Dapthar

If anyone's actually interested in what I'm doing, you have have a look here[/url'] - in the second year section.

Whoa. So during the first trimester of Year 3, you have to take 11 classes? Crazy.

 

Would you mind explaining how the scheduling works, since, in the US, the absolute maximum number of classes one can take during a semester is six, since most have three 50 minute lectures three days a week, plus a (two hour) lab or a (50 minute) discussion once a week, so six classes would be around 20 hours of class a week.

 

On top of that, one credit translates to approximately four hours of study, and most classes are four credits, therefore, subtracting lecture and discussion time, that makes for about 12 hours of work outside of class per week, therefore six classes means about 72 hours outside of class studying/doing homework. Adding in the 20 hours for class, that makes 92 hours a week. Recall that there are only 168 hours in a week!

Here's another reason to vote Kerry' date=' if science is important to you. Maybe someone with subscriptions to [i']Science[/i] or Nature or both could enlighten us further. Sounds like religion, being free to pollute & nuclear war take precedence with Bush.

 

Yahoo link to OneWorld.net story

Links:

 

Nature's 15 Questions:

http://www.nature.com/news/specials/uselection/index.html

 

Science's Interviews with the Candidates about Science: (Click "Begin Manual Download")

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/rapidpdf/1104420v1

 

Both are free of charge, and require no previous subscription to either magazine.

I am unaware of the explicit form of the equation of a cylinder in cartesian coordinates (i only have a slight idea - working with cylindrical coordinates), could someone write that down please ?

Equations:

 

[math](x-x_0)^2+(y-y_0)^2=r^2[/math]

[math](x-x_0)^2+(z-z_0)^2=r^2[/math]

[math](z-z_0)^2+(y-y_0)^2=r^2[/math]

 

The "centers" are at the points with the subscripts. There is the more general equation of a cylinder that is not parallel to one of the axes, however, it isn't particularly enlightening.

 

The intuitive notion is that one picks two axes, and simply describes a circle in that coordinate system. Then, when one moves to the 3-D Cartesian plane, all the cross sections from the axes that was excluded from the initial equation are circles, thus one gets a cylinder.

 

Alternatively, one could simply convert the equation of a cylinder in cylindrical coordinates to Cartesian coordinates.

Yeah, same reasons here. I was going to do CompSci, and I'm glad I didn't now because of all the tedious hours you have to spend sitting in front of a computer coding some program in a crappy language like ML. I'd rather code under my own terms in my own time.

Yup. The CSci classes I have to take for my Engineering degree are interesting in the "broad scope of the subject" viewpoint, but the work is just minutiae and tedium to me.

 

However, I agree with pulkit, when one gets far enough in their studies, it gets to be rather cool, however, I really don't have that much patience, or time. Math and EE is enough for me.

what do u mean? more than 75% of maths graduates go into the financial sector. thats where all the money is.

Yeah, but it's not really that challenging of an area of Mathematics. Also, it's not much fun, and [old cliché]money isn't everything[/old cliché].

 

It's true that there's a ton of Applied Mathematics jobs in the US, however, most of them are with the Government, and frankly, I'm not too fond of their uses of Mathematics, to say the least. I'd rather keep my morals and stay in the more theoretical areas.

You're reward for doing well and being top of the class as an undergraduate? working 60+ hours a week for around 19K for 5 years or so. This works out to around $6.08 per hour.

True, however, you neglect to mention that one's tuition is usually paid in full for working as a TA or RA, and I doubt that this was included in the $19,000 yearly stipend you quoted.

But the title of the thread was why the U.S. was losing ground in science education. The answer is that few have the drive or willingness to work under these conditions.

You stated that studying engineering will allow one to make around $60,000 upon graduation, and that is correct. However, when people decide to pursue a major that is not under the umbrella of Science, they generally do not go into higher paying majors such as Medicine or Business, but study something in the Arts, such as English, Political Science, etc. all of which pay less that any chosen engineering field (Electrical, Chemical, Mechanical, Biomedical, etc.).

 

The bottom line is that people are shortsighted, and they forgo the immediate difficulties posed by Science majors for the later financial difficulties brought about by a poor (In the financial sense.) choice of major.

How quickly can you count to twenty?

...

 

this is saying numbers aloud

I got about 3 seconds, however, I think that is primarily a result of only counting to twenty once.

It took me long enough to get my head around delta-epsilon arguments, and I'm still not sure I completely understand them.

When you get into more rigorous proof classes (Real Analysis, Topology, etc.), [math]\epsilon-\delta[/math] arguments will become the easiest type of proof you will encounter.

0/0=R and all imaginary numbers.

False. It is undefined. Of course, you are free to devise your own number system in which this statement is true, however, you must re-derive any other mathematical results that you wish to use. You can't change a definition, and apply other results in Mathematics, as if nothing else had changed.

if a/b=c, and a is 0, then c is 0 and can't be any other number but 0.

Yes, for any given [math]b \ne 0[/math], the above statement is true, which proves that [math]0/x = 0[/math], for non-zero real [math]x[/math].

+or-, thanks for the reminder. For the sake of logical thought and processing, since there can be two values for a quadratic equation, and 3 for a cubic, and so on, for x/0, or rather 0/0 there are in infinite number of solutions.

Nope. Division of two real numbers is a single-valued operation, as I mentioned in my earlier post.

0/0=? 1

0/0=1/1*0/0

0/0=0/0 correct

Nope. Again' date=' division by [math']0[/math] is undefined so one cannot use algebraic operations on any equation that has such a term in it.

All real numbers and imaginary numbers follow the same pattern if 1 is replaced by x or any variable that you choose.

Nope. Your argument isn't even true for real numbers, thus one cannot extend a fallacious argument to the complex domain.

It's not only undefined, it's infinity.

You're kidding, right? Do you realize that, in only 6 words, you've managed to contradict yourself?

 

If something is undefined then it cannot be [math]\infty[/math] because it is undefined.

Does anyone else here NOT think with thier own voice?

Yes. When I think, I do not "hear" a voice, just the words, most likely because thinking simply stimulates the part of one's mind that comes (temporally) after the "audio signal processing" section that lets one understand the spoken word.

 

In any event, why do you think that is?

<sarcasm> Stop talking out loud when you think and the problem will stop. </sarcasm>

So, has there been any progress on the "Wrap [math] tags around selected text" button as of yet?

Firstly, I put this thread here since I could find no other appropriate subforum. If there happens to be one that I missed, the moderators should feel free to move this thread.

 

Secondly, I think one should answer the poll before reading the article below, since it will most likely bias people towards a specific answer. (Note: This thread was split off from this thread http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=658 in the Education subforum.)

 

Now, onto the article.

 

The article of interest is "Can a [African-Amreican]-Sounding Name Hurt Your Career Prospects?", and is located at http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/...s_040820-1.html, and the study it is based on is located at http://gsb.uchicago.edu/pdf/bertrand.pdf and is 320 KB, so it should be palatable for even the dial-up folks. I suggest those interested in this thread read the (rather short) article, and the study is just for those who have a ton of spare time.

 

A related article is "Can 'Hello' Cost You a Home If You're [African-American]?" located here: http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/WorldNewsTonight/linguistic_profiling011206.html.

 

 

What I found most interesting about the first study is that, with the explosion of online job posting sites like http://www.monster.com , it has become much easier to conduct these types of experiments, since the only information employers have to base their decisions upon is a resume, and thus, any bias becomes immediately evident.

 

A few choice quotes from the first article:

Each person posted two résumés on popular job-search Web sites — one under his or her real name, and the same identical résumé under a made-up, "[European-American]-sounding" names like Peter, Melissa and Kathleen.

 

You'd think the identical résumés would get the same attention. Instead, the résumés with the [European-American]-sounding names on them were actually downloaded 17 percent more often by job recruiters looking for candidates.

But capable doesn't always matter. A job recruiter for Fortune 500 companies in northern California revealed an ugly secret.

 

"There is rampant racism everywhere. And people who deny that are being naïve," said the recruiter, who spoke on the condition her name would not be used.

 

The recruiter said if she were given two résumés, all else being equal, except one says Shaniqua, and the other says Jennifer, she would call Jennifer first.

 

It's a choice she says she was trained to make: When representing certain companies, do not send [African-American] candidates. And on a résumé, a name may be the only cue of the applicant's race.

Of course, by no means are African-Americans the only victims of racism in the US, however, more studies have been focused upon this particular aspect of today's society.

 

Finally, I would be interested in people's thoughts on the above articles.

Whats 20/20 ?

A "news magazine" that airs in the US on Fridays. Think of it like if Newsweek or Time was televised instead of in print.

 

An interesting 20/20 article in the vein of prejudice: "Can a [African-Amreican]-Sounding Name Hurt Your Career Prospects?". Link http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/Business/Black_Names_040820-1.html. The study the article speaks about is here: http://gsb.uchicago.edu/pdf/bertrand.pdf. I'll split this off into another thread, since the article is rather intriguing.

Yes of course' date=' but believe me that these "out sourced" jobs are not extremely attractive, they involve working through the night and compared to what you may earn there in the US, the guy here would earn just peanuts (partly why they out source here).

[/quote']Yeah, I know, I saw the 20/20 special on it. (Man, that sounds pretentious, like "I saw the 20/20 special so now I'm an expert". )

And hispanics are flooding this country illegally, getting into welfare, taking jobs under the table, bring in crime..... so on so on.

Illegal immigrants, some of whom are Hispanic, would not come into this country if jobs were not available for them. Businesses, and rich individuals seeking nannies, maids, gardeners, etc., exploit these people by hiring them, paying them substandard wages, and offering little to no benefits.

 

Bottom line: illegal immigrants wouldn't cross over if crooked businesses and affluent individuals who want cheap hired help did not offer these "under the table" jobs in the first place.

 

In response to the topic:

 

Only by "griping" do those who claim to represent the people become informed of problems with their constituency. It is not the duty of the people to suggest solutions, since that is what purported platform that nearly every politican runs on.

Come on now. I really doubt that was it. You can't even give a straight answer to a simple, unnopinionated question?

Here's one. I believe the initial controversy arose from an protest against the Vietnam war in April of 1971, and questions were raised as to why Kerry threw his ribbons, but other soldier's medals away at said protest. Later, he mentioned that the medals were from two other soldiers who could not attend the protest.

 

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Politics/Investigation/kerry_vietnam_medals_040425-3.html

I remember hearing that someone who studied music theory said that if someone listens constantly to music or any other sound and always has that sound in the background that it can be as detrimental to your hearing as listening to loud music on occasion?

Yeah, it's true. Constant, fairly loud background noise, or regular exposure to rather loud noises can cause a condition caused tinnitus, commonly referred to as "ringing" in one's ears. More info is available here: http://www.ata.org/about_tinnitus/consumer/faq.html.

 

Is this true and if so how can it be treated?

See here: http://www.ata.org/about_tinnitus/consumer/treatment.html.

You leave me intrigued. What exactly triggered that post ?

I believe Firedragon52 was referring to the outsourcing of CSci jobs to India.

It doesn't really matter, since [math]x=-2[/math] and [math]-x=2[/math] are the same equation. To show that this is true, just multiply both sides of the first equation by [math]-1[/math].

Please, could you help me on finding if the attached equation is always verified?

Then the equation you posted is correct, and this can be verified by simply adding [math]\frac{\partial w(t,y)}{\partial y^2}\cdot\frac{\partial u(t,y)}{\partial y^2}[/math] to both sides of the equation you posted.

In Windows XP, the directory where wallpaper is stored is C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper. Alternatively, you could put the file you want as wallpaper in your "My Pictures" folder, then right click on your desktop, click on Properties, go to the Desktop tab, and select the wallpaper you want.

1.) Yes, I also find that time appears to progress more slowly when I'm concentrating on something, like homework.

 

Also, I have found a way to reliably reproduce the effect you describe. Find a clock with a second hand that doesn't move smoothly, i.e. the hand jerks each second. Now, look at the clock for a moment, just to get the timing of the second hand down. Then, look away from the clock, keep counting, and look back at it right after a second ends.

 

2.) Nope, never happened to me.

Currently im lookin at the Texas Instruments nr 83, 84 and 89.

I myself use a TI-86, and I would suggest that particular calculator since it does a great deal, with the exception of symbolic calculations. I find that using a calculator that does symbolic calculations tends to lead to mental laziness, and eventually one is solving one-variable linear equations with the calculator . However, if you can avoid this pitfall I suggest you get the TI-89, or the TI-92+, since they have a fair variety of advanced tasks, such as 3-D graphing. I recommend that you don't get a TI-83 or TI-84 since the syntax is rather arcane, and many Calculus operations that one may like to peform, such as numerical integration, are not possible to perform on either of these calculators.

 

Unfortunately, I have no experience with HP calculators, so I cannot comment on them.

What if I considered rain drops.

2 drops and 2 more drops could very well be 1 single drop' date=' you don't say 2 + 2 =1.[/quote']<nitpick mode> It is implicitly assumed that when one is adding two numbers, and getting a non-trivial result, the quantities that the numbers refer to represent the same object. Thus, [math]2+2[/math] always [math]= 4[/math].

 

In your example, you would have to write [math]2[/math] small drops + [math]2[/math] small drops [math]= 1[/math] large drop, otherwise your equation is false. </nitpick mode>

Just thought I'd post this link http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/symbols/comprehensive/symbols-a4.pdf. It's a relatively small, (approximately 2.3 MB) comprehensive set of symbol tables for [math]\LaTeX[/math] and some of its add ons.

 

The page I got it from is here: http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/symbols/comprehensive/symbols-a4.pdf.

0^0 is not 1.

Correct.

 

0/0 does not equal one,

Correct.

 

because 0 can be contained in 0 in more times than just 1.

Nope. It's due to the fact that [math]a/b = c \iff a = b \cdot c[/math], where [math]c[/math] is unique for a given [math]a[/math] and [math]b[/math]. Note that if [math]b=0[/math] and [math]a[/math] is fixed, c can be any value, and therefore, it is not unique. Thus, division of any number by [math]0[/math] is undefined.

 

It's perhaps all real values,

Nope. Division of two real numbers is not a multiple valued operation. An example of a multiple valued operation is [math]\pm[/math]. An example is the quadratic formula (i.e. if [math]f(x)=ax^2+bx+c, x=\frac{-b\pm \sqrt {b^2-4ac}}{2a}[/math]).

 

In order for modern mathematicians to get this problem out of their way instead of solving like the good ol' times, they went ahead and said, "It's undefined."

Assigning a numerical value to these concepts that does not conflict with the definitions of division is currently, and may never be, possible. Thus, the "undefined" moniker.