The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 2,391 posts.
Most undergraduate computer sciences courses teach students about tail call optimization (TCO) , and even if you don't have a formal computer science background the concept is talked about enough that you might be familiar with it anyway, especially if you've ever done any functional programming. However, I think the…
Memories from Oxford days Mathematical Institute src Peter Neumann, Professor of Mathematics at Queen’s College, Oxford University, passed away two weeks ago. Last Monday would have been his …
I love when my current problem can be solved with a state machine. They’re fun to design and implement, and I have high confidence about correctness. They tend to:
A sparse matrix is a matrix that has a value of 0 for most elements. If the ratio of N umber of N on- Z ero ( NNZ ) elements to the size is less than 0.5, the matrix is sparse. While this is the mathematical definition, I will be using the term sparse for matrices with only NNZ elements and dense for matrices with all…
Whenever I wanted to learn Algorithms, Mathematics used there somehow seemed to be an obstacle. I admit my Math is not that good but it ain’t that bad either but this “ain’t bad&#…
I, Thomasina Coverly, have found a truly wonderful method whereby all the forms of nature must give up their numerical secrets and draw themselves through number alone…
A blog about signals, programming, music, and other stuff.
I am an economist at the Federal Trade Commission with a very basic statistics question, one that I have put to several fairly high-powered econometricians, and to which no one has had a satisfying answer.
A blog by Sam Greydanus
Notes on Interval Tree Clocks
Today, I want to address an issue with statements involving chance. To demonstrate, let’s first consider a statement that doesn’t involve chance:
I found the creator of Rainbow Table's paper, aimed at cryptanalysts, was pretty inaccessible considering the simplicity and elegance of Rainbow Tables, so this is an overview of it for a layman.
Like making engineering students squirm? Have them explain convolution and (if you're barbarous) the convolution theorem. They'll mutter something about…
How to manually test whether a large number is divisible by 7, 11, and 13 all at the same time.
Rotate a cube by 90 degrees around the \(x\)-axis, then rotate it by 90 degrees around the \(z\)-axis. This is equivalent to a single rotation. What is the axis and angle of this single rotation?
This page describes the errors that I have seen most frequently in undergraduate mathematics, the likely causes of those errors, and their remedies.
A while ago I decided to figure out how to prove one of Ramanujan’s formulas. I feel this is the sort of thing every mathematician should try at least once. I picked the easiest one I could f…
In 1931, a 25-year-old Kurt Gödel wrote a proof that turned mathematics upside down. The implication was so astounding, and his proof so elegant that it was...kind of funny. I wanted to share his discovery with you. Fair warning though, I’m not a mathematician; I’m a programmer. This means my understanding is…
Research in Scientific Computing in Undergraduate Education2020117 points30 commentsMath & Algorithms details
DARPA challenges The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has issued 23 mathematical challenges. DARPA says the solution of any one of these challenges would have the effect of “…
Fourier transforms are a tool used in a whole bunch of different things. This is a explanation of what a Fourier transform does, and some different ways it can be useful.
I struggle with perfectionism. Well, not so much “struggle with” — I’m f*cking great at it. It comes naturally. There are some upsides, but perfectionism is also associated …
Linear algebra is to machine learning as flour to bakery: every machine learning model is based in linear algebra, as every cake is based in flour . It is not the only ingredient, of course. Machine learning models need vector calculus, probability, and optimization, as cakes need sugar, eggs, and butter. Applied…
For latency, anyway. A common architecture pattern is the “task queue”: tasks enter an ordered queue, workers pop tasks and process them. This pattern is used everywhere from distributed systems to thread pools. It applies just as well to human systems, like waiting in line at a supermarket or a bank. Task queues are…
