Ernő Rubik is a Hungarian architect and professor of architecture, best known as the inventor of the Rubik's Cube, a 3D combination puzzle that became an iconic toy worldwide. He created the Rubik's Cube in 1974 as a teaching tool to help students understand spatial relationships. The cube gained international popularity in the 1980s and has since become one of the best-selling puzzles of all time.
Model railroads are miniature versions of rail systems that enthusiasts create for hobby or display purposes. They typically consist of scaled-down models of trains, tracks, landscapes, buildings, and other elements found in real railroad operations. Model railroading involves various aspects such as design, building, and operating these miniature systems, and it can encompass a wide variety of scales (sizes), from HO scale (1:87) to N scale (1:160) and larger gauges like G scale.
Narrow gauge railway modelling refers to the hobby of creating scale models of narrow gauge railways, which are railways that use tracks with a smaller than standard distance between the rails. Standard gauge is typically 4 feet 8.5 inches (1,435 mm), while narrow gauge can range from as little as 15 inches (381 mm) up to 3 feet (914 mm).
Modelling British railway prototypes generally refers to the hobby of creating scale models that represent British railway vehicles, infrastructure, and scenes. This can include a variety of elements, such as locomotives, rolling stock (passenger and freight cars), stations, tracks, and the broader railway environment including scenery and buildings.
Normen Europäischer Modellbahnen (NEM) refers to a set of standards that govern the various aspects of model railroading in Europe. These standards were established to ensure compatibility and interoperability among different manufacturers' products, thus enhancing the overall experience of model railroad enthusiasts. The NEM standards cover a wide range of topics, including but not limited to: 1. **Scale and Gauge**: Definitions of various scales (e.g., H0, N) and respective track gauges.
The Biggest Little Railway in the World is an anthology model railway layout located in the United Kingdom, specifically in the town of Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex. It is renowned for its intricate design and attention to detail, showcasing a miniature world complete with landscapes, buildings, and operational trains. The railway features various gauges and is designed to entertain both model railway enthusiasts and the general public.
An **IP Set** is a data structure used primarily in the context of firewalls and network security systems to manage and store sets of IP addresses efficiently. IP sets allow network administrators to: 1. **Group IP Addresses**: Instead of creating individual rules for each IP address, administrators can create a single entry that represents a set of IPs. This is particularly useful for managing rules related to large numbers of IP addresses, such as those belonging to known malicious sources or trusted partners.
Brownian motion refers to the random, erratic movement observed in small particles suspended in a fluid (liquid or gas), a phenomenon that is particularly significant in the study of colloidal dispersions, including sol particles. ### Understanding Brownian Motion: 1. **Historical Context**: The term "Brownian motion" is named after the botanist Robert Brown, who, in 1827, first observed pollen grains moving randomly in water.
A **pullback attractor** is a concept from dynamical systems and chaos theory, referring to a specific type of attractor that describes the long-term behavior of trajectories in a non-autonomous dynamical system. Non-autonomous systems are those where the governing equations change over time, often influenced by an external time-dependent influence.
The Maximum-entropy random graph model is a statistical approach used to generate random graphs that capture specific characteristics or properties of observed graphs while maintaining maximum randomness under these constraints. The idea behind this model is to create a graph that fulfills certain defined constraints while maximizing the entropy of the graph's structure, thereby ensuring that it is as unbiased as possible with respect to the specified properties.
Gudkov's conjecture is a statement in the field of combinatorial mathematics, specifically concerning the properties of integer sequences and their growth rates. It posits that for certain mathematical sequences or arrangements, there exists a predictable structure or limit to their growth that can be explored through the lens of combinatorial techniques.
The Ping-Pong Lemma is a result in geometric group theory that is often used to prove that a group is free, or to show that a group has a particular property, such as being non-abelian or having a certain type of subgroup. The lemma is particularly useful in the context of groups acting on trees or hyperbolic spaces.
A positive polynomial is a polynomial function that takes positive values for all inputs from a specified domain, typically the set of real numbers. More formally, a polynomial \( P(x) \) is considered positive if \( P(x) > 0 \) for all \( x \) in the chosen set (for instance, for all \( x \in \mathbb{R} \) or for all \( x \) in a specific interval).
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) was an American inventor and businessman who is best known for his contributions to the development of electric power generation and numerous inventions that have had a significant impact on modern technology. He is often credited with developing the first commercially viable incandescent light bulb and for establishing the first industrial research laboratory. Edison's most notable inventions include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and improvements to the telegraph and the telephone.
Boris Kordemsky (born in 1915, died in 1999) was a notable Russian mathematician, known especially for his contributions to mathematical puzzles and recreational mathematics. He authored several books that made mathematical concepts more accessible and engaging for the general public. His work often focused on the enjoyment and beauty of mathematics, helping to popularize the subject through puzzles and games.
Colm Mulcahy is a mathematician and educator, known for his work and contributions in the field of mathematics, particularly in areas such as mathematical card magic and mathematical puzzles. He is also recognized for his engaging teaching style and for promoting mathematics through various outreach activities, including workshops and lectures. Additionally, he has authored papers and articles that explore mathematical concepts in an accessible way.
Douglas Hofstadter is an American cognitive scientist, author, and philosopher, best known for his work in the fields of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and the philosophy of mind. He gained widespread recognition for his book "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid," published in 1979, which explores the relationships between the works of mathematician Kurt Gödel, artist M.C. Escher, and composer J.S. Bach.
Henry Dudeney (1857-1930) was an English mathematician and puzzle creator, known for his contributions to recreational mathematics. He is particularly famous for his work in logic puzzles, geometric puzzles, and mathematical games.
Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.Figure 4. Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation.Figure 5. Web editor. You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.Video 4. OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo. Source. - Infinitely deep tables of contents:
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact





