> So, we can run up to this number and either the machine will stop - and we'll go to the next one until exhaust the whole set - or the machine won't stop, and we'll refute the conjecture
No, you do not refute the conjecture if you run up to this number and a machine does not stop. Finding a machine that runs for more than 47,176,870 steps is easy - there are plenty of machines that run forever. The trick is that it needs to stop.
Clearly all the people complaining have never made a typo in their lives, and are unable to deal with the horrible inconvenience of having to actually deal with one!
right, it's a typo, it doesn't matter, and there was already a reply 4 hours before yours that said as much, so i'm not sure what you were aiming to contribute with the reply that doesn't acknowledge that it is a typo
To be honest I didn't even seen the typo, and I genuinely thought the person was suggesting that NASA was unaware Baja California is not the US, or that somehow a US spacecraft would land anywhere other than the US.
> If so what mechanism is actually holding the wire securely around those metal posts(terminals?)
The wire is wrapped around the posts several times, with no other mechanism. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_wrap has a good close up picture of one connection and a description of the details (including some info on how this forms a reliable connection)
this is neat, but the AP CS A ("AP Java") curriculum and test is extremely boring, and primarily tests for ability to write very basic Java programs using pencil & paper.
I think the college board threw out the actual computer science part (i.e. everything except java details) years ago.
I had never seen an AP CS test before... this test to me was almost nothing 'computer science' and almost all 'have you seen Java and OOP language structure before'. I had no idea that is what is being put forth to hs students as "CS".
There are certainly some Java details assessed, and arguably more than there should be, but the exam does assess the ability to use variables and write expressions; to write loops, including nested loops; to write conditional statements, including nested and complex conditionals; to write methods that call other methods; to organise data and behaviour using instance variables, methods, and inheritance; to store and process sequential and two-dimensional data; and questions in the corresponding multiple-choice section are likely to briefly address sorting, and recursion, though those topics are not assessed in the FRQs.
I.e. introductory programming. There's nothing in the list I wrote above that is specific to Java (and if you swap out "methods" for "functions" it could be any number of different languages). It seems boring and basic to you because it is literally just the very beginning of a CS curriculum. If you're only seeing the FRQs, which test code implementation, you should also know that in the multiple-choice section there are also problems requiring students to trace code, identify useful test cases, contrast similar code segments, and describe code behaviour—all of which are pointing to deeper computer science ideas—as well as figure out how many times a particular piece of code runs for a particular input, which is a precursor to Big-O analysis.
I took the class/exam around 20 years ago when they were using C++, and it definitely covered basic data structures, like implementing linked lists. Glancing at this exam, it does seem like a step backwards.
Until 2009, the subject APCS included two courses: A (roughly CS1) and AB (roughly CS2, or perhaps CS1+CS2 depending how it was taught). Linked lists, trees, recursion, interfaces, and two-dimensional data were all part of the AB course and not A. When College Board decided to stop offering the AB course, some of those (2D data, interfaces, and, to a minimal extent, recursion) were shifted into the A course, but the data structures stuff was left out. (Interfaces have since been removed from the A exam.)
Sounds like you took the AB course (and exam); had you taken APCS A, I think you would see a modern APCS A exam as easier in some ways and harder in others.
Any problem written for an exam like this is going to be at least a little contrived. :) But that "airline seat" one---2002? Some people still talk about that one! It's Q4 in https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/apc/compsci_a_frq_02_1... if you'd like to revisit it...
Hi, some of us try to compete in AoC. For me that is part of the fun.
In several previous years I have rescheduled things so I can stay up until the problems are released in my time zone to see how high on the leaderboard I could get.
It is sad that the AoC leaderboard will now just be filled with GPT entries.
I mean, that GPT solves problem 1,3,4 of AoC this year does not translate into it solving all problems, not even close.
For example, try giving ChatGPT the problem statement of https://adventofcode.com/2021/day/19. What comes out is basically gibberish. It seems to completely miss that the scanners report their coordinates in their own coordinate system.
But if nothing changes in the rules/community the leaderboards of early and more straight forward problems will probably be filled with GPT solutions.
I could see it be pretty demotivating not standing a chance against AIs for the first couple of days though (and since you don't know beforehand which day they'll break down you still have to put in the work everyday).
Yeah, definately. I would like the leaderboard to be for only humans. But it seems futile to try to ban it and enforce it in any meaningful way, without changing the concept. An honorsystem just stating "if you wish to use a languagemodel like gpt, then please wait before the leaderboard is filled" might work, but I'm not sure.
It's not about the importance of the act of filing paperwork, it's the fraud of lying to customers that you are following the law and then taking their money. For what it's worth, I don't think prison would help. But maybe some non-dischargable liabilities and a ban from being a corporate officer would.
If you were actually to commit fraud regulators can come for you whether you register or not. The act of registration is simply to make it easier to tell regulators what is happening.
Incinerating your life, trying all these new things, only to find that the emptiness returns shortly, and now it is no longer paired with a dependable income.
Unless you have mouths to feed, or someone who needs money for medical issues, who cares if you lose a dependable income? Why make decisions based in fear? Fear that you won’t be able to survive, that you won’t be able to make it. Have more confidence in yourself. You’ll adapt, and probably be even better off with the wisdom you’ve accumulated.
> requires 5.6 GW of solar energy. For context, this is roughly 10 days of solar panel production in 2021, though the industry continues to grow explosively. 5.6 GW consumes roughly 112 square km of land
the most popular solar panels are about 21% efficient
solar panels don't require maintenance, though efficiency drops if they get dusty
trees commonly require a lot of maintenance, i guess you don't know any gardeners; most afforestation and reforestation projects totally fail because they neglect this
but the biggest issue is that trees generally don't desalinate seawater
mangroves sort of do, but their output is water vapor, and generally growing mangroves in ocean water decreases evaporation from that ocean water rather than increasing it
in summary, how pv-powered desalination compares to just planting trees is that pv-powered desalination produces fresh water and planting trees doesn't
this particular medieval unit comes from irrigation
maybe a rice crop requires three feet of water from planting to harvest, and you normally only get three inches of rain during that time, so you need 2.75 acre-feet of irrigation water per acre of rice
No, you do not refute the conjecture if you run up to this number and a machine does not stop. Finding a machine that runs for more than 47,176,870 steps is easy - there are plenty of machines that run forever. The trick is that it needs to stop.