I know it should be "a" but it sounds so awkward? So should it be "an"?
99% of the time, I'm clear on when I should use "a" versus "an." There's one case, though, where people &amp; references I respect disagree.  Which of the following would you precede with "a" or "an," and why?   FAQ FUBAR SCUBA   [Note: I've read the questions  and , but the rules given there don't necessarily apply here.]    [Edited to add]  Here's a shorter (and hopefully clearer) version of the question…  In written English, which is correct (and why): "a FAQ" or "an FAQ"?  Some references with differing opinions:   an: the  and  a: the Microsoft Manual of Style for Tech Publications, 3e either: the  and
Prove that the product of a non-zero rational and irrational number is irrational. One of my players has a +1 shortbow, and recently found some +1 arrows. If he fires a +1 arrow from a +1 bow, will the bonus to attack and damage be +1, or +2? Found an error in my thesis I've found a error in my thesis recently, after its submission. I made a mistake that wrongly accepted the hypothesis which should be rejected. What should I do?? I just refreshed the [iphone]-tag-site, and I'm seeing all kinds of questions with what appears to be a grey overlay (see image). What is this for/why am I seeing this? I have never seen anything like this before.. Changing the color of the path in Terminal.app I would like the CasebashMac:bfgenv chris$ part of the following line to appear in a different color in my terminal.  CasebashMac:bfgenv chris$ python I have  today and one member was voted as duplicate and private feedback was there, I choose no and submitted the form. When I revisit the question or refresh the page same notice reappears with yes/no options.  In-network tab I got 200 OK status and response as "success":true  Environment: OS: Windows 10 Browser: Chrome 79.0.3945.117 (Official Build) (64-bit)  From the comments, the same issue is happing with   (might be with whole StackExchange network)      From network tab pwd without symlinks Why didn't Gandalf or Frodo Fly to Mount Doom? Why didn't Gandalf use his eagles to fly over Mount Doom and drop the ring? I know he feared what he would do if the ring overpowered him, so why not just give Frodo an eagle? And, if there would be too much risk in flying the ring to Mordor, couldn't the eagles fly them part of the way?  Why risk it with such a long walk; far less risky to fly over most of the journey. Whenever I read about the curvature of spacetime as an explanation for gravity, I see pictures of a sheet (spacetime) with various masses indenting the sheet to form &quot;gravity wells.&quot; Objects which are gravitationally attracted are said to roll down the curved sheet of spacetime into the gravity well. This is troubling to me, because, in order for objects on the locally slanted spacetime sheet to accelerate, gravity must be assumed. Therefore I ask; does the explanation of gravity as the curvature of spacetime assume gravity? If yes, what is the point of the theory? If No, what am I missing? How do I build a SOQL query for records in a list of IDs? Can some one correct my soql? I need to export records in data loader like:  WHERE Id IN ('123123123','123123fsdf')   But this following query does not work for me:  SELECT Id, Syndication_Documents__c FROM ContentVersion  WHERE Syndication_Documents__c in : 'a4fa0000000KzbV','a4fa0000000KzbW' Sci-fi novel, scout crash lands on planet, shaman sees competition and wrecks spherical spaceship I read this years ago. A scout in spherical advanced ship lands on a planet. Natives are friendly, but the shaman perceives competition, and sneaks into the craft and scatters potions on the controls, their acid eating into plastics and metals. He can be rescued at the other side of planet, but he has a deadline. Eventually all make airship and he makes it. I am trying to calculate the sum of this infinite series after having read the series chapter of my textbook: $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{4n^2-1}$$  my steps:   $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{4n^2-1}=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{2}{4n^2-1}-\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{4n^2-1}=..help..=sum$$  I am lacking some important properties, I feel I am coming to the right step and cannot spit that out.. Eclipse: How to build an executable jar with external jar? I am trying to build an executable jar program which depends on external jar downloaded. In my project, I included them in the build path and can be run and debug within eclipse.  When I tried to export it to a jar, I can run the program but I can't when I try to press a button which includes function calls and classes from the external jar. I have edited the environment variables (Windows XP) CLASSPATH to include paths of all the external jar, but it doesn't work.  A point to note is that I got compile warnings while exporting my executable jar, but it doesn't show up any description about the warnings.  Would someone kindly provide a thorough guide on how to include an external jar program using eclipse? Adobe Reader and xcolor within a table breaks the line render Problem with package lineno I'm using package lineno for proofreading of my documents.  So I usually have something like the following MWE:  \documentclass{article}  \usepackage{blindtext}  \usepackage{ifthen}           % to use if then else \newboolean{korrektur}        % for proofreading: true/false  \setboolean{korrektur}{true} % choose one, comment the other %\setboolean{korrektur}{false}  % What we need for proofreading \ifthenelse{\boolean{korrektur}}% proofreading wanted? {% YES:   \usepackage{showframe}          % shows type area   \usepackage{lineno}             % numbers lines   \pagewiselinenumbers            % lines per page }% {% NO: % error if lineno was used before:   \typeout{***** Please delete .aux files if you get errors! *****} % What to add here so that I get no errors?  %&lt;================= }  \begin{document} \Blindtext \end{document}   Run it two times. Everything should be well, blindtext is numbered.  Now please move the % sign from line 8 (false) to line 7 (true).    Because we had had the run before there is an .aux-file, including lines with the macro \@LN.  If you compile now you will get the following error message (and some more):   ***** Please delete .aux files if you get errors! ***** (C:\Users\...\LaTeX\_TeX.SX\lineno\test-lineno.aux ! Undefined control sequence. l.2 \@LN         {0}{0}   Question:  Is it possible to add in line 20 (see %&lt;===========) something to get rid of the error messages? Something that resets the meaning of macro \@LN? Q. Find all pairs $(p,n)$ of positive integers where $p$ is prime and $p^3-p=n^7-n^3$.   Rewriting the given equation as $p(p+1)(p-1)=n^3(n^2+1)(n+1)(n-1)$, we see that $p$ must divide one of the factors $n,n+1,n-1,n^2+1$ on the $\text{r.h.s}$.   Now, the $\text{l.h.s}$ is an increasing function of $p$ for $p\ge1$. This implies that for any given $n\ge1$, there is exactly one real $p$ for which $\text{l.h.s}=\text{r.h.s}$. For $p=n^2$, we get $\text{l.h.s}=n^6-n^2&lt;n^7-n^3=\text{r.h.s}.$ This means that either $p&gt;n^2$ or $p&lt;n^2$ must hold.  Assuming $p&gt;n^2$, it follows that the prime $p$ cannot divide any of $n,n+1,n-1$. So $p$ must divide $n^2+1$ and hence $p=n^2+1\quad (\because p&gt;n^2)$.  Substituting the value of $p$ in the given equation we get, $n^2+2=n^3-n\implies n^3-n^2-n=2$. As the factor $n$ on the $\text{l.h.s}$ must divide $2$, the above equation has a unique integer solution $n=2$.  Finally, we get $(5,2)$ as the solution to the given equation.      But how do I conclude this is the only solution possible? Also, why does'nt $p&lt;n^2$ (the case which I ignored) hold? As a bonus question, I would like to ask for any alternative/elegant solution (possibly using congruence relations) to the problem. What does it mean if a Python object is "subscriptable" or not? Automatic updates are not auto-downloading I have my Xbox One set up to automatically download and install updates, the rest of my settings are shown below:    Is there a reason my games will show an update symbol on their tile, but they still don't download the update until I start the game manually? Why do I have the "required reviews completed" status on my submission in Elsevier? I had submitted my paper in an Elsevier journal one year back. Now, status update on the submission tracking says "Required reviews completed." However, for the last two weeks still there is no change in the status.  Should I ask the editor what is going on with my submission? Successfully connected to a bluetooth speaker, but how do i direct sound there?