• casmael@mander.xyz
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    2 days ago

    On the extremely rare occasion when I have the misfortune to be performing a mathematical calculation, I take enormous pleasure in carrying out the operations exclusively left to right unless indicated otherwise by brackets, which is the correct way to indicate this. If you want me to do a calculation separately, put brackets around it or bugger off. It’s your choice, really

    • ByteJunk@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Many of the things we believe about ourselves and our experiences turn out to be false. Sometimes this is due to innocent memory failures or to the lack of needed information.

      Suppose that Charles believes that he failed his biology test because the professor asked obscure and ambiguous questions.
      Charles believes this because he doesn’t realize that he got the lowest score out of the 100 students who took the test, and that most people did quite well.
      If Charles had this information, he would realize that he failed the test because he didn’t study hard enough, or because he’s not very good at biology.

      On the other hand, if Charles continues to believe that the test was unfair after seeing the grade distribution, he is either severely challenged in his capacity for rational calculation or he is the perpetrator of willful ignorance.

      Which is it?

      • casmael@mander.xyz
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        1 day ago

        I literally just said I enjoy doing calculations incorrectly because I dislike the method of notation so much that I reliably and deliberately choose to misinterpret it every time.