2025/04/28

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2025-04-28 23:51:06 +0200 <darkling> Yoghurt shouldn't be set, either.
2025-04-28 23:50:13 +0200tolgo(~Thunderbi@199.115.144.130)
2025-04-28 23:49:24 +0200 <EvanR> lol
2025-04-28 23:49:14 +0200 <davean> I prefer my theories dynamic, not set.
2025-04-28 23:49:02 +0200 <EvanR> how could you possibly know if the proof was right or wrong!
2025-04-28 23:49:00 +0200prdak(~Thunderbi@user/prdak) (Ping timeout: 252 seconds)
2025-04-28 23:48:53 +0200 <EvanR> they didn't even have set theory
2025-04-28 23:48:43 +0200 <EvanR> smh 19th century
2025-04-28 23:48:00 +0200 <darkling> I always liked the history of Fermat's Last Problem. Was thought to be solved for 20 years, back in the 19th century, before someone spotted the mistake.
2025-04-28 23:46:57 +0200 <davean> It wasn't actually a short list
2025-04-28 23:46:48 +0200merijn(~merijn@host-vr.cgnat-g.v4.dfn.nl) (Ping timeout: 252 seconds)
2025-04-28 23:46:46 +0200 <davean> I should dig that up
2025-04-28 23:46:43 +0200 <davean> I once had a list of "Hard problems solved by accident people someone thought it should be easy"
2025-04-28 23:46:28 +0200 <darkling> Hehe. I hope not.
2025-04-28 23:46:02 +0200 <davean> darkling: Or it was and the prof just assumed it was wrong ;)
2025-04-28 23:45:52 +0200 <int-e> yet
2025-04-28 23:45:27 +0200 <darkling> Yeah. The Riemann Hypothesis hasn't been one of those yet, though. :)
2025-04-28 23:45:24 +0200 <EvanR> strategy
2025-04-28 23:45:22 +0200 <EvanR> didn't know the question was supposed to be hard
2025-04-28 23:45:18 +0200LainIwakura(~LainIwaku@user/LainIwakura) (Ping timeout: 240 seconds)
2025-04-28 23:44:57 +0200 <davean> There have been several cases of long standing math problems solved because undergrads thought they were supposed to be ab le to sovle it
2025-04-28 23:44:50 +0200 <darkling> They weren't even marked, let alone credit-worthy. But several of that lecturer's questions qould lead to the follow-on question, "would you like a PhD?"
2025-04-28 23:44:32 +0200 <davean> wouldn't be rthe first time a long standing math problem was solved by dint of being put on a college exam
2025-04-28 23:44:16 +0200prdak(~Thunderbi@user/prdak) prdak
2025-04-28 23:44:01 +0200 <davean> darkling: eh there is partial credit for coming up with interesting intermediate results
2025-04-28 23:43:17 +0200 <darkling> davean: We'd get problem sheets like that from our lecturers. One of the questions, once, was, literally, "prove the Riemann Hypothesis". Lecturer taking a hopeful punt... :)
2025-04-28 23:42:17 +0200 <darkling> or, slightly less offensive, but still missing the point, "I spent a lot of time on it!"
2025-04-28 23:42:09 +0200 <davean> My favorit exams where "Here are three things, you have a week to prove them"
2025-04-28 23:41:49 +0200 <darkling> "I showed up! I should get marks for that!"
2025-04-28 23:41:44 +0200merijn(~merijn@host-vr.cgnat-g.v4.dfn.nl) merijn
2025-04-28 23:41:11 +0200 <davean> They're not even given connectives
2025-04-28 23:41:08 +0200 <monochrom> I don't know. I guess if one has an entitlement attitude then one understands how this is unfair.
2025-04-28 23:41:02 +0200 <davean> Those are statements, where is the logic though?
2025-04-28 23:40:27 +0200 <monochrom> "Every question requires thinking. There are very little free marks. This is unfair."
2025-04-28 23:39:15 +0200 <int-e> davean: it's easy if you don't think about it? :)
2025-04-28 23:39:07 +0200 <davean> It would seem one based on memorization one might have an argument on because one could just look up facts.
2025-04-28 23:38:40 +0200 <davean> monochrom: How does one complain they were deprived by an exam requiring thinking?
2025-04-28 23:38:22 +0200gorignak(~gorignak@user/gorignak) gorignak
2025-04-28 23:36:29 +0200 <darkling> (They changed it all two years before I was born, but the coins were still in circulation).
2025-04-28 23:35:54 +0200 <darkling> I remember using "5p" and "10p" coins that were marked "1 shilling" and "2 shillings".
2025-04-28 23:34:57 +0200 <darkling> The pund remained the same. The shilling (12 old pence, 5 new) and two shilling coins were kept. Everything under a shilling was dropped, and a new coin (50p) minted for the 10 shilling point.
2025-04-28 23:33:49 +0200 <monochrom> I say that because a lot of students are complaining that I am depriving them of their rightful marks because my exam required thinking.
2025-04-28 23:32:51 +0200 <EvanR> ooooooo
2025-04-28 23:32:25 +0200 <monochrom> A lot of people must have complaint that their rightful wealth were literally decimated. >:)
2025-04-28 23:31:43 +0200 <darkling> (There's an entire plot thread in a couple of Trollope's books about that, 120 years before they actually did it).
2025-04-28 23:31:43 +0200 <EvanR> use unary floating point
2025-04-28 23:31:07 +0200merijn(~merijn@host-vr.cgnat-g.v4.dfn.nl) (Ping timeout: 265 seconds)
2025-04-28 23:30:56 +0200 <darkling> For extra fun, consider pre-decimalisation British coinage (240 pence / pound; fractions down to 1/4p, so 960 farthings to the pound)... and then the transition to decimalised currency. :)
2025-04-28 23:27:53 +0200 <monochrom> I don't know. But I start with: How do I express one half in unary?
2025-04-28 23:27:02 +0200 <davean> monochrom: wouldn't unary be better?