Recent content on devyn barrie
The following is an adapted version of the slide deck from a presentation I gave to the University of Ottawa Math Club session of November 29, 2024, entitled 'Introduction to Computer Algebra and Maxima'. Most of the presentation was live-coded, so be sure to check out the linked Maxima worksheets as you read this.
I was reading the Wikipedia page for the famous Lorenz system of differential equations, and saw a nice animated plot of the phase space written in the Julia language. Among the other code examples on that page is a solution for Maxima, which outputs the following when run:
It's not a bad plot, but I thought it could be improved.
Despite the 'unreasonable effectiveness'1 of mathematics applied to physics, I think it is important to remember that there is an awful lot we cannot calculate exactly. In general, except for the simplest of problems, numerical computations or some other type of approximation are the only way to get answers.
Via wikipedia:
During the Classical era, C minor was used infrequently and always for works of a particularly turbulent cast. Mozart, for instance, wrote only very few works in this key, but they are among his most dramatic ones (the twenty-fourth piano concerto, the fourteenth piano sonata, the Masonic Funeral Music, the Adagio and Fugue in C minor and the Great Mass in C minor, for…
Since I wrote Time for RSS to shine again I keep finding more resources and articles about how to take advantage of RSS to stay organized online. What’s old is new again, folks. Next thing you know, I will be posting about the newest release of Netscape Navigator. GET THE NET!
Elon Musk began July by breaking Twitter yet again. This is just the latest in his series of bizarre decisions to worsen the user experience and cut down on actual use of the service. Concurrent with the rate limiting, Twitter is also now requiring people to sign in first to view tweets.
Things are not looking too good right now for the distribution of online news in Canada. The Online News Act, or Bill C-18, received royal assent last week. Per a government news release:
'The Online News Act levels the playing field between news businesses and large digital platforms to create greater fairness to ensure sustainability of the news industry.
Listening to the radio the other day, I learned something interesting about the risks of inhaling smoky air. The smallest particulates in wildfire smoke are less than 2.5 µm in diameter. This is incredibly tiny—it’s about 30 times smaller than the thickness of human hair. Such a minuscule size means these particulates can get deep into your lungs when inhaled, and even work their way into…
Because I keep forgetting how:
[[LINK][DESCRIPTION]] More: The Org Manual
I've been playing with some thoughts about RSS becoming relevant again for over a year now, but I wasn't sure anybody would be interested in hearing about it. Nowadays, it's fashionable to have opinions on the state of Twitter, so I can take this opportunity to shoehorn my half-baked ideas into the discussion.
These days, it is almost too easy to get up and running with your very own blog. Given the way certain social media sites (i.e. Twitter) have been functioning lately, this is a good thing. A blog in 2023 is still the best way to get your thoughts out there, while retaining control over the curation and presentation of the content.
On Canada Day, Place des Festivals Zibi in Gatineau was host to a series of BMX shows by Krusher BMX. I couldn’t get enough of it! Luckily they had a few shows throughout the afternoon so I was able to enjoy the action while getting my fill of photos. There are more like the one shown above on my flickr page…
Title: How to Succeed in College Mathematics, by Richard M. Dahlke, PhD.
ISBN: 978-0-615-16803-6
An excellent guidebook of interest to anyone studying mathematics at the post-secondary level. Written by Professor Richard M. Dahlke, a U.S.-based professor of mathematics, How to Succeed in College Mathematics gives useful advice on topics such as improving academic performance, keeping a…
An integral equation is one that contains an unknown function under the integral sign. When that integral is over an interval varying with \(x\), it is more specifically classified as a Volterra integral equation.
I came across this interesting, relatively simple Volterra equation in Stewart's Calculus and thought it would be interesting to try out.
Proposition: A matrix with a row consisting of all zeroes cannot be inverted, nor can one with a column of all zeroes.
Proof
Let A denote some \(n\times n\) matrix where one of its rows has only zeroes — let us refer to this as row r. Then take another \(n \times n\) matrix B and suppose toward contradiction that \(B = A^{-1}\).
Universal Wave Equation Example
According to r/EngineeringStudents, the speed of sound in mayonnaise is 2613 \(\textrm{ms}^{-1}\). According to Scientific American, a soprano's frequency range could be between 250 and 1500 Hz, so let's see what the wavelength of a 1200 Hz soprano tone would be as it passes through mayonnaise.
The displacement formula is a kinematic equation used in physics. I created this graphic using TikZ, a package that goes with the document preparation system LaTeX to enable programmatic vector graphic creation.
$$\Delta d = v_1 t + \frac{1}{2}at^2.$$
The annotated code is available in my GitLab repository.
LaTeX is a software system used most commonly in the typesetting of scientific and mathematical documents. More precisely, LaTeX is a macro package built on top of the TeX system created by computer scientist Donald Knuth in the 1970s. LaTeX allows users to create documents in plain text, achieving semi-custom formatting effects with special commands.
Vorta is a client program for MacOS and Linux computers that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for Borg, a powerful backup tool that is normally used in command-line. Borg is a deduplicating backup program, which means once you initialize a repository somewhere (like on an external hard drive) and take your first backup, it will only copy files that have changed since the previous backup.
One of the most fascinating topics I have learned about recently in my computer technologies course are operating systems. It really took this course to make me think about things I would have taken for granted before. One example is, I wondered: wait, how does a computer even restart itself?
People vary wildly in they ways they accomplish simple things. Sometimes, it makes you wonder what it says about their personality.
My friends put ketchup next to their fries, whereas I drizzle it on top of the fries and tackle them with a fork.
My boss is a practitioner of the good ol’ put-the-whole-email-in-the-subject-line.
I recently worked on a freelance feature for the Ottawa Citizen, about how artificial intelligence is being developed and used in Ottawa. It was published on April 13, 2019 in their Saturday Observer and also made the front page in print.
Check it out here.
I also wrote a supplementary piece about whether we’re all going to die at the hands of AI.
No. You shouldn’t.
For six months now, I’ve been doing double duty in my local blogging activities. In addition to editing OttawaStart.com, I also took over StittsvilleCentral.ca for my friend Glen Gower, who ran (successfully) for city council.
With the election behind us, it was time to re-evaluate and I’m thrilled to share the result of the last month or so of work.
The strike began at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 16, 2017.
Normally it would have been another Monday back to school. Instead, it was the start of a five-week work stoppage – involving 12,000 college teachers – that would prove to be one of the longest and most disruptive Ontario has ever seen.