The Importance of Keeping the Riff-Raff Out

Club memberships have been a part of my family tradition since the Gilded Age.  Although it isn't one of our more prestigious memberships, my business membership in Sam's Club is doubtless one of the more useful.  One of the nice perks with such a membership is the ability to get in and get your shopping …

It's Always Something with a House of Worship, and That Includes a Synagogue

Temple Emanu-El and the Town of Palm Beach go to the mat on another absurd "code violation": Temple Emanu-El must reduce the number of seats in its auditorium by more than half, or obtain Town Council approval for the 542 seats that it has. In a July 12 code violation notice, the town informed the …

They Love to Feel the Whip

One of the most ill-starred love stories of the last century was that of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Tsarina Alexandra.  Neither was equipped by temperament or upbringing to lead an absolute monarchy into World War I.  Nicholas was a weak-willed heir thrust into his role prematurely and unwillingly by the death of his …

Error Function for an Hermite Polynomial

Our goal is to demonstrate that, for the Hermite polynomial $latex H_{2n+1}(x)=\sum_{j=0}^{n}f(x_{j})H_{j}(x)+\sum_{j=0}^{n}f'(x_{j})\hat{H}_{j}(x) $ where $latex H_{j}(x)=[1-2(x-x_{j})L'_{j}(x_{j})]L_{j}^{2}(x) $ $latex \hat{H}_{j}(x)=(x-x_{j})L_{j}^{2}(x) $ the error function is given by the equation $latex f(x)-H_{2n+1}(x)=\frac{f^{\left(2n+2\right)}\left(\eta\left(x\right)\right)}{\left(2n+2\right)!}\overset{n}{\underset{j=0}{\prod}}\left(x-x_{j}\right)^{2} $ where $latex f\in C^{2n+2}[a,b] $ Let us begin by considering a point $latex \hat{x}\in[a,b]$ where $latex \hat{x}\neq x_{j}$, i.e., it is not equal to …

Preventing the Anglican Revolt in the Church of God: The Obvious Rationale Behind Agenda Item #18

As I mentioned earlier, the Church of God will convene its General Assembly next week in Orlando.  The agenda is out and posted. Most church meeting agendas like this are full of arcane items that may be very weighty to those whom they directly impact but of little relevance to everyone else, even for general …

Stability of Back Substitution for Matrix Systems

The objective is to show that back substitution is backward stable.  Consider the system $latex Rx=c $ where $latex R$ is an upper triangular $latex m\times m$ matrix and $latex x,c$ are $latex m$ column vectors. For a $latex 3\times3$ matrix system, this would look like: $latex \left[\begin{array}{ccc} r_{1,1} & r_{1,2} & r_{1,3}\\ 0 & …

Barack Obama and Small Business: They Wouldn't Get Very Far Without Us, Either

Things are getting very deep out there: President Barack Obama addressed supporters in Roanoke, Virginia on Saturday afternoon and took a shot at the business community. President Obama dismissed any credit business owners give themselves for their success: There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to …

A Multicultural Body: The Church of God's Greatest Challenge

Now that the Episcopalians have completed their boffo performance in Indianapolis, we can turn to another large church gathering: the Church of God General Assembly in Orlando, which will be warming up this time next week.  There are many issues on the agenda, including the church's favourite parlour game: who will move up in the …

Numerical Integration of a Function in a Two-Dimensional Space, and Its Solution with Conjugate Gradient

The purpose of this piece is to document the numerical integration of a function in a two-dimensional space using the conjugate gradient method. Basic Problem Statement and Closed Form Solution The boundary value problem is as follows: $latex {\frac{\partial^{2}}{\partial{x}^{2}}}u(x,y)+{\frac{\partial^{2}}{\partial{y}^{2}}}u(x,y)=-5\, y\sin(x)\sin(2\, y)+4\,\sin(x)\cos(2\, y) $ where $latex u(x,0)=0 $ $latex u(x,\pi)=0 $ $latex u(0,y)=0 $ $latex u(\pi,y)=0 …

Making the Fifty Square Metre Apartment Look Like a Mansion

That's what New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is about to do: Many will doubtless regard with skepticism the Bloomberg administration’s newly announced “micro-unit” pilot program. The administration is asking developers to submit proposals for the design and construction of an apartment building on a city-owned site in Manhattan; the city will adjust zoning restrictions there, …

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