Recent content by Lucretius

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    How can I break into the NSA's cryptography field before I graduate?

    Well how it works is you take "classes" and are taught the material while you work. It's a few years training program so I'd essentially end up with a masters level understanding of the subject before I really became a 'cryptanalyst'. I'm currently looking at actuarial stuff because that...
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    How can I break into the NSA's cryptography field before I graduate?

    Thanks for the responses; yes I realize that the NSA has a terribly long clearance process, and that even if I got a COE now in July I wouldn't have a job by next March with them. I wasn't aware that I could apply before I had a degree and just say "I will have degree by X time" Knowing that...
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    How can I break into the NSA's cryptography field before I graduate?

    So here is my situation: I am planning on graduating March 2011 with a B.S in Mathematics, as well as a B.S. in Physics. My interest in physics has waned greatly, and my desire to go to grad school for either subject is non-existent right now. I took a look at the NSA, as I heard they hire...
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    Schools Relearning Math Before Grad School

    I am currently a math/physics major who is almost done with his mathematics degree (I am a junior but I did much math and should be able to complete my degree in just three years + one quarter versus the normal four). However, I will still be taking another year or two to complete my physics...
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    How Can We Reach the Speed of Light?

    No, you wouldn't. The specifics of your example don't really matter. At low speeds you use what is called "Galilean Relativity": the idea that you can add up or subtract speeds. If you are in a car going 75 MPH relative to the ground, and a car passes you going 80 MPH relative to the ground...
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    Integration By Substitution It's Been A While

    Ah, I got it, I think. If I use the u-substitution you suggest, I get du=\frac{1}{\sqrt{x^2+z^2}}-\frac{x^2}{(x^2+z^2)^{3/2}}dx, which, getting a common denominator yields: \frac{z^2}{(x^2+z^2)^{3/2}}. So \frac{du}{z^2}=\frac{dx}{(x^2+z^2}dx My integral is then just \frac{\lambda...
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    Integration By Substitution It's Been A While

    Sure thing. I'm trying to find the electric field at an arbitrary distance z above a straight line segment, where the arbitrary distance z is measured above one of the endpoints of the line segment. Relevant Equations: We are given that the electric field of a line charge is \frac{1}{4...
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    Integration By Substitution It's Been A While

    Homework Statement It's been god knows how long since I've had to use integration by substitution. I've totally forgotten it. I am trying to integrate to solve for the value of an electric field at a given point. The integral I am trying to solve is...
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    Angular Acceleration (I don't see HOW I can be wrong?)

    My friend in introductory physics came to me for help today. He has a test on angular momentum, acceleration etc. I figured, with me in upper-division physics courses, I'd be able to help him out. Well, I guess I was dead wrong. In half an hour I couldn't figure out a SINGLE THING. I don't...
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    Angular Momentum vs Latus Rectum

    Homework Statement There is a shuttle following a circular orbit around a planet. At some point P in the orbit, the shuttle fires thrusters causing the speed at that point to increase. I am supposed to a) find the angular momentum, gravitational force at the point P, centripetal acceleration...
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    Time Dilation/Proper Time Question

    (This isn't a homework problem, I'm struggling with this concept) My professor today was talking about time dilation. He stated that a clock that does not move in the observers point of view (a stationary clock) is, in that observer's viewpoint: a proper time. Thus, an observer on Earth will...
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    Motivation In my Number Theory Class…

    How long should I go at these proofs before I realize they're a lost cause? I worked on this fibonacci sequence one for several hours over the course of a few days, and in the end, someone else just ended up doing the problem on the board. I'll have to rearrange office hours with my...
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    Motivation In my Number Theory Class…

    I'm sure that for many of you this class is old news; but I just started elementary number theory this summer and, as much as I love the challenge of the course, and doing these proofs; I feel like an amateur boxing Mike Tyson here. These things are chewing me up and spitting me out. Granted I...
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    How to study 12+ hours per day without hurting your

    I have to agree with everyone here when I say: studying 10-12 hours a day is way too much time. Not only is it wasteful to study that long (not to mention to try it in one sitting), it takes away every other aspect of your life. You need to make time for socializing and exercise. Look, my...
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    Can Atheist Arguments Ever Convince a Devout Theist?

    Science and the notion of God are not mutually exclusive. However, if the only point of your God is to explain natural phenomena, he becomes more and more unnecessary with more and more discoveries.
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