Slashdot Mirror

• 38 inches according to a page at Arkansas State University and another at Microflex Technologies. Well the conversion (1 meter = 38 inches) is mentioned actually by some apparently russian website which is linked on this page at the arkansas state university
• 38.16 inches according to a rounding-happy math teacher at Norfolk Collegiate School in Virginia.
• Couldnt test this one, because the website was down (probably slashdotted)
• 38.37 inches according to Honeywell's Sensotec folks.
• Ok, well, this is indeed incorrect. However, on the same PDF it is mentioned that 1 inch = 2.54 cm, 1m = 1.0936 yards, which are both correct values. So I seriously believe that (1 m = 38.37in) is just a typo and should have actually been 1m=39.37 in.
• 38.8 inches according to some numerological babble
• Well, if it is "babble",then why consider it at all?
• 39 inches according to Fife Products and some folks who sell quilting products.
• That makes sense, doesn't it? Quilt and other such manufacturers would want to save on by "trimming" or low-rounding such conversions wouldnt they? For selling 1000m of their product, they save 37 inches!
• 39.14 inches according to the specifications on a measuring wheel for engineers. (uh-oh!)
• This does look incorrect. I can't think of why they'd equate 1m=39.14 inches.
• 39.15 inches according to an October 30 2002 entry in a blog.
• Why would you be concerned about what's on a blog. People put whatever they want to.
• 39.21 inches according to Richard Bowles.
• Again, who is richard bowles? I've no idea.. do other slashdotters know? Even if he is an authority on metric systems, why would you use an individual's figures as a source of reference? Would you not prefer to look at a metrics standards body or other such resource?
• 39.27 inches according to pages at University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory.
• On the same page you'd notice: "Since many of our students travel to Europe or Australia, we've prepared the chart below to show you how to estimate foreign measurements. We hope you find it helpful:"...Did you notice the word "estimate"? Well, if anything, it wasn't at helpful to you I presume :-)
• 39.28 inches according to Jonathan Brooks at Penn State University.
• Again, I think this "Jonathan Brooks" is a user/student at Penn State University, and this URL you posted isnt an authoritative advisory from the University itself.
• 39.3 inches according to some

This evening, I learned that one meter equals 39.3700787 inches. While this may come as no surprise to some people, it was one to me - for years, I had mistakenly believed a meter was 39.77 inches, and now I know it's basically 39.37.

Of course, I'm not alone in my confusion. A bit of research on Google revealed quite a few different conversions from meters to inches. Here are some of them:

• 38 inches according to a page at Arkansas State University and another at Microflex Technologies.
• 38.16 inches according to a rounding-happy math teacher at Norfolk Collegiate School in Virginia.
• 38.37 inches according to Honeywell's Sensotec folks.
• 38.8 inches according to some numerological babble
• 39 inches according to Fife Products and some folks who sell quilting products.
• 39.14 inches according to the specifications on a measuring wheel for engineers. (uh-oh!)
• 39.15 inches according to an October 30 2002 entry in a blog.
• 39.21 inches according to Richard Bowles.
• 39.27 inches according to pages at University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory.
• 39.28 inches according to Jonathan Brooks at Penn State University.
• 39.3 inches according to some laser folks.
• 39.34 inches according to a page about photography, and another about a role-playing game. Hey, it's only a game, their meters can be whatever length they want.
• 39.36 inches according to some ham radio sorts and some NASA folks among others. Pretty close... but... shouldn't NASA know better by now?
• 39.38 inches according to people who race 1-meter model yachts, talk about prehistory in California, and, um, other NASA folks. Again, pretty close!
• 39.39 inches according to someone ranting against metric (how ironic), as well as a page about UFOs.
• 39.4 inches according to a list of conversions from a company that makes electric motors and such things, and the Secretary of the Navy.
• 39.45 inches according to a set of math problems f

::Colz Grigor

"Consider something simple like Tic-Tac-Toe. Because it is such a simple game we can easily calculate how much of an advantage X has over O."

Right, it comes out to exactly zero advantage. With the game of Nim the first player can always win.

Assuming that we had the monster computer that could brute force its way through a chess game, then I think it's correct to say that it would be able to solve the halting problem for chess. If the game doesn't halt, it would mean that the game always ends in a draw. But if it does halt, then for a given initial state (opening move) the algorithm would be deterministic.

Does that make any sense?

Now what I don't understand is how Sierpinski-ness can be proven, how they know there's not some huge n that makes 78557*2^n+1 prime after all; and I can't find the info.

Here's some info, though the exact construction of the proof isn't give. Apparently, it's possible to prove that for any n, 78557*2^n+1 is divisible by one of a finite (and quite small) number of primes. As to how, ask the guy who proved it...

Here [http://www.csm.astate.edu/Ninept.html] is a more visual definition of a nine-point circle for people like me who are much more visually oriented.

THIS is the kind of news that should be reported, not "some guy shot some clerk on the other side of this state" or "it might snow in [distant state] tonight."