4 ms·
Conway and Doyle can divide by three, but I can't
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- philipswood 3y agoI keep seeing {𝐴𝑖 }𝑖∈N as "alien".
- bitwize 3y agoDividing by 3 is hard, man. While an engineer at Xerox, my father modified an electromagnetic calculator to turn it into a form of stored program computer (similar in form and function to the Olivetti Programma 100). While experimenting with the calculator he found a way to crash it: divide 10 by 3. He got a patent for his electromechanical computer invention, for which Xerox paid the standard nominal fee of $1, but it went nowhere.
- tromp 3y agoDiscussed 7 weeks ago at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37618301 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37618301
- ganzuul 3y agoPerhaps doing the thing with a compass and straightedge would feel therapeutic at this point.
- onenukecourse 3y agoIm sure this is about some higher end math than I dont understand, but in day-to-day mental math just 1. multiply by 3 2. divide by ten 3. If more accuracy is needed, add 10% to the answer. Of course, you can always add up all the digits and see if it's divisible by 3. If not, add/subtract to make it divisible by three, divide it and then correct for the borrowing.
- jprete 3y agoIt’s a set theory problem, calling it division by three in the paper is a bit of a joke.
- montroser 3y ago4. If even _more_ accuracy is needed, add another 1% 5. If even _more_ accuracy is needed, add another 0.1% 5. If even _more_ accuracy is needed, add another 0.01% and keep going ad nauseam!