4 ms·
For those who don’t have math extensions in the browser, if that is 2^0.6039, then why don’t math extensions just detect math syntax and style it directly?
by hyperhello 2mo ago
For those who don’t have math extensions in the browser, if that is 2^0.6039, then why don’t math extensions just detect math syntax and style it directly?
- tikhonj 2mo agoI mean, in this case, it's 2^{0.6039n}, and the n is pretty important. I can see why trying to automatically detect cases like this would run into a bunch of wrong behaviors (either styling text that was not meant to be math notation, or parsing the implied math notation incorrectly).
- hyperhello 2mo agoOkay, I had the problem going the other way. I assumed the n was a symbol on the previous number, like an f suffix in C. But even still, 2^(0.6039n) could have been rendered in a nice way stripping out the parenthesis, leaving the core text mathematically correct.
- altairprime 2mo agoEmail the mods to have the title edited, hn@ycombinator.com; it’s a worthwhile change here. “in 2^[0.6039n+o(n)] time” could be a better edit than the paper’s provided title, though I selected [] rather than {} for human use. I defer to experts in the field on whether it matters to declare O(n) or not.
- shiandow 2mo agoYou'll want small o, not big O. Otherwise there's no point in mentioning the constant factor 0.6039. And yes the o(n) is relevant. Though I guess implied to some extent.
- altairprime 2mo agoOops, fixed!
- traes 2mo agoChanging {} to [] seems like a very strange suggestion to me. {} is used here because it's the way you group things in LaTeX. If you were going to change it for human use, why not just use parenthesis? What's wrong with {} in the first place?
- altairprime 2mo agoSure, that’s fine too. Whatever makes more sense than the current title is an improvement, and I can’t judge what’s best for this audience.
- teddyh 2mo agoYou mean 2⁰·⁶³⁹ⁿ