it's really not worth the trouble any more. Math is really the only thing that I know of that does that to me.
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I've encountered two situations, one, where the math PhD's came up with an incredibly complicated algorithm for processing multispectral data (took on the order of minutes to process 6 frames of multispectral video) which, when I realized what they were doing, I converted all the FFT and bullshit into a real time lookup table transformation. 
The second was again thrown at the PhD's, this time to determine pass/fail modes in a switch ring redundancy network (stuff put into communication satellites to ensure that when a high power amplifier fails, you can switch to a spare, and it gets complicated because you're not switching electrical signals, you're switching radio waves via waveguides and whatnot, so there's physical space/weight limitations), anyways, the PhD's were trying to solve this for years. After thinking (yes, just thinking) about the problem for a couple weeks, I realized that there were simple topology rules that could be used to analyze a network. Granted, it still took horsepower, but I delivered a solution (that was 20 years ago) that is still in place and has evolved into a multi-threaded analysis application that solves for trillions of switch combinations and failure combinations in realistic time (a few hours) of churning.
Funny how in both cases, what was thought to be a math problem turned out to be not a math problem, but a "think about the problem" exercise.
So yeah, math is definitely needed for certain things, but the #1 rule is, just because you have a math degree hammer, not everything is a math degree nail.
If it helps, math is a beautiful universal truth. Think of math as discovering the truth of something. 
Marc
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s - stick that on the end of everywhere you've put math and you'll be fine.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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I'm not going into an arguement with you. Simply grab an encyclopaedia to see I did nothing wrong. In fact, I'm pretty skillful in both British and American. In my defence, we're much more America oriented here and my browser even marks British as incorrect, which is, of course, a wrong analysis. In this post I'll honour your favourite language though. But please don't criticise my inability to memorise all these minor differences. I'm using my best judgement, so stop quarelling. Despite my American writing I still prefer metres over inches. I'm glad we had this dialogue 
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Sander Rossel wrote: In two weeks I'd have a math test.
If I were you, I'd have a go at Maths. It's real good stuff and exists outside of the USA.
Michael Martin
Australia
"I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible."
- Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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Michael Martin wrote: and exists outside of the USA.
Unfortunately, because that's where I am!
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Hmm, given that Mathematics is one of those subjects I like the most, does that imply you, Sir Sander of Rossels, are my enemy?
You have just been Sharapova'd.
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I'm guessing Blofeld was pretty good at math too
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I needed to use algebra to design the fencing around my backyard garden so as not to waste wood and still look good. One also needs to know how to take the modulo of a polynomial to compute keys in encryption. And then there is the need to compute the degree of non-orthogonality of magnetic and electric fields when designing a flying saucer.
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On the other computing the time taken for a piano to fall from a third floor balcony to the ground is probably not your best bet if you happen to be underneath it at the time!
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Bruce Patin wrote: I needed to use algebra to design the fencing around my backyard garden so as not to waste wood and still look good
I hire people for that!
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Sander Rossel wrote: LaTeX editor
Is that Sean's latest outfit?
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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I love math, but can't say I ever learned to love LaTeX. I understand how it was useful back when my main editor was vi, but these days with editors like Word that just let you see what you're doing, I don't really get the point.
That said, when I do have to work on a TeX document (because of whom I'm working with or conference format or whatever), I've found LyX to be a good WYSIWYG editor. There's definitely a learning curve, but the documentation is good, it's free, and I've always managed to get the formatting I want eventually.
Good luck with the blog and I hope you learn to enjoy the math. Once you know the math enough to trust it, it's a great comfort to be able to tell yourself "mathematically this is right, so there must just be a mistake in the code."
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The problem with mathematics is the abstract presentation as opposed to practical applications. For proof, look at any Wikipedia page on statistical tests. The mathematicians have edited them so that they are absolutely correct and absolutely useless for anyone wanting to actually code and execute a T-test or a simple ANOVA. My greatest "Aha!" moment came in grad school when I realized that the integral calculus that I pounded my head into as an undergrad was really just determining the area under a curve, and that one could accomplish the same thing with a sheet of graph paper, a pair of scissors, and a good scale (draw the curve, cut it out and weigh it, cut out a 4x4 block of squares and weight it, then calculate the ratio -- you've now integrated the curve using simple algebra and up yours Sir Isaac!).
Oh, and LyX is excellent for typesetting equations.
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Carney Four wrote: I've found LyX to be a good WYSIWYG editor
Thanks, I'll certainly look into that! 
Carney Four wrote: Good luck with the blog
Thanks again!
Carney Four wrote: I hope you learn to enjoy the math
I hope so too... 
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When hiring for computer science positions in the Engineering field, math and artistic talent are the two most important things we look at. No math talent, no artistic talent, no interest!
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