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RECENT FORUM POSTS
Fred Diether: "Hi Bill, The CHSH inequality applies perfectly with the Weihs et al, data..." in Disproofs of disproofs of...
Joy Christian: "Hi Fred, You should of course stand by your explanation. But you know what..." in Disproofs of disproofs of...
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J. C. N. Smith: "Hi Georgina, : ) Indeed! "I do like the reassurance that I'm not..." in Elegance and Enigma: The...
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click titles to read articles
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Thermal Timekeeping
Constructing a clock that measures temperature could unite the conflicting conceptions of time in the quantum and cosmic realms.
Fred Diether: "Hi Bill, The CHSH inequality applies perfectly with the Weihs et al, data..." in Disproofs of disproofs of...
Joy Christian: "Hi Fred, You should of course stand by your explanation. But you know what..." in Disproofs of disproofs of...
Lawrence B. Crowell: "The problem with this is the speed of light is just a conversion factor..." in Faster than Light
Zeeya: "from Charles H. Bennett: This is to remind you of the twelfth Asian..." in Upcoming Conferences and...
J. C. N. Smith: "Paul, "What is the point in recanting what everybody else has said?" ..." in Elegance and Enigma: The...
Pentcho Valev: "Einstein said more in 1905: ..." in Essay Contest 2012:...
J. C. N. Smith: "Hi Georgina, : ) Indeed! "I do like the reassurance that I'm not..." in Elegance and Enigma: The...
Steve Dufourny: "interesting.Let's go for the crazzyness.... We are going to see that..." in Essay Contest 2012:...
RECENT ARTICLES
click titles to read articles
Faster Than Light
A controversial theory in which light broke its own speed limit in the early universe joins forces with string theory and loop quantum gravity to solve cosmic mysteries.
Melting Spacetime
To understand how spacetime might emerge from string theory, in the early cosmos, we need to heat up the equations, and thaw the space and time dimensions.
Video Article: The Quantum Linguist
Bob Coecke has developed a new visual language that could spell out a theory of quantum gravity—and help us understand human speech.
Black Holes: Paradox Regained
In 2004, Stephen Hawking famously conceded that black holes do not devour all information when they swallow matter—seemingly resolving the "black hole information paradox" that had perplexed physicists for decades. But some argue that the paradox remains open, and we must abandon our simple picture of spacetime to unravel it.
Thermal Timekeeping
Constructing a clock that measures temperature could unite the conflicting conceptions of time in the quantum and cosmic realms.
FQXi BLOGS
May 25, 2012
Throughout his or her tortured existence, a mathematical physicist has two mortal enemies. These enemies are battled constantly, strike at any moment, and can merely wound or actually kill vast swaths of calculations. Here is one:
2
and here is the other:
-
Yes, they are small. But they are mighty. It is their tiny stature that often leads to their deadly effectiveness -- for they are sneaky. And they must be controlled. If one appears in the wrong place, or disappears from the right place, it spawns errors in every subsequent expression until its victory over the theorist is immortalized in publication.
OK, so, big deal, a few "-" here and there can't be that hard to keep track of, even if one does tend to juggle several in the head at once during a calculation, right? How many are we talking about? I just did a search through my notes at Deferential Geometry... There are currently 2,277 "-" living there.
=:-o
Sure, some of these are hyphens so they don't count. But still, that's a lot of potential evil, lurking. The odds of 2,277 irascible "-" all being in the right place at the right time... well, it saddens me to think about how small (or even negative?) that probability is.
So I'm offering a bounty!
$100 to the first person to find three initial appearances (or disappearances ) of a malicious "-" at Deferential Geometry.
The restrictions:
1) You have to correctly identify the root cause, where a mistaken sign first occurs -- its dependents don't count.
2) It has to be an actual mistake, not due to a difference of opinion or convention.
3) A mistake in a note tagged with a "0" is only worth half, since those are often rough or incomplete calculations.
Please post a comment here if you think you've spotted one or several of the enemy. (Describe the note and the erroneous expression in it.) If it's a mistake, you get the credit for finding it first even if you weren't sure about it. The victor will be heralded and sent $100 from me via paypal.
A suggestion: If you have to argue to make your case, you're probably wasting time. Out of 2,277 signs, I'm sure I just plain dropped some in calculations. But feel free to ask.
Once this bounty is claimed, we'll talk about the 2,428 2's...
this post has been edited by the author since its original submission
report post as inappropriate
2
and here is the other:
-
Yes, they are small. But they are mighty. It is their tiny stature that often leads to their deadly effectiveness -- for they are sneaky. And they must be controlled. If one appears in the wrong place, or disappears from the right place, it spawns errors in every subsequent expression until its victory over the theorist is immortalized in publication.
OK, so, big deal, a few "-" here and there can't be that hard to keep track of, even if one does tend to juggle several in the head at once during a calculation, right? How many are we talking about? I just did a search through my notes at Deferential Geometry... There are currently 2,277 "-" living there.
=:-o
Sure, some of these are hyphens so they don't count. But still, that's a lot of potential evil, lurking. The odds of 2,277 irascible "-" all being in the right place at the right time... well, it saddens me to think about how small (or even negative?) that probability is.
So I'm offering a bounty!
$100 to the first person to find three initial appearances (or disappearances ) of a malicious "-" at Deferential Geometry.
The restrictions:
1) You have to correctly identify the root cause, where a mistaken sign first occurs -- its dependents don't count.
2) It has to be an actual mistake, not due to a difference of opinion or convention.
3) A mistake in a note tagged with a "0" is only worth half, since those are often rough or incomplete calculations.
Please post a comment here if you think you've spotted one or several of the enemy. (Describe the note and the erroneous expression in it.) If it's a mistake, you get the credit for finding it first even if you weren't sure about it. The victor will be heralded and sent $100 from me via paypal.
A suggestion: If you have to argue to make your case, you're probably wasting time. Out of 2,277 signs, I'm sure I just plain dropped some in calculations. But feel free to ask.
Once this bounty is claimed, we'll talk about the 2,428 2's...
this post has been edited by the author since its original submission
report post as inappropriate
I am poor, but hunting down errors is important to me -- and I could use the help. So I just upped the bounty to $100.
report post as inappropriate
report post as inappropriate
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