this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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Math Memes

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Memes related to mathematics.

Rules:
1: Memes must be related to mathematics in some way.
2: No bigotry of any kind.

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Can you tell me why?

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[–] walter_wiggles@lemmy.nz 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A logrhythm with no bass is bad, but a logrhythm with natural bass is good.

[–] Telcontar 17 points 1 year ago

Sir this is math memes, not music memes

[–] hOUse_atomics@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The one with no base has a base though. It's 10.

[–] itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

log without a specified base will always be base e to me as well

[–] hOUse_atomics@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I guess it depends on whose book you're reading. I had one textbook that was this way.

Then, step into computer science, it's base 2.

[–] itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

yep, log depends on context. I mostly read physics papers and books, and you rarely see another base there

[–] assa123@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

For me it's the other way around. Log should always be the natural logarithm, other bases can be made explicit with an underscore.

[–] palordrolap@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

"log" is "whatever base makes most sense in context". In a pure mathematics context, sure, "log" is base e, but in some places it's base ten, in computer contexts it's almost always base 2 and elsewhere it could be anything.

"ln" is unambiguous in all contexts. logarithmus naturalis is always base e. And so, since I'm a cross-discipline amateur, I'll use "ln" every time.

Consider WolframAlpha that likes to give results in terms of "log", meaning base e. If you feed its output back into it, it will give the option to change which base your log is supposed to be because it can't be sure. It's like it can't read its own handwriting. Use "ln" and it won't do that.

[–] runswithjedi@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

This is perfect, I understand! My partner approves of this so I'm marking this as the accepted answer.

[–] assa123@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

You're right, I just wish it was unambiguously meant to be base e :(. There are many notations in math that are context dependant, for instance the volatility or variance in Gaussian distributions or the scale or location parameter in Poisson and exponential ones, or the integration symbol and "dx" order.

[–] ook_the_librarian@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Agreed. I can't tell if the joke is we should write the operation as 'ln' or if the joke is that we prefer base e.

I'm pretty sure it's the second, but to me log and ln both have base e.

[–] mvirts@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Other bases can be made explicit by division 😹