Wikiversity:Help desk
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Contents |
[edit] solving an equation with a variable in the exponent
hello my problem is 1.09^4x=3.4
i've tried using the "power" property to make it 4x1.09=3.4 and solving accordingly, but i get the wrong answer
the answer is supposed to be 3.0552 rounded 4 places
i am stuck and any help would be greatly appreciated
thanks in advance --12.210.5.44 20:01, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
- I believe there is a way to do it with logarithms, but I don't recall the specifics. Of course, we can always do trial and correction for this type of problem. First, let's try some integer values for X:
x 1.094x - ----------------- 1 1.41 2 1.99 3 2.81 4 3.97
- At this point we can see that 3.4 is between 2.81 and 3.97, so our answer for X is between 3 and 4. Since 3.4 is just about in the middle of those values, let's try 3.5 for X next:
x 1.094x --- ----------------- 1 1.41 2 1.99 3 2.81 3.5 3.34 4 3.97
- So, 3.34 is just a bit low, so let's try 3.6 for X:
x 1.094x --- ----------------- 1 1.41 2 1.99 3 2.81 3.5 3.34 3.6 3.46 4 3.97
- Now we're over 3.4 just as much as we were under before, so let's try 3.55 for X and add another couple decimal points of accuracy, too:
x 1.094x --- ----------------- 1 1.41 2 1.99 3 2.81 3.5 3.34 3.55 3.3998 3.6 3.46 4 3.97
- We're really close now, just slightly under, so let's try 3.551:
x 1.094x --- ----------------- 1 1.41 2 1.99 3 2.81 3.5 3.34 3.55 3.3998 3.551 3.4010 3.6 3.46 4 3.97
- The previous value was actually much closer, so let's try 3.5502 for X this time:
x 1.094x --- ----------------- 1 1.41 2 1.99 3 2.81 3.5 3.34 3.55 3.3998 3.5502 3.40006 3.551 3.4010 3.6 3.46 4 3.97
- So, this is probably close enough. Note that the answer you listed above had the zero in the wrong place. StuRat 22:49, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
- Addendum: The solution using logs is ln(3.4)/[(4)ln(1.09)] = 3.55015127. StuRat 12:44, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
You can also solve it the following way, if you don't want to try "trial and error". 1.09^(4x)=3.4 => ln(1.09^(4x))=ln(3.4) [as long as 1.09^(4x) > 0, which is true for all x in the real number system] => (4x)(ln(1.09))=ln(3.4) => 4x = (ln(3.4))/(ln(1.09)) => x = ln(3.4)/[4(ln(1.09)]
Plug the expression on the right side of the equal sign into a log friendly calculator, and it will reply with 3.55015127 /sk
[edit] "Permission Error" when uploading a file
--Kevin K 22:30, 31 March 2008 (UTC)How do I upload a file? I am logged in, but when I try to upload a file, I get a "Permission Error" page that says the function is restricted to autoconfirmed users.22:30, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
- Hi Kevin, this happens because some of the functions (upload, move pages,...) are available only after a certain time, e.g. 4 days, after your account was created. Your account was created, 5:36, 30 March 2008, ----Erkan Yilmaz uses the Wikiversity:Chat (try) 22:33, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Sage accounting software
I need to learn sage accounting software, can anybody help me please? i also need to know any free website where i can learn SAGE software.thanx in advance --202.70.152.179 10:48, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
- They offer training at their own site here: [1]. You can also find other training with a Google search: [2]. Here is some free online training: [3]. You may want to spend some thyme looking through the sage Google search results for other free training. :-) StuRat 14:50, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] topology 1
Prove that a sequentially compact subset of a metric space is totally bounded --196.200.45.194 19:16, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
- Is this homework ? If so, show us what you've done so far. StuRat 19:46, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] topology
1. Let A be a subset of a topological space (X,T). Show that the following are equivalent i) A is compact with respect to T ii) A is compact with respect to the relative topology TA on A
2. Let A be a sequentially compact subset of a metric space X. Show that A is totally bounded.
--196.200.45.194 19:25, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
- Is this homework ? If so, show us what you've done so far. StuRat 19:46, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Exponential growth and decay
--12.210.5.44 04:39, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
Hey guys I'm stuck using the formula for exponential growth and decay
the problem is:
Dead Sea Scrolls Willard Libby, a nuclear chemist from the University of Chicago, developed radiocarbon dating in the 1940s. This dating method, effective on specimens up to about 40,000 years old, works best on objects like shells, charred bones, and plants that contain carbon. Libby's first great success came in 1951 when he dated the Dead Sea Scrolls. Carbon-14 has a half life of 5730 years. If Libby found 79.3% of the original carbon-14 still present, then in about what year re the scrolls made?
If you would please please give me a full detailed explanation of how to solve this problem it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
- First find the number of half lives using (0.5)h = 0.793
- You could do this with trial and correction. We know that less than one half life has passed since less than half of the carbon has decayed. We can try 0.5 of a half life first. Since (0.5)(0.5) = 0.7071, that's too much decay, so let's try 0.4 half lives. (0.5)(0.4) = 0.7579, that's still too much decay, so let's try 0.3 half lives. (0.5)(0.3) = 0.8123, so that's too little decay. Let's make a chart:
half lives portion remaining ---------- ----------------- 0.3 0.8123 0.4 0.7579 0.5 0.7071
- 0.793 is between 0.8123 and 0.7579, and closer to 0.8123, so let's choose a value closer to 0.3 than 0.4 next. I'll pick 0.33:
half lives portion remaining ---------- ----------------- 0.3 0.8123 0.33 0.7955 0.4 0.7579 0.5 0.7071
- Now let's try 0.34:
half lives portion remaining ---------- ----------------- 0.3 0.8123 0.33 0.7955 0.34 0.7901 0.4 0.7579 0.5 0.7071
- Since 0.793 is about midway between 0.7901 and 0.7955, let's try a value midway between 0.33 and 0.34:
half lives portion remaining ---------- ----------------- 0.3 0.8123 0.33 0.7955 0.335 0.7928 0.34 0.7901 0.4 0.7579 0.5 0.7071
- Let's continue to add more accuracy to the answer:
half lives portion remaining ---------- ----------------- 0.3 0.8123 0.33 0.7955 0.334 0.7933 0.3346 0.7930 0.335 0.7928 0.34 0.7901 0.4 0.7579 0.5 0.7071
- That's close enough for me, but you can continue to refine the answer further if you wish. The final step is to multiply the number of half lives times the length of each. Thus, 0.3346(5730) = 1917 years. Subtract that from the date on which the carbon dating was done (1951) to get 34 AD. In the case of carbon dating that means that's when the tree, plants, or animals from which the scrolls were made died, as they stopped absorbing carbon then. Thus, the scrolls were made some time after 34 AD, with a suitable margin of error added. See W:carbon dating for more detail including ways to calculate the answer using logarithms. Also, if you will include the work you've done using the formula you were given for exponential growth and decay, I can help find any errors in your work. StuRat 12:07, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
Actually the way you would go about solving this is to first find the rate at which it decayed.
so you set up the formula of:
.5A0=A0ek5730
which then you would divide out A0 on each side of the equation leaving you with:
.5=ek5730
next you would take the natural log and use the power property to bring down k5730
ln(.5) = k5730
next you would simply divide 5730 on each side to find the rate at which it decayed:
k = ln(.5)/5730
which is : -.000120968094 or -1.20968094E-4
now that you have the rate k you can input that to find out the date at which the scrolls were made
you do this by inputting the value you found for k:
.793A0=A0e-0.000120968094t
do the same things as before divide both sides by A0:
.793=e-0.000120968094t
take the natural log of both sides and use the power property to bring down -0.000120968094t leaving you with:
t = ln(.793)/-0.000120968094
t = 1917.299422 approximately 1917(the year it was compared to the date he found it)
so to find the actual date the scroll was created you simply subtract the date which he discovered it from the value of t(1917)
1951-1917 = 34
the scroll was made in 34 a.d.
this is the correct way to answer the problem
- Thanks for providing the log solution. I mistakenly used the current date (I've now corrected my work). Rereading the question it does appear that the carbon dating was done in 1951. The date the carbon dating was done is, of course, the date from which we should subtract the elapsed time, not the current date or the date the objects were discovered (if different). It looks like your solution can be simplified to 1951 - [(5730)ln(.793)/ln(.5)] = 34, where ln(.793)/ln(.5) is the number of half lives I also found above (.3346 half lives). StuRat 12:24, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] wind turbines
--117.97.150.61 03:11, 10 April 2008 (UTC)name karthik i wanted to know in detail about the wind turbines pls help me in finding the books from wikibooks give me an idea how to download the books
- To find the books I just went to Wikibooks and typed in "wind turbine" in the search box. I found the following:
-
- Historical -> [4]
-
- Current -> [5]
- To download a book, go to each chapter, then click on File + Save As on your web browser. However, in the cases above, you really only need one chapter (the first book only has one chapter, and the second book only has one chapter that talks about wind turbines). You might also want to check out, and/or download, the Wikipedia article: W:Wind turbine. StuRat 05:03, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] wikiversity chat
Dear all! I wanna involve in wikiversity chat but guys the IRC and etc etc is above my comprehension.Can anyone please tell me in simple steps?Take care! Cheers --Un-predictable 11:03, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
- I don't know how to use it either, but suggest you ask at the Colloquium, which is for questions about Wikiversity: [6]. This help desk is for general knowledge questions, like "What's the deepest point in the ocean ?". StuRat 19:24, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Regression analysis
I would like to know how to get a formula or group of formulas from a set of numbers. From analyzing the data, I know that I will need a formula for the first several numbers, another formula for the odd other numbers, and another formula for the even other numbers. I think regression analysis would help but I can't seem to find a calculator or computer program that will do modulus piecewise formulaic regression when I don't even know where to start. Here are the numbers:
Set 1 x------y------To next x value 2------15----------+37 3------52----------+70 4------122--------+115 5------237--------+169 6------406--------+231 7------637--------+305 8------942--------+384 9------1326------+474 10----1800------+569 11----2369------+672 12----3041------+781 13----3822------+897 14----4719------+1018 15----5737------+1144 16----6881------+1274 17----8155------+1409 18----9564------+1547 19----11111----+1689 20----12800----+1832 21----14632----+1978 22----16610----+2127 23----18737----+2275 24----21012----+2425 25----23437----+2575 26----26012----+2725 27----28737----+2873 28----31610----+3022 29----34632----+3168 30----37800----+3311 31----41111----+3453 32----44564----+3591 33----48155----+3726 34----51881----+3856 35----55737----+3982 36----59719----+4103 37----63822----+4219 38----68041----+4328 39----72369----+4431 40----76800----+4526 41----81326----+4616 42----85942----+4695 43----90637----+4769 44----95406----+4831 45----100273--+4885 46----105122--+4930 47----110052--+4963 48----115015--+4986 49----120001--+4999 50----125000--+6324 51----131324--+6471 52----137795--+6615 53----144410--+6755 54----151165--+6891 55----158056--+7023 56----165079--+7150 57----172229--+7274 58----179503--+7391 59----186894--+7506 60----194400--+7613 61----202013--+7715 62----209728--+7812 63----217540--+7903 64----225443--+7988 65----233431--+8065 66----241496--+8137 67----249633--+8201 68----257834--+9572 69----267406--+9052 70----276458--+9870 71----286328--+10030 72----296358--+9409 73----305767--+10307 74----316074--+10457 75----326531--+9724 76----336255--+10710 77----346965--+10847 78----357812--+9995 79----367807--+11073 80----378880--+11197 81----390077--+10216 82----400293--+11393 83----411686--+11504 84----423190--+10382 85----433572--+11667 86----445239--+11762 87----457001--+10488 88----467489--+11889 89----479378--+11968 90----491346--+10532 91----501878--+12056 92----513934--+12115 93----526049--+10508 94----536557--+12163 95----548720--+12202 96----560922--+10411 97----571333--+12206 98----583539--+8343 99----591882--+8118 100--600000
Set 2 x------y---------To next x value 1------1--------------+3 2------4--------------+9 3------13------------+19 4------32------------+33 5------65------------+47 6------112----------+66 7------178----------+98 8------276----------+117 9------393----------+147 10----540----------+205 11----745----------+222 12----967----------+263 13----1230--------+361 14----1591--------+366 15----1957--------+500 16----2457--------+589 17----3046--------+686 18----3732--------+794 19----4526--------+914 20----5440--------+1042 21----6482--------+1184 22----7666--------+1337 23----9003--------+1503 24----10506------+1681 25----12187------+1873 26----14060------+2080 27----16140------+2299 28----18438------+2535 29----20974------+2786 30----23760------+3051 31----26811------+3335 32----30146------+3634 33----33780------+3951 34----37731------+4286 35----42017------+4639 36----46656------+3997 37----50653------+5316 38----55969------+4536 39----60505------+6055 40----66560------+5117 41----71677------+6856 42----78533------+5744 43----84277------+7721 44----91998------+6417 45----98415------+8654 46----107069----+7136 47----114205----+9658 48----123863----+7903 49----131766----+10734 50----142500----+8722 51----151222----+11883 52----163105----+9592 53----172697----+13110 54----185807----+10515 55----196322----+14417 56----210739----+11492 57----222231----+15805 58----238036----+12526 59----250562----+17278 60----267840----+13616 61----281456----+18837 62----300293----+14766 63----315059----+20485 64----335544----+15976 65----351520----+22224 66----373744----+17247 67----390991----+25059 68----415050----+18581 69----433631----+25989 70----459620----+19980 71----479600----+28017 72----507617----+21446 73----529063----+30146 74----559209----+22978 75----582187----+32379 76----614566----+24580 77----639146----+34717 78----673863----+26252 79----700115----+37165 80----737280----+27996 81----765275----+39722 82----804997----+29812 83----834809----+42392 84----877201----+31704 85----908905----+45179 86----954084----+33670 87----987754----+48083 88----1035837--+35715 89----1071552--+51108 90----1122660--+37839 91----1160499--+54254 92----1214753--+40043 93----1254796--+57526 94----1312322--+42330 95----1354652--+60925 96----1415577--+44699 97----1460276--+64455 98----1524731--+47153 99----1571884--+68116 100--1640000
I was not able to make a table. Someone please make a table from this data.
- For the syntax of wikitables, see meta:help:table. For the dynamics, see meta:template:for, especially the examples. We can try to make it work if it gets stuck. Hillgentleman|Talk 17:51, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

