30 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Squid Skin is Like an LED Screen
Television images are sometimes displayed on giant LED (Light Emitting
Diode) hoardings. Instead of a fluorescent screen with an electron beam
scanning side to side over it, the LED screen is a large array of tiny
glowing lights, independently controllable. The lights are individually
brightened or dimmed so that, from a distance, the whole matrix
shimmers with moving pictures. The skin of a squid behaves like an LED
screen. Instead of lights, squid skin is packed with thousands of tiny
bags ...Folksonomies: biology explanations
Folksonomies: biology explanations
29 MAY 2013 by ideonexus
Simple Explanation of Big O Notation
The simplest definition I can give for Big-O notation is this:
Big-O notation is a relative representation of the complexity of an algorithm.
There are some important and deliberately chosen words in that sentence:
relative: you can only compare apples to apples. You can't compare an algorithm to do arithmetic multiplication to an algorithm that sorts a list of integers. But two algorithms that do arithmetic operations (one multiplication, one addition) will tell you something meaningful;
re...Folksonomies: computer science algorithms
Folksonomies: computer science algorithms
One of the best, down-to-Earth explanations of a concept that can get incredibly complex.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Disproving Santa Claus with a Back of the Napkin Calculation
There is another approach to the extraterrestrial hypothesis of UFO origins.
This assessment depends on a large number of factors about which we know little,
and a few about which we know literally nothing. I want to make some crude
numerical estimate of the probability that we are frequently visited by
extraterrestrial beings.
Now, there is a range of hypotheses that can be examined in such a way. Let
me give a simple example: Consider the Santa Claus hypothesis, which maintains
that, in a ...At one house a second, it would take Santa three years to visit all the houses in America alone.