λ version succ - left or right

Japanese version

Last time, we told about a rule, function application is left-associative. First of all, why we need to think about something associative? Because it is not so useful when the answers are different even the expressions are the same. If one computes 1-2-3 as (1-2)-3 (=-4) and the other computes 1-(2-3) (=2), the values are different. Someone might think useful if a calculator gives different answers every time, however, I assume many people could agree such calculator is not so useful. We need to define associativity if the input expressions are the same, then the answer are also the same.

This is the reason why we need to think about associativity. Then the next question might be why we use left-associative? Actually this is just definition and it does not matter which one we take as long as it is defined one of them. Someone defined it as left long time ago. I think I use to use it for a long time, then it is almost natural for me. Maybe it is unnatural I fell it natural. However, this is definition and itself does not have meaning. We could have right-associative system. I assume the reason we use left-associative is because many of European language write the language from left to right, and nowadays mathematical notation is based on European mathematics.

Comments

Why A^{T}A is invertible? (2) Linear Algebra

Why A^{T}A has the inverse Let me explain why A^{T}A has the inverse, if the columns of A are independent. First, if a matrix is n by n, and all the columns are independent, then this is a square full rank matrix. Therefore, there is the inverse. So, the problem is when A is a m by n, rectangle matrix. Strang's explanation is based on null space. Null space and column space are the fundamental of the linear algebra. This explanation is simple and clear. However, when I was a University student, I did not recall the explanation of the null space in my linear algebra class. Maybe I was careless. I regret that... Explanation based on null space This explanation is based on Strang's book. Column space and null space are the main characters. Let's start with this explanation. Assume x where x is in the null space of A . The matrices ( A^{T} A ) and A share the null space as the following: This means, if x is in the null space of A , x is also in the null spa

Gauss's quote for positive, negative, and imaginary number

Recently I watched the following great videos about imaginary numbers by Welch Labs. https://youtu.be/T647CGsuOVU?list=PLiaHhY2iBX9g6KIvZ_703G3KJXapKkNaF I like this article about naming of math by Kalid Azad. https://betterexplained.com/articles/learning-tip-idea-name/ Both articles mentioned about Gauss, who suggested to use other names of positive, negative, and imaginary numbers. Gauss wrote these names are wrong and that is one of the reason people didn't get why negative times negative is positive, or, pure positive imaginary times pure positive imaginary is negative real number. I made a few videos about explaining why -1 * -1 = +1, too. Explanation: why -1 * -1 = +1 by pattern https://youtu.be/uD7JRdAzKP8 Explanation: why -1 * -1 = +1 by climbing a mountain https://youtu.be/uD7JRdAzKP8 But actually Gauss's insight is much powerful. The original is in the Gauß, Werke, Bd. 2, S. 178 . Hätte man +1, -1, √-1) nicht positiv, negative, imaginäre (oder gar um

Why parallelogram area is |ad-bc|?

Here is my question. The area of parallelogram is the difference of these two rectangles (red rectangle - blue rectangle). This is not intuitive for me. If you also think it is not so intuitive, you might interested in my slides. I try to explain this for hight school students. Slides: A bit intuitive (for me) explanation of area of parallelogram (to my site, external link) .

Lx=d: SundayResearch

Search This Blog