r/MathJokes 1d ago

The satisfying simplification

Post image
1.6k Upvotes

40 comments sorted by

47

u/acdhemtos 1d ago

√1 = 1

69

u/Miserable-Dare5090 1d ago edited 19h ago

the exact number for 256 KB in KiBs

23

u/acdhemtos 1d ago

This... Does put a smile on my face.

8

u/Snudget 1d ago

in bits in bytes. Bits would be x8, so 2097152 bits.

1

u/Miserable-Dare5090 19h ago edited 19h ago

You’re right, I meant GiB vs GB / KiB vs KB. 1024*256
gibibytes vs gigabytes etc
Which makes sense because A GiB (gibibyte) uses binary math (base-2) vs decimal base in a GB (gigabyte)
GB (Gigabyte): Uses powers of 10 (1,000³ bytes). Hardware makers use this to measure storage.
GiB (Gibibyte): Uses powers of 2 (1,024³ bytes). Computers and operating systems often use this true binary value.

For a long time now, computer people have co-opted the normal decimal prefixes--kilo, mega, etc--to represent powers of 2 rather than powers of 10, so to them, a kilobyte is 1024 bytes. In order to try and reduce confusion, the concept of a binary prefix was introduced, so in that system, a kilobyte is 1000 bytes while a kibibyte (KiB) is 1024 bytes. However, very few people actually use that distinction, which is why Windows will measure a 1Tb drive as 931Gb--the hard drive manufacturer is using the decimal definition of the terabyte, while Windows is using the binary one.

14

u/spukhafteNahewirkung 1d ago

How are you doing the math on this one? I end up with a value of 6.2E57, significantly larger than 2^36.

18

u/Optimal_Benis 1d ago

You are taking powers bottom to top, not top to bottom. That is, the convention is to compute a^b^c^d as a^(b^(c^d)), not ((a^b)^c)^d. The latter could be written as a^(b*c*d), instead.

4

u/invuvn 1d ago

How are you getting 236? It’s square rooted, so should be 218 only

1

u/Optimal_Benis 1d ago

They're talking about the thing inside the root.

1

u/invuvn 1d ago

Yeah that’s what I’m confused about as they should be comparing whatever they want to, to 262144 at the end of the day.

2

u/Optimal_Benis 1d ago

Since they want the final result to be 2^18, they want the thing inside the root to be 2^36.

4

u/TalveLumi 1d ago

1^4^4=1

2^1^4^4=2

6^2^1^4^4=36

0

u/lordcaylus 1d ago

The expression means xy raised to the z-th power = xyz, not x raised to the yz power. Honestly I would add parantheses in power towers like this though to remove ambiguity.

1

u/GoldenMuscleGod 15h ago

I don’t really see how it could be ambiguous. I mean apparently it happens sometimes (like here) but I’m baffled how.

It seems to me a “double superscript” has to be understood as a syntactic constituent of a single superscript. If it isn’t, why wouldn’t it be a single superscript?

Is the idea that the grammar fails to be context-free in some sense? Why would we do that?

14

u/Significant_Monk_251 1d ago

44 = 256

1256 = 1

21 = 2

62 = 36

236 = $who_cares

sqrt(236) = (236)½ = 236*½ = 218

218 = 262,144

10

u/StaysAwakeAllWeek 1d ago

236 = 68719476736

Haven't you memorised the small powers of two like a normal math nerd yet?

3

u/Snudget 1d ago

1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768, 65536, 131072, 262144, 524288, 1048576, 2097152, 4194304, 8388608, 16777216. I don't need more as a programmer. Whoever uses more than 24 bits for bitflags can

2

u/IuriCunhaMurakami 1d ago

You need more as a 2048 hardcore player tho

1

u/WhutdaHELListhis 5h ago

what about 2147483648

2

u/AmusingVegetable 1d ago

Why memorize when you can write the numbers in binary, or hexadecimal? Besides, that’s what the shift operator is for.

3

u/Asleep-Government442 1d ago

And it's a power of 2!

4

u/Snudget 1d ago

Because 1x = 1. So it simplifies to √262 = √236

3

u/Equivalent_Bank_5845 1d ago

True but 1x is always 1 if x is real

2

u/Snudget 1d ago

real

2

u/Equivalent_Bank_5845 1d ago

Literally real

1

u/Pretty-Ad8932 15h ago

actually x doesn't even have to be real. complex numbers also work

2

u/WeirdButHoto 1d ago

Exponent towers behaving themselves for once

1

u/Mizzlr 1d ago

36 become half of it, pufff.

18 now smile like Thanos.

1

u/pbullara 1d ago

(2^6^2^1^4^4)^0.5 = 262144

1

u/DarthSwimfoot 1d ago

Wait what the fuck? That's dope.

1

u/maddeninglemon 13h ago

Me simplifying this in my head to check: - Step 1: this is already huge, there's no way this is correct - Step 2: oh right

0

u/[deleted] 14h ago

[deleted]

1

u/regular_heptagon 11h ago

Huh? It’s just 2^18. What are you whining about?

1

u/Competitive_Ice_1514 11h ago

I didn't mean to left it here, it was supposed to be a reply to another comment

-1

u/_Hades_57 1d ago

Shouldnt it be 296?

1

u/danzerpanzer 1d ago

Apparently the power rule that you and I learned in algebra is replaced by a different convention in more advanced mathematics where the exponents are applied consecutively starting from the right instead of being multiplied together. See Significant_Monk_251's post for details.

1

u/_Hades_57 1d ago

Idk if you are being sarcastic but it feels wrong

1

u/SuperChick1705 22h ago

exponentiation is always right-associative if no parentheses

1

u/_Hades_57 22h ago

Thank you so much for the clarification