Ceasium

It's a choice between two devils. You can't have one without the other. I think I'd choose happiness over intelligence. Yet if you are not that intelligent, you are missing out on a whole lot amizing, and beautiful science. But you wouldn't care anyway in that case.

Thanks, that was the step that I needed to solve it correctly

I used your approach, and it worked, see the attached files. But if I now try to evaluate the integral on the given points, all I get is nonsense. If I evaluate the integral on the given numbers, I get a non- true answer. (see attached files in my previous post). Can someone see what I am doing wrong whilst evaluating the limits

Thanks for your reply. It got me somewhere, yet I am stuck again on the unsolvable part. I've attached my working out here, and on the second page I try to work out the integral, but then come across a problem. Can you see where my computation went wrong? Or should I try a whole different approach? -edit: now attached the files math hw 5 calc 5 (1).pdf Math hw 5 calc 1 (2).pdf

Hi, I need to integrate the following function: f(x) = 1/x2 * e1/x Where x does not equal 0. Determine a number a < 0 such that: The integral of a till 0 f(x)dx = f(a) What the question aks is on other words: Find a number a, such that the number a equals the surface under the graph and its position on the x-axis. All that remains for me is to determine the integral of the function, I have tried integration by parts, substitution with u = e1/x , and improper intergrals, but none seemed to work. (I was working in loops, or making the integral even more difficult) Can someone help me in the right direction?

That explains the whole thing, thank you

I will give you a simple explanation that might make you think out of the box. 1.) (Amount of energy 1 - amount of energy 1 = no energy at all) 1-1=0 2.) Now comes the reasoning, lets say the whole universe is energy one, just imagine there is another universe, somewhere beyond the borders of ours. Lets say that it has energy -1, and that if both universes meet, they will annihilate each other, leaving no spare energy. 3.) Now you can come to the conclusion that we can exist without the help of an external force, and the law of conservation of energy isn't broken either.

Imagine that at the start of the universe, a photon has a short wavelength x. Due to the universe expanding its wavelength decreases. A longer wavelength suggests that the photon has lost energy over time. (I've googled it and found out that the photon has lost over 99,9% of its energy over time). What has happened to this energy? Can one of you come up with a reasonable understandable explanation (I'm a first year physics students, so my toolkit is very limited). It undermines the principle of the law of conservation of energy, if the energy is just lost.

I disagree with your point of view (if I misinterperted it, correct me). You are stating that you can strive towards a state of permanent happiness. The problem is, there is no such thing as permanent happiness. You can be permanently satisfied with your life, but this does not mean that you are happy. I am satisfied with my life, but I am occasionally happy (probably a few times per week). For instance if I'm with my friends chatting, fooling around etc. I am happy for a moment. Or if I understand a difficult mathematical equation/theorem after some time, I get happy for half an hour. And afterwards, all that I'm left with is satisfaction, not happiness.

Honestly, I think that the moral code between atheits and theists is not very different. The stories about finding money are too stereotypical ... . It depends on person to person what he or she does with the money. A religious person can justify keeping the money by thinking:' Well god put this money on the street for me for a special reason, and therefore I am in my right to keep it, because god wanted this to happen for me.' An atheist can act the same way by thinking:' Hahaha, that s*cker lost his money lets live up to Darwins rules, survival of the fittest, the winner keeps it all.' Most of us agree on that whether you are religious or not, the action above is immoral. Our sense of morality is cooked into us by our parents/the bible, but mostly by nature. You can encounter a situation which is completely new to you and still make a decision that is moraly right, without any support from 1. God 2. Your parents 3. Another example in society. Someone above me mentioned that the bible states that any child who swears should be stoned to death. All religious people (except for some nuts among them) still don't do this. Why? It is immoral to stone anyone to death, even when the bible says that this is ok to do. This is a gut feeling that surpasses the 'morality' of the bible. From: What is the purpose of morality http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/what_is_the_purpose_of_morality/ An intresting interview on where morality comes from: http://abcnews.go.com/News/famed-biologist-frans-de-waal-argues-humans-inherited/story?id=12226888

Too bad this became an argument, so lets set it aside. As I'm thinking about some reasonable input in this discuassion, my thoughts cease at: 'If everything is predetermined, where is the master plan of every single happening? Where is this plan heading to? What can be consedired a happening, one orbital of an electron? Why is there a masterplan, and why is it unfolding this way?' On the other hand, if everything consists of comeplete randomness, how is then determined what the outcome is going to be? When was this chosen? How is this outcome selected out of the many others?

@Alyssacrybabymedia Why don't you shine the light partly on the more shy, but well educated children (They probably have some intresting things to say about darwinism, ethics, gun laws etc. Or is this too risky for US television?) And change it off with some do it yourself soda bottle experiments.

Well, I don't think that expensive burocrats are the main reason (I think each counrty itself decides what their representatives earn). You are mostly afraid about losing some of your sovereignity, and other 'disadvantages' such as having to pay a bit more taxes, so that the poorer countries such as Rumania can develop notable industries as well. But Manfromzurich, why do you think that it is not a good idea for Switzerland to enter the European Union?

Thank you for enlightening me on this topic. I've read some more and found some 'disturbing' things out. In my country of origin the church is sending priets to people who just moved, and try to convert them. They really jump in upon the fact that people have the need to belong to a group, and they offer one instantly. Besides this, the church contacts people in the more run down quarters and tries to convert them. These people have a lot of the characteristics that iNow told me about, and therefore are very easy prey. The best we can do is to hope that someday people will recognize that they will be better of without fundamentalism. Let's hope that it happens fast

Yes, I was refering to fundamentalism. I mistranslated the word, I'll edit my text.

We Dutch can build fairly good dykes, so there is nothing to worry about You clearly don't see how much we have gained from the European Union. The EEC, ECCS etc. prevented Germany and France from having new wars. If this hadn't been done we'd all pretty much live in poverty and be under some kind of dicatorial german/french regime, including Switzerland. Haven't you noticed the economic impact that the EU has had? The economies grew at a decent rate for several years, because getting rid of the borders enabled much more trade between the countries, stimulating consumption & producing jobs. The EU enables us to cooperate with our armies, which saves each country a lot of mony each year. Don't forget about the moral support it gives as well. The EU gives us a lot of more political power too, who would even be intrested in small countries like Lithuania, Holland Greece etc, if they weren't united in the EU? Plust it enables us to make statements to other countries, instead of everyone squarrelling and giving their own opinion happenings. Yes I know, that atm we are in quite a rough financial situation. I am sure that we can overcome this, and more of this mess in the future, if we give up our financial sovereignity. But the most important thing is is that the EU stimulates economical growth and specialization for every country so that we can easily compete with way larger countries such as China, the USA, India etc.

Hey guys, it has been lately in the news that there has been a group of fundamentalistic muslims in the UK that has harassed people, and tries to lay on the Sharia on people. It is very obvious to me that fundamentalism is not only limited to muslims, but that there are radical jews and christians as well (and from many other religions). All this got me thinking, there are a couple of things I do not understand about fundamentalism (as an atheist) that I do not understand. I've tried googling this topic, but it came up with very little results. First of all could someone explain to me why there are people that are so devouted to their religion, and why they even sacrifice their life for their religion? Secondly, can someone explain to me how one can turn from a liberal theist into an fundamentalistic one? And lastly how big is the chance that an fundamentalist theist changes his views and turns back into a mildly religious purpose? - And could you yourself give your point of view on fundamentalism? I'm wondering what others think of orthodoxy

@ OP I have spent a lot of hours thinking about this topic, it is simple, complex, rational & irrational, and so forth and so forth ... at the same time. But the only conlusion that I could draw was that I was reasoning in circles, just like you. Every possible option, including the one of god draws the same conclusion. Imagine this: the universe is like a circle/sinusoid and has no beginning or end. You could pick any (random) point in time and conclude: 'ah the universe is currently in this and that state'. This is one of the many reasonings that say that the universe in infinite and repeats itself in circles (like the big crunch), or that it does change over time but never has a beginning or end (the big rip). It just does not give us any information on how it all began, because it did not began at all, because the universe in this case has no beginning and no end. The other possibility is that you say: god created the universe and therefore it began all when god created us. (Nothing is stated about the end of the universe by a god, so I assume that time will go on for infinity but there is a 'beginning'. This theory contains a major flaw, apart from the fact that this theory does not say a thing aboud how god was created (you end up reasoning just like the first theory), this theory deceives us by letting us think that there is a beginning. Imagine this universe as a straight line, all lines go one forever, and have no beginning or end, but the difference with this line is that we humans gave it a certain domain e.g. D f(x) = [0 A.D. ; 10x >. What I conclude from this is that you still have no beginning or an end, but that we humans give it an artificial beginning (and end at the moment we get exterminated). As OP told, the big bang only explains that there was a beginning, and not why it began, or what there was before this all began. So this theory is inconclusive as well about the point of 'true' creation. We only know about the moment of our creation, and nothing else. I really hope that one of the forum's members could prove me wrong, so that my own curiosity on how it all began is satisfied The only logical thing I thought of was to eliminate the 'arguments' that did not make sense, and afterwards the only thing that I concluded was (pardon me for my language) we don't know any shit, and it is just really weird that we exist at all. It makes more sense to me that only nothing exists, than that something exists. If nothing existed it would'nt have been such a pain in the neck, as our existence is now

Thanks for the diagrams alpha, they were very helpful for me Now math made me think about sound. I've learned about Mollweide's formula's a couple of days ago. Imagine yourself having a setup like this: Two Identical speakers, distance x apart, playing the same tone in HZ*s-1 so that there are some lines in the room where the sound is amplified, and some lines where the strenght of the sound is decreased. If you know the ladba, temperature frequency etc. could you calculate how much db the sound is increased or decreased? And if so could anyone show me an example of how this is done, so that I can do it for myself in the future?

Thanks for all the info, I now understand how the energy transfer works with gas molecules . How does sound transfer work on solids? They have no way in which they can move around like in a gas or liquid. Also does it work in the same way as in a liquid?

Just to straight things out with the other posters. I do not believe in any form of predestination, paranormal activiy, or that I was put on this earth by a god for a 'reason, or in any form of a god'. I simply believe in chance, randomness and the laws of large numbers, the laws of physics etc. I do not consider myself special in any way, or think that I can see the future. I just happen to have these 'de ja vu' moments where in my head as soon as it starts I just get a very familliar feeling and 'know?' what will happen the comming few seconds. More likely as stated before, I unconsciously/instinctionally act the way I did in my dream to make 'the future' come true. As soon as the de ja vu starts I automatically remember when I 'dreamt' this, so I think there is a very close connection between a 'de ja vu' and dreaming, but that this is NOT a form of forecasting the future. Now to give an example of my most intensive 'de ja vu', which hopefully will give you some more insight on how it works. It was just an ordinary day during summer, and we were discussing the math test, which we had the week prior. My teacher wrote all the equations on the board, and I had around seven or eight minutes to recognize these. But this is the key to a 'de ja vu', and to my story. I did not recognize them at all, had no feeling of having seen them before, there was no link whatsoever. As I stood in line for my teacher to discuss some of his corrections, I chatted with my classmates which stood before me in the line, waiting. As I turned my head, and saw the equations again from just the right distance and angle, this thought popped up in my head: 'waaaaaait, I've seen these before but .....' and I slid in my 'de ja vu'. As soon as this happened I go into my 'autopilot' mode. I knew what the chat with my classmate was about for the coming 45 seconds, and what his answer would be before he answered them, and what I was going to ask next. (I asked him how his test went, his reply: I fucked up question 8 c&d but the rest went alright etc. etc., it was rather boring). Yet I was not able to/capable of ask(ing) him anything else that did not fit the picture of the occouring 'de ja vu' like: 'How's your cat doing?'. So I thought that I could not influence the situation in any way. After this small talk my 'de ja vu' was over, and I 'remembered' dreaming this a few months prior. What I think is, that I reacted instinctionally and therefore was not able to do something that not belonged to my instinct. For me there really seems to be a connection between a 'dream' and the de ja vu, although I do not know what. I'd say it is a combination of factors such as, the dream which rougly scetches a situation and that you yourself contribute to it by acting like in your dream, plus some kind of mindfuck that either gives you the feeling that you know what is going to happen beforehand, and changing the facts later on so that the imput and the output of the brain become the same. My de ja vu's do not change my mind about the fact that people are not able to see the future, but you always get this eerie feeling of familiatiry/recognition that hangs around you as a cloak when it happens. And what I hope most is that I will find out one day what causes them, proven by facts, data and a logcial scientifical theory. @ SomethingToPonder do you ever write down what you dream about? I very very rarely dream, (less than once a year), sometimes I wake up slightly confused when I am still in my dream and go back to sleep, only to remember the next morning that I woke up for a split second, and put no further thought in it. I connect most of my de ja vu's with these moments and then tend to 'remember' what happened or what I dreamt about, although i've had a few that I could not link back to such a moment.

Could you describe one or two of your de ja vu's? So I can see if we have more or less the same one's. And could you tell me why the universe highlights seemingly unimportant moments for the both of us?, I've only had two or three on some more 'important' moments in my life. Yesterday I've been digging trough my mind to remember more of them and to look for similarities between them. And what turns out, one of the first memories of the world that I have is a de ja vu, I was around 6 or 7 years old at that time (I am currently 18). I can also devide them into two categories. I'll describe my 'worst'/most intense de ja vu moment to you later tonight, when I have more time to write

The speed seems to decrease exponentially when the gas becomes heavier per m3. So I can conclude that this has to do with inertia -The heavier the gas the more 'slowly' the molecules bump into each other, and the sound travels more slowly. Is this the right conclusion? Can I state as well that the Ekin of sound is the same in every gass? Ekin= 1/2 * m * v2 . Edit : - Thanks Alpha & Swansont

I've smoked pot three times in my life, and didn't really like it. I only use alcohol as a drug, but I don't get drunk too often (max. once a month). I think I'm psychological normal as well, the last more or less traumatic experience, a broken heart, I got was months ago. - I did not have any problems during my childhood that I know of

To start, I have 'de ja vu's' as well, although I do not believe in forecasting the future. They occour almost once every month, ranging from 10-30 seconds, they consist of unimportant random things like (my last one): I was walking towards the garbadge can outside, to throw leftovers from the dinner away, I remember looking up to see snow falling down. It lasted for almost 30 seconds. -Recently I've read the results of a study: They showed one group of people photo's of buildings and furniture in the morning, asked 50 % of the group to remember the buildings, and the other 50% of the group to remember as much as possible from the furniture photo's. After this they went to work, and took the test in the evening. (14H later) The other group of people saw the photo's of buildings and furniture in the evening, 50% of the group was told that they only had to remember the buildings, the other 50% was told only to remember the furniture. After this they went to sleep, to be tested the next morning. (14H later) Just before the test, they told all people that the test was about both (furniture & buildings). These were the results: The group which went to bed could remember more about what them was told to be importand, and less about what was not importand for them. The group which wen to work remembered more about the unimportand than the importand, and remembered less in general than the group that went to bed. The conlusion: Sleeping ensures that you will remember specific memories better, and that they are processed somehow whilst sleeping.- So now comes the reasoning, you process some of your memories during sleep. Some memories (some of them actions you did during the day) get stored/processed somewhere, and alter slightly because you're dreaming. So in my last Dé ja vû a simple action about which I dreamt got somehow mixed with a snowy surrounding (Maybe because I really like snow), and got stored. Upon encountering a similair situation I suddenly remembered this part of my dream, and unconsciously/instinctionally did the same thing I did in my dream. So what I'd say is that you act in a way to make the 'future' come true, and experience this as a Dé ja vû. Because you dream every night and process a lot of things it is quite likely that one just pops up that has all the right ingredients to become a 'dé ja vû'.