Clara Listensprechen @ClaraListensprechen4@social.cleverlibre.org

@redrummy
Ooooh, I like that one, and it's pertinent to a separate discussion I was having about the false notion that science cannot "prove a negative". It's a lovely hair it's splitting. Thanks!

@erosalie
The error in that line of thought is the absolutism you've introduced. When something's ruled out, you don't go putting it back in, because it's definitively OUT...for the time being, and it's time that would change that, pending new evidence to the contrary.

It's absolutism that provides any given "smart" criminal the loopholes he seeks to avoid prosecution because he's thoroughly convinced that, by your own rules, you cannot prove his guilt.

Thus we arrive at the value of Venn, which covers those shades of gray between ruling in and ruling out, which it will do but dependent on conditions.

You can still rule things out that don't fit any of those conditions.

@Mary625
The "don't turn into your parents" ad is Progressive Insurance, and Progressive has had several memorable commercials as well as spokesperson "Flo"...so there is that rare occasion when one encounters ad script genius--they're out there.

Ad genius got my first notice with Tennessee's Carden & Cherry, who came up with Ernest P. Worrell, and script writer Coke Sams. I even joined the fan club and that was before Ernest hit the big screen.

Another fave is the first 3 commercials featuring a garage band for Free Credit Report . com , not to mention the GEICO cavemen. And so it goes.

They're out there.

@redrummy
Oh by all means. I'd like to hear your take on Newton's First Law, while keeping in mind just how old it is.

I'd further like to point out that I could have deleted my toot and rephrased it to make the correction, but there are struggling math students out there who believe that math is beyond them because they don't get the correct answer the first time, and it's because of simple mistakes like that, and they happen to everybody.

Another lesson for them is that you can't leave math lessons to the last minute because cramming with a last-ditch overnighter will NEVER work.

1. Math is a line of reasoning that is picked up by not skipping any steps in the progression of lessons

2. Even if you think you suck at math, the important thing to learn is to check your work BEFORE you hand it in (or hit SEND).

3. "Critical thinking" begins in the arithmetic class because you're always checking your own work.

The lesson to take away from this muff is this: even if you try to do basic arithmetic this close to your local midnight hour, your brain will betray you because it has already turned into a pumpkin. G'night!

...and now y'all can muddle over whether x/1 = x is legit, huh. From what I just said, the mistake I made was saying x/x when I should have said x/1, so yeah, I'm just now catching that...and Mastodon software does not allow a person to edit a post. @Mary625 , that's the problem you ran into in your thread about ads.

You're forced to delete then repost so all your replies get lost when you attempt to make a correction...or you're forced to let the error stand and you're forced to take all the @s at you.

CORRECTION: x/1 = x/0

@Mary625
Me neither You'd think the ad geniuses out there would consider that. But no, and that's why we have Head On Applied Directly To The Forehead. Sure, we remember that shit decades later but absolutely avoid the product.

@Mary625
More than likely. The one Colonial Penn ad with "the three pees" was done when Alex Trebec was still doing ads for 'em and they didn't die when Alex did.

@Mary625
The entire class of Medicare commercials are tied with Colonial Penn commercials.

@erosalie
Not taking issue with the issue--I'm taking issue with the old saw about not being able to prove a negative because science (forensics in particular) do that all the time, and it's call "ruling it out".

I just followed Hacker News down a rabbit hole which started out as "Most Earth system models are missing element..." then found a link on that page attempting to explain why "Dividing by Zero is a Bad Idea"...and it proceeds to examine various mathematical proofs to prove why not, except one.

Mathematics has always been and will always be, a language that describes relationships and how those relatioships change values with respect to any change in any single one of those elements. That's why some people like word math problems better than abstract problems, and vice versa.

Me, I like both. So permit me to translate into English what math symbols say about the relationship to a numerator that a zero denominator has:

The numerator is divided by nothing so therefore the numerator isn't divided, therefore the numerator remains itself.

x/x = x/0

...because x isn't divided when divided by zero.

https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/why-division-by-zero-is-a-bad-idea/