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Brad Fitzpatrick

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Best CAPTCHA ever [Jul. 19th, 2007|10:52 am]
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A CAPTCHA gives you a little test to see if you're human, not a computer auto-generating accounts.

You know, this sort of crap:

But these guys have a way better one:

LinkReply

Comments:
[User Picture]From: [info]burr86
2007-07-19 05:58 pm (UTC)

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42cos(x) - 28sin(7x + pi/2)


-28?
[User Picture]From: [info]elenet
2007-07-19 05:59 pm (UTC)

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70
[User Picture]From: [info]burr86
2007-07-19 06:00 pm (UTC)

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D'oh. No, 42 - 28 ... uhhh. *gets out calculator* 14?
[User Picture]From: [info]evan
2007-07-19 09:24 pm (UTC)

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I answered it below.
[User Picture]From: [info]xevinx
2007-07-19 06:00 pm (UTC)

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Guess I'm not human.
[User Picture]From: [info]glyphard
2007-07-19 06:00 pm (UTC)

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I got a real easy one...

p(x) = x^2 + 2x + 1
find the real roots of the polynomial

hillarious though!
[User Picture]From: [info]coffeechica
2007-07-19 06:08 pm (UTC)

14

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I got -3 * (-4) - (-2) = ?

See, I didn't need to take Calculus after all!
[User Picture]From: [info]terrajen
2007-07-19 06:11 pm (UTC)

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that should be the test to prove you're Asian.
[User Picture]From: [info]bandicoot
2007-07-19 06:26 pm (UTC)

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That's better than a password ;)
[User Picture]From: [info]zarex
2007-07-19 06:46 pm (UTC)

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7*6*cos(12pi) - 4*7*sin(14pi + pi/2) = 42-28 = 14
[User Picture]From: [info]mart
2007-07-19 06:50 pm (UTC)

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Quick! Write an OCR system that can grok mathematical notation!

[User Picture]From: [info]nikolasco
2007-07-19 11:08 pm (UTC)

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Quick! Write an evaluator for one of the output formats from this!

It's still loaded with style, but at least it's text.
[User Picture]From: [info]erik
2007-07-19 07:08 pm (UTC)

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The answer is 7 you guys. I just did it in my head.
[User Picture]From: [info]evan
2007-07-19 07:20 pm (UTC)

possibly embarrassing myself here

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I forget calculus syntax. Is that asking you to just evaluate at x=2pi?
In that case, the sin is +1 and the cos is -1 at that point, so it's just 7 - 4 = 3.
[User Picture]From: [info]erik
2007-07-19 07:54 pm (UTC)

Re: possibly embarrassing myself here

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You mean I was only off by 4?! Not bad!
[User Picture]From: [info]zarex
2007-07-19 08:22 pm (UTC)

Re: possibly embarrassing myself here

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You have to take the derivative first, then evaluate it at the point x=2pi. Anyway, sin(N*2pi)=0, cos(N*2pi+pi/2)=0.
[User Picture]From: [info]evan
2007-07-19 09:22 pm (UTC)

Re: possibly embarrassing myself here

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I meant "evaluate the derivative", and "the sin is +1" I meant "the derivative at that point is +1". Nikolas did it more thoroughly below.
[User Picture]From: [info]zarex
2007-07-19 09:45 pm (UTC)

Re: possibly embarrassing myself here

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He messed up too. :) Must be a lot of programmers hanging around here, and not enough engineers.
From: [info]nibot
2007-07-19 10:18 pm (UTC)

Re: possibly embarrassing myself here

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I think you both forgot to apply the chain rule. The derivative of 7Sin[6x] is 42 Cos[6x], etc.
[User Picture]From: [info]nikolasco
2007-07-19 08:56 pm (UTC)

Spelling it out ...

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1. Differentiate
7*cos(6x) + 4*-sin(7x + π/2)

2. Evaluate
7*cos(6*2*π) + 4*-sin(7*2*π + π/2)
those in love with calculators can skip to the last line
= 7*cos(0) + 4*-sin(π/2)
= 7*1 + 4*-1
= 3
[User Picture]From: [info]evan
2007-07-19 09:23 pm (UTC)

Re: Spelling it out ...

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Alternatively, what I did was visualize what the derivatives at those well-known points are: the sin is maximally sloping upwards (+1) and the cos maximally downwards (-1), which got me to your second-to-last step without computing any derivatives directly. :)
[User Picture]From: [info]zarex
2007-07-19 09:44 pm (UTC)

Re: Spelling it out ...

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You missed a factor on the derivative. D[ sin(ax) ] = a*cos(ax) . Remember D[ sin(u) ] = cos(u)du . See my solution above.
From: [info]nibot
2007-07-19 10:15 pm (UTC)

you forgot the chain rule

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[info]zarex has the correct answer above, 14.
[User Picture]From: [info]evan
2007-07-19 10:23 pm (UTC)

Re: Spelling it out ...

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Haha, we suck. Chain rule?
[User Picture]From: [info]nikolasco
2007-07-19 10:59 pm (UTC)

Re: Spelling it out ...

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I'm mostly amused that I probably would have correctly written a program that did it (numeric or symbolic), but I screwed up evaluating it by hand immediately. Anywho, the chain rule is one of the basic few that they teach circa first week of calc.

(When writing a symbolic program I would have double-checked the list by eye and test cases. For the numeric, I'd probably just use a three-point evaluation)

Corrected(?) version:
shose in love with fancy calculators or Mathemtica and it's ilk can just write the answer
1. Differentiate
7*6*cos(x) + 4*7*-sin(x + π/2)

2. Evaluate
7*6*cos(2*π) + 4*7*-sin(2*π + π/2)
those in love with scientific calculators can skip to the last line
= 7*6*cos(2*π) + 4*7*-sin(3π/2)
= 7*6*cos(0) + 4*7*-sin(π/2)
those in love with four-function calculators can skip to the last line
= 7*6*1 + 4*7*-1
= 42 - 28
= 14
[User Picture]From: [info]serendipityone
2007-07-19 07:40 pm (UTC)

LOL!

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There was a time when I could actually do the math. Now it's like a bad dream. uffff.
[User Picture]From: [info]newscane
2007-07-19 11:12 pm (UTC)

Re: LOL!

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I took 2 years of AP Calc in high school, and now, I hardly remember a lick of it!
[User Picture]From: [info]serendipityone
2007-07-20 01:21 pm (UTC)

Re: LOL!

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Cincinnati State Tech. a looong time ago :)
[User Picture]From: [info]mpnolan
2007-07-19 08:35 pm (UTC)

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Yeah, yeah, it's funny and all, but wouldn't this be pretty simple for a computer, and pretty damn hard for most humans.
[User Picture]From: [info]evan
2007-07-19 09:23 pm (UTC)

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I think it may have been intentionally constructed to be easy. See my comments above.
[User Picture]From: [info]feignedapathy
2007-07-19 10:17 pm (UTC)

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Except for the fact that you have to OCR and parse a math equation correctly.
[User Picture]From: [info]stalk_her
2007-07-19 08:38 pm (UTC)

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so if you know the answer does that mean you're a computer or human? i think humans would get the wrong answer. i know i would.
[User Picture]From: [info]mariana_ten
2007-07-19 08:41 pm (UTC)

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Either I'm not a human or I'm totally blonde... -_-"
[User Picture]From: [info]personaljesus
2007-07-19 09:56 pm (UTC)

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i always knew i wasnt a real person...
[User Picture]From: [info]chris
2007-07-19 10:42 pm (UTC)

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cause computers are terrible at math
[User Picture]From: [info]jedermann
2007-07-19 11:17 pm (UTC)

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very cool )
[User Picture]From: [info]antihope
2007-07-20 03:14 am (UTC)

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So, if you get the correct answer, you must be automated.
[User Picture]From: [info]ossie
2007-07-20 09:17 am (UTC)

after a few reloads

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I got the question

-6+7-1=?


so I am human
[User Picture]From: [info]alenja
2007-07-20 10:21 am (UTC)

great

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so..now I have a lot of variants who I am- martian, animal, machine... but i'm quite sure that i'm not human!
[User Picture]From: [info]mcm69
2007-07-20 11:56 am (UTC)

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wtf?