Wolfram Mathematica

Mr.Wizard

00:33

Is anyone able to determine which version (with or without "axb" in my example) the OP wants? I'd like to clean up and merge my answers but I'd rather not have to keep two versions of each method. Reference:

3

Q: How to extract strings from the list with an additional condition on previous elements?

There are a long list of strings $s$ and two lists of substrings $s1$ and $s2$. I want to take all elements of $s$ which contain a substring from $s2$ and such that before it on no more than $n$ places there is a string containing a substring from $s1$. For example, if s={"a","b1","c","b2","a",...

J. M.

@Mr.Wizard The OP has been remarkably uncommunicative after I posted the last update to my code, so I don't know...

Mr.Wizard

01:23

@J.M. @Rojo @belisarius someone has posted a question about drawing circuits:

0

Q: Circuit drawing in Mathematica

This past semester I taught an introductory electromagnetism course and had quite a nice time using Mathematica to draw all sorts of figures and diagrams (mostly for problems and etc.). However, I was unable to create a nice environment for the basic circuit elements such as resistors, capacitors...

computational-geometry physics

I could close it as a duplicate of this:

12

Q: Can Mathematica depict circuits?

I would like to depict a series of circuits without using Visio to create the diagram then import to Mathematica. Is this possible? EDIT: I would like to have output that is similar to the following:

graphics

But I notice that the author of the second post is a no-show. What do you think of the idea of closing that question in favor of the one with an author who is present?

Rojo

@Mr.Wizard No, I am not entirely sure what the OP wants there. I can only guess

@Mr.Wizard The answers get migrated too?

Mr.Wizard

@Rojo Sorry, I should have said a merge. Yes, move the answers to the new question. I don't know if this is a good precedent to set however.

J. M.

I'd do a merge myself.

Mr.Wizard

@J.M. sorry, I need to leave for maybe 15 minutes. Please hold off on the action until I get back.

J. M.

@Mr.Wizard Sure, I'm doing something else at the moment, too.

R.M

01:39

@Mr.Wizard A merge would be good, yes. I hadn't seen this discussion and voted to close the new, but I agree that since the other OP is a no show, old -> new would be good

Also, both questions are very generic with little details in them, so a merge won't leave the answers dangling and without context

J. M.

"very", yes...

Mr.Wizard

I think I'm seeing two votes to merge old into new. @Rojo what do you say?

Anybody else reading want to weigh in before I merge these?

Mr.Wizard

02:08

Merge completed.

Rojo

02:43

@Mr.Wizard Yeah, agree. Sorry, sudden long phone call

belisarius

04:00

@Mr.Wizard You here?

Szabolcs

07:11

I am trying to 'validate' a file as a proper notebook (and not junk data). I thought I'd try to Import it as a package, and if the import succeeds, it should be a correct Mathematica expression. But I'm getting a warning that I don't know what to make out of:

np = Import["https://raw.github.com/szhorvat/SEUploader/master/SEUploaderLatest.nb", "Package"]

An improperly formatted directive with head RowBox was encountered. appears in the console. Now is this a genuine problem in the notebook (which was saved by the Front End BTW!!) or a bug?

Got it, need to import as {"Package", "HeldExpressions"}

Or ... not exactly. I still get the message.

This message is issued by the Front End when it formats the expression. It won't appear if the expression is not formatted anywhere in a notebook.

Szabolcs

08:02

How can I NotebookSave a notebook without including the cached information such as window position, etc.? I don't want to turn off caching, just save it once without this information.

Szabolcs

08:18

Should we have a spelunking tag for all kinds of reverse engineering and system exploration questions?

2

Q: How is pattern specificity decided?

Mathematica has a notion of pattern specificity, which is a partial ordering on patterns. The rules (e.g. DownValues, SubValues, etc) attached to a symbol are linearly ordered, with this ordering determined by the order in which the values and the specificity ordering. During evaluation, the ru...

pattern-matching downvalues

Such a tag would make a really interesting reading.

Feeds

Szabolcs has made a change to the feeds posted into this room

Stack Exchange

09:51

0

Q: Promotional Mathematica button

Is there a nice official "Download Mathematica Free Trial" HTML button (or something similar) to encourage people to try Mathematica, that we can put on our web sites?

discussion

magma

10:03

@Szabolcs thank you for the link to the SE butttons. it is not clear to me: in the answers to that community wiki, do we have to use exactly that text (and later fill a form) or we have to fill the url addresses of our graphics and web site and post the answer?

Szabolcs

@magma You have to create a graphic of exactly the right size, then fill out the URL to link to, and URL to the ad graphics, and a tagline that will appear when the mouse is over the ad. The structure of the post has to be exactly as shown in the template, but the URLs need to be edited.

If the ad is upvoted enough, it will appear in the site's sidebar occasionally (not very often)

Feeds

10:25

Szabolcs has made a change to the feeds posted into this room

Mr.Wizard

10:44

There is a tantalizing outline of a presentation here:

Creating Notations, Templated Structures, and Tensors

Sadly is it is short on details. Does anyone know if a more complete version exists, or of another presentation Notebook on the same topic?

Szabolcs

10:58

@Mr.Wizard Are you using the image uploader palette? Could you please test it on version 7 if you have time?

I feel a lot of pressure now that the ad keep appearing more often than I imagined it would.

@Mr.Wizard To my knowledge I'm not using any v8-only functionality, but some things may still be broken

Szabolcs

11:16

I want to make sure it's working well enough and then leave it alone for a while and not touch it unless there's a bug.

Mr.Wizard

11:29

@Szabolcs I presume you mean a recent version of the palette? I'm still using what is AFAIK the original version without problem or complaint. I've been aware that you're making changes but I haven't felt the need to upgrade. How is it different now?

magma

12:31

@Mr.Wizard @Mr.Wizard thank you for the link. Yes it is tantalizing, but ultimately disappointing, since very little is actually explained. I still do not understand how you are suppoesed to use the TagBox command with a practical example. Besides, all this tensor notation and canonicalization mentioned in the paper (in 2001) has never been introduced in MMA. as far as I know my xPrint package (part of the xAct suite) is still the first to offer wysiwyg tensorial input capabilities.

@Mr.Wizard In Wildcats (my category theory package) I am a heavy user of the notation package, used programmatically, so i am clearly looking forward to seeing better and more detailed documentation regarding Notation

Verbeia

All, I have uploaded a draft post on making the logo. Feel free to edit/comment/etc. It would be good if the second and third pictures were smaller - the system didn't seem to want me to upload pictures.

See the blog chat room for the URL

Rojo

13:15

@SjoerdC.deVries

I was about to post a comment on your answer and couldn't because it got deleted

Szabolcs

@Mr.Wizard It keeps a history of the nine last uploaded images (the URLs can be copied again), and it has automatic updates integrated. I was asking you because I know you use Mma 7, and I can't test on that version now.

Rojo

@SjoerdC.deVries anyway, ping me up if you undelete it. As you said, I think it can be fixed

Szabolcs

@Jin When you create the Mathematica blogoverflow theme, could we have the scrollbars removed from code blocks (<pre> ... </pre>)?

@Jin It seems that the code style within links is still blue. Did this detail get missed by accident?

R.M

@Szabolcs this was pointed out and Jin said it was a bug and that he'd fix it... must've forgotten

Also, comment on the meta post/leave answer... Jin won't get your messages

Szabolcs

@R.M I was the one who pointed it out. I thought a few fixes went in after he confirmed it was a bug, so I was worried it got forgotten (hence the reminder)

@R.M I already posted an answer on the design post the next day after the new theme went live.

R.M

13:30

hehe poke jin harder :)

Szabolcs

@R.M I'm going to ask you too to please test the image uploader since you're on Mac. Today I realized that a button that was only supposed to be shown on Windows was shown on all platforms and no one has complained about it.

Any small glitch you notice, please let me know!

R.M

@Szabolcs Oh, the (pp)? Yeah, I noticed that, but I wasn't aware that pixel perfect was windows only :P I've only used the Upload to SE button

Szabolcs

@R.M If you use a recent version, just press the update button, it should fix it. Another question: when you do an automatic update, does OS X show you an SSL error? RHall told me he gets such an error, but he's on version 10.8 (not yet released).

Sjoerd C. de Vries

13:46

@rojo I had a swim. Undeleted the post now.

R.M

@Szabolcs I had no errors and updated smoothly from 104 to 107 (OSX 10.7)

Oh, automatic update eh? This was a forced update... not sure it matters though

Szabolcs

@R.M Automatic update check, and manual update.

I didn't want to make it completely automatic, I thought that would be considered too much of an invasion

R.M

well, I'll wait for that to happen next time

Szabolcs

It checks every 3 days now, the button will light up in a pinkish colour if it finds and update

R.M

Ah.. Ok. That happened sometime too and didn't give errors

Rojo

13:57

@SjoerdC.deVries Thanks!

@SjoerdC.deVries Your code can be fixed I think by making the foo= a foo:= and adding LocalizeVariables->False

Edited

Delayed assignment is not necessary

J. M.

14:19

@Szabolcs Well, the help file uses the term too; I think it's fine to have a tag to mark all the system-digging questions, but maybe other people feel differently.

Szabolcs

@J.M. It does. Any other opinions? @Rojo, @R.M, @belisarius?

Rojo

@Szabolcs Haven't updated the uploader yet

belisarius

@Szabolcs sorry, in a conference now

Szabolcs

@Rojo About having a spelunking tag

Rojo

@Szabolcs I really like that tag. Isn't that something not quite approved officialy by WR?

R.M

14:22

I don't think it's useful... at least, I haven't seen a question that needs it

Jin

@Szabolcs I'm looking into that. I copied some css for the code highlighting. maybe that messed it up

Rojo

I think we would benefit from having a tag that groups questions and answers showing ways to investigate internals

Szabolcs

Alright, I'll go ahead and tag a few questions.

Rojo

and tweaking stuff

Szabolcs

@Rojo There's a doc page on "spelunking"

R.M

14:24

why not go with internal-implementation and undocumented?

the doc center uses it in 1 page and even then, in quotes

Rojo

True

Szabolcs

@R.M Oh... I was thinking of questions like these: mathematica.stackexchange.com/q/8619/12 mathematica.stackexchange.com/q/2572/12 mathematica.stackexchange.com/q/1742/12 mathematica.stackexchange.com/q/8607/12

Jin

@Szabolcs ok i found the bug. fixed on dev. you want to remove vertical scroll on <PRE>?

R.M

It's not a useful tag... it's something like an in-joke or insider-slang. I don't think it is useful for a general audience

Szabolcs

@Jin This is for the blog only, not for the main site. Right now code blocks have both a vertical and a horizontal scroll bar even if it's not actually needed. For example here: stats.blogoverflow.com/2011/09/appendable-saving-in-r Is it possible to only show the scrollbar if it is actually needed?

Jin

14:28

@Szabolcs got it. thanks. the "real skin" will be up for the Mathematica blog soon.

R.M

@Szabolcs I don't think any of those questions need it. None of those use any deep spelunking (like the kind Oleksandr does) — mostly just a basic Names[] — and even if it did, the answers don't mention how to spelunk.

If you're going spelunking, your primary interest is in exploring the cave, not sitting outside the cave and discussing the cool rocks that someone else found in there.

acl

@Szabolcs no SSL error on current OS version

Szabolcs

thanks!

robjohn

14:59

Hey all :-)

J. M.

You found it. :)

Jin

aha. there was a major css bug you guys didn't find!

J. M.

@Jin Lucky you. ;)

Jin

it's pretty major too! i'm surprised no one reported it. not gonna tell u what it is because the fix is on dev already :)

R.M

now I'm curious

robjohn

15:04

I posted an answer and at the end added a computation with a bit more precision. Unfortunately when I ask Mathematica to perform the same computation, without my Euler-Maclaurin estimate, its answer differs after 27 decimals. Any idea whether this might be Mathematica's problem? I will post some code.

b = Sum[1/Sqrt[k (k^2 + 1)], {k, 1, Infinity}]
N[b, 40]

That is the code to ask Mma to do the computation.

J. M.

@robjohn What if you use NSum[] directly?

i.e., something like NSum[1/Sqrt[k (k^2 + 1)], {k, 1, Infinity}, WorkingPrecision -> 40]

robjohn

@J.M. It complains, let me try it again and copy the complaint

R.M

@Jin have the other bugs been fixed in this build (from the meta post)

Jin

@R.M yes, i think so. the other bugs had been fixed already, no?

which specific ones are you referring to?

robjohn

In[43]:= NSum[1/Sqrt[k (k^2 + 1)], {k, 1, Infinity},
PrecisionGoal -> 40]

During evaluation of In[43]:= NIntegrate::ncvb: NIntegrate failed to converge to prescribed accuracy after 9 recursive bisections in k near {k} = {30.5189}. NIntegrate obtained 0.49980500467690414` and 1.3203549581800034`*^-17 for the integral and error estimates. >>

Out[43]= 2.26406

R.M

15:11

@Jin Code in <h1>, <h2>, etc

robjohn

Let me set the method

Jin

@R.M yes that will be fixed

R.M

Thanks :)

J. M.

@robjohn Well, it's still using machine-precision numbers. Try tweaking the WorkingPrecision.

R.M

NSum[1/Sqrt[k (k^2 + 1)], {k, 1, Infinity}, PrecisionGoal -> 40, WorkingPrecision -> 50]

robjohn

15:12

That is just what I am running now :-)

In[45]:= NSum[1/Sqrt[k (k^2 + 1)], {k, 1, Infinity},
WorkingPrecision -> 50, PrecisionGoal -> 40,
Method -> "EulerMaclaurin"]

Out[45]= 2.2640623991412210285923049769711831944251

That agrees with my computation :-)

Okay, so if I just get the settings right, it works :-)

@J.M. @R.M Thanks!

J. M.

For comparison:

2 Sqrt[Pi] NIntegrate[Sqrt[t] BesselJ[-1/4, t] BesselJ[1/4, t]/(Exp[2 t] - 1), {t, 0, Infinity}, Method -> "DoubleExponential", WorkingPrecision -> 40]

robjohn

@J.M. one decimal place less, but the same as far as it goes.

J. M.

(or change "DoubleExponential" to "Oscillatory" to use Longman's method.)

robjohn

@J.M. That works, too.

This is good! I wasn't sure which computation was in error. :-)

I was pretty sure that my EM Generator was working... (Euler-Maclaurin)

GenerateEM[n_] :=
Module[{a, b},
a = CoefficientList[Series[x/(1 - Exp[-x]), {x, 0, n}], x];
While[Length[a] < n + 1, AppendTo[a, 0]];
b = Table[Hold[D[#1, {#2, k}]] /. k -> i, {i, 0, n}];
ReleaseHold[Function[Evaluate[a.b]]]]

J. M.

@robjohn You know that BernoulliB[] is available, right? :)

@robjohn I was actually surprised at how quickly that Laplace integral converged, given that it's oscillatory...

robjohn

15:26

@J.M. Try GenerateEM[12] and see if that is anything like BernoulliB[]

Oleksandr R.

@Jin just FYI, the banner tiling is still not right. Has the tile image been updated yet?

robjohn

@J.M. I see, I could use that to generate the coefficients, too.

Jin

@OleksandrR. I haven't gotten do that yet, since it's minor compared to other css bugs. but I'll get that fixed this week.

Oleksandr R.

@Jin okay, no rush! Just curious.

J. M.

@robjohn Yeah, that's what I was saying. :)

Oleksandr R.

15:29

@Jin how about the fact that the links are underlined in the posts (and now the comments), but not in the FAQ (although they're the same color)?

Jin

@OleksandrR. that's definitely a bug. fixing now

Szabolcs

@Jin Could you please ping me when the new blog design goes live?

robjohn

@J.M. And it's been there since Mma 1, so it will work for older versions.

Jin

@Szabolcs will do

Szabolcs

Thanks!

J. M.

15:31

@Jin Thanks Jin!

robjohn

@J.M. But I think it's cool to get it from $\frac{x}{1-e^{-x}}$ though

J. M.

@robjohn Hmm, true.

The While[] loop... you could use PadRight[] instead.

robjohn

@J.M. Ah, now that is a definite improvement

@J.M. a=PadRight[a,n] should do the same thing.

J. M.

@robjohn or a = PadRight[CoefficientList[(* stuff *)], n]

robjohn

@J.M. I get an error with that.

A bunch of Hold stuff

J. M.

15:41

Huh. Here's what I'm using:

GenerateEM[n_] := Module[{a, b},
  a = PadRight[CoefficientList[Series[x/(1 - Exp[-x]), {x, 0, n}], x], n];
  b = Table[Hold[D[#1, {#2, k}]] /. k -> i, {i, 0, n}];
  ReleaseHold[Function[Evaluate[a.b]]]]

robjohn

Then try EM = GenerateEM[20]

belisarius

@Szabolcs I think it is useful only as a positive distinctiveness actuator to achieve Social identity. Ie: An internal joke.

robjohn

@J.M. Incompatible shapes is the error

J. M.

@robjohn Yeah, I noticed. Let me check how to fix PadRight[]...

robjohn

@J.M. It should be n+1 facepalm

Here is what I now have `GenerateEM[n_] :=
Module[{a, b},
a = PadRight[CoefficientList[Series[x/(1 - Exp[-x]), {x, 0, n}], x],
n + 1];
b = Table[Hold[D[#1, {#2, k}]] /. k -> i, {i, 0, n}];
ReleaseHold[Function[Evaluate[a.b]]]]`

J. M.

15:48

@robjohn Ah, of course. *blushes*.

robjohn

@J.M. It was my error.

robjohn

16:01

@J.M. here is the code I use to implement EMS:
GenerateEM[n_] :=
Module[{a, b},
a = PadRight[CoefficientList[Series[x/(1 - Exp[-x]), {x, 0, n}], x], n + 1];
b = Table[Hold[D[#1, {#2, k}]] /. k -> i, {i, 0, n}];
ReleaseHold[Function[Evaluate[a.b]]]]

EM = GenerateEM[11]

LInt = {Integrate[#1, #2], #2} &

EMSum[f_, x_] := Collect[EM @@ LInt[f, x], x]

J. M.

Hm, quite tidy-looking now.

robjohn

I could probably move the LInt[] into the EMSum[]

robjohn

16:15

@J.M. here it is rolled together:

GenerateEM[n_] :=
Module[{a, b},
a = PadRight[CoefficientList[Series[x/(1 - Exp[-x]), {x, 0, n}], x], n + 1];
b = Table[Hold[D[#1, {#2, k}]] /. k -> i, {i, 0, n}];
ReleaseHold[Function[Evaluate[a.b]]]]

EM = GenerateEM[11]

EMSum[f_, x_] := Collect[EM @@ {Integrate[f, x], x}, x]

I guess the EM@@{} could even be replaced with EM[]

So now it's
EMSum[f_, x_] := Collect[EM[Integrate[f, x], x], x]

J. M.

Or, EMSum[f_, x_, n : (_Integer?Positive) : 11] := Collect[GenerateEM[n] @@ {Integrate[f, x], x}, x]

robjohn

@J.M. I didn't want to generate the EM series each time, though, but yes, it would work :-)

J. M.

Hmm, right. Caching it is...

belisarius

16:47

@J.M. You here?

J. M.

@belisarius Now I am. What's up?

belisarius

@J.M. Hi! I flagged a Vitaliy's answer, and now it was deleted. My intention was to help him to abide by the site rules, not to force deletion ...

J. M.

@belisarius I didn't process that flag of yours, since I was waiting for Vitaliy to move. Let's see...

belisarius

Perhaps he decided to delete ... a pity

J. M.

Oof, no, it wasn't Vitaliy who deleted.

belisarius

17:00

uh uh

J. M.

@vitaliykaurov, could you come over?

belisarius

I think he is not here

J. M.

@belisarius That's why I used my special abilities... :)

belisarius

hehe

Ok. phantom invocation

I am worried because perhaps he didn't read the comments I left there for him

J. M.

He should; he can see his own answers, deleted or not.

Szabolcs

17:05

I really don't think it was necessary to delete it. These things don't feel good and they demotivate.

belisarius

@J.M. Ok. So perhaps further explanation is not needed. But I guess me and the deleting mod are being somewhat rude now

Szabolcs

At least wait until he received the message.

belisarius

@Szabolcs Yep. Agree

J. M.

@Szabolcs Yes, but I'm reluctant to undo the deletion... Vitaliy ought to receive my ping; let's wait for him to show...

belisarius

And I appretiate his answers and questions a lot

Szabolcs

17:09

BTW this one was deleted an undeleted? What happened?

@belisarius This one is also in the undelete list, was that your own doing?

J. M.

@Szabolcs Peculiar.

robjohn

I had to restart my computer. It had not been restarted for a while and my browser tends to get laggy after a long time running.

belisarius

@Szabolcs I deleted it (my own question) to edit it offline, without reembering that I would lose access. Then I asked Mr. for undeletion

robjohn

@J.M. There might be some improvement to the code in this answer. It captures the essence of the computation, though.

@J.M. can anyone invite, or is it just room owners and mods?

J. M.

@robjohn Lemme check...

Szabolcs

17:14

I couldn't quite get this working. Did you manage to retrieve the DownValues?

belisarius

@Szabolcs I think it could be well remain deleted

robjohn

@J.M. I can invite people here, so anyone can it seems.

Szabolcs

@belisarius That's why I wondered why it was undeleted.

Oleksandr R.

@Szabolcs the DownValues weren't Saved. That was his mistake. If they were then you could retrieve them.

Szabolcs

@OleksandrR. So actually good question: how safe is Locked? Do you have a way to remove it?

J. M.

17:16

@robjohn Yes, apparently you can.

@OleksandrR. I wonder... :D

Szabolcs

noooo .... can't be! let me try

belisarius

@Szabolcs Is it too much to flag it as very low quality?

J. M.

@robjohn Well, Abs[] is Listable, so Abs[Outer[Subtract, d, d]] should be fine.

robjohn

@J.M. Ah, yes. I use that a lot. I should have remembered. Thanks.

@J.M. I did that and moved Abs out one level, which is where I had really intended it to be.

R.M

Uhh... I apparently missed the big secret from Oleksandr

belisarius

17:27

@R.M He was talking about toads

J. M.

@belisarius But not the mesmerizing kind.

belisarius

@J.M. Of course not. Those are unspeakable ... despicable?

He did it ... again

R.M

Heh never mind... he did mention it elsewhere too

about toads, of course

J. M.

@Oleksandr, quite sneaky.

belisarius

@R.M I wonder if your toad shares some DNA with yoda

R.M

17:32

they both live in swamps, yes

robjohn

17:44

@R.M and they're both green (some toads are)

@R.M And other than T<->Y they have the same letters :-)

belisarius

similar indeed

R.M

Looks like it has a bit of lipstick on it

robjohn

@R.M who's been kissing your toad?

Oleksandr R.

@R.M I'm pretty sure if you lick some toads you will dream the correct answer, just like Kekulé and his benzene (it isn't difficult and probably not a secret, but I don't want to be too explicit about it).

R.M

@robjohn belisarius

belisarius

17:49

@R.M It was supposed to be a secret

robjohn

@belisarius It's out now :-p

R.M

@belisarius but he asked so nicely... I couldn't resist!

belisarius

@R.M Now I will disclose the full multiparty love affair going on here in a blog post. You deserve it

J. M.

@OleksandrR. Depends on the toad. Some toads will just stop your heart if you lick them...

robjohn

@J.M. Thus the source of the phrase: "be still my beating heart"?

J. M.

18:01

Something like that.

Szabolcs

This is not an answer to the question and is also somewhat redundant, but I'm not in a state where I can judge whether I'm being nice enough to a newcomer or not, so I'd rather not touch it.

belisarius

I wonder if toad are real animals or Princes condemned for bestiality

2

acl

@Szabolcs yes, it's blatantly irrelevant

belisarius

@Szabolcs Kill him. He is advertising: electronics.stackexchange.com/users/8398/compumike

R.M

@Szabolcs I added a comment too... Probably not worth flagging, but we can probably convince him

belisarius

18:10

@R.M He is the tool developer

Szabolcs

Ah, so it's his own product, and this is a couple of hours after Vitaliy's answer has been deleted because he didn't disclose his affiliation ...

Oleksandr R.

IMO it is fine as a comment on the question, but as an answer it's off topic. Considering flagging.

belisarius

@Szabolcs I think Vitaliy's case was an error (or pehaps a joke). This one is not

J. M.

I could make it a comment...

R.M

@belisarius Ah, I didn't notice that... I added it to my comment

@J.M. Would adding in a disclosure that he's the developer be too much?

Oleksandr R.

18:16

@R.M it will still be off topic. I think the fact that he developed the tool is the least problem.

R.M

@OleksandrR. I agree with all of that... I was asking JM if he could do it, because it is a comment now and I can't edit it (nor can the OP because it is past 5 mins)

I wasn't sure if he was comfortable editing a comment

J. M.

@R.M No, I think he should have to begin with, if it was a good-faith answer.

R.M

In other news:

Time to retire :P

J. M.

@R.M I added a note; check the comments now.

@R.M The pension isn't that much, I've heard.

R.M

@J.M. sadly, true. I'll be happy with a swag package though :P

J. M.

18:23

A long wait, that.

belisarius

@R.M We could ask for a MMa 5.2 brand new unopened case from WRI

R.M

How much does that fetch in the collector's market?

Oleksandr R.

@R.M I would guess probably not as much as it cost new. No home edition back then!

R.M

yikes! What did people do if they needed it (and wasn't available via work/school)? Pay full price?

J. M.

@R.M Yes.

R.M

18:30

Was there a student version available at least?

J. M.

@R.M If memory serves, no.

Oleksandr R.

I think there were full-price and academic versions only. But my memory is fuzzy on that. I expect printing the book alone cost WRI about $100 per copy, so I doubt there would have been any cheap versions.

J. M.

MATLAB at the time was unique for having a limited version of it bundled with textbooks, if memory serves.

The corresponding Mathematica-based books only had this card you could send to WRI along with some money to get yourself a copy of Mathematica.

Oleksandr R.

IDL had (and may still have for all I know) very good manuals. Like the Mathematica book, but about 5 volumes IIRC. Unfortunately the language itself is pretty horrific.

J. M.

@OleksandrR. "horrific" is somewhat kind...

Oleksandr R.

18:37

@J.M. indeed. I would rather have programmed in APL than that.

rcollyer

18:48

@OleksandrR. I looked at IDL, once. I found I could do the same things in Mathematica, so I didn't look at it ever again. :P

Now that we're a full fledged site, I'll admit I'm a bit curious about our statistics: data.stackexchange.com

But, they only do a data dump every two mos, so we will be waiting a bit.

J. M.

@rcollyer Long wait...

Oleksandr R.

@rcollyer oh, I hadn't realised these weren't queries on the live database and had been wondering why our site isn't in the list. I guess that explains it.

@rcollyer the threat of having to use IDL was actually what caused me to learn Mathematica.

2

R.M

@rcollyer 6-8 weeks :)

J. M.

Ah, I have to retire. See y'all later.

acl

19:09

@J.M. there was

@R.M there was a student version; much cheaper. I think I paid 55 pounds for it

rcollyer

@R.M What I figured.

@R.M Although, the last data dump was on Jun 26, so only about 4 - 6 at this point.

@OleksandrR. Querying the live data would do wonderful things to site wide performance. :)

@J.M. Not to long at this point.

Oleksandr R.

@rcollyer still, waiting 6-8 weeks to be able to make a query... this is like the Trabant of databases. :P

R.M

@rcollyer I wasn't really being serious, in case you didn't get it... :)

rcollyer

@R.M I missed that point. Will hang my head in shame, now. :P

Szabolcs

@belisarius I agree, and also with @OleksandrR. that people should be able to mention their own work.

R.M

19:17

This has been dragging for a while... I don't see how this is not a duplicate of the question I linked to (at least, parts of it). Is there a way to do what he wants with just Plot? I don't see what deeper understanding of Plot is needed.

belisarius

@Szabolcs Of course! No one better that the author to explain his own thing. But never undercover.

@R.M I voted to close

rcollyer

@R.M I see what he's trying to do, and how it is a bit different from the one you linked to. However, I don't think its directly solvable as it generates a Table for each and every point supplied to it.

R.M

@rcollyer Exactly, and I pointed that out to him. (the dupe part was for the first half of his question)

rcollyer

@R.M I'm ambivalent as to if it is closed or not.

Vitaliy Kaurov

19:57

hello

@belisarius thanks for letting me know. I corrected as you asked. I flagged and sent a note to moderator.

belisarius

@VitaliyKaurov Good! Sorry for the inconvenience!

Szabolcs

21:11

Have you seen the picture from @István's profile?

5

belisarius

@Szabolcs WRI will sue him

Function names are copyrighted

robjohn

@Szabolcs I wonder how many keywords are in there.

Stack Exchange

21:49

Blog - Stack Exchange: Week 2 of the Summer of Love: Researching Comments

Seth Rogers on July 23, 2012

The quality of the Q&A on Stack Overflow continues to outshine any other on the Internet – thanks to the awesome community. Like any community, unspoken rules eventually become expectations. In the previous post in this series, Joel talks about how the community developed its own set of rules and norms that new recruits simply don’t know about. When a new comer walks into the group and puts her hand up for a high-five and gets chastised by the group because they don’t give high-fives, she walks away embarrassed with head hanging low. That’s unfortunate. …

Vitaliy Kaurov

22:25

@belisarius @SjoerdC.deVries no problem, it's all good guys. thx for letting me know!

belisarius

@VitaliyKaurov Probably this is not a big deal with WRI products here, but guess what will happen when third parties start to arrive :)

Rojo

22:38

Congrats @R.M :)

R.M

Thanks :)

belisarius

@Rojo Be aware, he recognized his DNA is partly alien, and entered into heat recently. He begun kissing unspeakable things.

Rojo

@belisarius He earned it

Let him enjoy the alien way

belisarius

In a way, yes

Rojo

I'm browsing the wolfram site and I see things like "10% early renewal on premier service", etc, etc, but its really hard to find actual prices

R.M

22:51

click through to find out (i.e., choose your status: student/gov/corporate/etc and location)

Rojo

@R.M That way, I just got to see that a professional individual license is $2,495.00

Now I'm searching for premier service and/or systemmodeler

Found SM. Premier service will remain a mystery

Oleksandr R.

23:14

@Rojo IIRC ~$800

That's from a few years ago though. Haven't had to renew my own Premier Service for some time.

Rojo

@OleksandrR. That's for a year, right?

Hi, btw

Oleksandr R.

Yeah.

Hi also. :) I never know whether to say hello and goodbye when joining or leaving chatrooms.

Rojo

@OleksandrR. Anything is fine :)

Oleksandr R.

@Rojo I just checked. Premier Service Subscription Fee: £407.00 (12 months).

Rojo

@OleksandrR. Thanks

Where did you check?

belisarius

23:19

Google: Your search - £ - did not match any documents.

he

Oleksandr R.

Go here, then "Get Premier Service". Enter your licence number and it tells you the price.

Rojo

I had written my activation key. Let me try with the license

belisarius

@Rojo Do you want to know it in Patacones or Lecops?

Rojo

@belisarius Before they forbid it too, I want to buy the whole internet world in dollars by credit card

(and pay up in official exchange rate pesos)

belisarius

be my guest

Rojo

23:23

I wonder if it's still possible

I think I'll put my savings in PartyPoker ;D

Nah

belisarius

@Rojo I know a few that are piling up Uruguayan casino chips

Rojo

@belisarius that's better

Oleksandr R.

Severe inflation expected in Argentina then?

Rojo

@OleksandrR. Current inflation about 30% a year, nothing new

and exchanging currency for saving is forbidden

Oleksandr R.

@Rojo wow. Okay, that's high. Is it possible to save meaningfully in those conditions, or do you have to buy commodities?

Rojo

23:34

Not possible

Oleksandr R.

Can you get precious metals, for example?

Rojo

I'm not sure on the details, I think I heard "local" gold is allowed. And I am not sure what that is or implies

Those restrictions are relatively new. These last 3-4 months they are getting stricter and stricter

Oleksandr R.

I suppose they would not regard attempts to pay for things with gold very highly.

Well, USD is outperforming gold at the moment anyway... can you use foreign currencies?

Rojo

Nooope

Forbidden

Oleksandr R.

Hm. Unpleasant, but I suppose that would be the case for any country that's suffering high inflation. I bought my gold and silver in 2007-2008, and I'm not letting go of it any time soon, because I think it really is hard to accurately guess the inflation outlook for the Eurozone and the US. It all depends on how policy goes in the next two years, would be my expectation.

Rojo

23:58

@OleksandrR. smart

@OleksandrR. Here, the official exchange rate is about 4.5$ per U$S, but since the restrictions started, the unofficial illegal etc one has gone up to 6.5$

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