Recent content by trancefishy

Might do that. I do see that there is some beauty underlying all of this, but when you're given a DE and told "solve", it is just an ugly process. clever, but ugly.

Yep. Taking the course now, and out of all my math courses (calc 1-3, matrix theory&linear algebra , abstract algebra I & II, linear programming, and real analysis) I'd have to say that it's the worst. Not because it's difficult, but because it's so boring. It seems to me, and this probably...

Wow. That is just a bit too complicated. It also doesn't work. Sorry, but 10 is not in the sequence as I stated in my last post, but it's understandable that you didn't want to read down since you were solving the puzzle. With 10 in the sequence, it's something radically different, so your...

AKG, I feel like a total ass. 10 is not in the sequence. I noticed that today while going over this again, and immediately thought of what you said, and wondered if 10 was the number. Sure enough. I should have taken note of that and checked 10. Flagrant mistake on my part. I would...

AKG: That is the first direction I headed with this as well, and really couldn't find any patterns right off having to do with primes. I have a good feeling that primes are somehow involved in the solution. Also, this is a non-trivial problem. There is something interesting actually going on...

You know the routine, what is the next number in this sequence. 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 28, ... I think that I would rate this as difficult.

What exactly do you mean by 'satisfied'? I do believe that Socrates (as he is typically portrayed) was immune to dissatisfaction. I do believe he even said this himself by way of "you cannot harm a virtuous man". In the pig's case (I take it that you mean a glutton), I would argue that...

Well, it's my last semester at my university (and next fall i will hopefully be doing math in moscow, which will be my last for my bachelor in math). so far I've done the calc series, matrix theory and linear algebra. I'm currently enrolled in abstract algebra and I'm doing a directed study in...

If my problem were to be solved using a computer, it wouldn't even be a problem, simply an exercise. nope, this needs to be the good ol' f(n) form. oh, and I've managed to simplify it, i no longer need to cycle 1 and 2 or get only odds, but, I've still got more complicated stuff than that...

name for "programming functions", i think... I'm looking for the name of the class of techniques you use to get functions to do what you want. for example, if you wanted to cycle between odd and even, you would use -1^n . In particular, I want to cycle between 1 and 2, and also be able to...

agreed. a bit part of calculus is learning how to think for yourself. given a problem, methodically going from point to point to figure out a solution. the only "formulas" that i think are worth having, is a sheet with a bunch of integrals on it, since some of them are a pain to figure out or...

Well, this semester I'm in my first directed study in real analysis. I'm on my own. sort of worried about doing it, just got the book, and it looks kinda tough. I'm going to have to rethink how i go about classwork. i won't be rushing to get anything done before it's due or anything like...

yeah, right after i posted that, i started up at the beginning. i think I'm good to give it a go, but, it looks like it's going to be a bit tough.

so i checked out Spivak's calculus on manifolds today, to work on while I'm in colorado this summer. i just finished up this semester with calc3 (multivariable), and I've take matrix theory and linear algebra as well. should I be good to go on this book at this point? I'd like to know since...

don't worry, if you pay attention, you will see that people make this mistake all the time. pretty much any news article you read that converts units^2 does it incorrectly. to make things worse even, in my 300 level geography class a few weeks ago, the instructor was saying something about...