yequalsx

27 ms·

211.
by yequalsx 9y ago
There's a famous joke along the lines of: Economists have predicted 12 of the 3 market crashes. The problem with looking at who correctly predicted the last crash is that so many people make predictions of the form, "there will be
212.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Clearly you miss the point of the outrage over this.
213.
by yequalsx 9y ago
My statement was about the genetic basis for behavior in humans and whether there has been enough time for genetic based human behavior to have much variation.
214.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Your last sentence of your original post was "...evolved different inbred attitudes..." This refers to evolved in the sense of genetics. Of course human populations have different patterns of behavior. But the question is whethe
215.
by yequalsx 9y ago
I'm guessing you are not an expert in human behavior. I'm not either. Your last sentence though is an example of the sort of sloppy thinking that kills your desire to read further. You say, "different populations may have e
216.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Because humans haven't been around long enough for one to expect that sort of genetic variation. Possibly because the link between behavior and genetics is nonexistent. I don't know enough about the topic to know if there is a l
217.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Medicare and Social Security are not entitlements. Social Security is a pension system that we pay into. There are some exceptions to this for Social Security but a large majority of the funds payed out are to people who paid into the sys
218.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Think about how much trash you generate. How much plastic ends up in landfills due to your buying habits. This isn't a dig at you. There's really no practical way to avoid it. Now we can say Company A is responsible for making
219.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Sure, if several billion people did this then that would be helpful in greatly decreasing humanity's pollution impact. But just me committing suicide isn't going to help. The fact is there are way too many people consuming at an
220.
by yequalsx 9y ago
The population of the world needs to decrease substantially. I'm talking by hundreds of millions and even billions. I know lots of first world people who care about the environment. They drive cars, fly in planes, buy iPhones, buy c
221.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Child births are down in rich countries. However, to compensate those rich countries import people and those people end up living like Americans or Europeans. There is also the fact that wealth increasing worldwide and consumption corresp
222.
by yequalsx 9y ago
The best way a person can do something is to have less than or equal to 1 child. The world can not sustain large numbers of people who live like Americans. It can not sustain large numbers of people who live like rich Europeans. Pollutio
223.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Here's something else to consider. There used to be obfuscated C programming contests. If symbols are just symbols and using them in nonstandard ways isn't confusing then shouldn't this mean that there is no such thing as o
224.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Here is an interesting observation on what you wrote: x(y) = (+/-) sqrt(y) is not valid notation. On the left hand side you are stating that x is a function of y. But on the right hand side your usage of (+/-) indicates that y c
225.
by yequalsx 9y ago
I'm certain you would be confused by non-standard usage of notation. It's not just symbols and that any symbol can be used. Try reading or speaking English with the adjectives in an order that is not expected. It's confusi
226.
by yequalsx 9y ago
In theory it shouldn't matter but it does. We brainwash students to think in terms of y being a function of x. y = f(x) If you give a problem with x = f(y) it really confuses people. If I label the horizontal axis y and the vertical
227.
by yequalsx 9y ago
I teach math at a community college. I've tried many times to teach my courses in such a way that understanding the concepts and thinking were the goals. Perhaps I'm jaded by the failures I encountered but students do not want t
228.
by yequalsx 9y ago
My wife recently completed her residency. She has $370,000 in student loans. In order to pay off the loans she needs a high salary. The high salary doesn't go away once the school loans are paid off. It'd make a whole lot more
229.
by yequalsx 9y ago
If you are living with a friend but aren't part of the lease and can, theoretically, be kicked out at any time you are homeless. The key factor being uncertainty in living situation.
230.
by yequalsx 9y ago
I tach at a community college and this topic comes up periodically. The definition used for being homeless is not what people generally think of when they hear this term. What is surprising to me is that I'm expected to teach a homele
231.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Guild systems do not inevitably resort to overbilling. They may resort to being overpriced but not to overbilling or lack of transparency in billing. I've not heard of doctor salaries being the reason for the U.S. spending far more p
232.
by yequalsx 9y ago
The point of the problem I gave was not to find the derivative or even to know if a function is differentiable. The point is to test their understanding of the definition of derivative. It's a good problem in that is tests whether a
233.
by yequalsx 9y ago
I see. Then I don't understand what point you were trying to make. There are lots of different ways of testing understanding of a concept. I presented one way of doing so with students having access to a computer.
234.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Regarding the first sentence your wrote. That's how you solve the problem. Graph the difference quotient for x=2 and h in [-0.1, 0.1] or some such suitably small region. It's quite easy to do in the computer. One just needs to
235.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Actually it's not a complicated tool with the free form input, integration with Wolfam Alpha, and templates for the commands used. Also during every test I would correct any command that didn't execute properly. Your point origin
236.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Students could not do the computer based problems. Save for a few. More students get through with the old paradigm. Old paradigm problem. Here is f, using the definition of derivative find f'. New paradigm problem. Here is f. Here
237.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Have you tried teaching calculus where everyone gets to use Wolfram Alpha and/or Mathematica? I did for three years. I discovered that the students really don't understand the concepts and more importantly don't want to. Th
238.
by yequalsx 9y ago
I think it most likely has but you currently aren't consciously aware of it. Partly this is due to your desire to make a point. Partly due to our inability to off the top of our heads to recall any but a few specific adverts. We see
239.
by yequalsx 9y ago
It's the news too. Almost every article or TV news report on TSA screening includes someone saying how the security theater is worth it because it keeps us safe.
240.
by yequalsx 9y ago
Well the man in the article talked about how important it was for him to bring his boys home. That is provide an environment where he sees them at home with a future in farming. It's what he said. Emotion is a huge part of business de

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