Random Articles (Page 3)
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π Windows Key
The Windows logo key (also known as Windows, win, start, logo, flag, OS, or super key) is a keyboard key which was originally introduced on Microsoft's Natural Keyboard in 1994. This key became a standard key on PC keyboards. In Windows, pressing the key brings up the start menu. Ctrl+Esc performs the same function, in case the keyboard lacks this key.
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- "Windows Key" | 2023-11-18 | 17 Upvotes 6 Comments
π German Wikipedia blacked out in protest against EU copyright reform
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- "German Wikipedia blacked out in protest against EU copyright reform" | 2019-03-20 | 123 Upvotes 2 Comments
π Buffon's Needle Problem
In mathematics, Buffon's needle problem is a question first posed in the 18th century by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon:
- Suppose we have a floor made of parallel strips of wood, each the same width, and we drop a needle onto the floor. What is the probability that the needle will lie across a line between two strips?
Buffon's needle was the earliest problem in geometric probability to be solved; it can be solved using integral geometry. The solution for the sought probability p, in the case where the needle length l is not greater than the width t of the strips, is
This can be used to design a Monte Carlo method for approximating the number Ο, although that was not the original motivation for de Buffon's question.
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- "Buffon's Needle Problem" | 2019-09-28 | 51 Upvotes 7 Comments
π Mechanism design
Mechanism design is a field in economics and game theory that takes an objectives-first approach to designing economic mechanisms or incentives, toward desired objectives, in strategic settings, where players act rationally. Because it starts at the end of the game, then goes backwards, it is also called reverse game theory. It has broad applications, from economics and politics (markets, auctions, voting procedures) to networked-systems (internet interdomain routing, sponsored search auctions).
Mechanism design studies solution concepts for a class of private-information games. Leonid Hurwicz explains that 'in a design problem, the goal function is the main "given", while the mechanism is the unknown. Therefore, the design problem is the "inverse" of traditional economic theory, which is typically devoted to the analysis of the performance of a given mechanism.' So, two distinguishing features of these games are:
- that a game "designer" chooses the game structure rather than inheriting one
- that the designer is interested in the game's outcome
The 2007 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, and Roger Myerson "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory".
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- "Mechanism design" | 2015-05-06 | 31 Upvotes 1 Comments
π Strowger Telephone Switch (1891)
The Strowger switch is the first commercially successful electromechanical stepping switch telephone exchange system. It was developed by the Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange Company founded in 1891 by Almon Brown Strowger. Because of its operational characteristics it is also known as a step-by-step (SXS) switch.
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- "Strowger Telephone Switch (1891)" | 2016-11-24 | 22 Upvotes 12 Comments
π Cluster (spacecraft)
Cluster was a constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft which were launched on the maiden flight of the Ariane 5 rocket, Flight 501, and subsequently lost when that rocket failed to achieve orbit. The launch, which took place on Tuesday, 4 June 1996, ended in failure due to multiple errors in the software design: Dead code (running, but purposeful so only for Ariane 4) with inadequate protection against integer overflow led to an exception handled inappropriatelyβhalting the whole inertial navigation system that otherwise would have been unaffected. This resulted in the rocket veering off its flight path 37 seconds after launch, beginning to disintegrate under high aerodynamic forces, and finally self-destructing by its automated flight termination system. The failure has become known as one of the most infamous and expensive software bugs in history. The failure resulted in a loss of more than US$370 million.
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- "Cluster (spacecraft)" | 2013-06-04 | 29 Upvotes 17 Comments
π Mariko Aoki Phenomenon
The Mariko Aoki phenomenon (ιζ¨γΎγγηΎθ±‘, Aoki Mariko genshΕ) is a Japanese expression referring to an urge to defecate that is suddenly felt after entering bookstores. The phenomenon's name derives from the name of the woman who mentioned the phenomenon in a magazine article in 1985. According to Japanese social psychologist Shozo Shibuya, the specific causes that trigger a defecation urge in bookstores are not yet clearly understood (as of 2014). There are also some who are skeptical about whether such a peculiar phenomenon really exists at all, and it is sometimes discussed as one type of urban myth.
The series of processes through which being in a bookstore leads to an awareness of a defecation urge is something that cannot be explained from a medical perspective as a single pathological concept, at least at present. According to a number of discussions on the topic, even if it can be sufficiently found that this phenomenon actually exists, it is a concept that would be difficult to be deemed a specific pathological entity (such as a "Mariko Aoki disease", for example). On the other hand, it is also a fact that a considerable number of the intellectuals (particularly clinicians) who discuss this phenomenon have adopted existing medical terminology such as from diagnostics and pathology. Borrowing from this approach, this article also uses expressions from existing medical terminology for convenience.
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- "The Mariko Aoki Phenomenon" | 2024-05-11 | 15 Upvotes 2 Comments
- "Mariko Aoki phenomenon" | 2018-12-30 | 11 Upvotes 2 Comments
π Tennis for Two was an electronic game developed in 1958 on an analog computer
Tennis for Two (also known as Computer Tennis) is a sports video game, which simulates a game of tennis, and was one of the first games developed in the early history of video games. American physicist William Higinbotham designed the game in 1958 for display at the Brookhaven National Laboratory's annual public exhibition after learning that the government research institution's Donner Model 30 analog computer could simulate trajectories with wind resistance. He designed the game, displayed on an oscilloscope and played with two custom aluminum controllers, in a few hours, after which he and technician Robert V. Dvorak built it over three weeks. The game's visuals show a representation of a tennis court viewed from the side, and players adjust the angle of their shots with a knob on their controller and try to hit the ball over the net by pressing a button.
The game was very popular during the three-day exhibition, with players lining up to see the game, especially high school students. It was shown again the following year with a larger oscilloscope screen and a more complicated design that could simulate different gravity levels. It was then dismantled and largely forgotten until the late 1970s when Higinbotham testified in court about the game during lawsuits between Magnavox and Ralph H. Baer over video game patents. Since then, it has been celebrated as one of the earliest video games, and Brookhaven has made recreations of the original device. Under some definitions Tennis for Two is considered the first video game, as while it did not include any technological innovations over prior games, it was the first computer game to be created purely as an entertainment product rather than for academic research or commercial technology promotion.
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- "Tennis for Two was an electronic game developed in 1958 on an analog computer" | 2015-12-31 | 30 Upvotes 10 Comments
π Is 0 Odd or Even?
Zero is an even number. In other words, its parityβthe quality of an integer being even or oddβis even. This can be easily verified based on the definition of "even": it is an integer multiple of 2, specifically 0 Γ 2. As a result, zero shares all the properties that characterize even numbers: for example, 0 is neighbored on both sides by odd numbers, any decimal integer has the same parity as its last digitβso, since 10 is even 0 will be even, and if y is even then y + x has the same parity as xβand x and 0 + x always have the same parity.
Zero also fits into the patterns formed by other even numbers. The parity rules of arithmetic, such as even β even = even, require 0 to be even. Zero is the additive identity element of the group of even integers, and it is the starting case from which other even natural numbers are recursively defined. Applications of this recursion from graph theory to computational geometry rely on zero being even. Not only is 0 divisible by 2, it is divisible by every power of 2, which is relevant to the binary numeral system used by computers. In this sense, 0 is the "most even" number of all.
Among the general public, the parity of zero can be a source of confusion. In reaction time experiments, most people are slower to identify 0 as even than 2, 4, 6, or 8. Some students of mathematicsβand some teachersβthink that zero is odd, or both even and odd, or neither. Researchers in mathematics education propose that these misconceptions can become learning opportunities. Studying equalities like 0βΓβ2 = 0 can address students' doubts about calling 0 a number and using it in arithmetic. Class discussions can lead students to appreciate the basic principles of mathematical reasoning, such as the importance of definitions. Evaluating the parity of this exceptional number is an early example of a pervasive theme in mathematics: the abstraction of a familiar concept to an unfamiliar setting.
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- "Is 0 Odd or Even?" | 2009-10-20 | 18 Upvotes 28 Comments
π IKEA Effect
The IKEA effect is a cognitive bias in which consumers place a disproportionately high value on products they partially created. The name derives from the name of Swedish manufacturer and furniture retailer IKEA, which sells many furniture products that require assembly.
The IKEA effect has been described as follows: "The price is low for IKEA products largely because they take labor out of the equation. With a Phillips screwdriver, an Allen wrench and rubber mallet, IKEA customers can very literally build an entire home's worth of furniture on a very tight budget. But what happens when they do?" They "fall in love with their IKEA creations. Even when there are parts missing and the items are incorrectly built, customers in the IKEA study still loved the fruits of their labors."
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- "IKEA Effect" | 2021-01-18 | 13 Upvotes 1 Comments
- "IKEA Effect" | 2017-12-30 | 256 Upvotes 118 Comments