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[m0ds]

Clever idea Tabata! Sadly, it seems that there is no 'maximum' speed control, meaning, you can only make it detect slower double clicks, and you can't say pull it back so it stops accepting ultra fast doubleclicks. Gah!

[Khris]

Are you positive it's the mouse? As in, did you plug it into a different machine and reproduce the double-clicks?
My first thought was that maybe you had accidentally changed your Windows Explorer's "open file" setting to single-click?
Does it consistently double-click, even in games, etc?
I can't imagine this being a mechanical issue, and even it being a hardware issue seems very unlikely.

[m0ds]

When my finger presses down on the left mouse button, it double clicks. I just smacked it and threw it around and it's stopped for now 

[kaput]

The same thing happened to me - then I realised it was just that the enter key had jammed on my keyboard. Maybe useful, maybe not. You'd be surprised how long it took me to realise this.

[InCreator]

How do I put this parabola into single line of code (function)?



Want to make a shop in my RPG experiment where strength of a horse is tied to its age. Age 8 should be the peak for strength

[cat]

That's not a parabola, but a Gaussian curve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution

[Khris]

Basing it on a sin curve:
sin((x-5)*pi/10) * 45 + 55

[InCreator]

thanks

[Atelier]

What is the meaning of life? Serious asnwers only please.

[Adeel]

What is the meaning of life? Serious asnwers only please.

Enjoying yours without ruining the others'.

[Crimson Wizard]

What is the meaning of life? Serious asnwers only please.

Suffering through yours and helping others enjoy the same.

[Scarab]

Maths Question: Pipes stacked in trucks.

I was thinking recently about the way truck deliver large pipes.

You can see in this image that the pipes are packed like this:

Per unit volume, however, this packing is more efficient: (and sometimes trucks do use this packing)

If you were to bind the second 'hexagonal packed' cylinders in a square container, there would be wasted space in every second row, meaning that for small numbers of pipes, the 'square packed' method can pack tighter. (Assuming the container has sides of a whole number multiple of diameter 2r.)

What I'm wondering, is at what length n will the hexagonal packed method break even and become the optimum stacking method? Where n is the whole number length of sides of the bounding square, in diameters.

I recognise that this is a surface area vs perimeter problem, but I can't work out the equation.



All the results I found googling this seemed to have the problem in reverse, i.e. for given number of circles, what is the arrangement which can be bound in the smallest square of arbitrary size, or talk about how close spheres can pack, without talking about the break even volume, so I can't extrapolate from there.

This has baffled me, so I'd very much appreciate a hand in working this out.

Regards, Scarab.

[Snarky]

I think the easiest thing would be to work out a formula for how many unit circles you can pack hexagonally in a certain square (size n, say). You just work out how many layers high you can stack it, then you know every other layer has floor(n) circles and every other floor(n)-1. Of course, in the square packing the number of circles is just floor(n)*floor(n).

I think the height needed for m layers is 0.5 + 0.5 + (m-1)*sin(60°) = 0.86602540378*(m-1) + 1. So if the height is n, you get m = 1.15470053838 * (n - 1) + 1
Then you calculate whether floor(n)*floor(n) is greater than or less than ceil(m/2)*floor(n) + floor(m/2)*(floor(n)-1). I can't be bothered with the algebra right now, but if you plot those two formulas, you should be able to find the intersection point.

Edit: I just realized it's a little more complicated than that, because if the width is at least n+0.5 (but less than n+1), you can fit n pipes in every row. I'd probably just calculate it for integer n first, then use the more detailed formula to figure out exactly where it flips.

Edit 2: And by plugging the formulas into Excel, the flipping point turns out to be at 1 + 7*sin(60°) = 7.06217783. Below this, you can fit 46 pipes in the hexagonal arrangement; above it you get room for another (eighth) layer and can fit 52. In the square packing you can fit 7*7 = 49.

[Scarab]

Ah, awesome! Thanks for the speedy reply!

That problem had been bugging me batty.

[m0ds]

Does anyone know of a download manager that has resume support but most importantly: Has some kind of feature that allows you to dictate which part of a file it downloads.

For example, I don't want the first 200mb of a 400mb file, I only want the last 200mb. Free download manager doesn't quite allow for this, at least, I haven't worked it out. I can cut it down to only download it in 2 segments but I can't make it only continue with the later section, only the earlier section.

If anyone has come across this it'd be very useful, before I go and burn t-mobile's HQ down. Thanks!

And one other question. Five years ago, a tablet was figure A. Now a tablet is figure B. So what is figure A called nowadays?

Fig A.


Fig B.

[Snarky]

Drawing tablet/pen tablet/Wacom

[m0ds]

Hmm, so like hoover or tannoy, it's known by a brand name now

Plus side, my crap one can be considered a wacom

[Gilbert]

Actually, even the recent "tablet" is only some kind of casual name, in case of ambiguity you still need to call it formally by like "tablet PC" or "tablet computer", so the drawing tablet (I think it's sometimes also called a digitiser) can still be nicked just "tablet" when there is no ambiguity. You know, the word tablet actually has A LOT OF meanings (including those drugs you take), right? This is similar to how we often call a laptop computer a "notebook", but we all know what a notebook actually is.

[m0ds]

Good point! I got out of bed to check cos I remembered there was an even earlier meaning for tablet (the pill, as you say) but thought I was going mad, one of those instances where the more you say a word the less meaning it seems to have, to the point you wonder if it has any meaning at all. But you confirmed it IS real And of course the ancient style tablet... Anyhoo the modern technological ones don't seem to be considered part of the definition for "tablet", but "tablet computer" is again as you say the real term for an iPad at least. Not sure why I'm worried about this word tbh

[m0ds]

Got a confusing email

We are a team that analyze Mac`s and PC software and hardware.

We are interested in analyze your software "Downfall - A Horror Adventure Game". So, we can spread your products by our web and social webs. For that, we need a copy of your product for Steam or Desura if is possible.

For promoting the products, we eventually draw lots licences, so if you can give us more than one license, we`ll be grateful.

and the site: http://analizandomac.com/

Anyone able to tell if this is merely a review site? And what is "draw lots licenses" ?

I'm guessing it IS just a review site but the email couldn't be any more confusing. I assume it's probably just a language barrier issue...