Archived threads in /sci/ - Science & Math - 16. page
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Is Stephen Hawking so beloved because he's a success story or is he just a very good writer?
>>8194602
>SUCCESS STORY
>SUCCESS
>STORY
>>8194602
I like him because the articles on black holes and stuffs at his websites are good.
On the other hand, fuck that face give me nightmare everytime
>>8194607
I asked someone reading one of Hawking's books her reason and that's the answer I got. Tbqh I think a lot of his readers are pseudo intellectuals
What functions does something like this? Thanks in advance
>>8194131
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmoid_function
>>8194134
l need that the steepnest varies in function of a like pic related, the smallest a is the more step the function is and the bigger a is the less step the function is
That looks like an arctangent function compressed to a range of (0,1)
Would it theoretically be possible to engineer a virus that targeted only men or only women?
>>8193833
Yes.
>>8193833
If it was activated by X/Y chromosomes or some shit, then maybe.
>>8193833
No.
I want to get a headstart for university this summer, do any of you have any advice on books for calculus and other stuff which goes up to third year?
Don't be afraid to link me to books which require high standards, I've already done a lot of calculus in school (I, II, III) and want to go to the next level.
Spivak
I always recommend james stewart, most of theorems are proven and take you to the next level, exercises have a varying level of difficulty too, for other subjects that involve calculus like numerical analysis i recommend dennis zill
Principles of Mathematical Analysis, Rudin and Linear Algebra Done Right, Axler.
What will roads of the future be made of?
My vote is on glass, but I can't figure out why we aren't doing this now (well we are somewhat transitioning to glassphalt):
Tiers:
1: glass
2: glassphalt
3: bituminous asphalt
4: concrete
Glass:
+durable
+negligible thermal expansion coeff
+cheap? I mean, it's sand basically
+less potholes
+easily patched? just remelt the portion?
+aesthetic and can add colors/patterns
-can get slippery when wet, less permeable, but you can just stamp a texture on it, make some...
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>>8192728
>What will roads of the future be made of?
Asphalt. It is nearly 100% recyclable, durable, coarse, and dirt cheap. There is literally no reason to switch to something else as our primary material for roads.
>>8192731
except its not environmentally friendly
also I guess it depends on where you live, but where I have been, the streets are a horrible mess of bumpy, patched asphalt. Also asphalt streets need to be repaved more frequently than glass one would.
Bituminous asphalt is made using oil, which we are also trying to steer away from
Glass will never be used on roads. See the other guys post
I've always believed most deeply that there was a reason for everything. This belief has been with me all my life despite encountering a ton of things that had no apparent reason whatsoever. The idea was that not knowing the reason didn't mean that there wasn't one; I was just currently ignorant of it.
I know how popular the idea that beliefs cause bias is, so when I woke up this morning my mind sort of jumped to the idea that that belief of mine might be causing problem for my cognition. I've probably avoided thinking a lot of types of things by holding...
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>>8191836
>What can or should I expect now /sci/?
If anything. Is letting go of a natural tendency expected to have any observable (or internally sensable) consequences or are intents of this variety not causative to cognition in first place?
Come on /sci/. If you don't make a prediction you know someone else will, and you know that nine times out of ten it'll just end up being unfalsifiable platitudes. Any falsifiable hypothesis is better than no hypothesis at all.
Why is OP such a blogposting faggot?
How many chemicals exist? How many chemicals can there potentially exist? How many of these chemicals are psychoactive? Is it possible that there is some sort of super drug that we have yet to discover that is 100x as euphoric as meth?
>>8190677
Infinite, infinite, infinite, probably not.
>>8190677
Don't know, but likely finite.
Don't know, but near certainly finite.
Don't know, but with certainty, finite amount.
Very unlikely. The brain is a machine, and as it presently exists, it isn't likely capable of existing in a state of that sort. Terms like "100x as euphoric as" are also not very useful.
>>8190677
Every "chemical" is a combination of set values interacting with one another in specific ways yada yada the point is, on earth we have the elements of the periodic table. If you wanted an answer, you would need to know the maximum affordability for size of a molecule. Also, if you're including solutions, the number will increase exponentially.
To the second part, the brain has a very specific structure, so there are not infinite molecules that could do what you are suggesting if there is a maximum molecule size. There very well may be, though. Maybe even 420x.
What is it about math that drives people away? They take one look at an equation above arithmetic level and their minds just shut off.
Symbolic thinking for mathematics develops habitually.
Most people find it uninteresting and useless. Like if someone were to show you there spoon collection. That combined with the pretentious "being good at math means your smart" meme means they would rather not try, than try and fail.
because it's completely useless by itself and thus unlearnable without first knowing 'what it can do'
So like many others I grew up believing pic related. However a friend who's going through a bit of a health-food conscious phase (organic, raw) tells me otherwise, that milk depletes calcium from bones. And there's a couple of website supporting this claim. The problem is, they have the feel of Naturalnews.com and similar sites. Here's one of the main sites pushing this new way of thinking.
http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/
Any biologists in the house? This is nu-age bunk right?
>>8195256
Everything that isnt organic bio glutenfree fairtrade non-gmo vegan food is bad for your health maaaan. Like seriously, I cant even. Wake up, xir
>>8195256
>This is nu-age bunk right?
you only need to take one look at the url to answer that question
>>8195256
-Cow's milk is for calves not humans.
-Human breast milk is for infants and children under 5 years of age.
If you are an adult who consumes milk products, you are fucking stupid.
I have been busting my ass on my thesis, geology related. It has pasted my committee. Now the department head who is a soft geography science (don't ask me why or how he is in charge) is reviewing my thesis. I caught a mistake in a figure and emailed him the correct new image. He says he doesn't see the difference. He then procedes to email me the 1st half of my thesis. I am horrified. The bastard is resizing all the figures like an autist so there are no "white gaps". I need advice B. I need some advice on how to tell him he ruining my work and convince...
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>>8192822
why is he writing your thesis? tell him you'll resize them and make some changes and do it quickly
OP here. He has also resized some other figures and I have not seen the damage on my results or conclusions section but I am worried that all my photomicrographs with scale bars are gonna look like "Fun-house" mirrors.
>>8192822
Have you discussed this with your advisor?
can /sci/ explains how the placebo effect works?
how it's able to cure disseases and cause what christians calls miracles?
>>8195592
the mind is a powerful thing
since it controls so much shit, it can easily fuck your body intentionally and unfuck it depending on random shit
Maybe it causes epigenetic changes that somehow rewire the nerves that are sending pain signals when they shouldn't.
Placebo pretty much only works on stuff like back-pain, migraines and the like. Vague conditions without a clear cause involving abnormal pain. It doesn't actually work against stuff like infections and cancer.
>>8195592
>and cause what christians calls miracles?
Mr. Theologian sup.
>he thinks he can reach human-level AI by 2025
will he do it bros?
>>8194542
Yes, though I think we'll have the first text-based human level AI much before then. Probably by 2018.
Visual processing is extremely difficult compared to linguistic reasoning.
If he can, you can with certainty say someone else will do it first if they haven't already.
Is emotional intelligence real?
Intelligence is (usually) defined to be someone's ability to learn new skills (NOT emotions) quickly.
So no. If you're an emotional person, you're just emotional... "emotionally intelligent" is like saying "furiously exist". It doesn't have any meaning.
>>8196112
no. it is a made up attribute to make people who are bad at thinking feel better.
what is true, is autism spectrum disorder. look it up if you want to learn some actual medical science
No. I suppose you could consider it to mean someone's ability to read other people's emotions (at least I think that's how people traditionally use it), but the problem with that is it's entirely dependent on the people around them. If they happen to be similar to their peers they're going to be able to read their emotions. Unlike actual intelligence, it's a measure effected solely by outside influences (while real intelligence is something that's specific to the person who's capable of reasoned thinking).
Sup /sci/. Doing some physics work when I come across this. Having a brainfart, I fail to recognize what I'm supposed to do. These are two separate fractions, correct? Is multiplication between the two fractions implied when there's no sign or parentheses?
[math] \dfrac { a} {A } \dfrac {b } {B } \equiv \dfrac { a·b} {A·B } [/math]
>>8196049
no sign or sign, yes, multiplication is implied.
>>8196049
>Is multiplication between the two fractions implied when there's no sign or parentheses?
Yes, just like every other situation in which two symbols are adjacent in undergrad math.
What's at the edge of the universe?
Is the edge of the universe penetrable?
Does it even have an edge?
What's even the geometry of the universe? Is it spherical?
There is no edge, it's infinite, and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.
This is the problem with a finite universe, you can't imagine it. What's outside the edge, then what's outside of whatever that is?
It's illogical to think it's finite.
>>8192480
Could you elaborate more?
>>8192469
>What's at the edge of the universe?
Don't know.
>Is the edge of the universe penetrable?
Don't know if it can bridge like a typical physical space.
>Does it even have an edge?
Don't know.
>What's even the geometry of the universe? Is it spherical?
It's thought to be flat, which doesn't necessarily imply infinity of any sort.
Infinity...
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