Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with infinite

infinite zoom visual source code editor?

flexiverse — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:24:12 -0800

I saw a video from microsoft research which showed a new editor with like "infinite zoom" when viewing all source code files, like flash vector files - really cool. But i can't seem to find this video again! Does anybody know what it's called? Or a link?

Yo dawg, I herd u like the perfect chord.

allen.spaulding — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:27:20 -0800

Examples/terminology for media so compelling it drives you insane. I'm looking for fictional representations of media so engrossing that it drives users crazy. Obvious examples that come to mind are Infinite Jest and Arthur C Clarke's The Ultimate Melody. I'm not sure if there's a term for this trope, but the key fact is that the media/text itself must be so compelling that it causes an individual's mind to break down.

I'm not looking for examples of overall obsession or the existence of some text that can drive someone crazy, such as Snow Crash. The focus is perfection->crazymaking. Aronofsky's Pi is close as well.

So what's this called? Any other examples? Will I go nuts when I read your answer?

What's the next polynomial in this series?

Mapes — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:23:17 -0800

What's the next polynomial in this series: x⁴+2x²+16, x⁸+40x⁶+1128x⁴+2560x²+65536, ? I'm doing some work in elasticity and have found an analytical solution to a tricky problem. The solution is a converging infinite series, and I've been able to work out the first two terms (with great difficulty). It may be easier to guess the additional terms than work them out. The next polynomial almost certainly has seven terms, including x¹² and 2,176,782,336 (6¹²). Any guesses as to what the other coefficients are, and what the general pattern is?

(The sum converges because the denominators are (4+x²)^5/2, (16+x²)^9/2, ... and every other term is subtracted.)

What's the sum of all integers?

jacobm — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:25:01 -0800

What's the sum of all integers? I remember from somewhere in the distant past of my math education that you can sum up all the integers and get a wide variety of different results. For instance, you can write the sum as S = 0 + (1 + -1) + (2 + -2) + ... where each pair cancels to 0, so S must be 0. But you can also write it as S = 0 + 1 + (2 + -1) + (3 + -2) + ... where each pair adds up to 1, so S must be infinity. With a little more work it seems like you could also get other answers. My question is: are these answers correct, or are all but one of them mistakes like the numerous "proofs" that 3=2? If they're all correct, how does it make sense that the same numbers can add up to different things when you get to infinity? If they're not all correct, what's the fundamental mistake?

Is the universe finite?

painquale — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 12:27:41 -0800

Can anyone recommend any good recent articles or papers on whether the universe is infinite or finite? I've heard that scientists suspect that the universe is flat, which lends credence to the infinite-universe hypothesis. I've decided I don't know enough about this. Nothing too technical, please, though I'd prefer something more complex than an article from a newspaper science section.