Timeline for Is there a "mathematical" definition of "simplify"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
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| Dec 11, 2015 at 12:05 | comment | added | Daniel Moskovich | I also prefer $\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$ over $\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}$ because it fits into a pattern- $\frac{\sqrt{0}}{2}$, $\frac{\sqrt{1}}{2}$, $\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$, $\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}$, $\frac{\sqrt{4}}{2}$. This provides a mnemonic to remember sin/cos values. | |
| Apr 10, 2013 at 3:44 | comment | added | Rodrigo A. Pérez | @Ramiro: Entonces es verdad que un radical en el denominador da mas miedo :) Eso explica tambien porque escriben $2\sqrt{2}$ en lugar de $\sqrt{8}$... | |
| Apr 9, 2013 at 18:43 | comment | added | Ramiro de la Vega | I always thought the preference of $\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$ over $\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}$ comes from the pre-calculators era. To compute the former you look for $\sqrt{2}$ in a table an then divide by $2$ by hand. To compute the latter you first need to "rationalize" the expression as you learned in your remedial math course. | |
| Apr 5, 2013 at 1:21 | comment | added | Jacques Carette | See my paper - I agree with you. Defining 'simpler' when the two representations differ by just a few bits (information-theoretically) is pointless, since length is stably defined only up to a (small!) constant anyways. 'simpler' only makes sense when there is a non-trivial difference in MDL code length. | |
| Apr 5, 2013 at 0:57 | history | rollback | Rodrigo A. Pérez |
Rollback to Revision 1
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| Apr 5, 2013 at 0:56 | comment | added | François G. Dorais | My colleague, Peter Doyle, often argued that $\sqrt2$ and $\sqrt{1/2}$ need shorter names, with just one syllable, like $e$ and $\pi$; he suggested using Roo and Ralf. | |
| Apr 5, 2013 at 0:55 | history | edited | Rodrigo A. Pérez | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 5, 2013 at 0:06 | comment | added | François G. Dorais | Well, it's moot for instructors but not necessarily for students. They can correctly reduce a word to its simplest form, but there is no systematic way to determine whether they are correct. | |
| Apr 5, 2013 at 0:00 | history | edited | Rodrigo A. Pérez | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
edited body; edited body
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| Apr 4, 2013 at 23:43 | history | answered | Rodrigo A. Pérez | CC BY-SA 3.0 |