Category: Technology

A Mathematical Proof for Prince Prasad’s Number Trick

9x =9 ({ [ ( x – 1 ) – { 9x – [ 10 ( x – 1 ) ] } + 5 ] / 2 } + 3)

In my younger days, I was often intrigued by magicians and their mysterious ability of making things appear and disappear but when I got older, it was the other things that made magic a success that truly intrigued me. Just like you, I tend to question the angle of perception directors don’t wish but force into the eyes of audiences and all the dry-ice smoke about a magician they want us to feel the spell we’re under.

Perhaps you’re a fan of David Blaine and you’re most intrigued by his mentalist feats, unfortunately, I am not here to discuss the sort of magic David Blaine performs. However, I am certain this simple “mind-reader” trick would work as well as David’s when you do it with K-6 math students.

I am not really into the magic within this trick but the magic is the formula that makes this trick work. I invented this process when I was 14 about 9 years ago and have reused the method in performing card tricks with additional constant component operations to obtain the suit of the cards. The effect of this trick is a divined number that happens to be the number chosen by the spectator

Method.

1) First find a willing and participating spectator.

2) Get him/her to choose and think of a single digit number between 0 – 9 without having to say it out loud.

3) Tell the spectator to multiply the number they chose by 9.

4) Tell them their product is a two digit number even if they chose the selected number was 1. Tell them why: because 1 x 9 = 09.

5) Now that they know they have a two digit product, tell them to subtract the digits of the product from left to right. For example: 2 x 9 = 18 =>1 – 8 = -7

6) Tell them that they should never throw away the negative sign.

7) Now tell them to multiply the result by 5.

8) Then get them to divide that product by 2.

9) Finally tell the spectator that if you were going to reverse the process to obtain the number they were thinking of it would take as long it took to get to the last step which is the quotient of the result of the process with a denominator of 2. With that get them to tell you the result in step 8.

10) Quickly add 3 to the number the spectator gives you and there you have it, the number they were thinking of.

Just one piece of advice don’t repeat this trick in the same place with the same person twice or you’ll get busted and that won’t be such a nice trick after all when it’s a K-6student you are trying to con.

Anyways, here’s what’s more interesting than the trick itself, the mathematical proof for the process.

Assuming the number the spectator is thinking of is denoted by the a single letter x, to represent the variable and the multiplier given is 9, then the process described above can be represented mathematically as below:

From 9x =9 ({ [ ( x – 1 ) – { 9x – [ 10 ( x – 1 ) ] } + 5 ] / 2 } + 3)

If 9 * x = 9x,

then x =9 ({ [ ( x – 1 ) – { 9x – [ 10 ( x – 1 ) ] } + 5 ] / 2 } + 3)/9.

Further expanding the function gives us;

x = [2x – (11 – 5)]/2 +3

= x – 3 + 3x = x, hence the function of the trick is proven.

Hope you enjoyed this and I would be glad if you could share some trick functions/proofs with me. Contact me anytime via e-mail or by clicking on the contact me link at the top. By the way the alter-moral of my story is: Don’t lie! You can keep adding to a lie but eventually you’ll blow the truth up out in the open. Magic is nothing without mathematics!

The raw materials shall passed incoming quality inspection to assure that the requirements with regards to material specifications have been satisfied. Appearance, dimension, and environment-related chemical substances should be checked to verify that the materials to be used comply with the specifications.During production processes, the proper methods on how to manufacture the product should be follow to achieved the desired quality specification. There are different factors to be considered in order to achieved desired quality. It includes inspection methods, machine parameters settings, working environment, material quality, employee skills, working methods, and others. Trainings on how to perform the process should be done regularly. Introduction of new machines to uplift productivity and quality is also an option.

The campaign to eliminate production wastes such as unnecessary movements, high rejection rates, transportation, overstocks, and others should be properly enforced.Finally, outgoing inspection should be conducted to verify if the products produced in production processes comply with the requirements and specifications of customer. The inspection methods should be based on inspection standards wherein the appearance characteristics, dimensional requirements, and environment-related chemical substances should be checked prior to shipment. Once any abnormality was found during inspection, corrective measures is necessary to implement and re-inspection shall be done if the countermeasures was properly enforced.Quality Assurance Techniques provide you latest information, updates, and techniques about quality management system. There is no best way of doing things, there is always a room for improvement.

Difference Between Quality Assurance (QA) and Value Addition (VA)

Many people, even those who are working as QA, do not know the difference between quality assurance (QA) and value addition (VA). These terms are closely related, but they are different concepts. Though these two are important to manage the risks of creating and publishing a document, it is important the editors understand the differences.

Quality Assurance: Activities designed to ensure that the maintenance process is fulfilled and the end product meets the requirements of the client.

Value Addition: Activities designed to evaluate a created article. This system is designed to check for errors and take the corrective measures to maintain the best quality.

QA activities are there to ensure that the defined process is adequately followed. A QA person will focus on the process activities of a project if any of the process is followed correctly or skipped. QA is process based. It is similar to an activity to set a specific temperature for a controlled environment, and then review if it is followed. VA is a routine check to monitor what an editor do while following the process of editing.

QA and VA are interdependent on each other. While a QA do a routine check on the products during the process and a VA assures if the quality policy and regulations are strictly followed.

VA – product, reactive, line function, find the defects
QA – process, pro-active, staff function, prevent the defects

There is a thin line of difference between these two roles. Yet, there always exist a cold war, a war between a person in the managerial role and a person assuring quality.

Acknowledgment: Knowledge gained by reading various resources available in the net.

I do not know what most people use to write their articles but I prefer to use Microsoft word, because it is an action packed powerhouse. It has features to check my grammar, spelling and even how many words I have for the whole article or even a section as well as a host of other things.

Many people do not use Microsoft word to its fullest potential!

This is know to be true, because I have taught a few classes on Microsoft office and it seems to me that it’s the simplest things that most people have problems with. So I am going to briefly discuss how to use Microsoft word to automatically check for the most common spelling errors and grammar errors. Check out Grammarly for effective information.

Using the spell and grammar checkers

First open a new document within Microsoft word. Once you have it opened and you are ready to type. Open the top tool bar you will see Tools, and options is a sub directory below that. Go ahead and click options and click the spelling and grammar tab. Make sure the little box beside check as you spelling as you type sentence is checked as well as the box where it says to make suggestions. Below the spelling section you will see grammar checking, check the little box beside check grammar as you type sentence.

Spelling errors will now have a red line under them so they are now easy to spot. If you right click the misspelled word a list of possible corrections will appear. By turning on this little item you have made your writing almost typo free. You’ll still need to desk check the article but that will be explained later.

Grammar errors now have a green line under them, making them easy to spot. Sometimes it’s too many spaces between words, but it can also be a wrong kind of comma has been inserted or perhaps it is tat your sentence is a fragment. Anyways just right click on the green line and you’ll see the suggestion word had for you.

No go ahead and type an article or simply open one of the articles you’ve been working on and finish it up. The work you just did by turning on the spell and grammar checker options will improve your writing.

Final thoughts!

Now before you say well I am finished with this article and I have no spelling or grammar errors, think again because there could be other little errors in there just hiding and waiting to create havoc.

The importance of desktop checking is critical because there can be errors with the same sounding words which have different meanings. How many times have you used their instead of there? It’s too simple to do, and the way I remember the difference is there has here in it so that denotes location so the other must show possession. Just think of the words that do that such as one, won, or I and eye. That is why you desk check everything you write. Two, too and to is another set of words that seems to get people. Two is the number, too means also and to means the direction. The first two is easy to remember, just remember 1 o means go, so to means go or direction and the last two will be easier to remember.

If you want to you can also read the article aloud and that will help things as well. Sure you may sound goofy but what the heck, if it helps you then so be it.

Is there anybody who would disagree when I say that computer is an ultimate invention? I bet none because this technology is now a way of life for almost every individual. It seems that we could not subsist a day without tapping the PC keyboard or clicking the mouse. There are a lot of people who are like me whose one of the first activities in the morning is to turn on the computer to check the e-mails or at least the latest news at Yahoo. But, how would you feel when turning on your PC’s power, the PC would not come alive – it would not boot. This means you cannot open your files or you cannot log on the internet.

So what do you do when your computer fails to boot? The untoward thing is that you do not have a back-up for your files. You do not even have an emergency CD with an OS. The worst thing is when your laptop or your netbook does not have a CD drive. In this scenario, say adieu to your data for you cannot access them unless you are able to boot your computer.

If you have a bootable USB flash drive, then you would not be so frantic when your PC would not boot. Your bootable USB will be able to work because of the Window-based operating system in this tiny USB.

What bootable USB is

You were saved by your bootable USB; you will be able to work with your computer. But what exactly do you understand when you think of bootable? This is from the word “boot” which simply means to start. So – your bootable USB is you device that will enable you to start up your computer even if the built-in operating system fails to work.

The importance of bootable USB flash drive

Perhaps you can consider the bootable USB flash drive as one other magnificent invention relative to the use of the computer. If you would recall, the USB had taken the place of floppy disks or CDs as computer data storage. The bootable flash drive became more important than the bootable CDs that were used some decades ago. Although they performed the same function, the bootable USB offers some useful and important features – portability, faster speed and reusable features.

The bootable USB flash drive is very compact and small making it very portable. You can easily put it inside your pocket or safely stash it inside your small purse unlike the CD that would require more space and protection. The bootable USB is less fragile. This is easier to carry along making it very convenient to carry an operating system anywhere you go – as a stand-by OS in the event that your computer would not boot.

The computer can read the bootable flash drive faster than the CD which makes your computer start almost instantly. This then will require less time for the installation of your operating system and eventual start of your computer task.

Your USB is reusable wherein you are able to change the data it boots into. When you want the drive to contain newer data, a new bootable USB with different OS, you can just replace the previous content with new data.

Building bootable USB – the requirements

You do not need to be an expert computer technician to be able to build your reliable bootable USB flash drive. One major requirement is for your computer or laptop to have a USB port. To start building the bootable USB, you need to first format your USB flash drive, just like what you need to do with your CD. Next, you can create your bootable USB through the use of Windows command line. There are OS builders who would prefer using graphical user interface or GUI which is easier to use.

The bootable USB is a saving device which you can use when your computer would not boot through its installed or built-in OS. There are some necessary requirements to be able to build your bootable USB. And – it is paramount that you have this emergency device which is better to use than the bootable CD.

A company calling itself FixMeStick has announced a product of the same name that it claims can clean a computer of every virus simply by plugging it in and rebooting. UberGizmo says the new device appears to be the best product available to consumers and Net.Security says the new stick uses software from several well known vendors to perform its tricks, including some that up till now have only been available to computer security firms. Mail Online says it’s better than any other produce they’ve seen.

The trouble with most anti-virus software, UberGizmo says, is that while most of them are pretty good at detecting viruses and preventing them from attacking a computer, very few if any of the commercial products score very well when tested to see how well they get rid of viruses that do manage to make it past the security measures in place. That’s why consumers need something like the FixMeStick, because it does what it does very cleanly without the user having to know or understand anything regarding viruses and other malware software, see details.

Net.Security explains that from the user’s perspective, all they have to do is plug the tiny device into any USB port on their computer. After a moment, they’ll get a message telling them that the FixMeStick is recognized and is ready to get started. Users are prompted to close all other applications and then allow FixMeStick to reboot their computer. Also, because the analysis and fixing can take several hours, users are advised to set aside an appropriate time for the device to do its work. Most would likely choose to do so overnight when the computer is not normally in use anyway.

Once the FixMeStick starts its work, it cannot be interrupted. It runs the various routines embedded on it after actually booting to the stick rather than the hard drive, ensuring that no malware can interfere with its processes. And because it’s a pure hardware device that doesn’t rely on any information being saved to it, it’s impossible for it be infected itself.

Mail Online reports that some test cases have reported that the little device sometimes is a little overzealous in relegating files to quarantine status. Doing so causes them to be unusable by the system until a human being verifies that they are safe for use. Thus, some have found that when some operating system files became quarantined, their computer wouldn’t boot until they went through and okay’d the files that were displayed on the screen as possibly infected. The problem of course as that the human person looking at them had no way of knowing if they were actually safe or not, so they simply agreed to allow them to be used without knowing if doing so caused their computer to become re-infected with something.

Monocular cues and binocular cues are essential to see the images of the objects in our environment clearly. Sometimes monocular cues work well than binocular, and in some conditions, binocular cues work better.

We all use both these cues for visualization, but have you ever thought about how do we use monocular cues and binocular cues in three dimensions? Let me explain; I will provide you the right information to know how we use both cues in three dimensions.

How Do We Use Binocular Cues?

We see the objects in our surroundings in three dimensions; when we see an object with two eyes, we use binocular cues.

• We use binocular cues when we see the world with both eyes from a slightly different angle; that angle is triangulated in our brain to measure the right distance, which is called retinal disparity.
• We also use binocular cues in three dimensions when we rotate our eyes to focus on the seeing object, which helps us identify how far or near the object is.

How Do We Use Monocular Cues?

We use monocular cues in the following ways in three dimensions.

• If we do not know the object’s right size, then we feel the larger object is close to us than the smaller object even they are placed at the same place; it is called absolute size.
• When we observe the rotating objects, it seems that the rotation’s speed is increasing and decreasing when we focus on that object.
• We use monocular cues when we are familiar with the object’s size, which helps us identify the distance of the object from us.
• Monocular cues work when we see the same objects with different textures; they look different.
• When we see the roads’ parallel line when we are driving the vehicle, the more we concentrate and find the difference between the two lines, the distance looks longer to us.
• Natural things such as dust, heat, vapor, fog and other factors affect our vision when we see the objects from a larger distance.
• When we see two objects partially overlap, then the object near seems at a lower distance than the other object.
• If we see the objects from larger distances, it seems blurry and shaky due to natural effectors.
• Monocular cues work when seeing the objects; if we see the objects in the light, these objects seem near to us than those placed in the dark.
• When an object moves closer to our eyes, its size feels increasing, which helps determine the object’s place of movement.

Final Thoughts:

Both monocular and binocular cues help us to see the objects in our environment. We all use them, but we do not know how we use them. We use monocular cues more than binocular cues to see objects in three dimensions. We have provided you detail about how we use these two cues; if you want to explore your knowledge, look at more info.

If your floors are your pride and joy, then you really want to show them off. But, there’s nothing worse that floors that look dirty or just plain old. Home floor care machines not only clean your floors, but some even buff and polish them. This helps you bring your floors back to their former glory.

But, before you run out and simply buy a home floor care machine, you need to know what to look for. Some brands are better than others. And, you need to always purchase a machine that will do the job for which you are seeking.

Orbiter

The Oreck Orbiter is for bare floors and carpet. It scrubs your carpet to remove stains, oil and grease. It also polishes, waxes and refinishes wood or bare floors. Use this cleaner to bring marble floors back to their original state. Use this machine for deep carpet cleaning to remove built-in or ground-in dirt and stains. Refinish and polish stone flooring. The Oreck Orbiter features brushes that move in random rotations. It has a long shaft that ends in rubber-coated handles. The rubber coating increases comfort and control. This product is safe for wood floors, laminate, stone, tile and slate. Oreck offers a five year warranty on the motor. This machine is strictly for consumers looking to clean their floors.

Lo-Boy

The Mercury Lo-Boy comes with to 6 inch wheels, which makes it easy to across surfaces. The housing is made of aluminum, and it comes with a 66 frame, 1.5 horsepower motor. Rubber runs around the base of the machine to protect your baseboards from damage. This machine is for cleaning bare floors, especially laminate. It has two handles at the top, and all the controls are on the handles. The handles are adjustable and rubber coated. The maximum brush speed is 175 revolutions per minute (RPM). The Mercury Lo-Boy weighs between 96 and 105 pounds depending on the model. Lo-Boy has a variety of different models for different jobs, ranging from consumer to professional use.

TASKI

TASKI Swingo 150 by Diversey is ergonomically designed floor cleaning machines with adjustable speed settings. All the controls are color coded so that you don’t confuse them. This system comes with the Diversey Dry Foam Carpet Care System, which helps the floor dry faster than standard machines. In combination with the cleaner, it helps add shine to your floors. This is a corded machine, which means that you must keep it connected to a power supply while it is in operation. It comes with a squeegee to suck up additional water. TASKI Swingo 150 by Diversey is a compact machine designed for congested areas. This machine is designed for industry professionals, but it’s worth the investment if you have a large house or if you need to frequently clean your floors.

Final Thoughts

While you have to order some of these machines from specialty companies or directly from the manufacturer, you can get others from your local hardware or home improvement store.

Port forwarding is a procedure in which you “forward” a request from an Internet computer to an internal network machine. There are several applications that require port forwarding such as web hosting, SQL connections, Remote Desktop, gaming, and VNC applications.

If you want to access any remote control software from the Internet, you must configure the router to allow the signal to pass through the firewall. Every router manufacturer has port forwarding options. Linksys has an easy-to-use interface to port forward for the VNC application, which is a free remote access computer control software.

How to Make a Linksys Connect to the Console

The Linksys administrator console is a web-based application, so you connect to the Linksys router using your browser. To navigate to the Linksys console, use the following steps:

1. Open your browser and enter “192.168.1.1” into the address bar. Type your user name and password. If this is a new Linksys router, the default user name is blank (no value) and the password is “admin.”
2. Click the “Applications and Gaming” link at the top after the console loads. This screen lists any current configurations, and it is where you set up all your port forwarding configurations.

Set Up VNC Port Forward Configurations

The Applications and Gaming section for the Linksys is a list of text boxes and drop-down boxes. To add a setup for your VNC remote desktop connection, follow these steps:

1. Type “5900” into the external and internal port text boxes. This is the port on which the application runs. VNC also uses ports 5500 and 5800, but you must enter one port at a time for each line item.
2. Select “Both” in the “Protocol” drop-down box. In the “Application Name” text box, enter a name that identifies your new setup.
3. Enter your VNC server’s IP address in the “To IP Address” text box. This is where the Linksys router forwards your Internet requests to make a remote access connection, click here for more info.
4. Check the “Enabled” box and click “Save” in the console.

You must repeat these steps for ports 5500 and 5800. This is all it takes to set up a port forward configuration on a Linksys router. The easiest way to test the configurations is to attempt remote computer access from an external computer at work or at a friend’s house. One warning is to make sure that the VNC software is set up with a user name and password. Any Internet user can access your internal network if the VNC software is set up with no password protection.

PlayStation 3 gamers, much like their Xbox 360 brethren, love to compete online against one another. Good headphones with a quality microphone are a must for competitive and co-op gaming and one company which tries to meet up to this standard is Turtle Beach.

Turtle Beach recently released its new Ear Force X1 headphones for PS3 gamers for around $80. The Ear Force X1 headphones are actually two components – an amplified headset and a sound card which plugs into the PlayStation 3. These two together are what Turtle Beach believes will deliver a solid online gaming experience.

Chat and Game Audio Brought Together

The Ear Force X1 headphones bring together chat and game audio so gamers hear both at the same time while blowing something up or otherwise being involved in online gaming. A chat microphone connects to the PlayStation 3 via the included USB sound card. An in-line stereo amplifier attached to the headphones has gaming volume control, while the chat sound level is set through the gaming console, click over here.

The amplifier, which includes a built-in mute switch, has a pair of 3.5mm jacks for connecting to the sound card or another audio source. The amplifier is powered itself by a USB connection, made by plugging an attached cable into one of the PlayStation 3’s USB ports.

Other Features

Both the headphones and the included USB sound card can be used with other devices besides the PlayStation 3 if desired. The headset works with either an Xbox 360 or PC, though to get the microphone feature to work an additional cable is required. The USB sound card, meanwhile, can be plugged into a PC to convert a headset to a USB headset, while also providing digital audio out to connect to a home theater system.

Other features of the Ear Force X1 headphones include a 16-foot headphone cable, bass boost, soft ear cushions, an adjustable headband and flexibility in the attached microphone boom. More details can be found on the Turtle Beach Web site.

Researchers at Saarland University in the Netherlands, working with colleagues from Italy, have built what is being described by Robaid, as the most humanlike robot hand ever devised. According to the website for the project, called DEXMART, the scientists achieved a new level of dexterity for the Dexmart Hand, by employing strings to manipulate the fingers, much like that which is done with marionettes. It can be seen in action in a video posted by the team on YouTube.

Up to now, the model for robot hands, Robaid explains has been to use electric motors or pneumatics (using water or air pressure) to cause robot finger to move where researchers want them to. The problem with that is such hands are typically only useful in a single application. A strong claw-like hand, for example is really good at strong gripping and holding heavy objects, while those built with small electric motors are capable of very subtle movements. This new design, the team says, allows the robot hand to work in both environments, much as the human hand does. In addition to being able to mimic the way human hands work, the design also allowed for the hand to be built to the size of the average human hand, another stumbling block to prior efforts.

In the human hand, thin tendons, much like strings, are pulled to cause the fingers to curl in, when pressure is release, they uncurl. But tendons alone can’t allow a hand to grasp and hold a heavy object, that requires muscles. In the new robot hand, the researchers circumvented that problem by using string that is many times stronger than human tendons, allowing them to be used as ropes over pulleys when lifting heavy objects. The rest is a hand that is able to easily manipulate an egg that has had its inside removed and decorated for Easter, yet is strong enough to allow for picking up brick or heavy piece of machinery.

Robaid says the researchers used the human hand as their model from start to finish, attempting to replicate not only what it is capable of doing, but how it looks. The result is by far the most human looking and acting robot hand ever built. Watching it in action, people might be foregiven for forgetting it’s not connected to a live human being. The team says they’re not done yet, as they want to make movements of the hand and fingers even smoother, blurring the line between what human and robot hands can do.