Is there any way of getting to the first 15 reputation (at which point you can actually do something) on Stack Overflow other than by asking questions?  My problem is this: if I see a good answer that works, I can't vote for it (not enough reputation).  I have been programming for many years and often see a question I could contribute, but I can't (not enough reputation).  I so far have never needed to ask a question (I know how to use a search facility, and so can find an already existing answer).    Therefore asking questions can't possibly be the only mechanism to get enough reputation to get started, can it?  Because if it is then as more and more questions get asked on Stack Overflow, the need to ask new ones will diminish, so if this is the only mechanism of gaining those first few reputation, soon all new joiners will never be able to contribute, or will need to re-ask already answered questions (not good for anyone).  Advice on how to get those first few reputation gratefully received.
As a new user, I find it impossible to contribute to the community or to even begin contributing. I know why the reputation system is in place and I respect it, but at the same time it is too hard on new users.  It started with me wanting to upvote a question...     "Vote Up requires 15 reputation"   Just to appreciate a good question that helped me I need 15 rep? OK..., so I find out how I can get reputation points. More or less, I need to ask a question for +5 and add an answer for +10. I don't have any questions at the moment and I don't want to spam a random question, but I did happen to have a slightly different answer to the earlier question that I wanted to upvote. So I try to answer...     This question is protected to prevent "thanks!", "me too!", or spam answers by new users. To answer it, you must have earned at least 10 reputation on this site.   Now... I know this doesn't apply to every question, but at the same time, this means I'm forced to answer yet another question, and I don't want to go around looking for random questions and spam irrelevant answers...  Now I'm stuck. So I try to talk to some other users in the chat rooms about how to go about getting reputation points and how they first started. I entered into a "casual chat room".     You must have 20 reputation on Meta Stack Overflow to talk here.   Yes... I can understand why this is enforced, because we don't want new users to spam chat rooms, but all I wanted to do was ask for help. So I can't even talk to anyone about my newbie problems. So okay, I'll just settle for upvoting comments in the question that helped me. I don't see an upvote hover-over button so I can't even do that.    So now I'm stuck at 1 reputation point, unable to cross that 15 rep barrier, and even after posting this question I'll only have 6 rep points and still unable to do anything, and I'll be forced to look for questions to answer. Yes, I should be contributing to the community, but I shouldn't need to begin answering or making questions to upvote questions and answers. This only spurs more spam/irrelevant answers if anything.   Very, very, very new-user unfriendly.
How to create dynamic JSF form fields 3rd iterate of a continuous function equals identity function If $ f: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} $ is continuous, and $\forall x \in \mathbb{R} :\;(f \circ f \circ f)(x) = x  $, show that $ f(x) = x $.  The condition that $f$ is continuous on $\mathbb{R}$ is crucial for the proof. I can find functions such as $\displaystyle\frac{x-3}{x+1}$ that satisfies  $ (f \circ f \circ f)(x) = x $. I have tried to negate the conclusion to see if there's a contradiction, but got stuck. I start with knowing that two numbers are coprime if:  $n*k + m*j = 1$  So, setting $k = a$ and j = $a+1$ I can solve as follows:  $n*a + m*a + a$  Then,  $a(n+m) + m = 1$  Where can I go from here? How did Walter White poison that character? I've seen Breaking Bad complete series 2-3 times, but I never found out how Walter White was able to poison Brock.  I mean did he himself directly feed the Valley of the Lilly berries to Brock or did he let Saul do the work? I can't figure it out. How to pass an ArrayList to a varargs method parameter? How to hide file extensions How do I create an empty array/matrix in NumPy? I can't figure out how to use an array or matrix in the way that I would normally use a list. I want to create an empty array (or matrix) and then add one column (or row) to it at a time.  At the moment the only way I can find to do this is like:  mat = None for col in columns:     if mat is None:         mat = col     else:         mat = hstack((mat, col))   Whereas if it were a list, I'd do something like this:  list = [] for item in data:     list.append(item)   Is there a way to use that kind of notation for  arrays or matrices? ODBC and ADO connection to SQL Server: What protocol is used when connecting to \? Backup GNOME-Terminal I made some custom GNOME-Terminal settings and profiles, and I want to preserve those after reinstalling Ubuntu.  What do I have to save to backup my settings, and how do I reapply them afterwards?  This is not a duplicate of , because   Configuration systems changed since the old question, from gconf to dconf. The other question does not explain how to properly backup, and then reapply the settings. ASCII to Binary and Binary to ASCII conversion tools? Which is a good tool to convert ASCII to binary, and binary to ASCII?  I was hoping for something like:  $ echo --binary "This is a binary message" 01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01101101 01100101 01110011 01110011 01100001 01100111 01100101   Or, more realistic:  $ echo "This is a binary message" | ascii2bin 01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01101101 01100101 01110011 01110011 01100001 01100111 01100101   And also the reverse:  $ echo "01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01101101 01100101 01110011 01110011 01100001 01100111 01100101" | bin2ascii This is a binary message   PS: I'm using bash  PS2: I hope I didn't get the wrong binary What to do with sudden wealth? Series rearrangement and Riemann's theorem I think understand that when I have a conditionally convergent series, it consists of series of positive and negative values which are divergent and thus one can find such permutation of indices $\phi : \mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{N}$ so the rearranged series sums up to an arbitrary value, diverges or oscillates.   This is how I understand what Riemann's rearrangement theorem says, but how do I use it practically? For example, when I have the conditionally convergent series:  $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{(-1)^n}{\sqrt{n}}$$  and I want to rearrange it to be divergent or to sum up to certain value M? How do I define such bijections $\phi$ ?  I appreciate all help. I refer to the usage of "don't" as an imperative to tell someone what not to do. As in,     Hey! Don't you dare touch that button!   When it is used in the interrogative or as part of a statement, "don't" can be expanded like most other contractions. It either just breaks up right in the sentence, or surrounds the subject.     Don't you love me, Juanromeo? -> Do you not love me, Juanromeo?      I don't love you, Marijuliet. -> I do not love you, Marijuliet.   However, I have no idea how one breaks up the imperative. "Do you not dare[...]" sounds like it's a lead up to a question, "You do not dare[...]" comes across as a statement moreso than a command, and "Do not you dare[...]" just sounds silly.  "Don't" is a bit unique among "not" contractions (at least that I know of) because it is the only one that can be used in an imperative sense. Couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't, haven't, isn't, doesn't, aren't, can't... none of these can be used in an imperative sense because you cannot command someone to could, should, etc.  Is it possible to expand the don't contraction when it is used as part of a command? Or is its unique case such that it exists as its own linguistic construct? Why am I getting different results from two servers that located in the same destination network? There's two servers with the same network IP, and the only difference between them is the last two numbers like: 37.211.15.247 and 37.211.166.178. The Hosting Provider claims that the subnet mask for both networks is 255.254.0.0  When I try the command Tracert (Traceroute) to test the ping and to see what hops does it take to reach the destination server, I get different ping times and different forward path results which is strange because they are all located in the same company host.  Is there something wrong? Shouldn’t it take the same path too?  I have added the the full IP addresses to both servers as requested by some commenters. Well the two servers aren’t “International” anyways, so as far as I know, the only thing that comes to mind is the possibility that the two are configured on different subnetworks just like what . Though it’s suspicious.  UPDATE: After doing so much research, I found out the Subnet of these two hosts. They are on a /15 (255.254.0.0) subnet mask. Unfortunately, this is what that hosting provider claimed to me which is not true, and the true Subnet they apparently use is a /17 (255.255.128.0) Subnet mask. It turns out that they were definitely on different Subnets. That's why I got different traceroutes when I tested these two IPs 37.211.15.247 and 37.211.166.178  because they are clearly on different Subnets. Thank you everyone for these good answers, especially  his answer helped me a lot. A place where you could sit and see something like this (with a fall if you step further):    (Not looking for a technical term, just a common one). How does a lurker gain reputation to receive privilege for commenting? I have been reading Stack Exchange for years - mostly not logged in, and have never posted (this is my first). I'm simply not very talkative, and very good at googling.  Recently a few occasions have come up when I've wanted to comment on a question.  I wanted either to ask for, or provide, clarification which did not warrant a new answer.  How do I gain enough reputation to comment without:   asking questions which have already been answered or that I can figure out on my own, or posting my comment like as an answer (i.e. being  rude)? I want to justificate following equation:  $$\sum_{k=0}^n \frac{(-1)^k}{k!(n-k)!}\frac{1}{2k+1} = \frac{2^n}{(2n+1)!!}$$  I calculated the both sides for $n$ from 1 to 10 and it was true. How the mathematical induction can be applied to this equation? Or is there other way to justificate it? Where are the Unity desktop wallpapers located? I am sure this question has been asked in some capacity on this site. I am a first year graduate student. I was contracted for a summer program that would have looked very good on my CV about 6 weeks ago.   However, due to the spread of COVID-19 the program was cancelled. Is there any way I can express this on my CV (possibly have an asterisk next to this activity)? If not, how should I explain the situation when applying for positions next year (because, now it is unlikely I will have anything noteworthy to put on my CV for this summer).  Thank you In many machine learning applications, the so called data augmentation methods have allowed building better models. For example, assume a training set of $100$ images of cats and dogs. By rotating, mirroring, adjusting contrast, etc. it is possible to generate additional images from the original ones.  In the case of images, the data augmentation is relatively straightforward. However, suppose (for example) that one has a training set of $100$ samples and few hundred continuous variables that represent different things. The data augmentation does not anymore seem so intuitive. What could be done in such case?