Calvin Lin's messageboard -3

See the new messageboard. This messageboard will be locked soon.

Hi guys! You can leave messages for me here.

My previous messageboard has too many comments and images, which cause it to load slowly. If you have a previous conversation please continue it there instead of starting a new thread here.

I will be editing and deleting comments to help keep this loading fast. E.g. Once images are irrelevant, they will simply be displayed as a hyperlink, instead of requiring everyone to download the picture. Irrelevant comments will be deleted.

Please keep conversations separate, IE start a new thread for different comments. This will allow me to easily keep track of live discussions.

Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

Markdown	Appears as
`italics` or `_italics_`	italics
`bold` or `__bold__`	bold
- bulleted - list	bulleted list
1. numbered 2. list	numbered list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1 paragraph 2	paragraph 1 paragraph 2
`[example link](https://brilliant.org)`	example link
`> This is a quote`	This is a quote
# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"	# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

Sir, what all kinds of requests can we ask here in your Message Board ?

I have recently posted a note asking for advise related to some problem solving techniques , is it fine or should I ask it here ?

I had asked this question in your previous message board but you didn't give any reply so , if I may , I am asking it here : When was Brilliant formed , i.e. can you share with us the Date ? Yes , Brilliant's Birth date . Pls , I am very interested to know it .

Thanks for the same , sir :)

A Former Brilliant Member - 6 years, 3 months ago

The messageboard is for more personal comments or questions that you have. General questions like "What are some problem solving tips?" should be posted as a note for the community to respond to directly, instead of only asking it here.

Calvin Lin Staff - 6 years, 3 months ago

With the changes being made in Brilliant, I wonder if wikis are even harder to find now? I made a wiki some time back Propositional Logic Using Algebra, and then just now when I went to look for it for reference for a problem I'm working on, the only way I was able to find it was to actually do a Google search. Is there an easier way to find such wikis?

Michael Mendrin - 6 years ago

By right, they would automatically appear in our search results, unless we deleted the wiki page.

In this particular case, the entry wasn't updated which is why you could not find it. We had to sync it up manually, and now it appears. We will look into this further, and see if there are other wiki pages that are not appearing in search. Thanks!!

Calvin Lin Staff - 6 years ago

Serious, Calvin, and I've mentioned this several times before. If Brilliant.org is going to invest so much into its wikis, it has to be made more accessible somehow. I have no idea how, I don't have any answers yet, but something needs to be done. I know that there are a large number of excellent wikis and notes, but unfortunately they seem to exist in some kind of a netherworld, and you already have to know what you're looking for before you could find a particular one. Some kind of indexing is needed, I think. Even something like this helps Agnishom's Wikis

Michael Mendrin - 6 years ago

@Michael Mendrin – Agreed. We are looking into plans for wiki organization.

Calvin Lin Staff - 6 years ago

When we are pressing "See the new messageboard" link it is again directing me to this same note itself. I think there is a mistake in the link. Please change it and I also want the link for calvin lin messageboard - 4 as I want to save it (because we cannot search for notes as it was previously).

Ram Mohith - 2 years, 7 months ago

@Calvin Lin My teacher recently told me that this expression: $\left [ \sqrt{2\sqrt{2\sqrt{2\sqrt{2....}}}}\right ] \neq 2$ where [.] denotes greatest integer function. Instead it is equal to 1. Is this true?

P.S.: Can I request a formal proof?

Kataria Family - 2 years, 1 month ago

@Calvin Lin, I would really appreciate if you could give me some background on solving and finding Pythagorean poly-tuplets. For example, find the number of nonnegative solutions to a^2+b^2+c^2+d^2+e^2=30^2. Thank you sir for for time and great website. I hope I can meet you someday. Also thank you for getting me out of my habit of plugging in equality cases in polynomials. This has helped to USA(J)MO level algebra problems. Thank you sir.

Sal Gard - 4 years, 11 months ago

Check out the diophantine equations subtopic in Number Theory.

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 11 months ago

@Calvin Lin SIR CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME REGARDING TYPING WITH LATEX. I AM A BIT CONFUSED. WHENEVER I TRY TO WRITE USING IT, SOME MISTAKE SPOILS MY SOLUTION. SO CAN YOU HELP ME BY ANY WAY SO THAT I COULD KNOW ABOUT A PROPER FORMAT OF WRITING. FORMATTING GUIDE HELPED ME BUT NOT MUCH. I WANT TO POST MANY QUESTIONS AND NOTES BUT DUE TO THIS PROBLEM, I AM NOT ABLE TOO....

Nikhil Raj - 4 years ago

Can you link me to a solution where you have a mistake? That will allow me to see what the issue is.

Some general guidelines.
1. Break the code up into many parts when you're uncertain about the exact code. This way, you can see what is working, and what isn't.
2. Use "Toggle Latex" to view code that others wrote which works. This is especially helpful when there is an existing example that you're trying to duplicate. (E.g. typing fractions, square roots, tables, etc)

Note: Please refrain from typing in all capital letters, as that is considered very rude on the internet.

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years ago

Thanks for your reply sir. And I am sorry sir. I wasn't aware that writing in capital letter is considered rude. I am sorry sir. Hope you are not angry and will help me in my future problems. If i will face any kind of problem, i will contact you sir and I will link you to the solution. Sir, can we reset our stats if we want to start from beginning and want to test ourselves.

Nikhil Raj - 4 years ago

@Nikhil Raj – No worries. Not angry.

Unfortunately, there is no way to reset the stats.

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years ago

@Calvin Lin – Thank you sir.

Nikhil Raj - 4 years ago

Hi Calvin. Great site! But I notice some problems with incorrect or misleading (out of context) questions/solutions that should probably be edited. How do we flag for attention?

Rel Dauts - 4 years ago

From the problem menu, you can select "Report problem". This will alert the problem creator who can respond to you directly.

If they do not respond within a week, Brilliant staff will look into the report.

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years ago

Respected Calvin sir I always try to post a question which will be in one of the problems of the week. But I never succeeded in that still now.

I have a doubt the problems written in the problems of the week should be of what kind :

Conceptual and Formula based
Application type

I have been posting these type of good questions but they never came in one of the problems of the week.

Please give suggestions for me to post good questions.

Ram Mohith - 3 years, 1 month ago

@Calvin Lin sir , I am not able to see points in the leader board in my stats.

Rama Devi - 5 years, 9 months ago

Thanks. We are aware of the bug and are working on fixing it.

Calvin Lin Staff - 5 years, 9 months ago

Previously I was able to view it.

Rama Devi - 5 years, 9 months ago

@Nihar Mahajan As always, don't feed the trolls. Just leave them be and they will wither.

Calvin Lin Staff - 6 years ago

Ok sir. But they are quite annoying. Next time I wont do any thing. Having read this comment you can delete this comment. Thanks!

Nihar Mahajan - 6 years ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$