Nutrient Updated 2025-07-16
The finite element method is one of the most common ways to solve PDEs in practice.
Nu (letter) Updated 2025-07-16
Why would physicists use a letter such that:
  • the upper case version looks exactly like an upper case N. At least that is the correct pronunciation/name/historical successor of .
  • the lower case version looks exactly like a lower case V
Why? Why?????????
Nuclear weapon Updated 2025-07-16
Figure 1.
A weapons-grade ring of electrorefined plutonium, typical of the rings refined at Los Alamos and sent to Rocky Flats for fabrication
. Source. The ring has a purity of 99.96%, weighs 5.3 kg, and is approx 11 cm in diameter. It is enough plutonium for one bomb core. Which city shall we blow up today?
Ciro Santilli is mildly obsessed by nuclear reactions, because they are so quirky. How can a little ball destroy a city? How can putting too much of it together produce criticality and kill people like in the Slotin accident or the Tokaimura criticality accident. It is mind blowing really.
Video 1.
Tour of a nuclear misile silo from the 60's by Arizona Highways TV (2019)
Source.
Video 2.
The Ultimate Guide to Nuclear Weapons by hypohystericalhistory (2022)
Source. Good overall summary. Some interesting points:
Nuclear reactor Updated 2025-07-16
Some of the most notable ones:
One major difference between the elliptic curve over a finite field or the elliptic curve over the rational numbers the elliptic curve over the real numbers is that not every possible generates a member of the curve.
This is because on the Equation "Definition of the elliptic curves" we see that given an , we calculate , which always produces an element .
But then we are not necessarily able to find an for the , because not all fields are not quadratically closed fields.
For example: with and , taking gives:
and therefore there is no that satisfies the equation. So is not on the curve if we consider this elliptic curve over the rational numbers.
That would also not belong to Elliptic curve over the finite field , because doing everything we have:
Therefore, there is no element such that or , i.e. and don't have a multiplicative inverse.
For the real numbers, it would work however, because the real numbers are a quadratically closed field, and .
For this reason, it is not necessarily trivial to determine the number of elements of an elliptic curve.
Given:
the norm ends up being:
E.g. in :
Normal subgroup Updated 2025-07-16
Only normal subgroups can be used to form quotient groups: their key definition is that they plus their cosets form a group.
One key intuition is that "a normal subgroup is the kernel" of a group homomorphism, and the normal subgroup plus cosets are isomorphic to the image of the isomorphism, which is what the fundamental theorem on homomorphisms says.
Therefore "there aren't that many group homomorphism", and a normal subgroup it is a concrete and natural way to uniquely represent that homomorphism.
The best way to think about the, is to always think first: what is the homomorphism? And then work out everything else from there.
Noisy intermediate-scale quantum era Updated 2025-07-16
Era of quantum computing before we reach physical errors small enough to do perfect quantum error correction as demonstrated by the quantum threshold theorem.
Monster Raving Loony Party Updated 2025-07-16
Video 1.
Monster Raving Loony Party Conference by Britclip
. Source.
Analytic continuation Updated 2025-07-16
visualizing the Riemann hypothesis and analytic continuation by 3Blue1Brown (2016) is a good quick visual non-mathematical introduction is to it.
The key question is: how can this continuation be unique since we are defining the function outside of its original domain?
The answer is: due to the identity theorem.
Lysozyme Updated 2025-07-16
Breaks up peptidoglycan present in the bacterial cell wall, which is thicker in Gram-positive bacteria, which is what this enzyme seems to target.
Part of the inate immune system.
It is present on basically everything that mammals and birds excrete, and it kills bacteria, both of which are reasons why it was discovered relatively early on.

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