4 ms·
From http://archive.vector.org.uk/art10500390 http://archive.vector.org.uk/art10500390 In the year 2033 Earth was discovered by Survey Fleet MCXII of the Galac
by abrudz 4y ago
From http://archive.vector.org.uk/art10500390 http://archive.vector.org.uk/art10500390
In the year 2033 Earth was discovered by Survey Fleet MCXII of the Galactic Empire. The Emperor ordered Earth to send a representative to the court, with strict instructions to “bring something beautiful”.
Emperor: What beautiful things does Earth have?
Earth Representative: Your excellency, our mathematician Euler proved in our year 1737 that
+/(1+⍳∞)*-s ←→ ×/÷1-(⍭⍳∞)*-s
Emperor: What is the ⍭ symbol?
Earth Rep.: ⍭i is the i-th prime.
Emperor: And what is ∞? Does it do anything useful?
Earth Rep.: It denotes infinity, your excellency.
Emperor: (ponders equation for a minute or two) Respect!
Emperor: Neat notation you have there. Tell me more.
Earth Rep.: Your excellency, it’s called APL. It was invented by the Canadian Kenneth E. Iverson…
- abrudz 4y ago* is exponentiation ⍳ is range 0…n–1 ÷ is reciprocal of everything to its right ×/ is product of everything to its right +/ is sum of everything to its right
- greenbit 4y agoHow long do you have to rewrite every such expression with pencil on paper, before you start to be able to apprehend these things directly? I'm not trying to bring this down, clearly it's very concise, just curious what the learning curve is with that.
- warrenm 4y agoThe learning curve is a backwards-leaning cliff of oiled ice a mile high ...until/unless you know it, then it's like sailing an iceboat At least, that's how my CS prof 20+y ago described it to us :)
- abrudz 4y agoThe winner of this year's APL Problem Competition only started learning APL a year ago. And lots of people never handwrite APL, though many do, but not to understand — to simply do certain maths in a better way.