NorthWestWind
@NorthWestWind@lemmy.world
I code stuff. I draw stuff.
- Comment on Why abc, xyz, etc.? 1 day ago:
The following are not-properly-researched theories I made up
I think x came from “unknown”. Perhaps at one point people used a cross (x) to represent something unknown. The symbol may have extended to mean “variable”. Then math advanced and people begin making graphs with variables and the logical next variable is y.
abc are used when these variables run out, because they are intuitive to pick.
ijk in programming loops came from “index”. The reason we use “index” and not “count” or “tally” is because in early computer days, someone decided to use “index”. For example, your browser still automatically fetches “index.html” if a path doesn’t return a valid response.
ijk in vectors may have come from quaternions, which in turn came from complex/imaginary numbers. Since i represents “imaginary”, that could have been carried over to vectors.
The xyz orientation in 3D program is purely a choice by the developer. It is which ever orientation they are comfortable with developing.
y is up because of it’s commonly used for graphs, but y is down for computer graphics. The top-left corner of a screen is (0, 0) and as the position moves downwards, y increases.
We do use Greek letters in other coordinate systems! For example, a spherical coordinate system often uses (r, θ, φ). I think these symbols may have already had connections with other aspects of math (like θ is commonly used for angles). They are not used generally to avoid confusion.
- Comment on Antz in my Pantz 1 week ago:
A competitor to crabs
- Comment on Find luigi 1 week ago:
Jokes on you I played this for 2 hours and reached level 1000
- Comment on In languages which use complex written characters (such as Chinese's logographs), is there an equivalent to English's "text speak" shorthand? 2 weeks ago:
There are a few ways we do it in Chinese.
In mainland, people would sometimes just type the initials of the pronunciation of the character. For example, hhhhh (哈哈哈哈哈, hahahahaha), sb (傻逼 sha bi, dumbass). It can get out of hand for people who are not super familiar with their vocabularies (like me, a Hong Kong Cantonese speaker)
Alternatively, one can just use a different dialect/version of Chinese. In Hong Kong, we can have both written Chinese and spoken Cantonese mixed in the same message. We simply pick which one of them gives a shorter version of the word. For example, 回家看看有無撞其餘活動 ([Written] Go home and see [Spoken] if it conflicts with other events). Sometimes we even mix in ancient Chinese.
- Comment on Why covering our shoulders with a mantle or blanket is so efficient at warming us? 2 weeks ago:
My mom always says warm you neck. Her explanation is that an artery runs through it and you can lose heat quite quickly there
- Comment on Please remember to spread the word about this :( 4 weeks ago:
Those damn electrons!
- Comment on Always there 4 weeks ago:
Can’t wait for World 7: Sky Land
- Comment on Future aspirations 4 weeks ago:
She used the cats to steal more cats
- Comment on Mornings got me like... 5 weeks ago:
Yes. 鴛鴦 is a common drink you can order in Hong Kong restaurants.
- Comment on A small price to pay 1 month ago:
Sugar cane grows faster on snad
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
They don’t harm your computer like insects do. Problem solved :>
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
By keeping them out of my home.
I live in Hong Kong, very warm and wet. We simply have mosquito nets on every window. Alternatively you can try to live higher.
But even without those, I don’t really see much people having this problem. Perhaps it’s sampling bias.
- Comment on Try it on the real person, feels much better 2 months ago:
That’s a real thing (and business) in Hong Kong
- Comment on 2 months ago:
I see an Ammeter
- Comment on any alsume dwellers here? 2 months ago:
I’m using voyager and I can change them. Check settings->gestures
- Comment on They are lying to us 4 months ago:
It’s a nice planet that is commonly misunderstood
- Comment on To all those single upvotes 4 months ago:
The answer!
- Comment on There is no war in Wah Sing Ton 4 months ago:
You made it look like the English pronunciation of Cantonese names commonly seen in HK
Wah Sing Ton is gonna be like 華升堂 or something
- Comment on Hold on! 5 months ago:
I’m sorry, but as an AI language model, I am technically not a robot.
- Comment on I knew it. Vaccines got him. 6 months ago:
- Comment on repost to spread 756KB of Christmas Joy 6 months ago:
- Comment on Huh? ϡψφϟβμχ 6 months ago:
Ancient Chinese programming language: github.com/wenyan-lang/wenyan
- Comment on They live among us 6 months ago:
*15 years
- Comment on Improve your Wi-Fi with this one trick 6 months ago:
If you can create a vacuum with said fan, it can be faster.
- Comment on Rust 7 months ago:
Because it’s already the cliff, the mountain, the river, the ocean, the cosmos, whether you like it or not.
- Comment on Where is he?! 8 months ago:
Don’t save that guy who took the money
- Comment on Don't! 8 months ago:
Being fooled IS the mistake
- Comment on anyway, i started blastin' 8 months ago:
The problem is the ambiguity of the statement. Is it 50% of each species? Or is it 50% of all life as one set?
If it’s the former case, then sure 3.5b humans and n/2 bacteria gets snapped.
But if it’s the latter case, we group all 7b and n bacteria into one set and snap half of them. This 50% can consist of 50% humans + 50% bacteria, but there’s also a chance for it to include 0% humans + 100% bacteria. Therefore, the amount of humans snap is a random variable instead of a constant.
- Comment on anyway, i started blastin' 8 months ago:
Say, there exists 2 humans and 98 bacteria. Consider all cells of a human one life.
50% of ALL life doesn’t care which species the life is, and therefore there’s a chance that 50 bacteria die. The probability of that happening is 98C50 / 100C50 = 98! 50! 50! / (100! 50! 48!) = (50)(49) / ((100)(99)) = 0.247
For my previous argument, I did not actually do the math. Now that I have done a little bit, the probability seems to converge at 25%
Obviously, this is based on the interpretation of “all life”. For my interpretation, “all life” includes every life in a single set, and apply the 50% snap to that. For some others however, it may be interpreted as each species in their own set, and the 50% snap is applied on all those sets.
- Comment on anyway, i started blastin' 8 months ago:
If you include bacteria, then probably no human died from the snap. There are significantly more of them
