July 23

[Zeke]

So yeah, that sucked, sorry. However, I did get one thing on my list done. Forumgoers will find that a beloved feature -- custom titles -- has returned. Not just that, but I've finally got a handle on vBulletin (you would not believe the complexity of this thing -- it's like phpBB cubed). So I've fixed the avatar permissions problem, and when I have a little more time I'll work on the visuals.

Anyway, I'm now off to Ottawa for the second math camp. I'll see what I can arrange in the way of filler. Worst comes to worst, I'll just tell you to reread Cliffhanger Week... that's at least a week right there if you don't skip meals.

[Hotaru]

Yay for custom titles!

[MaverickZer0]

...Woo!
I hereby take back most things I muttered about the crappiness of vBulletin.
...What? It's me. Don't expect a miracle overnight.

[Gatac]

Three cheers!

Gatac

[mark726]

Ok, so for the longest time I thought that the users were able to set custom titles...and I kept searching in vain for where I could change mine. I think I finally figured out that it's not set by me.... But, hooray!

[danieldoof]

congratulations on that zeke

I love those member titles, great job again
and I think that this will get a lot of posters out of the dark...only to present their member titles

[PointyHairedJedi]

Originally Posted by mark726

I think I finally figured out that it's not set by me.... But, hooray!

There's a tradition that Zeke sets them, though he is open to suggestions if you've got something particularly hilarious in mind.

[evay]

yay! thanks Zeke!

[Chancellor Valium]

May the benificent cheeses of undead Roman Emperors be always upon you!

Err, I mean, thank you, kind sir Zeke...

[Celeste]

Woohoo! Member titles! Yay Zeke I love you again! :P

[Alexia]

It's amazing how much member titles makes me happy xD

I love Losty's the best (Yes, I did read them all) Shortly followed by ualleverybody (who I don't think I've ever seen post... but the member title is funny anyway )

[Derek]

Excellent. Member titles are always fun.

[mudshark]

Yes, they are.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I concur.

Deep, man.

[admiral sab]

I'm loving mine. Of course that pic is way old, she's 6 months now and that's two months. Perhaps an update is in order...

[e of pi]

What kind of editing was done to that image, btw. It's always looked a little odd. Anywho, thanks Zeke. But, as a student of Algebra II, heading into discrete math by way of testing out of Geometry, what does the new part of mine mean? I'm not sure if I should be offended or not.

[evay]

Originally Posted by e of pi

But, as a student of Algebra II, heading into discrete math by way of testing out of Geometry, what does the new part of mine mean? I'm not sure if I should be offended or not.

the english major takes a stab at it: that "e of pi" is considered an "irrational" number, and proving said number irrational is an exercise left to the student. Sort of like how many angels can sit on the head of a pin: calculate area of pin P, calculate area of angels' arses A, divide. the actual math is left as an exercise for the student. (roughly paraphrased from Heinlein's Friday)

[Zeke]

Yeah, I'm being a little sneaky here. A classic trick of math professors is to leave proving some theorem as an exercise -- thus saving the class time it would take to show the proof. Typically this is done when the proof in question is obvious, tedious, or repetitive of one already shown. But occasionally a prof will forget how a proof is done, and leaving it as an exercise is one way to weasel out of it.

Now, the natural way to read "e of pi" is either e times pi or e over pi. And we know that e and pi are transcendental, but combinations are another story. For example, we don't even know for sure that e+pi and pi^e are irrational, let alone transcendental. (It would be very strange if they were rational, of course.) So, rather than just give him the member title "Irrational" without proof, I decided to acknowledge there was something to prove... while not, of course, proving it myself.

Which is not to say I couldn't, of course. As a matter of fact, I have discovered a truly marvelous proof, which this post is too narrow to contain.

[evay]

I know pi is used in measuring circles, and i is the square root of -1 (so the square root of -4 is 2i), but what's "e" in mathematical terms?

[Celeste]

math makes my head hurt.