Does anybody here know where can I get more information and biographies on Suheir Hammad, the Palestinian-American poet who wrote 'First Writing Since'? A Google search yielded very limited information. I'm more interested in biographies and I can't seem to find them on the net. - Zaim
There is a biography and a photo starting on page 37 of Listen Up!: Spoken Word Poetry by Zoe Anglesey (Editor), Zoe Angelsey (Editor), Yusef Komunyakaa (Introduction); One World/Strivers Row; (April 1999). Available at amazon.com. --
Zero 11:40, 30 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Does anyone know an earlier authenticatable use of the term ' circumpunct' than the 1992 Book of Brian?
Anjouli 16:31, 20 Sep 2003 (UTC)
Hi Lisa and Menchi, I am beginning to wonder whether someone is taking the micky here. According to the Wiki stub, "Brian" is a bumbling fool in the Goidelic mythology. According to "Brianism", of whom the word "circumpunct" is a symbol for the roundel with a dot in the middle, "Brian" is the cyber-prophet. Forgive me if I am entertaining some doubts. -- Dieter Simon 01:44, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Many thanks Menchi, I thought as much, yes I didn't think it would have been adopted in the meantime. The whole type of round thing does actually exist, called "roundel" with all its many manifestations, which includes the one with the point circumscribed. So I have advised Anjouli to redirect the article to "roundel". -- Dieter Simon 23:42, 9 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Have asked Anjouli to move page rather than redirect to the new page "roundel" to get the page history on board as well. -- Dieter Simon 01:14, 11 Jan 2004 (UTC)
It's been taken out of our hands now and been redirected to solar symbol. At least it is a valid term. Good luck, Optim -- Dieter Simon 01:05, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Now that all the small publishers have been swallowed by a few Evil Conglomerates, it can be rather hard to find the publisher of a book a few decades old in order to inquire about rights or whatever. You can write all the letters you like to Lindsay Drummond or Boni & Liveright, but it won't do much good.
Is there a source anywhere for information on the history of cannibalism in publishing? I know of a database the tries to give the whereabouts of the literary estates of authors, but its coverage is very limited. Knowing who acquired the old publishers would be a real help. Dandrake 00:48, 25 Sep 2003 (UTC)
I ( Kingturtle ) found this request in the wrong place. I deleted where it was, and am pasting in here:
"I'm just trying to do my homework, could I have some help please!! I f you can please update this page before thursday 2nd of October (that is when my homework is in for), I have to make comparisons between the russian revolution and the George Orwell book Animal farm. Thank you" signed User:195.92.194.17
See http://www.myfreeessays.com/politics/054.shtml Bear in mind that most teachers and examination boards know about free essays on the 'net, so just use for guidance. Don't simply cut and paste! 195.238.50.252 10:45, 2 Oct 2003 (UTC)
Can you give a formula for calculating the following, if m and n are given?
could you please tell me if it is possible to go inside william henry harrison's tomb..if it is what times and days...thank you bill loening
loening@prodigy.net
The Zauschner who is the namesake of Zauschneria lived 1737-1799 and was a professor in Prague, but the only additional info I see online is at http://www.hamelika.cz/shamelika/1973/1973_05/h73_05.htm, and my Czech is not very good. :-) Is there anybody who can translate this? If I have raw facts, I can at least make a short article. Stan 18:25, 18 Oct 2003 (UTC)
How can I get real photos of Ed Gein, and the crime scene. Thanks very much. Ceaser911@hotmail.com 66.38.53.20
A Google search turned up some very graphic photos of the crime scene at http://www.vampireofparis.com/thecellscsGein.htm, and a photo of Gein at http://www.urbanchillers.com/serial/serialkiller.asp?sk=24. RickK 01:41, 28 Oct 2003 (UTC)
I believe there are some first-person narratives written by young adults during the Bosnia crisis and ethnic cleansings. Can anyone tell me what the names were of the authors? And where I might be able to read their narratives? Kingturtle 00:34, 27 Oct 2003 (UTC)
I've googled for an answer on this, and searched wikipedia but can't seem to find the answer - what exactly is the difference between natural and artificial systems of classification? Any help or information on the subject would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou 81.178.232.245 15:44, 1 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Without mentioning names, does anyone agree or disagree that these sentences are incorrect grammar and punctuation?
I contend all four are only made correct by removing each and every comma. Daniel Quinlan 02:03, Nov 8, 2003 (UTC) (Oops, I should add that the third sentence is missing a "than something", so it is doubly ungrammatical. Daniel Quinlan 02:08, Nov 8, 2003 (UTC))
I stand to be corrected, but I cannot see any context in which the last three would be acceptable.
If I may throw another onion into the pot, should we consider nationality as well as context? Is 'correct' punctuation the same in all versions of English? I would be surprised if that were the case, although I have not checked any references.
Is this about contributions with questionable punctuation? If so, I do not see it as a huge problem. If I misspelled or mispunctuated a contribution (as I am sure we all have from time-to-time) then I am sure some kind person would fix it for me. There may also be users who are outstanding authorities in their field, but who are not so good at grammar. Anjouli 06:55, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Often commas that look odd in isolation are good or even compulsory. Consider two possible contexts for the third example:
-- Zero 12:09, 30 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Speed of light#Faster-than-light experiments
What kind of experiments are they? Are they measuring a pulse of light emitted from one point for a short interval, or a constant beam of light, using some archaic method of measuring the "speed"? Or something completely different? I wrote the "I'm here!" analogy, is it correct? And can someone help explain to me what GouRou wrote (which was moved to Talk:Speed of light)? Κσυπ Cyp 15:44, 16 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Does anyone know K-work is? It might have something to do with condensed matter/solid-state theory, or magnetism... This is the context I saw it in: "Can a magnetic field contribute k-work or not?" I have no idea.
I am not sure that i am in the right place, but I used the word "shyster" and i was referred to "List of ethnic slurs-Wikipedia." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs. I am not sure how wikipedia works, but i believe the intended word was "shylock." I have checked several dictionaries and none of them list "shyster" as an etnic slur. If anyone can clarify this, please e-mail me at sealadaigh@aol.com.
It isn't an ethnic slur, it's just a slur. I'm pretty sure you found http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=shyster ; that's the normal usage. DJ Clayworth 17:22, 14 Nov 2003 (UTC)
It's a slur. Sheister - Jews - Like a shyster lawyer. One who carries on any business, especially legal business, in a mean and dishonest way. [2] reddi
Not according to my dictionary
Main Entry: shy·ster Pronunciation: 'shIs-t&r Function: noun Etymology: probably from German Scheisser, literally, defecator Date: 1844 : one who is professionally unscrupulous especially in the practice of law or politics
-- Maximus Rex 18:14, 14 Nov 2003 (UTC)
So in the end, has anyone managed to find any document (even a good secondary one like a respectable dictionary) that supports a derivation of the term as an ethnic slur? Or, for that matter, good documentation of a shift into an ethnic slur? If not, the feeling that it might be an ethnic slur should go in the same class as the supposed association of "handicapped" with begging and (believe it or not) "picnic" as a reference to lynching. Both of these are patently recent inventions; is shyster any different?
Dandrake 08:18, Nov 16, 2003 (UTC)
The "Jewish" connection is a mistake due to confusion with "Shylock". -- Zero 12:13, 30 Nov 2003 (UTC)
The word shyster is only a slur if you think lawyers are human. :)Shakespeare was much too kind. -- Paul Rfc1394 23:24, 5 Jan 2004 (UTC)
A lot of American slang that has German roots came into English via Yiddish ("Fin" for "five-dollar bill" comes to mind: the Yiddish is finf per my dictionary (tho it sounds like fin to me); the German cognate is fünf). I would feel no problem calling someone a shyster, unless the target were Jewish -- or the listener were, in which case i might be more concerned at sounding presumptuous, in imagining i have a command of Yiddishisms.
It also seems to me that "shyster lawyer" is a catch-phrase, and to the extent that lawyers are or are imagined to be disproportionately Jewish, i can see its use (especially re lawyers) as shading into a subtle ethnic slur. -- Jerzy 06:35, 2004 Jan 9 (UTC)
Hey guys I definitely think it is an ethnic slur. First- In "Enemy of the State," Will Smith's character specifically says the term is reserved for Jewish lawyers. Second- The original etymology doesn't matter. The current meaning matters, and because it does sound like Shylock, and there is a perception that it refers to Shylock, (see urban dictionary) the effective impact of the word has that tone. Finally, those who are anti-Semetic use the obvious connection between shyster and Shylock and hence use this word obsessively against Jews. There is an unmistakable overtone. Personally, as a Jew myself, I would be extremely offended if I was called one.
Hello I am just wondering in which situation "a creeking gate hangs long" is used as proverb. Mostafa
I have a question relating to semiconductor physics. Most of the books I've looked at talk about the valence and conduction bands and then proceed to plot ( E-k plots) the energy as a function of k, which they call the wave vector (such that |k| = 2π/λ). I can't seem to find what the wave vector actually represents. Can anyone here clue me in? Maximus Rex 05:23, 25 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Does anybody have a (link to a) map showing Quebec along with an outline of France (to visualise the size difference)? Junesun 11:21, 27 Nov 2003 (GMT)
does anyone know of a french sculptor named E. Raulin? who lived in the early 20th century in Paris? He did work for Susse Freres foundries.. principally bronzes statues.
This is a problem that I encounter quite often (eg. image caption on HIV). Are there any linguistic rules regarding this? -- snoyes 22:01, 29 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Many medical professionals consider it fine, apparently. I used MD Consult to search "HIV virus", and 90 published journal articles in its collection used them in the last 3 years alone. -- Menchi 06:22, 30 Nov 2003 (UTC)
The only place I've seen data used plural is in my Statistics book... otherwise, it's always "the data suggests" or "I have data that proves that", etc. ugen64 01:31, Dec 1, 2003 (UTC)
I've been playing with thttpd making a little website (with my dialup modem).
What are all these random queries i get? (i've xxed out the ip) What do they hope to achieve? Is it the remnants of some worm? or something completely different?
I've done a search on the net, but can't find anything, and don't know where to start looking for answers. Thank you! -- Tristanb 04:58, 5 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I'm desperately looking for someone who can tell me how to block Flash demands for installation. This is clogging up our e-mail and Internet Explorer usages; also, since we are NEVER planning to develop our own web site, I can't see why we would possibly need Flash. I've heard also that Flash stuff uses a lot of virtual memory, and we've recently been running out of virtual. Does this have anything to do with Flash barging in? I'm tired of this kind of activity, and want it to stop. I already have AdAware and Spybot installed, and our system has run MUCH better since I did that. But, for whatever reasons, Flash is still driving us nuts. Thanks in advance. I'm looking for anyone who can tell me anything about this situation.
What year were Zener cards invented? I would think that for my article I should have a date, but the best I found on the Net was "more than 75 years ago", and the Encyclopædia Britannica doesn't even have an article on them. I want this article to be as complete as it can (including everything you know about them). That seems to be one bit of basic information we don't want to miss. Wiwaxia 23:21, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)
A fraction has a numerator and denomenator. But what is the word for the line that separates them? Kingturtle 23:23, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)
A fraction in the form 3/8 the dividing line is called the solidus. I thought the horizontal one is the vinculum but that's something different - I don't think it has a name. Dysprosia 23:25, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)
"fraction bar" seems fairly common. Also, I'm not sure "vinculum" is wrong. A vinculum is a horizontal line used to group terms together and a fraction bar can be taken as an example of one. Of course the term is more general. Another example of a vinculum still in use is the horizontal line used with a square root sign. -- Zero 09:13, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Silly milk related question: If you don't milk a cow, what happens to the milk in their udder? Do cows re-absorb the milk, do they release it onto the ground, or does something else occur? On the subject of milk, is there a reason pigs milk isn't available other than cost? Thanks, Maximus Rex 19:13, 9 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I'm working on a paper for philosophy class, and I need a quick math injection. I'm wondering if it's well-defined to sum up all the numbers in a non-countably infinite set. If so, I'm wondering if there's such a set that sums to 1. Why 1, you ask? So the set could be used as probability values for the existence of each of a "very infinite" number of Gods. -- Ryguasu 02:01, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)
If you want a finite number as an answer, you can only do it if all but a countably infinite number of the values are zero. -- Zero 09:16, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)
An integral isn't a sum; it's the limit of a sum. If I was an eighteenth century mathematician I would probably consider it a sum of an infinite number of values, each multiplied by an infinitesimal number. (Horribly unrigorous, that.) I'm thinking the set of God-possibilities under consideration needs to be better defined before this question can be answered. -- Cyan 23:51, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)
This is from college, and so is a bit sketchy, but here you go: If you want a sum to be a number, you need something that can be enumerated. As the comments above say, you either have lots of zeros in the set and just a countable infinity of non-zero numbers or the set is a countable set. Also noted above, you are workign with limits. The trick with any of these is to create a reordering of the values so that the sum has a limit. The limit is the sum for practical purposes since any number less than the limit can be shown to be exceeded by the series. Now, there is one trick that can pull your philosophical self out of your hole. If you can reorganize the uncountable set into a set of countable groups, each of which has a limit you may be able to get the limit to converge. This is the central idea of the Labague integral. Kd4ttc 23:24, 13 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Does anybody here know where can I get more information and biographies on Suheir Hammad, the Palestinian-American poet who wrote 'First Writing Since'? A Google search yielded very limited information. I'm more interested in biographies and I can't seem to find them on the net. - Zaim
There is a biography and a photo starting on page 37 of Listen Up!: Spoken Word Poetry by Zoe Anglesey (Editor), Zoe Angelsey (Editor), Yusef Komunyakaa (Introduction); One World/Strivers Row; (April 1999). Available at amazon.com. --
Zero 11:40, 30 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Does anyone know an earlier authenticatable use of the term ' circumpunct' than the 1992 Book of Brian?
Anjouli 16:31, 20 Sep 2003 (UTC)
Hi Lisa and Menchi, I am beginning to wonder whether someone is taking the micky here. According to the Wiki stub, "Brian" is a bumbling fool in the Goidelic mythology. According to "Brianism", of whom the word "circumpunct" is a symbol for the roundel with a dot in the middle, "Brian" is the cyber-prophet. Forgive me if I am entertaining some doubts. -- Dieter Simon 01:44, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Many thanks Menchi, I thought as much, yes I didn't think it would have been adopted in the meantime. The whole type of round thing does actually exist, called "roundel" with all its many manifestations, which includes the one with the point circumscribed. So I have advised Anjouli to redirect the article to "roundel". -- Dieter Simon 23:42, 9 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Have asked Anjouli to move page rather than redirect to the new page "roundel" to get the page history on board as well. -- Dieter Simon 01:14, 11 Jan 2004 (UTC)
It's been taken out of our hands now and been redirected to solar symbol. At least it is a valid term. Good luck, Optim -- Dieter Simon 01:05, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Now that all the small publishers have been swallowed by a few Evil Conglomerates, it can be rather hard to find the publisher of a book a few decades old in order to inquire about rights or whatever. You can write all the letters you like to Lindsay Drummond or Boni & Liveright, but it won't do much good.
Is there a source anywhere for information on the history of cannibalism in publishing? I know of a database the tries to give the whereabouts of the literary estates of authors, but its coverage is very limited. Knowing who acquired the old publishers would be a real help. Dandrake 00:48, 25 Sep 2003 (UTC)
I ( Kingturtle ) found this request in the wrong place. I deleted where it was, and am pasting in here:
"I'm just trying to do my homework, could I have some help please!! I f you can please update this page before thursday 2nd of October (that is when my homework is in for), I have to make comparisons between the russian revolution and the George Orwell book Animal farm. Thank you" signed User:195.92.194.17
See http://www.myfreeessays.com/politics/054.shtml Bear in mind that most teachers and examination boards know about free essays on the 'net, so just use for guidance. Don't simply cut and paste! 195.238.50.252 10:45, 2 Oct 2003 (UTC)
Can you give a formula for calculating the following, if m and n are given?
could you please tell me if it is possible to go inside william henry harrison's tomb..if it is what times and days...thank you bill loening
loening@prodigy.net
The Zauschner who is the namesake of Zauschneria lived 1737-1799 and was a professor in Prague, but the only additional info I see online is at http://www.hamelika.cz/shamelika/1973/1973_05/h73_05.htm, and my Czech is not very good. :-) Is there anybody who can translate this? If I have raw facts, I can at least make a short article. Stan 18:25, 18 Oct 2003 (UTC)
How can I get real photos of Ed Gein, and the crime scene. Thanks very much. Ceaser911@hotmail.com 66.38.53.20
A Google search turned up some very graphic photos of the crime scene at http://www.vampireofparis.com/thecellscsGein.htm, and a photo of Gein at http://www.urbanchillers.com/serial/serialkiller.asp?sk=24. RickK 01:41, 28 Oct 2003 (UTC)
I believe there are some first-person narratives written by young adults during the Bosnia crisis and ethnic cleansings. Can anyone tell me what the names were of the authors? And where I might be able to read their narratives? Kingturtle 00:34, 27 Oct 2003 (UTC)
I've googled for an answer on this, and searched wikipedia but can't seem to find the answer - what exactly is the difference between natural and artificial systems of classification? Any help or information on the subject would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou 81.178.232.245 15:44, 1 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Without mentioning names, does anyone agree or disagree that these sentences are incorrect grammar and punctuation?
I contend all four are only made correct by removing each and every comma. Daniel Quinlan 02:03, Nov 8, 2003 (UTC) (Oops, I should add that the third sentence is missing a "than something", so it is doubly ungrammatical. Daniel Quinlan 02:08, Nov 8, 2003 (UTC))
I stand to be corrected, but I cannot see any context in which the last three would be acceptable.
If I may throw another onion into the pot, should we consider nationality as well as context? Is 'correct' punctuation the same in all versions of English? I would be surprised if that were the case, although I have not checked any references.
Is this about contributions with questionable punctuation? If so, I do not see it as a huge problem. If I misspelled or mispunctuated a contribution (as I am sure we all have from time-to-time) then I am sure some kind person would fix it for me. There may also be users who are outstanding authorities in their field, but who are not so good at grammar. Anjouli 06:55, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Often commas that look odd in isolation are good or even compulsory. Consider two possible contexts for the third example:
-- Zero 12:09, 30 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Speed of light#Faster-than-light experiments
What kind of experiments are they? Are they measuring a pulse of light emitted from one point for a short interval, or a constant beam of light, using some archaic method of measuring the "speed"? Or something completely different? I wrote the "I'm here!" analogy, is it correct? And can someone help explain to me what GouRou wrote (which was moved to Talk:Speed of light)? Κσυπ Cyp 15:44, 16 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Does anyone know K-work is? It might have something to do with condensed matter/solid-state theory, or magnetism... This is the context I saw it in: "Can a magnetic field contribute k-work or not?" I have no idea.
I am not sure that i am in the right place, but I used the word "shyster" and i was referred to "List of ethnic slurs-Wikipedia." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs. I am not sure how wikipedia works, but i believe the intended word was "shylock." I have checked several dictionaries and none of them list "shyster" as an etnic slur. If anyone can clarify this, please e-mail me at sealadaigh@aol.com.
It isn't an ethnic slur, it's just a slur. I'm pretty sure you found http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=shyster ; that's the normal usage. DJ Clayworth 17:22, 14 Nov 2003 (UTC)
It's a slur. Sheister - Jews - Like a shyster lawyer. One who carries on any business, especially legal business, in a mean and dishonest way. [2] reddi
Not according to my dictionary
Main Entry: shy·ster Pronunciation: 'shIs-t&r Function: noun Etymology: probably from German Scheisser, literally, defecator Date: 1844 : one who is professionally unscrupulous especially in the practice of law or politics
-- Maximus Rex 18:14, 14 Nov 2003 (UTC)
So in the end, has anyone managed to find any document (even a good secondary one like a respectable dictionary) that supports a derivation of the term as an ethnic slur? Or, for that matter, good documentation of a shift into an ethnic slur? If not, the feeling that it might be an ethnic slur should go in the same class as the supposed association of "handicapped" with begging and (believe it or not) "picnic" as a reference to lynching. Both of these are patently recent inventions; is shyster any different?
Dandrake 08:18, Nov 16, 2003 (UTC)
The "Jewish" connection is a mistake due to confusion with "Shylock". -- Zero 12:13, 30 Nov 2003 (UTC)
The word shyster is only a slur if you think lawyers are human. :)Shakespeare was much too kind. -- Paul Rfc1394 23:24, 5 Jan 2004 (UTC)
A lot of American slang that has German roots came into English via Yiddish ("Fin" for "five-dollar bill" comes to mind: the Yiddish is finf per my dictionary (tho it sounds like fin to me); the German cognate is fünf). I would feel no problem calling someone a shyster, unless the target were Jewish -- or the listener were, in which case i might be more concerned at sounding presumptuous, in imagining i have a command of Yiddishisms.
It also seems to me that "shyster lawyer" is a catch-phrase, and to the extent that lawyers are or are imagined to be disproportionately Jewish, i can see its use (especially re lawyers) as shading into a subtle ethnic slur. -- Jerzy 06:35, 2004 Jan 9 (UTC)
Hey guys I definitely think it is an ethnic slur. First- In "Enemy of the State," Will Smith's character specifically says the term is reserved for Jewish lawyers. Second- The original etymology doesn't matter. The current meaning matters, and because it does sound like Shylock, and there is a perception that it refers to Shylock, (see urban dictionary) the effective impact of the word has that tone. Finally, those who are anti-Semetic use the obvious connection between shyster and Shylock and hence use this word obsessively against Jews. There is an unmistakable overtone. Personally, as a Jew myself, I would be extremely offended if I was called one.
Hello I am just wondering in which situation "a creeking gate hangs long" is used as proverb. Mostafa
I have a question relating to semiconductor physics. Most of the books I've looked at talk about the valence and conduction bands and then proceed to plot ( E-k plots) the energy as a function of k, which they call the wave vector (such that |k| = 2π/λ). I can't seem to find what the wave vector actually represents. Can anyone here clue me in? Maximus Rex 05:23, 25 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Does anybody have a (link to a) map showing Quebec along with an outline of France (to visualise the size difference)? Junesun 11:21, 27 Nov 2003 (GMT)
does anyone know of a french sculptor named E. Raulin? who lived in the early 20th century in Paris? He did work for Susse Freres foundries.. principally bronzes statues.
This is a problem that I encounter quite often (eg. image caption on HIV). Are there any linguistic rules regarding this? -- snoyes 22:01, 29 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Many medical professionals consider it fine, apparently. I used MD Consult to search "HIV virus", and 90 published journal articles in its collection used them in the last 3 years alone. -- Menchi 06:22, 30 Nov 2003 (UTC)
The only place I've seen data used plural is in my Statistics book... otherwise, it's always "the data suggests" or "I have data that proves that", etc. ugen64 01:31, Dec 1, 2003 (UTC)
I've been playing with thttpd making a little website (with my dialup modem).
What are all these random queries i get? (i've xxed out the ip) What do they hope to achieve? Is it the remnants of some worm? or something completely different?
I've done a search on the net, but can't find anything, and don't know where to start looking for answers. Thank you! -- Tristanb 04:58, 5 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I'm desperately looking for someone who can tell me how to block Flash demands for installation. This is clogging up our e-mail and Internet Explorer usages; also, since we are NEVER planning to develop our own web site, I can't see why we would possibly need Flash. I've heard also that Flash stuff uses a lot of virtual memory, and we've recently been running out of virtual. Does this have anything to do with Flash barging in? I'm tired of this kind of activity, and want it to stop. I already have AdAware and Spybot installed, and our system has run MUCH better since I did that. But, for whatever reasons, Flash is still driving us nuts. Thanks in advance. I'm looking for anyone who can tell me anything about this situation.
What year were Zener cards invented? I would think that for my article I should have a date, but the best I found on the Net was "more than 75 years ago", and the Encyclopædia Britannica doesn't even have an article on them. I want this article to be as complete as it can (including everything you know about them). That seems to be one bit of basic information we don't want to miss. Wiwaxia 23:21, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)
A fraction has a numerator and denomenator. But what is the word for the line that separates them? Kingturtle 23:23, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)
A fraction in the form 3/8 the dividing line is called the solidus. I thought the horizontal one is the vinculum but that's something different - I don't think it has a name. Dysprosia 23:25, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)
"fraction bar" seems fairly common. Also, I'm not sure "vinculum" is wrong. A vinculum is a horizontal line used to group terms together and a fraction bar can be taken as an example of one. Of course the term is more general. Another example of a vinculum still in use is the horizontal line used with a square root sign. -- Zero 09:13, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Silly milk related question: If you don't milk a cow, what happens to the milk in their udder? Do cows re-absorb the milk, do they release it onto the ground, or does something else occur? On the subject of milk, is there a reason pigs milk isn't available other than cost? Thanks, Maximus Rex 19:13, 9 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I'm working on a paper for philosophy class, and I need a quick math injection. I'm wondering if it's well-defined to sum up all the numbers in a non-countably infinite set. If so, I'm wondering if there's such a set that sums to 1. Why 1, you ask? So the set could be used as probability values for the existence of each of a "very infinite" number of Gods. -- Ryguasu 02:01, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)
If you want a finite number as an answer, you can only do it if all but a countably infinite number of the values are zero. -- Zero 09:16, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)
An integral isn't a sum; it's the limit of a sum. If I was an eighteenth century mathematician I would probably consider it a sum of an infinite number of values, each multiplied by an infinitesimal number. (Horribly unrigorous, that.) I'm thinking the set of God-possibilities under consideration needs to be better defined before this question can be answered. -- Cyan 23:51, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)
This is from college, and so is a bit sketchy, but here you go: If you want a sum to be a number, you need something that can be enumerated. As the comments above say, you either have lots of zeros in the set and just a countable infinity of non-zero numbers or the set is a countable set. Also noted above, you are workign with limits. The trick with any of these is to create a reordering of the values so that the sum has a limit. The limit is the sum for practical purposes since any number less than the limit can be shown to be exceeded by the series. Now, there is one trick that can pull your philosophical self out of your hole. If you can reorganize the uncountable set into a set of countable groups, each of which has a limit you may be able to get the limit to converge. This is the central idea of the Labague integral. Kd4ttc 23:24, 13 Jan 2004 (UTC)