Newbie

[sbsachi]

Hi,
I am working on my PhD in Physics specialising in Particle Physics Phenomenology at the University of Oklahoma. I will be graduating this summer. I did not want to pursue an academic career but wanted to do something where I can use my background and hence my interest in getting into Financial Engineering. Mathematics is one of my favourite subjects and looking forward to learning new skills.
On a different note, there is an error in the registration application. There was a verification question asking for the square root of 25. I typed +/-5 and I got an error message telling me it was wrong but it accepted just 5 as an answer.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Hi,
Welcome to QN community. We hope you do find the info useful and the members friendly.

On a different note, there is an error in the registration application. There was a verification question asking for the square root of 25. I typed +/-5 and I got an error message telling me it was wrong but it accepted just 5 as an answer.

The verification questions are a good way to keep out human spammers and the quantitatively, grammatically-challenged :D
The question you were asked was "The square root of 25 is...". The correct answers are 5 or five

You were thinking of something along this line "If (x^2=25), then x is ..."

 

[sbsachi]

But if x=Sqrt(25) then x^2 = 25 and therefore -5 is also a solution.

 

[DominiConnor]

The standard figure, is that 60% of quant man hours are spent doing programming.
Some people put it higher.

The right answer is the one that makes the computer do what you want.
I have used the value -0 to make some programs obey my will, I have set an option to off then on to make it realise that I want it off, and I have upon occasion written loops to go through every possible value to make the bloody thing go properly.

I suggestthat if +/- in web form fields annoys you, that you may want to think what your ideal job really is.