kqr

75 ms·

1411.
by kqr 2y ago
Maybe 10 bits is the average over the dictionary – which is what matters here, but over normal text it is significantly less. Our best current estimation for relatively high-level text (texts published by the EU) is 6 bits per word[1]. Howe
1412.
by kqr 2y ago
Kolmogorov complexity conventionally refers to the Turing machine as the base for implementation. This indeed makes repeated letters significantly less complex than that other string. (If you want intuition for how much code is needed to do
1413.
by kqr 2y ago
gzip (or really DEFLATE) does actually come with a small predefined dictionary (the "fixed Huffman codes" in the RFC) which is somewhat optimised for latin letters in UTF-8, but I have not verified that this is indeed what ends up
1414.
by kqr 2y ago
Interesting. If I had to do this, I would have done something like perl -lne 'next unless $_; $z = qx(echo "$_" | gzip | wc -c); printf "%5.2f %s\n", $z/length($_), $_' on the principle that hi
1415.
by kqr 2y ago
If your point is that it's more of an arithmetic sequence than a line segment, thanks to discretisation, then I agree but I don't have a good word for it other than "discrete piecewise linear". I mean it's not conti
1416.
by kqr 2y ago
I'm not sure I understand. Imagine a very small 6-bit float, with 1 bit sign, 2 bits exponent, and 3 bits mantissa. The interval [010000, 010111] contains the numbers 2, 2.25, 2.5, 2.75, 3, 3.25, 3.5, 3.75. But! These numbers' bas
1417.
by kqr 2y ago
I think the lesson is that tricky concepts have to be taught by example. Some theoretically-bent people can read a definition and generate their own examples, but most people I've met need to be presented with and taught one example at
1418.
by kqr 2y ago
Then you call it a parallel discovery!
1419.
by kqr 2y ago
This is important, I think. Allen Ward expands on the topic of "reusable knowledge" standing in contrast to putting notes in a binder and sticking the binder in a cabinet somewhere and then pretending you have stored knowledge. Fo
1420.
by kqr 2y ago
If it was anywhere close to feasible, I would absolutely prefer a pair of professional pilots up front driving my car. Their training, systems knowledge, checklists, emergency procedures, etc. are far better than anything I can do when I ex
1421.
by kqr 2y ago
Bikeshedding -- that thing where large teams spend a long time discussing an insignificant but concrete and highly intuitive detail? I don't think model of airliner fits that definition.
1422.
by kqr 2y ago
> some websites (I think kayak) can even filter by including or excluding aircraft specific models. This feature was added for people who wanted to avoid newer Boeing models, for context. Nobody cared what model they flew before the 737
1423.
Fermi, Majorana, and Mental Maths(two-wrongs.com)
2 points by kqr 2y ago|0 comments
1424.
by kqr 2y ago
Yup. Similarly, if staplers and scissors always disappear from office cabinets, it's often because people know they disappear so they hold onto them to have them available. It's a self-reinforcing system. But if one buys a bunch o
1425.
by kqr 2y ago
R is a great language for statistical analysis. The basics are in there and it has a rich library ecosystem for more unusual things, like extreme value analysis, survival analysis, etc.
1426.
by kqr 2y ago
I'm going to give OP the benefit of the doubt and assume they have sat down and figured out what "starting the app" really means, but they didn't want that definition to be the focus of the article.
1427.
Statistical Shortcomings in Standard Math Libraries (2014)(evanmiller.org)
3 points by kqr 2y ago|2 comments
1428.
by kqr 2y ago
This is usually the easiest way to estimate these probabilities also. Thanks for elaborating!
1429.
by kqr 2y ago
Quite the contrary. The only thing that really matters when it comes to probabilistic forecasting is that we do the maths right. The numbers will always be made up estimations, so the only thing that sort of makes sure we converge on simi
1430.
Generating Almost Normally Distributed Values(two-wrongs.com)
2 points by kqr 2y ago|0 comments
1431.
by kqr 2y ago
I can't explain it briefly nor do I know what it is called, but it consisted of a series of weekly lectures from a psychologist who was good at this stuff. Then some homework in between, which had themes circling around decomposing com
1432.
by kqr 2y ago
This is called theory of mind and I've been experimenting on my first child as he has grown up and he had it much earlier than research would suggest. (I even tried replicating one of the actual experiments used.) I suspect there&#x2
1433.
Why Donate to Charity(two-wrongs.com)
1 points by kqr 2y ago|1 comments
1434.
by kqr 2y ago
The correlation may have been on a cultural level, rather than individual. I.e. cultures with a high degree of literacy train their children in logic and abstraction; primarily oral cultures do not. The hen and the egg problem is obvious he
1435.
by kqr 2y ago
Some primary feelings are more pronounced in hands and feet (anger), others in face (interest) but many express themselves strongly in the gut (surprise, happiness, disgust, fear). In my culture we are often not taught to pay attention to o
1436.
by kqr 2y ago
It's a bit pop-sciency but I realised how much I had learned from it when I re-read it!
1437.
by kqr 2y ago
This is as good a place as any for the reminder, so here goes: The organisation that bears Helen Keller's name does an outstanding job of giving children vitamin A, which helps prevent both blindness and other common diseases like mal
1438.
by kqr 2y ago
Also a prime example of the converse used by a university lecturer of mine: "If something seems like magic you're not asking enough questions."
1439.
by kqr 2y ago
Going over barbed wire was a common way to set up local telephone lines to the neighbours in rural U.S. So yeah, "does it work over barbed wire" may be a "yeah but is it still worse than the telephone?" question.
1440.
by kqr 2y ago
For some reason, oral media are not as good at this as the written word and abstract drawing. James Gleick ( The Information ) speculates that it has to do with being able to zoom back and forth between parts of sentences and paragraphs.

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