[dokuwiki] Re: Fun: (Birthday Challenge: US, VA, Lynchburg)
- From: Nayan Shah <nayanmange@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: dokuwiki@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:14:14 +0530
Not sure if its authentic or not, but continuing the "fun".
On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 11:36 AM, Support Account <
Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Here in Lynchburg, Virginia, US, we are required to gracefully challenge
> anyone in a third year of study in Mathematics & Computing. Please consider
> "Problem Proposal #1109, Mathematics Magazine 53:5 (November, 1980), 300
> (with solution), "When will spring next begin on March 21st in the United
> States?'" as it appears at http://www.trnicely.net/. Is Dr. Tom Nicely's
> solution correct? Will Spring really begin on my birthday (20 March) this
> year, or will my former professor remove points from my life-grade?
>
>
Happy birthday Robert. Spring did start on your birthday this year, 20th
March. Every leap year the exact time slips backwards a little until a
non-leap century year when it jumps forward.
So my quick answer to your question would be in 2100 AD, it should jump back
to 21st March. But Dr. Nicely's solution may be more precise.
(Reference:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/100320/vernal-equinox-2011-first-day-spring-science/
)
> (For additional fun, see also "Original e-mail
> message<http://www.trnicely.net/pentbug/bugmail1.html>announcing the
> discovery of the Pentium division flaw, 30 October 1994" and
> consider class exercises which might have been required. To how many decimal
> places do most professors verify solutions?)
>
>
Floating point arithmetic is still an issue even today, because unlike
integers, floats have limited precision. E.g. Take Javascript :
x = 0.1+0.2;
alert(x);
Expected answer is 0.3, but its actually 0.30000000000000004. An error at
the 17th decimal place. Yes, but it can be compared as (x - 0.3) < delta,
where delta is the required accuracy.
Coming back to your question, required accuracy depends on the nature of the
problem and the order of variables involved, e.g speed of light or mass of
atom. In general, I'd say accuracy till the 6th decimal is quite enough.
(Resource:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/5836/What-Every-Computer-Scientist-Should-Know-About-FloatingPoint-Arithmetic
)
> -Robert "Rob" Gregory
> feel free to say "Happy Birthday" toll-free at +1-877-476-2243
> (+1-877-4Robbie)
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> *From:* Nayan Shah <nayanmange@xxxxxxxxx>
> *To:* dokuwiki@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Sent:* Saturday, March 19, 2011 11:15 PM
> *Subject:* [dokuwiki] Remote API for XML RPC
>
> Hello Everybody,
>
> A little introduction about me. My name is Nayan. I am a student from
> Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, India, currently in 3rd
> year studying Mathematics & Computing.
>
> I would like to work on the RPC interface in developing a remote API. I
> have got previous experience in PHP but relatively new to RPC protocols.
>
> The wiki says it is incomplete and would be partially implemented soon. I
> would like to know its current status and how I could help.
>
> Thanks,
> Regards
> --
> Nayan Shah
> Institute of Technology, BHU.
>
>
Regards
--
Nayan Shah
Institute of Technology, BHU.
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