Recent content by Twinbee

Okay, most people would agree that: -3^2 = -9 So there the exponential operator has precedence over the unary minus. If ^ has precedence, it makes sense to reason that / and * should have precedence too. The ordering of the symbols fundamentally disallows the / to be performed first here.

The sum below has two potential answers: A: 1/-2/3 = -0.1666666667 B: 1/-2/3 = -1.5 Programming languages and most (but not all) calculators claim A is correct. However, B seems to follow operator precedence more accurately as the division is performed before the unary minus. Using...

An old thread, but a goodie. My first post did indeed describe the Gini mean difference, but I described two different versions which I'll call GiniA and GiniB: GiniA(3,7,7,19) = 8 GiniB(3,7,7,19) = 6 For the above values, 8 is the correct answer according to the standard Wikipedia definition...

I agree with you all in terms of consistency, but try arguing with this little lot ;) http://www.answers.com/plus+percent

Yes, I agree. In fact I've also thought of using another operator (instead of plus) for consistency. However, in the end, I need to go with what the public are familiar with. Even with the more mathematically literate crowd who visits these forums, I'm sure 55 would have a chance of reaching...

We both have a reason to edit our posts. I'm sure Physicsforums.com used to let you do this, even for older posts. Fwiw, I vote we have the facility back.

Yes I agree, and I kinda wish that the public did too. But survey 1000 people and give them a choice between 50.1, 55 and 60% and I bet you'll find more than half of people would say the answer is 55% and not one of the other two. Despite its horrible consistency (with say * n% which does work...

I agree clarification should be used where there is possibility for confusion, but there has to be a default, at least for the calc I'm making, and we can't expect everyone to use brackets like we would. Math already has default precedence for otherwise confusing things like 7+5*3^2, so maybe...

Studiot: What was it about? Any link to the paper?

thegreenlaser: see my earlier thread from here: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=426341 We can cut out not just the "2", but also the "pi" completely by often measuring in revolutions (or cycles if you prefer). Since I'm making my own calculator, I'll be adding the new...

Wikipedia does a pretty good job at explaining how different calculators treat percentage differently. For example Google or Excel will say: 50 + 10% = 50.1 ... (== 50 + (10/100)) ...but Soulver or Microsoft Calculator will say: 50 + 10% = 55 ... (== 50 + (50*10/100)) I understand the...

Thanks, I overlooked the underscore! Since we're creating a new operator so to speak, previous notation rules for log() can be suspended for now. Therefore, I'm not sure which order is better: 10_100 =2 (closer to old notation) 100_10 =2 (perhaps more consistent generally, feels like...

Yes I realize that, but the arbitrary-base log function is kind of the opposite of the power operator. You wouldn't necessarily want numbers 10 or e as the default base when using exponentiation. If people were forced to forego the general x^y and instead only allowed to use pow(4) or exp(4) to...

In the computer world at least, the symbol ^ is often used for exponentiation. I was just wondering if log has had anything in the multitude of languages out there. It would be nice to see an operator such as "1000¬10=3" instead of writing LogBase10(1000)=3 which is more ugly. I'm writing a...

Yes, that's a good point. However, I'm thinking of things like food surfaces, or items which involve skin contact (taps, door handles etc.). h2o2 will completely break down after a while obviously, so it's a true "spray/wipe and forget" cleaning procedure. Also, we don't need complete...