In computer programming, a **parameter** is a special kind of variable that is used to pass information between functions or procedures. When a function is defined, parameters serve as placeholders for the values (known as arguments) that will be passed to the function when it is called. This allows functions to be more flexible and reusable by performing operations on various inputs without needing to hard-code values.
Maximum entropy thermodynamics is an approach to statistical mechanics and thermodynamics that is based on the principle of maximizing the entropy of a system, given certain constraints. It is grounded in the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy of an isolated system tends to increase over time. This method provides a systematic way to derive equilibrium states and understand thermodynamic properties. ### Key Concepts 1. **Entropy**: In thermodynamics, entropy is a measure of disorder or randomness in a system.
"Meditations" is a series of personal writings by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, which is considered one of the greatest works of Stoic philosophy. Written during the 2nd century AD, these writings were not intended for publication but were rather a form of self-reflection and guidance for Aurelius himself.
The Ministry of the Electronics Industry (MEI) of the Soviet Union was responsible for the development, production, and regulation of electronics and computer technology in the USSR. Established in 1959, it played a crucial role in the development of computer systems and electronic equipment throughout the Soviet Union.
A mixture distribution is a probabilistic model that represents a distribution as a combination of two or more component distributions, each of which is weighted by a certain probability. This approach is useful in various fields, including statistics, machine learning, and data analysis, as it allows for modeling complex data patterns that cannot be easily captured by a single distribution. ### Key Characteristics: 1. **Components**: Each component of the mixture can be a different distribution (e.g.
Monsky's theorem is a result in geometry related to the dissection of polygons. It states that it is impossible to dissect a square into a finite number of pieces, each of which is congruent to a given triangle with an odd area.
In computability theory, mortality refers to a specific property of a computational process, particularly in the context of Turing machines. A Turing machine is said to be "mortal" if it eventually enters a halting state after a finite number of steps for every input. In simpler terms, a mortal Turing machine will always stop (halt) when run on any given input.
Multiplayer and single-player video games are two primary modes of gameplay in the gaming industry, and they each offer distinct experiences for players. ### Single-Player Games - **Definition**: In single-player games, a player engages with the game alone, controlling one or more characters as they progress through the game's story or objectives. - **Experience**: The focus is typically on a narrative, exploration, and personal achievement.
The Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) is an advanced astronomical instrument utilized at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). MUSE is a integral field spectrograph designed for wide-field observations of astronomical objects across a range of wavelengths, typically covering the visible and near-infrared parts of the spectrum.
Nanosyntax is a theoretical framework in the field of syntax within linguistics that focuses on the idea that the components of syntactic structure are smaller than traditionally assumed. Developed by its proponents, including researchers like Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy, nanosyntax posits that grammatical features are organized into a highly granular system of syntactic objects. In Nanosyntax, the basic notion is that complex syntactic elements, such as words or morphemes, are decomposed into their smallest functional units.
The New Zealand Road Code is a comprehensive guide that provides essential information on the rules of the road, safe driving practices, and road safety in New Zealand. It is published by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and serves multiple purposes, including: 1. **Driver Education**: The Road Code is used to educate new drivers about the rules and regulations they must follow while operating a vehicle in New Zealand. It is an essential resource for those preparing for their driving tests.
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate. It was formed in April 2020 through the merger of Raytheon Company and United Technologies Corporation (UTC). Raytheon focuses on advanced technology systems and products for government and commercial customers worldwide. The company is known for its work in areas such as missile systems, radar technologies, cybersecurity, and intelligence applications.
Nicolaas Bloembergen was a Dutch physicist known for his work in the field of laser science and spectroscopy. Born on March 11, 1920, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1981, along with Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Kai M. Ziegler, for their contributions to the development of laser technology. Bloembergen's research significantly advanced the understanding of light-matter interactions and the development of various spectroscopic techniques.
Nokogiri is a powerful and popular Ruby library used for parsing and manipulating HTML and XML documents. It provides an easy-to-use interface for extracting data from web pages and converting documents into a structured format that can be easily manipulated within a Ruby program. Key features of Nokogiri include: 1. **HTML and XML Parsing**: Nokogiri can handle both HTML and XML formats, making it versatile for various applications.
Nora Cate Schaeffer is an American sociologist known for her work in the fields of demographic research, social psychology, and survey methodology. She has contributed significantly to the understanding of social stratification, family dynamics, and the impacts of social networks on individual behavior and experiences. Schaeffer has also been involved in improving survey techniques and understanding how social context affects survey responses.
"Normal mode" can refer to different concepts depending on the context in which it is used. Here are a few interpretations: 1. **Physics and Engineering**: In this context, "normal mode" refers to a specific type of oscillation in a system where all parts of the system move in a coordinated way. For example, in mechanical systems, normal modes correspond to the natural frequencies of vibration.
The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a unified telephone numbering system that covers the United States, Canada, and several other territories. Established in 1947, the NANP was designed to simplify and standardize the process of dialing long-distance calls and to facilitate the growth of the telecommunications network across North America.
The Northrop Grumman RQ-180 is a highly classified unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed for the United States military. It is believed to be part of the U.S. Air Force’s program for advanced reconnaissance and surveillance missions, particularly in contested or denied airspace environments. While specific details about the RQ-180 are not publicly available due to its classified nature, it is understood to be designed for stealth capabilities, allowing it to evade detection by radar and other sensors.
Nowcasting in meteorology refers to the process of predicting weather conditions in the very short term, typically over a time frame of a few minutes to a few hours ahead. It focuses on providing real-time updates and forecasts that are usually more detailed and localized than standard weather forecasts, which might cover longer time periods (days or weeks).

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!
We have two killer features:
  1. 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-calculus
    Articles 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/derivative
  2. 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.
    Figure 2.
    You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either https://OurBigBook.com or as a static website
    .
    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.
  3. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook-media/master/feature/x/hilbert-space-arrow.png
  4. Infinitely deep tables of contents:
    Figure 6.
    Dynamic article tree with infinitely deep table of contents
    .
    Descendant pages can also show up as toplevel e.g.: ourbigbook.com/cirosantilli/chordate-subclade
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