Mathematics - 2012-03-08 (page 2 of 5)

Skullpatrol

10:00

@BrianMScott The evidence for relevant is strongest.

t.b.

@Skullpatrol I'm a bit puzzled by your numbers: you have 461 occurrences of three words, and the one that was used most frequently occurs 140 times. That is, those words were used at most $3 \times 140 = 420$ times...

Jonas Teuwen

@tb Hi.

Brian M. Scott

@tb Damn. I must be asleep, not to have noticed that.

Kannappan Sampath

So, is this what @anon and @tb are pointing out?

$|t-t_n|\lt t-Y \implies Y-t \lt t-t_n \lt t-Y$.

So, use the second inequality and conclude?

t.b.

@KannappanSampath don't do that too often, it would be a pity for this good head...

anon

10:04

Yes.

Kannappan Sampath

Alright. I am sure a dunce to have missed what you were saying. Thanks a lot. I'll be back. : )

Matt N.

Also it is slightly scary. One of my co-workers would do that occasionally.

anon

Whoever decided to make a capital letter variable less than a lower case one, is evil.

Skullpatrol

@tb I mentioned I did a quick search but I also used different forms of the words such as: relevant, relevance, reveal, revealing, access, and accessible. Maybe that is why the numbers don't add up. But relevant was the clear leader at 140.

Matt N.

I was quite startled the first time he did it.

t.b.

10:07

Not surprising :)

Skullpatrol

@BrianMScott This leads me to conclude that we should post "question relevancy" guide lines somewhere. What do you think?

Brian M. Scott

Seems like overkill to me: it’s not as if we’re overwhelmed with irrelevant questions.

t.b.

I don't know what you want more than the description of the topics listed at the very beginning of the FAQ.

Asaf Karagila

Hooray for the sun and the infinitely long shower it allows me to take!

anon

Your shower duration is predicated on sunlight? :O

Asaf Karagila

10:15

@anon Well, if there is no sun I have to turn on the boiler and then I am limited by the volume of the boiler and how much I am willing to pay for the electricity. If there's sun then the solar energy heats the water much much better, and usually the pipes gather heat and the water are lukewarm to begin with (so it's also easier to heat them further).

anon

I see.

Skullpatrol

An infinitely long shower would take an infinite amount of water.

anon

No it wouldn't.

Water is a reusable resource.

Asaf Karagila

What wouldn't?

Skullpatrol

How can you have a shower without clean unused water?

Brian M. Scott

10:18

You run the used water through a cleaning operation and cycle it back into your shower.

Asaf Karagila

@BrianMScott Sounds... disgusting.

anon

Water purification

For the treatment of sewage see sewage treatment Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, biological contaminants, suspended solids and gases from contaminated water. The goal is to produce water fit for a specific purpose. Most water is purified for human consumption (drinking water) but water purification may also be designed for a variety of other purposes, including meeting the requirements of medical, pharmacology, chemical and industrial applications. In general the methods used include physical processes such as filtration and sedimentation, biological p...

Brian M. Scott

Why? It’s perfectly normal (as I see anon has just pointed out).

t.b.

A closed cycle is a countable intersection of open cycles?

Skullpatrol

@anon For the shower to go on forever would mean having a dead body in the shower forever...

anon

10:21

Is that question directed at the water purification issue @tb?

t.b.

(I pointed it out so that no one else feels compelled to do so)

Brian M. Scott

An $F$-cycle is a $G_\delta$-cycle?

Matt N.

(Fourier transform is really clever.)

anon

I found an interesting youtube series saying that hyperbolic geometry is 'actually' projective relativistic geometry.

Kannappan Sampath

I am off to sleep.

Matt N.

10:22

Good night!

t.b.

@anon it was a (very) lame joke on perfectly normal spaces

Brian M. Scott

G’night!

t.b.

Good night, Kannappan

anon

In reference to Brian's comment, I see.

Skullpatrol

@anon Eventually the body would wash away and go through your water purification system. Would he still be considered as "having a shower" then?

Kannappan Sampath

10:23

Ah, it's not night here. It's still evening, but I am unusually tired and all that. So,....

Asaf Karagila

I have to go, see you in a few hours.

anon

@Skullpatrol: Our current understanding of physics does indeed preclude infinite showers - you seem to think I'm saying the opposite when really I'm pointing out that your counterargument to it (based on water supply) was fallacious.

Skullpatrol

I need a glass of water.

anon

My life was significantly improved when I figured out that -- this is pure genious -- I can put two glasses of water next to my bedside instead of just one.

t.b.

:)

Skullpatrol

10:31

What did the engineer say about the glass of water that was half full?

Brian M. Scott

I don’t need any extra hydraulic pressure to keep me getting up during the night (or whenever I do my sleeping).

anon

glass = twice size it needs to be (source: google)

Skullpatrol

@anon Bingo

anon

why the hell is the guy I'm watching calling the letter z "zet"?

Matt N.

Right. It should be "zed". Is he German?

Brian M. Scott

10:38

You’re sure that he’s not saying zed?

anon

I guess he is saying zed.

Zed

Zed (or Z), in Commonwealth English, is the name of the twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet (Americans pronounce the letter zee.) Zed may also refer to: People Living persons *Mr. Zed, comedian and singer *Zed Shaw, US computer programmer *Zed, a program host on Montana Public Radio *Paul Zed is a former Liberal member of the Parliament of Canada * Zed Bennett, Australia. Fictional characters *Zed (Kiba), the main character of the anime series Kiba *Lord Zedd, the villain of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers *Chief Zed, the head of MIB in Men in Black *Ze...

I thought everyone just called it "zee".

t.b.

Is that a question about zed as opposed to zee? (apparently yes)

Matt N.

Yikes. shudders

@tb I know. I was being obtuse.

As opposed to being acute.

Thought I'd say it before anyone else can.

anon

So you certainly aren't right.

Matt N.

(since it's not funny)

Brian M. Scott

10:41

@anon Really? You’d never encountered the rest-of-the-world-English pronunciation before?

anon

Nope. Never.

Matt N.

@anon I wasn't saying I was. : )

anon

I had also pronounced Lie as "lie," Gauss as "goss," Euler as "you-ler," Riemann as "ray-man," and a bunch of other things totally wrong.

Skullpatrol

Welcome to the real world.

Matt N.

@anon Never mind, as the people you're talking to understand what you mean.

anon

10:45

What?

Matt N.

Mispronouncing things is not a capital crime.

Even though some people seem to think that.

anon

When your math teacher has an uber man-crush on Gauss, it becomes a capital crime.

Matt N.

: D

t.b.

@BrianMScott Isn't the subtlety of the question you just answered hidden in the precise meaning of $f$ is continuous on $D$ and continuous on $S$? It could as well mean that $f|_{S}$ and $f|_{D}$ are continuous (it isn't clear to me what is meant in the OP). I would probably have given the characteristic function of $\mathbb{Q}$ as a counterexample as a first reflex.

Matt N.

Hey teddy, that vote about the books thing is already past, isn't it?

t.b.

10:50

I don't know what you mean.

David K.

@tb I'm still stuck on this damn induction. Well not "still" I came back to it. So I'm stuck again.

Matt N.

Then never mind.

David K.

I get to : $\sigma(x_{1},\ldots,x_{n},x_{n+1}) =\sigma(\sigma(x_{1},\ldots,x_{n}),x_{n+1})$ and don't know how to deal with that $x_{n+1}$ term.

Brian M. Scott

@tb There’s a problem, but I don’t think that it’s where you describe, because I don’t think that there’s any ambiguity.

t.b.

@BrianMScott the comment of Tom Cooney to the question seems to indicate otherwise.

Matt N.

10:54

Slightly off topic, so ignore but I have answered my question in the meantime. The date is March 11 apparently.

It's all too complex for me to understand so I wouldn't vote anyway. But I was wondering about your take on it. But if you don't even know that there is a vote on Sunday then never mind.

anon

I think sometimes online publication sites push out articles before they come in print, and the date corresponds to the print date.

t.b.

@DavidK You have a continuous function $\sigma_n: \mathbb{R}^{n} \to \mathbb{R}$ by induction hypothesis and you have a continuous function $\operatorname{id}_{\mathbb{R}}: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$. Now use this to get a continuous function $(\sigma_{n},\operatorname{id}_{\mathbb{R}}): \mathbb{R}^n \times \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$.

@MattN it is very hard to guess that you were talking about that completely out of context...

Matt N.

Sorry about that. : /

user18481

Hello

Who read 'Convex analysis and minimization algorithms' before?

Brian M. Scott

@tb Not to me. So far as I can see, he’s simply noticed that there are counterexamples.

As I stupidly failed to do at first.

David K.

10:57

@tb Ughh. of course. Thanks for spelling it out.

user18481

Is it available on the internet? I mean is there any ebook of "'Convex analysis and minimization algorithms"?

t.b.

@BrianMScott Now I agree with your answer :)

Brian M. Scott

For some reason I was initially thinking only of closed domains.

t.b.

@MattN I didn't buy those arguments claiming that the consumers profit from the existence of a prize regulation...

Skullpatrol

@user18481 You could try and find a copy of "Concave analysis and maximization algorithms" and turn it inside out ;-)

anon

11:02

@user18481: Legally? No. Illegally? .... Seems to also be a "no."

looks like a two-decade old book

user18481

@Skullpatrol

THank you

@anon Hi

anon

not sure if sarcasm

user18481

I just know some authors like to upload their own books on the internet. Maybe not everyone.

@Skullpatrol There is no theory like you said

t.b.

@BrianMScott Oh, I see

Matt N.

@tb The consumers are not the interesting part to think about. I was wondering about the effects of this on the book publishing industry. On second thought it doesn't seem to matter either since I can just order books from foreign publishers. Plus I don't really know how it works anyway. I'm very glad there are 6 M other people who have a solid understanding of the things they are going to vote about.

Brian M. Scott

11:09

@MattN What kind of price regulation is in question?

Matt N.

@BrianMScott I think it's like a cartel where they say book X has a minimal price of Y. But I'm not even sure about that.

Let me check.

t.b.

There used to be a price prescription for books that was abandoned about 12 years ago. The parliament decided to re-introduce it again and this weekend there will be a vote on a referendum to this decision.

@MattN it's not the minimal price. It's the price.

Brian M. Scott

Who would set the price?

t.b.

@MattN The consumers were one huge part of the debate, though. Second party: book stores, third party: publishers.

Matt N.

@tb Ah good thanks. But it will probably boil down to being the same IRL : )

@BrianMScott The stores I think.

(Since they are the only ones profiting from this.)

t.b.

11:13

@MattN stores and publishers.

(to put it simply). The situation is a hell of a lot more complicated though

Brian M. Scott

I got the impression that some people were arguing that if bestsellers weren’t discounted, they could support publication of a wider range of books.

Matt N.

Like I said: I'm glad there are 6 M people who know what they're doing : )

cough

@BrianMScott Interesting. But not 100% convincing.

t.b.

@BrianMScott yes, indeed. That's why every book store features ten books by Martin Suter in his shop windows...

Brian M. Scott

Hey, I didn’t say that I bought the argument ...

t.b.

@MattN I don't know whether that's less comforting than 248 people who know what they're doing...

Matt N.

11:19

@tb Yeah well...

t.b.

(and who are completely unbiased)

Matt N.

Never heard of Martin Suter before but is it possible to be even worse than Franz Hohler?

Brian M. Scott

@tb The Friedhof is a very peaceful place.

Matt N.

@tb Apart from getting pocket money by Novartis maybe...

t.b.

@MattN You're living a life in blissful ignorance, then :)

user19161

11:21

@anon British English might die out compared to American English because of the wide influence of Hollywood movies.

t.b.

(and yes, there are quite a few who are way worse)

Matt N.

@tb I don't deny it. But since I read die Rückeroberung I have not touched books by Swiss authors.

user19161

Swiss chocolate, neutrality, cheese, watch. The Swiss have everything.

Matt N.

Clean water. You forgot.

user19161

Ah yes, mineral water too.

Matt N.

11:23

No, tap water.

We have so much of it that we have a fountain of running drinking water every other kilometer.

t.b.

@MattN It's your call. But it would be a big mistake to conclude anything about the quality of Swiss authors by considering Franz Hohler. He's somewhere in the middle, I'd say. There are way better ones and way worse ones.

Matt N.

We also use it to flush our toilets.

Brian M. Scott

@MattN If they have all that wonderful water, how come I’ve never heard of a wonderful Swiss beer?

user19161

@MattN Sounds like a lovely place to be in my next life.

user19161

@BrianMScott Because beer is not water. QED.

Matt N.

11:25

We also use it to shower and it comes without chlorine, that's the most important thing to mention, probably.

Brian M. Scott

I’d not heard of Martin Suter, but I see that he does have one mildly interesting characteristic: he was born on the 29th of February!

user19161

@MattN I imagine you have beautiful skin then.

Matt N.

@BrianMScott I don't know. : ) Because they don't know how to make beer? Although, beer around here is not that bad.

Brian M. Scott

@JasperLoy Clearly you’re not familiar with the wide variety of beer ads that praise to the skies the water from which that particular beer is brewed!

Matt N.

@JasperLoy Some do, some don't. I can't complain about my skin. Apart from being pale maybe.

user19161

11:27

@BrianMScott You mean beer ads and not adds?

Brian M. Scott

Fixed.

Matt N.

@tb I prefer fiction in English for some reason.

t.b.

@BrianMScott Swiss (blonde) beer tends to be rather bitter. There is some very good beer but the vast majority can't compare to an average German or Austrian one.

user19161

@Skullpatrol LOL

Brian M. Scott

@tb I’m a hophead: I like bitter.

Matt N.

11:29

@Skullpatrol : D

@BrianMScott Do you also like Clausthaler?

user19161

Oh now skull is removing messages too?

Brian M. Scott

Dunno.

t.b.

@BrianMScott but it's not the dry bitterness of a good Pils

Skullpatrol

If you can't beat'em then join'em.

user19161

This room has the most number of removed messages.

user19161

11:31

Gaming has the most stars.

anon

naturally

Skullpatrol

why

anon

because

Matt N.

: )

t.b.

@MattN Can't say I'm surprised...

Skullpatrol

11:33

@anon because what?

Matt N.

@tb Well then you seem to know more about me (and how I work) than I do myself : D (I really have no idea why I like reading English)

Ah. Come to think of it: I enjoyed quite a few Japanese authors too. (Translations, of course. I am not showing off.)

anon

stars are like achievements, to put it in gaming lingo

those are two comments in the system, my comment is in reference to the latter

Skullpatrol

OOps

I need another glass of water

t.b.

@MattN A friend of mine is a huge fan of Murakami.

Matt N.

@tb I think Murakami is overrated. I was not thrilled by the ones I read. But he's alright. I greatly enjoyed some of Banana Yoshimoto's books. I wonder if she still counts as literature. I'm not that much into literature since I want a book to entertain and absorb me and literature usually bores the hell out of me so I prefer trash. : )

But I'm not even sure where to draw the line between literature and trash.

t.b.

11:41

Classification is overrated...

Matt N.

: )

Skullpatrol

How about the line between trash talk and smack talk?

►

t.b.

@MattN basically, the important point is that you enjoy reading what you read. Never mind the label. I was raised in a very bookish family, so I read a lot. When I'm in the reading mood I read about book a day, but unfortunately those phases have become rarer and rarer in the past years.

I do like reading in foreign languages because that slows me down. It's a completely different experience and I tend to read much more carefully.

whoa! Misha Kapovich joined MO

Matt N.

11:58

@tb I think extending your own horizon by force from time to time doesn't do any harm. For example I'll read this Mahfouz book to the bitter end. As for bookish: I can't say the same about myself, I grew up with the zero-education half of my "family".

Brian M. Scott

For many years I felt obliged to finish every work of fiction that I started. It took a long time, but I eventually got better.

Matt N.

I definitely finish every book I start. I'm too stubborn and OCD to do otherwise.

The solution is to skim / speed-read it if it's too bad : )

Brian M. Scott

I once thought so; now I know better!

t.b.

@MattN Sure. What Mahfouz book? I liked Die Kinder unseres Viertels a lot.

I think it's that one

Brian M. Scott

Should we give this fellow infinitely many choices?

Rajesh D

12:01

hi @all

@tb : Who is Misha ?

Matt N.

@tb I'm reading Arabian Nights & Days. Not thrilling at all.

t.b.

@MattN I liked it...

@RajeshD He's got a link to his homepage on his profile...

Matt N.

@tb It might get better but I doubt it. I'm very bored by it. : )

Skullpatrol

@BrianMScott How about a poster within a poster, within a poster ... as an expression that tends to infinity.

Brian M. Scott

@Skullpatrol I rather like that idea.

Skullpatrol

12:13

Thanks:)

and then within each poster we can give him infinitely many choices, as you said...

t.b.

Heresy! Willie recommends using braces. Michael won't like this...

Ilya

Hi everybody. It's cool to submit something and take a break, phew

t.b.

Hi, Ilya. Didn't you have to submit that thing yesterday?

Ilya

yes :) and I've submitted it yesterday about 11 pm

t.b.

Very good :)

Ilya

12:26

@tb how are you?

Skullpatrol

@BrianMScott That reminds me, I was thinking how rational numbers m/n, where m and n are integers have dual decimal representations, such as 1 = 0.999... and 0.5 = 0.4999... and -0.25 = -0.24999... and etc . etc. the only exception is 0? Am I right?

t.b.

@Ilya Not particularly motivated for anything, really.

The weather is crap, my feet are cold and my laptop makes strange noises...

Ilya

because you're warming your feet with it?

t.b.

exactly. This explains where the strange smell comes from :)

Ilya

my poor lunch...

t.b.

12:29

what about it?

Brian M. Scott

@Skullpatrol Yes: any decimal that terminates in a non-zero digit $d$ is equal to one that terminates in $(d-1)999\dots$, and those are the only double representations base ten.

Ilya

you better tell me what did you mean where the smell comes from :) because I have two versions and of them asks my lunch to go for a walk outside

@Brian: good morning. 0630 I presume

Brian M. Scott

@Ilya 0730, actually.

Ilya

@Skull: hello. Don't know your time zone, though

t.b.

@Ilya focus on keeping it inside your stomach. I won't elaborate...

Skullpatrol

12:31

@Ilya PST

Ilya

@tb thanks. I use the force to do it :) Anyway, today we had some sun in the morning - and I went to the Hague to by some presents for my wife. But now it is cloudy again

Brian M. Scott

There is no time in the Skull Patrol; there is only Eternity.

Skullpatrol

@BrianMScott Thank you for capitalizing the "E."

Rajesh D

Plz suggest a good book (emphasis on illustrations of concepts and slow pace) to treat myself with the derivatives of functions of the form $f : \mathbb{R}^n \to \mathbb{R}^m$...Please

Ilya

@tb: have you ever tried the meat with a peanut sauce?

Brian M. Scott

12:34

@Skullpatrol I really should have capitalized Time as well!

N3buchadnezzar

Heya!

Skullpatrol

@N3buchadnezzar Hi

Rajesh D

@Brian and @tb : did you see my request ?

N3buchadnezzar

=)

I cant figure out a problem =(

Ilya

@RajeshD Jacobians?

Rajesh D

12:37

@Ilya they are part of it...i am interested in theoretical concepts

Brian M. Scott

@RajeshD I did, but I’m not a good person of whom to ask that question: I’ve not dealt with such things since I was an undergraduate.

Rajesh D

okay

Ilya

@RajeshD do you mean also high-order derivatives?

t.b.

@Ilya huh?

Rajesh D

all sort of stuff

hell yes

Skullpatrol

12:38

@BrianMScott True, Skullpatrol is were Eternity meets the Instantaneous....

Ilya

@tb that was not my revenge, just curious

Rajesh D

Hhhahha lol

Matt N.

@tb Now yours as well? Heh. And what's with those cold feet again?

Ilya

@Skullpatrol $\uparrow$ h

@MattN Did you knock? :)

Rajesh D

the messages that appear above are not to be interpreted linearly always

t.b.

12:39

@RajeshD How about a calculus book like Salas-Hille or Spivak or whatever else is out there and often recommended... I've never read a calculus book, so I can't recommend anything, really.

Matt N.

@Ilya Knock on wood? Or what? I didn't knock at all actually. : )

Ilya

@tb You've never read a calculus book?

t.b.

No.

Skullpatrol

@Ilya What's with the up arrow?

Ilya

me too.

@Skullpatrol it tells you that you had to insert h in your message above the message with an arrow

Rajesh D

12:40

So you invented it for yourself ! Great @tb

Ilya

@MattN just kidding that you have entered this room without knocking and immediately talked to tb. Like me :)

Matt N.

I've been here since I got up 5 hours ago : )

Ilya

ahhhhhh

Matt N.

I was quiet because I was making lunch.

Ilya

you were first with you 5 hours :(:(:(:(:(

these are my 5 angry soldiers

t.b.

12:42

@MattN for some reason when accessing the HD it makes scarily loud sounds. I have no idea what's up with my feet. I'm now drinking tea, so it's getting better.

Matt N.

@Ilya I don't follow. Wot?

Skullpatrol

@Ilya huh? I don't get it. "insert h in your message above the message with an arrow"

Ilya

@MattN: never mind. Do you like my robjohn-smiley |):| ?

3

Matt N.

Yes, it's awesome : D

Looks just like him.

t.b.

@RajeshD No, I simply never felt the need of looking into any of those books. I never really understood what calculus is supposed to be... I learned basic analysis in high school and what I learned in the real analysis courses I had was amply enough for me never to miss calculus.

Ilya

12:45

@MattN: haha, nobody will know that I was begging you for a star!

Oh, crap

Matt N.

: )

t.b.

:)

Ilya

@tb: I am trying to get the trick about your feet for some time and I didn't manage. Is it serious, or you just wear light shoes?

Brian M. Scott

@tb Tea is good for your hard drive? Or for your feet?

Matt N.

What trick?

@BrianMScott : D

Ilya

12:46

@BrianMScott :D

@MattN that his feet are cold. Maybe he told you that he has a bad blood circulation there.

Matt N.

@Ilya No, he didn't tell me that.

Brian M. Scott

I certainly do.

Ilya

@BrianMScott do what?

Rajesh D

@tb : my guess was pretty much right !

Brian M. Scott

Have poor circulation in my feet. Also my hands.

Skullpatrol

12:48

How about Skullpatrol is where the North Pole meets the South Pole.

Ilya

@BrianMScott sad to know

Rajesh D

You had the big picture and never bothered for simple details i guess

Ilya

@Skull: True, Skullpatrol is were Eternity meets the Instantaneous....

I guess you meant wHere there $\uparrow$

t.b.

@Brian: do you have a recommendation for some basic reading on cardinal functions in topology? Unfortunately, I couldn't get my hands on Juhász's books, the two handbook entries by Hodel and Juhász look nice, but maybe there's something else out there.

Ilya

hah. My supervisor has just sent me an sms: "Coming". I waited for 10 minutes and asked him, where is he coming

Skullpatrol

12:50

@Ilya Yes, thank you I corrected it in the North Pole meets the South Pole version.

Ilya

hasn't replied yet. Sometimes he is so mysterious

Brian M. Scott

Juhász’s old Math Centre tract isn’t available? That’s a shame, even if it is a bit dated now.

t.b.

@BrianMScott The older one seems to have been stolen, the other one (ten years later) is due back in a month only.

(and I'd like to read about it now)

Ilya

@Skullpatrol there are different sorts of spam

Skullpatrol

@Ilya Yes

Jonas Teuwen

12:52

Someone! Compute my integral!

t.b.

Ask N3

robjohn

@JonasTeuwen That sounds awfully personal.

Jonas Teuwen

I asked our special functions guy, I asked if there was a special function that describes this integral. He said: "I think so!" I said "Cool! Which one?" He said: "I don't know".

@robjohn math.stackexchange.com/questions/117883/…

Brian M. Scott

@tb I’d have to check but I think that I’ve the older one; as I recall, it dates from about the time that he spent a year at Madison, and I probably got it then. Neat fellow: he managed to get a bunch of us playing pickup football/soccer once a week for a while.

Skullpatrol

@robjohn |):|

Brian M. Scott

12:54

As far as general surveys go, the handbook articles are probably as good as anything that I’ve seen.

Jonas Teuwen

(-8

Ilya

@JonasTeuwen ask your r00mmate

Jonas Teuwen

I did. He said: Hopeless.

Ilya

@Skullpatrol one more plagiary...

robjohn

@JonasTeuwen It looks like a Bessel function

Jonas Teuwen

12:56

Yes. But $a$ is no integer.

If it would be a Bessel function I couldn't be happier.

Skullpatrol

@Ilya Don't think of it as plagiary, think of it as imitation which is the highest form of flattery |):|

t.b.

@BrianMScott the older one is from 1971 and as the title "ten years later" indicates the other one is from 1980 :) Okay, thanks for confirming that the handbook articles are as good as they look at first sight.

Brian M. Scott

Definitely the older one, then, because I got it in Madison, and I left there in 1975.

Matt N.

When you speak of the Fourier transform of a set, is this the Fourier transform of the characteristic function of the set? Or how is this meant? I'm reading Tao's Additive Combinatorics book and I can't find where this is explained.

yCalleecharan

Hi, do not know if it's the right place to ask this but how does one put a picture in a diagram on stackexchange sites? Does one has to have a server somewhere to store the picture and put the picture as in:

Rajesh D

12:59

one of those years is my birth year !

yCalleecharan

![a busy cat](http://sstatic.net/stackoverflow/img/error-lolcat-problemz.jpg)
![two muppets][1]

Brian M. Scott

@tb I’ve not read them closely, but Hodel is a good organizer, and I always found Juhász a pretty good read.

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$Mathematics$ Mathematics