Eccentric Flower talk:201012/OMG Math

ProfRobert:

I guessed 4 to the 4th power after about 20 seconds of thinking. I was wrong, of course, but I'm glad that I still retain enough math sense to be wrong for a decent reason!

-- 23:12, 7 December 2010 (GMT)

Joy:

My first guess at how to solve it had to do with doing the n*(n-1)(n-2) etc thing (I forget the right compact way to write that), but that was clearly wrong anyway. Oh well!

Also, I'd never seen cis and trans used that way. Since I still don't seem to have a good grasp of the current use of cis on the internet, it kind of took my mind sideways.

-- 20:10, 8 December 2010 (GMT)

Columbina:

cis- and trans- are things I picked up from chemistry. I'm using them pretty much in the same way: "cis" for "both on same side" and "trans" for "on opposite sides."

These days the common use of "cis-" on the internet seems to be to be as a counterweight to "transgender," the argument being that the use of a special prefix for the transgendered is counter-normative. (abnormative?) Saying "cisgendered" for the non-transgendered is not something I approve of, even as I understand the motivations behind it. Then again, I don't approve of "womyn" spelled with a Y either.

-- 21:26, 8 December 2010 (GMT)

ProfRobert:

"I don't approve of 'womyn' spelled with a Y either.

I prefer "gyno-American" for that purpose.

-- 23:18, 8 December 2010 (GMT)

Joy:

And how do you feel about the move towards gender neutral pronouns? The most common version I come across is ze or zie. Mostly online on academic blogs. But occasionally from students in class (one time from a lesbian, one time from a transgendered student).

-- 20:41, 9 December 2010 (GMT)

Danima:

Oh, I run into these kinds of problems all the time! Trying to think up novel board game mechanics will do that to you. Thank The Internet for the lazy way to solve combinatorial problems:

http://oeis.org/search?q=1%2C4%2C10%2C24%2C70&sort=&language=english&go=Search

Five-sided cards have 208 ways to be colored from {R, G, Y, B}. Six-sided cards have 700.

-- 23:12, 9 December 2010 (GMT)

Ysabel:

I'd smack you for your opinions on "cisgendered" but it's a waste of your time and mine.

-- 23:24, 10 January 2011 (GMT)