pulkit

I don't think you'll predict 3d9 4s2 for copper, since fully filled sub-shells are very nice things. They have less energy amongst other things due to symmetry. Due to symmetry they have a high exchange energy which is always nice. Half and fully filled are always preferred.

Manner of sorcery === Magnetic field lol I still don't see too much of a problem here. The further you go the less the mutual inductance, and again the equivalent circuit incorporates this factor.

Given their complex electronic structure, they can be stable in more than one configuration, however in general there is a single most stable state, for other you need to spend energy. Since as shell size increases, energy differences go down, the energy difference between two ionic states may not be much and stability persists. Plus, having empty d orbitals always helps.

Thats equivalent to asking how does the battery know wether there is an open circuit or not. As I mentioned, looking at it as an equivalent circuit with no gaps between elements (such as the one between the primary and secondary coils) and replacing them with approprite impedences, it becomes exactly equivalent to the battery situation.

Just to add, we use binary because we know how to make devices that have two stable states {0,1}. If on the other hand we could get basic components that had 3 stable states, it would at times make more sense to use base three.

What is being discussed so far is numbers in base 2. However using binary ,i.e., the set {0,1}, a huge variety of codes can be developed. Some of the more popular ones you can find easily are BCD, grey code, XS3 code etc. These are all for encoding numbers. You then have ASCII codes for characters. AS situations demand you can come up with a code for practically anything, depending on what code you use, you will build your particular hardware to interpret it.

So is calculation of sin and cos hardwired or is it computed using simpler operations ?

See thats the entire point I wanted to bring out. I work on linux only because I do not wish to waste time acquiring g++, gcc, and libraries for windows and that for those libraries my college won't pay, I'd be paying myself (Remember that lots of stuff is not free even on linux)............in no way do I currently find linux to be "superior"to windows. After working in windows I find lots of software not upto the mark in linux - typical example - yet to find any cd writing software that will match up to nero 6. And also, my attempts to use wine (the man pages are not too helpful) have been futile till this point, so i decied to give up on that idea. Easier solution -- log into windows !

This reminds me of a particular episode of the simpsons......... Yes it should be allowed for medical usage. But if you do allow, Yes there will be misuse - its a twin-edged sword.

I was faced by this windows v/s linux debate for quite some time about 2 or 3 months back. Eventually I HAD to install linux on my pc because my college department (comp science) works on linux. I use it primarily because all the stuff for my programming needs is available in the labs solely on linux. But at home, I try my best to find equivalent windows software. What I have realised in these few weeks is that anything that you can run on linux you can easily find and INSTALL on windows. The same is not true the other way around. Installing stuff on linux for inexperienced users and sometimes even for experienced ones is a major headache. Of every 9 or 10 packages you try initially, you would probably end up successfully installing just 1 or 2 if you get lucky. For all its openness and utility, I still do not find it as user friendly as windows. And also, as far as stability is concerned, the first time I experienced a crash on windows xp was about a year of usage. In a short span of 3 months, I have experienced system crahes and hung pcs on fedora core 2 and mandrake 10 five or six times. As a result, I still think of xp as a far better os. As far as threat of viruses are concerned, I think you can protect yourself fairly well with firewalls, anti viruses and security updates. A major problem I also face is learning the konsole commands. Its absolutely crazy trying to do that, there are enormously long man pages that are sometimes impossible to read. The learning curve is very steep, but frankly work efficiency does increase, you can in general achieve the same task with fewer key strokes in linux as compared to windows. If you sit on a large LAN, then too linux can be fun. I as a novice could pick up bits and pieces of networking fairly easily. But the fact remains, I always find windows more comfortable to work in, though I continue to strive to learn linux.....I write this post whilst I am logged into linux....... (firefox --- not as good as ie as far as i am concerned )

Yes, I think there 18 official ones in the constitution. The number of languages that you can experience in the country is however larger. Each state is typically characterised by a different language , and within each state one can find tens upon tens of different dialects. Quite a lot of diversity.

South Park (It doesn't air in India unfortunately - anyhow i got the full collection from the net ) Simpsons --- Old favourite

To solve 1, simply square the equation. Then apply |z|=z*conjugate(z) Simplify and reduce to two scalar equations and solve for real and imaginary parts of the number

How is calculation of sine and cosine hardwired ? Do you go about exploiting series expansion or do you use a definate integral ?

English , Hindi : Read, write and understand Punjabi (and variations like Multani etc.) : Can mostly understand, and speak with some erorrs (btw they are all regional languages common in North India and in Pakistan) French : Learnt for 7 years at school, but I think I've forgotten most of it by now, never got a chance to practice ......been nearly 4 years now Japanese : Tried it out once, bit too difficult, left it after 10 classes.... What I hope to achieve --> Learn to write and read Punjabi

The second part can be done using induction as well, for its easier to prove for 2 sets and then do inductively.

If thats true then I think you have in essence answered all the questions you posed. Metals have typically free energy levels for electrons to jump to. Glass being the 3-d covalent solid it is, its hard to imagine free energy levels in there. The example that pops up in my mind as soon as I think about this question is diamond v/s graphite. Excellent example because it illustrates that transparency is not inherent in atomicnumber or molecular structure but also in the spatial arrangement of the same. But that would also have me believe, that in theory it should be possible to create some sort of structure with metal atoms as well that should yield transparency - this could very well happen when metal is beaten into extremely thin sheets. As far as liquid metal is concerned, I don't know if you have ever seen any first hand -I think everyone should- but when its liquid all you see is red or yellow, hard to say at that stage wether it is opaque or transparent, even glass that hot would glow. I must say thus that I am not truely convinced that all liquid metals will be opaque.

And my favourite workplace.....my windows desktop By the way, thats my dog on my bed.....

According to what I learnt in school, glass is a "super-cooled liquid". That explains the "flow" of glass.

Using onlt basic differential calculus you can easily graph most such functions by hand. Curve tracing is one the most interesting aspects of calculus as per me. And, yes such functions often give you vertical and horizontal assymptotes, that you can determine using some concepts of limits.

Cataloguing theorems makes little sense to me. You'll have all sorts of trouble landing at a universle enumeration, and then lots of time wasted to correlate these numbers to theorems (in proofs of other results etc.)