I have a question about scientific English. I wonder when to use the article "the" when you refer to a physical quantity or to a formula. I promise that I have looked into so many manuals, but I am still terribly puzzled.  As I compared many textbooks and scientific articles, let's start from the cases I am sure about.  One always reads:  "the function f(x) is defined as ..." "the functions f(x) and g(x) are defined as ..."  but, on the other hand, one (almost) always reads:  "Point A is defined as ..."  "Points A and B are defined as ..."  Now, both "point" and "function" are countable nouns and, moreover, by saying "f(x)" and "A" you refer to a specific function or point. So, why do I use "the" in one case and zero article in another?  Another puzzling case is uncountable nouns such as "conductance" or "energy". You, basically, can find whatever situation. I take the next examples from the same article written by native English-speakers (and supposedly corrected by a language polishing service):  "the values of conductance are..." "the dependence of the conductance at the neutrality point is..." "The conductance G(E) is determined in a standard way..." (notice the attribute G(E))  Can you help me to rationalize all this?  Finally, when you refer to a Figure/Table/Section/Equation/Chapter you always use zero article:  "As seen in equation 5 ..." "..., which was shown in Section 3 ..." etc.  Am I right?
I'm writing up my dissertation and I'm really confused where to use "the". Examples:     In this experiment, (the?) heat transfer coefficient was calculated, allowing to estimate (the?)frost thickness.    And:     Firstly, (the?) air properties are defined.   And:     As (the?) crystals grow in radius, the amount of air in (the?) ice is reduced, due to (the?) ice becoming more packed.   None of the nouns mentioned above have been used for the first time, so I rule out the use of "a".   Would appreciate any help.
Too many password attempts While I was out, someone attempted to guess my phone password. They couldn't guess it and now it displays the 'too many password attempts' screen, which needs to be unlocked with a google account. However, my google account is not working. I enter the username and password correctly, and have attempted to do so about 10 times. So why is it not unlocking? Do I need an internet connection to unlock it? nginx: Redirect https traffic without subdomain to subdomain (non-www to www) My current ssl certificate covers the subdomains www.example.com and static.example.com  So if a users try to access my site via  I want to redirect him to  .   How can I do that within in my nginx conf?  I know that similiar questions have been asked here, but I could not find the solution here. Digonalizable Polynomial Matrix For any polynomial $p(x) = a_0 + a_1x + · · · + a^kx^k$ and any square matrix A, $p(A)$ is defined as $p(A) = a_0I + a_1A + · · · + a_kA^k$. Show that if v is any eigenvector of A and $χ_A(x)$ is the characteristic polynomial of A, then $χ_A(A)v = 0$, Deduce that if A is diagonalizable then $χ_A(A)$ is the zero matrix.  I got that $p(\lambda)$ is the eigenvalue of $p(A)$ and if A is diagonalizable then $χ_A(x)$ is the zero matrix since p(A) is similar to its diagonal matrix p(D)  $$p(D) = a_nD_n + · · · + a_1D + a_0I$$  =  $\begin{matrix} p(\lambda_1) &amp;0&amp;...&amp;0\\0&amp; p(\lambda_2)&amp;...&amp; 0 \\ ...&amp;...&amp;...&amp;...\\0&amp;0&amp;... &amp; p(\lambda_n) \end{matrix}$ The Megahertz Myth became a promotional tactic due to differences between the PC's INTEL 8086 processor and Apple's Rockwell 6502 processor.  The 8086 ran at 4.77MHz while the 6502 ran at 1MHz.  However, instructions on the 6502 needed fewer cycles; so many fewer, in fact, that it ran faster than the 8086.  Why do some instructions need fewer cycles?  And why can't the instructions of the 6502, needing fewer cycles, be combined with a fast cycling processor of the 8086?  Wikipedia's article for instructions per cycle (IPC) says     Factors governing IPC   A given level of instructions per second can be achieved with a high IPC and a low clock speed...or from a low IPC and high clock speed.   Why can't you have both high instructions per cycle and high clock speed?  Maybe this has to do with what a clock cycle is?  Wikipedia mentions synchronization of circuits?  Not sure what that means.  Or maybe this has to do with how a pipeline works?  I'm not sure why instructions in a short pipeline are different from instructions in a long pipeline.  Any insight would be great!  Just trying to understand the architecture behind the myth.  Thanks!  References: Remotely changing hard drive boot order, windows 7 90s (or earlier) Japanese anime movie: two planets at war, young man is in love with princess from the other planet, and floods his own village I would like to find out the title of a Japanese anime feature film (not a series) that I saw on Romanian TV in the early 90s.   It was about a feud between the peoples of two planets (one very technologically advanced, the other not). The two planets go to war against each other, and a young man from one of the planets falls in love with a princess from the other planet.  I recall a scene where the army of the second planet take off in hot air balloons when they go to war.  The only other thing I recall is that there is a dam next to the village where the young man lives, and for some reason he opens the dam gates and floods his own village.   I do not recall there being robots in the movie, however I remember very vaguely that the technology level was probably at the level of late 19th century Europe on one planet and pre-industrial on the other one.  What it's not:   Nobunaga the Fool Aldnoah Zero Queen Millennia Uchuu Senkan Yamato (movie) Using headset controls like a smart phone How do I remove Windows 7 from my dual boot system with Ubuntu? Hello can someone give me short tutorial how to:   Remove Windows 7 from my dual boot system (Ubuntu/Windows7) Let me use free space as new partition for data (so I don't need to extend Ubuntu itself here) Remove windows 7 option from boot screen   Update:  Thanks to Lekensteyn answer I successfully deleted windows. Now I created new partition (formatted to ext4), but I can not use it. I cannot copy files there, only as root.  Also when booting, Ubuntu complains it didn't find /windows partition (of course it didn't, I removed it). I feel like I should update some tables or what, any ideas? Remote logging with Syslogd, can I change the hostname? I am running ddwrt v24-sp2 on three WRT54GL routers. These routers all send their syslog information to the same remote server using syslogd  The problem is that in the logs the hostname will change between the LAN IP and 127.0.0.1.  This makes it hard to tell which device is doing what when I have several events listed as localhost and makes it impossible to script events to happen when certain syslog messages are received.   Does anyone know of any way I can differentiate which message comes from which host? Is there some option I did not see to for a tag or extra information into the message. Can I force the host to send its hostname with each message?  Here is an example of the syslog output:     06-28-2010 11:43:57    User.Info   10.255.255.2    Jun 28 17:43:58 : >Connecting to *.*.*.*      06-28-2010 11:43:54    User.Info   127.0.0.1   Jun 28 17:43:54 : >Connecting to *.*.*.*       06-28-2010 11:43:52    Daemon.Info 10.255.255.1    Jun 28 17:43:53 >chillispot[428]: chilli.c: 1088: Rereading configuration file and doing DNS lookup      06-28-2010 11:43:51    Daemon.Info 127.0.0.1   Jun 28 17:43:52 >chillispot[623]: chilli.c: 1088: Rereading configuration file and doing DNS lookup      06-28-2010 11:43:51    Daemon.Info 10.255.255.3    Jun 28 17:43:51 >chillispot[4185]: chilli.c: 1088: Rereading configuration file and doing DNS lookup   thanks  Chris Can I take a sex-toy on plane through UAE? I will be traveling from Australia to Austria, transferring in Abu Dhabi. Is it alright for me to bring a vibrator in the check-in luggage, or are there laws against that?  It is approximately 17cm long. Are there any precautions to take? Textbooks on linear regression with least squares Now that all SE sites have their own meta site, why doesn't Stack Apps have a meta?  Sure, Stack Apps is somewhat of a limited site (or rather, a site about a limited subject), so by some counts, it might not need a meta. However, I think there are some things that could be discussed about how Stack Apps should be run and there is no good place to do that now. Thus, I support the creation of a Stack Apps meta. Find $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}$ $\frac{n^{2}}{\left(n+1\right)\left(n+2\right)\left(n+3\right)\left(n+4\right)}$ $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{n^{2}}{\left(n+1\right)\left(n+2\right)\left(n+3\right)\left(n+4\right)}$$   MY Approach$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}$$\frac{n^{2}}{\left(n+1\right)\left(n+2\right)\left(n+3\right)\left(n+4\right)}$ = Lim$_{k\rightarrow\infty}$$\sum_{k=1}^{n}\frac{k^{2}}{\left(k+1\right)\left(k+2\right)\left(k+3\right)\left(k+4\right)}$  $\frac{k^{2}}{\left(k+1\right)\left(k+2\right)\left(k+3\right)\left(k+4\right)}$= $\frac{1}{6\left(n+1\right)}$-$\frac{2}{\left(n+2\right)}$+$\frac{9}{\left(n+3\right)2}$-$\frac{8}{\left(n+4\right)3}$  I don't think i can telescope it, And i don't know any other method Why there is "the" before some names but not others Is there a rule beyond the common "no the with proper nouns and names" for the following problem?     I saw the Empire State Building.      We went to the White House.      We saw the Golden Gate Bridge.   but     I went to Death Valley National Park.      I crossed Brooklyn Bridge. Placing listing and figure side by side in memoir If, one fine day, someone found a contradiction in ZFC (or even ZF), what implications would such an event have for mathematicians? Is there currently any backup axiomatic system on par with ZFC that would enable mathematicians to continue pursuing mathematics, should the unthinkable occur? ON creating BITMAP INDEX on a table in mysql throws error I have database named "demo_dev" and added a table named "countries".  I wanted to create a bitmap index on a column, say, region as it has fewer unique values, using following query.   CREATE BITMAP INDEX ON countries (region);   It threw an error as shown below:     You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'BITMAP INDEX ON countries (region)'   What shoud be done for it to run successfully?  I just refered the following link :   mysql version : 5.5 An $n \times n$ matrix $M$ of integers has the property that $M_{ab} = M_{xy}$ iff $a+b=x+y$. How many distinct elements are there in $M$? When and how did "pretty" enter English as an intensifying adverb? I'm working on a mac, I use the package TikZ and it works. But I have problems when I want use ellipse or diamond ex :  \documentclass{article} \usepackage{graphicx} \usepackage{tikz} \begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture} \node[ellipse] {Ellipse}; \end{tikzpicture} \end{document}   If somebody could help me thank you !