• @johannesvanderwhales
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    218 months ago

    Never really understood people who say they don’t use algebra. I use it very regularly.

    • HubertManne
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      48 months ago

      I was thinking this myself. sin, cos, tan. Have not used. I have use euler coordinates so thats something but really solve for x is the most advanced thing I have used outside of school. mmmm actually I guess some statistics like stadard deviation.

      • @johannesvanderwhales
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        28 months ago

        I recently had to do a two variable equation because I was using a recipe that called for a specific milk fat percentage by mixing cream and milk, and my cream was heavier than what it needed. That was really stretching the limits of what math I remember.

    • @[email protected]
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      38 months ago

      Programmer for 25 years. Only time I have ever used math more complicated than simple multiply/divide was… actually never.

      That one time when I copy/pasted a formula for linear interpolation, was still just multiplication and division. And I still have no idea how it works.

      I’ve even done OpenGL and graphics programming and still haven’t needed any algebra/trig/etc, although I don’t do complex 3D rendering or physics or anything like that.

      I wish I knew how to do cool programming stuff like draw circles and waves and stuff though, but I’ve never seen a tutorial that didn’t go WAY over my head immediately.

      • @FooBarrington
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        edit-2
        8 months ago

        Drawing a circle is actually pretty simple! Say we want to draw one with:

        • radius r=5
        • center C=(0,0)
        • 1000 points

        The logic would be:

        for (let i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
            // full circle is made up of 2 * PI angles -> calculate current loop angle
            const angle = (2 * Math.PI) * (i / 1000)
            const x = r * Math.cos(angle)
            const y = r * Math.sin(angle)
            drawPixel(x, y)
        }
        

        The circle starts being drawn at (5, 0). As y approaches -5, x gets smaller until it hits 0. Then x approaches -5 and y approaches 0, and so on.

        • @Valmond
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          18 months ago

          That won’t work well ;-) it will draw 1000 pixels whatever the circumference!

          A good start though, for sure.

          • @FooBarrington
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            18 months ago

            It’s just meant to be a simple example. If someone says other tutorials quickly go over their head, it’s not a good idea to introduce unnecessary concepts to start with.