While learning about asymptotes and holes in rational functions in Precalculus, I came across a problem that shouldn't happen, but I don't understand. Something just doesn't add up in my head... Here we go:  Let f(x)=1. Since $\frac aa=1$ and $a*1=a$, obviously $a={a*b \over b}$. Let $b=(x-1)$. We can multiply f(x) by 1, technically, by saying that: $$f(x)=1={x-1 \over x-1}$$ However, a bit of precalc knowledge shows us that ${x-1 \over x-1}$ has a vertical asymptote at x=1, and an x-intercept at x=1 as well. This means that the graph has a hole, or is undefined at, x=1. (Because plugging in 1 for x yields a denominator of 0, which is undefined.) However, this is absurd because the graph of $f(x)=1$ obviously has no holes, anywhere. Somehow, multiplying this extremely simple function by something equivalent to 1 makes it undefined at a particular point...  Whaaaaa...?  EDIT: I realize that the above function does not have a vertical asymptote. However, my statement was referring to the fact that it appears to have both a vertical asymptote and an x-intercept at the same x-value, which means that it has neither of those things, just a hole.
$$\lim _{x\rightarrow 5}\frac{x^2-25}{x-5}  = \lim_{x\rightarrow 5} (x+5)$$  I understand that to evaluate a limit that has a zero ("hole") in the denominator we have to factor and cancel terms, and that the original limit is equal to the new and simplified limit. I understand how to do this procedurally, but I'd like to know why this works. I've only been told the methodology of expanding the $x^2-25$ into $(x-5)(x+5)$, but I don't just want to understand the methodology which my teacher tells me to "just memorize", I really want to know what's going on. I've read about factoring in abstract algebra, and about irreducible polynomials (just an example...), and I'd like to get a bigger picture of the abstract algebra in order to see why we factor the limit and why the simplified is equal to the original if it's missing the $(x-5)$, which has been cancelled. I don't want to just memorize things, I would really like to understand, but I've been told that this is "just how we do it" and that I should "practice to just memorize the procedure." I really want to understand this in abstract algebra terms, please elaborate. Thank you very much.
Proof of triangle inequality If I leave fully-cooked food (particularly meat) out at warm temperature - say on the counter or in a crock pot that's been turned off -  how long will it stay safe to eat?  Does it make any difference if I re-cook the food afterward? How are the measurements used by Nielsen evolving to meet new methods of content delivery and viewing? I was interested to find out that in the 1950s, Nielsen used devices in the homes of the families that were surveyed to record their viewing preferences, and only later introduced their system of using a diary to record habits:  ...in 1950...This information was collected on a device that was attached to a television that recorded what was being watched.  In 1953, the company began sending out diaries to a smaller sample of homes (“Nielsen families”) within the survey to have them record what they had watched from   So, presumably as multiple different viewers in the home were considered in the sample, the means through which the ratings were recorded changed. Given that so many people are able to record shows digitally and watch when convenient and that so many view their favorites on outlets such as iTunes, how have the Nielsen ratings systems adapted (or how does the company plan to adapt them) to capture our modern viewing preferences? While a DVR-recorded show still technically makes its original &quot;timeslot&quot; relevant to the equation, will Nielsen consider timeslot-specific data a hindrance to comparisons between those shows viewed on cable and the same show viewed on iTunes? If $X,Y$ are equivalence relations, so is $X \times Y$ Solving factorial equations I am given that $${n \choose a}={n \choose b}$$ I need to show that $n=a+b$ or $a=b$.  Now I am left with $a!(n-a)!=b!(n-b)!$.  I don't know what to do next. I checked there on google to solve the above, it says:- "On comparing, we get the required result." But it makes no sense to me. I have a raster height model and would like to calculate the horizontal geographic direction (north, east, etc. - orientation) of each cell, then calculate then the mean value of all these cells in one region (polygon). This is to get information about to what direction a vineyard is exposed to. How do I do this? How to count the number of occurrences of each item in an array? In Excel, the window can be frozen in place in such a way that you can always see the name of the column even though you go way down below the 'fold' of the screen.  On SE, when you scroll, the whole page goes up (or down). This means the top navigation bar is scrolled off screen. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea or not to fix the top navigation to the top of the screen and let the rest of the content scroll.  What do you think about this, in terms of pros and cons?  [Update]  With the new Top navigation bar, kudos to the design team, I think this question becomes relevant again. I'm aware of the busload of downvotes, but still.  The top navigation bar doesn't occupy much space and has two notification areas:   Inbox Achievements   Having these two notifications visible at all times would be nice, IMO.  [Update]  I've just noticed that I haven't used the word "optional" in this discussion... My bad. In Excel, the Freeze function is controlled by the user. You can optionally Freeze part of the interface, and you can eliminate the Freeze at will. Finite Sum $\sum\limits_{k=1}^{m-1}\frac{1}{\sin^2\frac{k\pi}{m}}$ When I press Ctrl+Alt+T the Terminal opens after around 30 seconds. That's pretty annoying. If I open it with Alt+F2 and enter gnome-terminal the window appears instantly as usual.  I'm using Ubuntu 16.04 with gnome3.  Thank you for your help in advance! I'm writing a thesis which is an aggregate of separate articles. I have the source code for the articles and I'm using \include to include them in the main document of the thesis. So in my main.tex (thesis document), I have  \include{article1} some pages in between the two articles \include{article2}   The problem that I'm getting is with the Appendix sections. In article 1, I have at the end:  \appendix \numberwithin{equation}{section} \section{Coefficients}\label{sec:Coeffic} \subsection{Good coefficients} then comes the first line of appendix   This gives in article 1 (when  compiled separately with the article class):     A. Coefficients      A.1. Good coefficients   and equation numbers in the Appendix A as (A.1), (A.2)  which is ok and what is expected.  When I put article 1 within main.tex, I use \include command. Also, I removed the document class for article 1 and put \chapter instead.  But when I compile main.tex (the thesis document), I get the appendix sections as:     .1 Coefficients      .1.1 Good coefficients   and the equation numbers in the appendix A as (.1.1), (.1.2) etc  My article 1 is treated as a chapter in the main thesis document (main.tex) and the title and section numbers, equation numbers are preceded by A in main.tex. This is what I want.  Maybe it would be ok to get the appendix in my main.tex as     A.A. Coefficients      A.A.1 Good coefficients   and the equation numbers in the Appendix as (A.A.1), (A.A.2) etc  to denote that it refers to appendix A of paper A. First A is for the first article and second A is for first appendix. How to get this? Extremely difficult logic question using conditional statement In this problem, we will only consider (real-valued) functions with domain $\mathbb{R}$. We define two new concepts. Let $f$, and $g$ be two functions.  We say $f$ is a rival of $g$ if   &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; $\exists x\in \mathbb{R} \ \text{s.t.} \ \forall y\in \mathbb{R}, x \lt y \implies \lvert f(x)- g(x)\rvert\lt\lvert f(y)-g(y)\rvert$    We say $f$ is a frenemy of $g$ if  &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; $\forall x\in\mathbb{R} \ \text{s.t.} \ \  x \lt y \ \ \text{AND} \ \ \lvert f(x)-g(x)\rvert \lt \lvert f(y)-g(y)\rvert$  Below are four claims. Which ones are true and which ones are false? If a claim is true prove it. If a claim is false, show it with a counterexample.  a) If $f$ and $g$ are any two functions and $f$ is a rival of $g$ then $f$ is a frenemy of $g$. b) If $f$ and $g$ are any two functions and $f$ is a frenemy of $g$ then $f$ is a rival of $g$. If $f$ and $g$ are any two functions and $f$ is a rival of $g$, then $g$ is a rival of $f$. Let $f$, $g$, and $h$ be any three functions. If $f$ is a frenemy of $g$ and $g$ is a frenemy of $h$ then $f$ is a frenemy of $h$  What are the four claims stating? Especially for c), the concept is not even present I am having a misunderstanding on how to solve them? I keep hearing a lot about functors in C++. Can someone give me an overview as to what they are and in what cases they would be useful? Asphericity of pseudo circle Let $S$ be de pseudo circle (see for instance ).  How can I compute its higher homotopy groups?  The question came up while trying construct a weak homotopy equivalence $X\to Y$ that does not admit an inverse. Taking $X=S^1$, $Y=S$ and $f$ as in the wikipedia page should work, but I was not able to work out a "simple" way of calculating $\pi_n(S)$ for $n&gt;1$. By "simple" I mean that it should not invoke a generalization of that I am trying to prove. Why aren't hash values for "nothing" (empty) defined as all zeros? Any decent hash algorithm will produce basically "random like" values for any given input including the empty input.  For example MD5 produces d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e on an empty input.  I wonder, however, why the MD5 algorithm wasn't defined to have a final step where the output is XORed with d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e. This should not affect the cryptographic strength of the hash algorithm, and it would have the convenient property that a hash of all zeros represented a zero input.  Would it simply just because adding that step would slow the hash down a bit? The Android app crashes when trying to upload a picture from my phone I found an example in the  for Dynamic LINQ that allows you to use a sql-like string (e.g. OrderBy("Name, Age DESC")) for ordering. Unfortunately, the method included only works on IQueryable&lt;T&gt;. Is there any way to get this functionality on IEnumerable&lt;T&gt;? Can creatures without hands (and as a consequence fingers) use rings? Pretty much what it says on a label. I have a monster for my next adventure that has a pretty interesting ring in his treasure. Since it is intelligent, and would be able to use the ring, I don't see why the ring should be lying there in a chest waiting to be looted.  Monster would use the ring, if it only had hands or even fingers. Hold a second, are fingers even necessary in 5e?  For reference, assume it only has grasping / manipulating tentacles like a  (although it is not one); Said tentacles are very flexible, capable of fine manipulation, and have varying thickness. Logical or operator not behaving as expected Inheriting constructors Why does this code:  class A {     public:          explicit A(int x) {} };  class B: public A { };  int main(void) {     B *b = new B(5);     delete b; }   Result in these errors:   main.cpp: In function ‘int main()’: main.cpp:13: error: no matching function for call to ‘B::B(int)’ main.cpp:8: note: candidates are: B::B() main.cpp:8: note:                 B::B(const B&)   Shouldn't B inherit A's constructor?  (this is using gcc)