<div dir="ltr">The pond scum question has other implications.<div><br></div><div>Most people get the answer wrong, Im sure.</div><div><br></div><div>Putting on sysadmin hat, the question should be asked WHY do they get this problem wrong?</div><div>Ive had a few days to ponder this. Free time on your hands is definitely dangerous.</div><div>Its the one thing the Puritans were correct about.</div><div><br></div><div>For those without a substantial math background, working the problem forwards is easy to </div><div>get tripped up on.</div><div>For those of us with only a mediocre math background BUT those of us who think in reverse,</div><div>its not so bad.</div><div><br></div><div>If its doubling every day then going back a day its halving.</div><div>That known, its quite easy to find 50% 25% 12.5% .625% etc.</div><div><br></div><div>Ricks line about "peeling back the onion" is quite apropos here.</div><div>Sadly, Im seeing that math is just taught wrong in much of the US.</div><div><br></div><div>Everyone NEEDS a LOG!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 12:45 AM Rick Moen <<a href="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com">rick@linuxmafia.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">I thank Paul for his courtesy. I'll let him have the last word.<br>
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----- Forwarded message from "<a href="mailto:paulz@ieee.org" target="_blank">paulz@ieee.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:paulz@ieee.org" target="_blank">paulz@ieee.org</a>> -----<br>
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Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2020 02:28:19 +0000 (UTC)<br>
From: "<a href="mailto:paulz@ieee.org" target="_blank">paulz@ieee.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:paulz@ieee.org" target="_blank">paulz@ieee.org</a>><br>
To: Rick Moen <<a href="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com" target="_blank">rick@linuxmafia.com</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [conspire] Correction<br>
Reply-To: "<a href="mailto:paulz@ieee.org" target="_blank">paulz@ieee.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:paulz@ieee.org" target="_blank">paulz@ieee.org</a>><br>
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I got to thinking about exponential and geometric and what was the difference between the two. From Wikipedia article on Exponential Growth<br>
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In the case of a discrete domain of definition with equal intervals, it is also called geometric growth or geometric decay since the function values form a geometric progression. <br>
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"The area covered by pond scum doubles every day." To get the daily values, the geometric form works fine. However, if one wants to compute for different times of the day, the exponential form of calculation with a non-integer exponent will be needed.<br>
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I sent this just to you. If you like, we can the issue stop here. <br>
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On Thursday, March 26, 2020, 12:23:02 PM PDT, Rick Moen <<a href="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com" target="_blank">rick@linuxmafia.com</a>> wrote: <br>
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Quoting tom r lopes (<a href="mailto:tomrlopes@gmail.com" target="_blank">tomrlopes@gmail.com</a>):<br>
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> Both examples are geometric sequence.<br>
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Tom, I'm not going to belabour the point. The two expressions are<br>
fundamentally different -- of a different order. They are not both<br>
geometric. But I'm going to not pursue the matter past this point<br>
because there's no percentage (sorry!) in it.<br>
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-- <br>
Cheers, "Rand Paul being patient zero for a Senate <br>
Rick Moen viral outbreak is a sign of a writers' room <br>
<a href="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com" target="_blank">rick@linuxmafia.com</a> dropping too much acid, late in the season."<br>
McQ! (4x80) -- @owillis (Oliver Willis)<br>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><br>R "Texx" Woodworth<br>Sysadmin, E-Postmaster, IT Molewhacker<br>"Face down, 9 edge 1st, roadkill on the information superdata highway..."<br></div>