Math is White Privilege...

Our number system isn't optimal either. It would have been nice to have digits in the range -5..5 rather than 0..9. This would simplify a lot of things. Elementary multiplication tables reduced to a quarter of the current size, addition and subtraction become basically the same operation. Same for truncation and rounding. It makes calculations a lot easier.

There was an article about it in New Scientist of April 22, 1982. I loved it.

Jeroen Belleman

Reply to
Jeroen Belleman
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On a sunny day (Tue, 24 Oct 2017 19:20:10 +0100) it happened "Kevin Aylward" wrote in :

it was not exactly 2 in analog computer days, slide rule days, only when digital came, now with quantum computers it is any number (joke), or not exactly 2 again, quantum computers just being analog computers, or more precisely having huge noise problems.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

On a sunny day (Wed, 25 Oct 2017 09:12:08 +0100) it happened Martin Brown wrote in :

I have heard people freaking about about C syntax:

+= -= /= *= |= | & || && ^ nice
Reply to
Jan Panteltje

Sadly, Jan has missed the point about quantum computers. Quantised states correspond to the natural numbers, so they are intrinsically digital, not analog.

The nice thing about quantum computers is that the quantum states look at all the possible digital solutions at once, but only collapse to the single digital solution that works, as in factorising the product of two very large prime numbers ...

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Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
bill.sloman

I can't speak to WW1, but in WW2 I wouldn't expect the average IQ of the infantry to have been significantly different than that of the general population.

Reply to
bitrex

On a sunny day (Wed, 25 Oct 2017 11:09:43 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman wrote in :

There was an article in Elektor I think it was, that a new number had been discovered between 7 and 8, the 'zacht', that was on April 1, cannot remember the year.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

On a sunny day (Wed, 25 Oct 2017 05:14:03 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Billy the Slowman decided to emit the following not quite random character string:

kwantuum computhas are a hoax. as is: string theory slowmania trumpism

and the 'largest' prime ever 6,153 (241 x 233)

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not Shor's
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you can have it, and that was with help.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

What's more likely, that a university mathematics professor doesn't know where zero comes from, or that the "outspoken media critic" Twitter-nobody who wrote the story didn't represent her statements correctly?

Also he doesn't mention a single other thing about the book other than what she said about race. Is the rest of the book good? Is it bad? Who knows.

Being a conservative "outspoken media critic" is literally the easiest job in the world, like if you want to review a film all you have to do is find one part in a film where something happens that might be construed as not adhering to conservative ideology. Write ten paragraphs about it, ignore absolutely everything else about the film.

Reply to
bitrex

Yup, no matter what syntax you come up with some haxor somewhere will go on a diatribe about how absurd it is (primarily because they weren't the one who came up with it.) They're minutiae-obsessed Aspie-cases, what can you expect. Probably spent their childhood memorizing diesel locomotive type designations.

Reply to
bitrex

yes, our entertainment industry sends the message that it is uncool to be a nerd.

m
Reply to
makolber

Well, it's silly to listen.

On the bright side though I've never had anyone tell me when reading a novel "Hey, nice book! Did you know that I'm illiterate?"

Reply to
bitrex

Also I don't think it's just the entertainment industry, it's also cultural. The entertainment industry can't really force people to behave in ways they didn't already have a predisposition to.

Reply to
bitrex

if

soldiers - the infantry had an average IQ of 85. The smarter candidates we re used to man the supply train that kept the cannon-fodder armed and fed.

Why? The army conscripted a lot of people, and used them where they were mo st useful. There's not a lot of paper pushing in combat, and IQ is more a m easure of paper-pushing capacity than of general intelligence (which might be useful in combat, though it's more likely to be employed in not getting shot at than anything more aggressive).

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Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
bill.sloman

...And those who didn't realize this joke was in base 3.

Reply to
DemonicTubes

Jan Panteltje is a hoax. Nobody could be that silly.

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Bill sloman, Sydney
Reply to
bill.sloman

My father was in the infantry (Sgt, 10th Mountain) near the end of WW2; to his recollection there weren't a lot of true stupos in his squad. Then again by late 1944 a large percentage of the infantry including himself were replacements, so maybe the true stupos didn't make it.

Granted the 10th Mountain was considered somewhat more elite than the bulk of the 5th Army; apparently some of the "regular" grunts had some animosity towards them and thought of them as ski-bums and dandies.

The characteristic that seemed most in demand for the infantry was simply youth; my Dad shipped out to basic training only a couple weeks after his 18th birthday.

Reply to
bitrex

On my block, there is a mob of young kids. We had a block party last weekend and I chipped in to rent a huge bouncy-house. It was packed all day. I had a few bounces myself. There is constant girlie shrieking outside on weekends; that's sort of nice.

I also cooked a giant meaty pot of red beans and rice for the neighbors, which these kale-eating Californians had never heard of. They seemed to like it.

The Castro, which used to be all gay, now has breeders pushing prams. And some gay couples pushing prams.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   precision measurement  
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Reply to
John Larkin

The US Army gave IQ tests or literacy tests?

Reply to
krw

I think it's rather the opposite. Certainly better than it was thirty to fifty years ago.

Reply to
krw

Yes. WW1 and WW2.It is still going on. One of my wife's colleagues managed to tag her psychological tests onto the regular battery and got loads of results to report at minimal expense.

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The US Army probably qualifies as a beta tester for the idea. IQ tests aren't all that useful, but they are quick and cheap and better than nothing.

One wonders how krw came to miss it - he doesn't advertise as being a draft dodger, but perhaps he had heel-spurs too.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
bill.sloman

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