Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

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MarkBarrett
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by MarkBarrett »

Well done by the students indeed! I have the combined Coryat at 43,400 for the highest of the tourney. My Coryat was an embarrassing 28,400 to be shy by 15K although I suspect it was not easy for any of us to top that mark because of the Pop Culture, TV, Double Ws and Dictionary categories all having spots to get the best of us.

That would have been a heck of a way to steal the game if Sam had dropped to $1600 in Creative Writers after doubling up in The Law. With the other DD still hiding the $400 call in the last category was not the right play. Of course the other important part of that imaginary scenario would have been knowing Dumas.

Alan was the best of the three and did his damage with no aid from the DDs. He was not going to lose his lead with that FJ! clue. My precall was something Nobel or Pasteur.

Definitely looking forward to the finals to conclude the week.
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Volante
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Volante »

TenPoundHammer wrote:
Volante wrote:
TenPoundHammer wrote: Anyone wanna tell me why "campsite" was negged when they wanted "campground"? That seems like some pretty damn major hairsplitting.
Campgrounds are where you can set up a campsite.
And once again I fail to grasp the distinction between words with similar, but not identical, meanings. I honestly thought the two were one and the same. Still seems like quite the trap clue.
Being dragged across the country in a travel trailer three times, I learned the distinction very well.
Blah blah blah, stuff I will never comprehend because I never took trig and suck at math anyway.
Then why ask? *sigh*
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TenPoundHammer

Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by TenPoundHammer »

Volante wrote:
Blah blah blah, stuff I will never comprehend because I never took trig and suck at math anyway.
Then why ask? *sigh*
Hence my addition later on:
Seriously, how can a circle have coordinates? Where are you getting the zeroes and tens from?
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by MarkBarrett »

Volante wrote:That pyrotechnics clue seemed horribly vague... I had 'presentation'. This one I'd be curious to see poll numbers on.
I guess I can do a Video DD for a poll choice even if I don't bother rounding up the image.

Are you going to be allowed to quote another Hammer post in 2014? ;)
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Volante
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Volante »

TenPoundHammer wrote:Seriously, how can a circle have coordinates? Where are you getting the zeroes and tens from?
Didn't see that...

Here: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x^2%2By^2%3D100
Nope, this ain't working...copy/paste the whole thing.
Last edited by Volante on Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:50 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Dudd »

Volante wrote:That pyrotechnics clue seemed horribly vague... I had 'presentation'. This one I'd be curious to see poll numbers on.

Came up with cells quickly, realized, "Hmm, plant, animal, no mineral. Cells are the lowest common denominator before we start getting into mineral territory. Cells it is."
(I know it's not that clear cut in reality, but this is 'think like a writer' mode.)
I didn't even get the right letter, I heard e instead of p and could only come up with erupt.
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by rjaguar3 »

As a mathematics graduate student, here is my response to TPH:
TenPoundHammer wrote: The hell is a logarithm?
The logarithm base b of x is the exponent to which you have to raise b to get x. For example, log base 2 of 16 is 4. Think of it like Jeopardy!:
A: You raise 2 to this power to get 16.
Q: What is 4?

The neat part about logarithms is that you can use them to convert multiplication problems to addition. Logarithms have the property that log(xy) = log(x) + log(y). For example, say you want to multiply 1.8 by 3.2. To do this with logarithms, you would find the logarithm of 1.8 and of 3.2, then add them together, and find the antilogarithm. Using base 10 logarithms, you can look up

log(1.8) = 0.25527
log(3.2) = 0.50515
log(1.8) + log(3.2) = 0.76042
antilog(0.76042) = 10^0.76042 = 5.75997
This is near the result you get by multiplying 1.8 by 3.2 by hand (5.76). This is the basis of how slide rules work: the marks are spaced on a logarithmic scale, and you use those marks to find products by adding distances.
Someone explain to me Math for $1600? How can X^2 + y^2 = 100 be a circle? What are the x and y representing?
The x and y represent coordinates of points that are on the circle.

Recall the Pythagorean theorem: if a and b are the legs of a right triangle and c is the hypotenuse, then c^2 = a^2 + b^2. The distance formula in the place works on this principle: to find the distance from (x_1, y_1) to (x_2, y_2), you move horizontally from x_1 to x_2, then vertically from y_1 to y_2, and you form a right triangle; the length of the hypotenuse is the distance between the points.

In particular, if I want to find all points (x, y) that are distance r from (0, 0), we need to choose x and y such that x^2 + y^2 = r^2. Thus, the equation of a circle centered at the origin is x^2 + y^2 = r^2; when r = 10, you get x^2 + y^2 = 100 as the equation for a circle of radius 10 centered at the origin.
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Bamaman »

Allan was my pick going into the semifinals and I'm sticking with him.

I saw the preview commercial while watching the rerun game. (The Emanciptation Proclamation). They said it was a dramatic final you don't want to miss. They showed a very excited Alex calling someone over to claim their $75,000. No real spoilers or any shots of actual game action.

Maybe it was just hype, but I'm pumped for this.
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Volante »

MarkBarrett wrote:
Volante wrote:That pyrotechnics clue seemed horribly vague... I had 'presentation'. This one I'd be curious to see poll numbers on.
I guess I can do a Video DD for a poll choice even if I don't bother rounding up the image.

Are you going to be allowed to quote another Hammer post in 2014? ;)
I'm being good! Curt, but good!
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by TenPoundHammer »

Volante wrote:Didn't see that...

Here: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x^2%2By^2%3D100
Nope, this ain't working...copy/paste the whole thing.
rjaguar3 wrote:The x and y represent coordinates of points that are on the circle.

Recall the Pythagorean theorem: if a and b are the legs of a right triangle and c is the hypotenuse, then c^2 = a^2 + b^2. The distance formula in the place works on this principle: to find the distance from (x_1, y_1) to (x_2, y_2), you move horizontally from x_1 to x_2, then vertically from y_1 to y_2, and you form a right triangle; the length of the hypotenuse is the distance between the points.

In particular, if I want to find all points (x, y) that are distance r from (0, 0), we need to choose x and y such that x^2 + y^2 = r^2. Thus, the equation of a circle centered at the origin is x^2 + y^2 = r^2; when r = 10, you get x^2 + y^2 = 100 as the equation for a circle of radius 10 centered at the origin.
Still not getting it.
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Dudd »

Do you understand how lines are comprised of an infinite number of points and that they have equations you can use to figure out where they cross each axis, where two lines intersect, etc etc? Well, x^2 + y^2 = r^2 is the same thing, just for a circle centered at the origin.
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by TenPoundHammer »

Dudd wrote:Do you understand how lines are comprised of an infinite number of points
Yes.
Dudd wrote:and that they have equations you can use to figure out where they cross each axis, where two lines intersect, etc etc?
No?

Where are the X and Y coming from before you square them?
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by econgator »

TenPoundHammer wrote:Where are the X and Y coming from before you square them?
Ok ....

Draw X and Y axes. Now, take a compass (not the directional one, the one you use to draw circles) and put the pointy end on the origin (that's 0,0). Now, open the compass up along the X axis until you have hit X=10. Finally, rotate the compass around the origin. It will strike the axes at X=10, X=-10, Y=10, Y=-10.
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by skullturf »

If x=6 and y=8, that's one point in the plane. That point is 6 units to the right of the origin, and 8 units up.

If x=10 and y=0, that's another point in the plane.

If x=0 and y=10, that's yet another point.

Given an x value and a y value, you have a point.

Now of course, I could just give you a bunch of random x values and y values that would just give you a bunch of random points. I could do that, but it wouldn't be very interesting.

If I give you only x values and y values that satisfy x^2 + y^2 = 100, then you only get certain points. Points that make a nice shape.

Now, you might ask: why specifically does an equation with x^2 and y^2 (being added together) give you a circle, as opposed to some other shape?

That has to do with the distance formula, which in turn is related to the Pythagorean theorem, mentioned earlier in this thread.

NOTE: There are details here. This isn't meant to all be instantly obvious, especially if you haven't taken any math classes in a while.

But the point is, there are some reasons for things being the way they are. It's just that you have to spend time playing around with it, wrestling with it, experimenting with it. Draw some pictures. Mess around with things one step a time. Dive in and experiment.
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by A drop of golden sun »

A campsite is a place for one tent to be set up, thus to say Yosemite has 12 campsites (or whatever the number was) would be wrong.

After the interview with Sam, where he said the womanizing "Latin lover" character was him just being himself (or something like that) I just HAD to root for him! It drew laughter from the studio audience! I really liked the way Sam was cool as a cucumber all through both of his games. He didn't start to panic when he missed the Daily Double. I was really impressed by Kat's poise as well. Allan played the best, but I think Sam would have won if he could have come up with "pyrotechnics." He would have had 12600 when he hit the 2nd Daily Double and in position to take a commanding lead. The clues tonight seemed significantly more difficult than the quarterfinal round clues, and I think the other semifinal round clues, too. Which made it all the more surprising that FJ was so easy...any elementary school student should have gotten it. When Alex said "two juniors and a sophomore, I thought he was starting to say "two Jews." Ha ha! I hope he is not getting hate mail in response to his mentioning having gone to camp in Israel to play soldier with the IDF.

LT: campground, downtown, thought police, pyrotechnics.
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Spokes »

Volante wrote:That pyrotechnics clue seemed horribly vague... I had 'presentation'. This one I'd be curious to see poll numbers on.
I had "Phosphorus", I feel like it would be hard to justify a neg on that with such a strangely vague clue

Who knows, though? TPTB, etc
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Golf »

Everybody trying to teach math to TPH in this thread deserves a ban for the rest of the tournament simply for being sucked into the vortex.
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Volante »

Golf wrote:Everybody trying to teach math to TPH in this thread deserves a ban for the rest of the tournament simply for being sucked into the vortex.
Gave me another excuse to link to Wolfram Alpha. :D
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Vermonter »

YouTube videos explaining trig principles in simple language? But I was really looking forward to my summer break from The Final Wager…
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Re: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Onairb »

rjaguar3 wrote:As a mathematics graduate student, here is my response to TPH:
TenPoundHammer wrote: The hell is a logarithm?
The logarithm base b of x is the exponent to which you have to raise b to get x. For example, log base 2 of 16 is 4. Think of it like Jeopardy!:
A: You raise 2 to this power to get 16.
Q: What is 4?
For the first time in my life, I understand logarithms! If only they'd been phrased Jeopardy-style in my school textbooks. 'Log base blah of blah'' might as well have been 'Tonto' dialogue to me in high school.
Amazing how translating something from 'incomprehensible jargon' into 'conversational language' makes a difference!
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