Dan Drake 🦆
@ddrake.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Former #softwareengineer, current #mathematician, college #math, #computerscience and #datascience lecturer in #stpaulmn #Minnesota at #Macalester College.
Here, have […]
🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mathstodon.xyz/@ddrake, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
Here, have […]
🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mathstodon.xyz/@ddrake, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
Pinned
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
I was excited to use ranked-choice voting / instant runoff to vote for Saint Paul mayor yesterday. I was also excited to see it go to a second round of counting -- with traditional voting, we would have a third term with Carter, but RCV yielded the city's first female, and first Hmong-American […]
Reposted by Dan Drake 🦆
Analogs of binomial coefficients: q-binomial, Stirling numbers, and Eulerian numbers
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2025/07/24/analogs-of-binomial-coefficients/
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2025/07/24/analogs-of-binomial-coefficients/
January 24, 2026 at 1:54 PM
Analogs of binomial coefficients: q-binomial, Stirling numbers, and Eulerian numbers
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2025/07/24/analogs-of-binomial-coefficients/
https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2025/07/24/analogs-of-binomial-coefficients/
Very proud of my fellow Minnesotans and Twin Citians: yesterday was brutally, viciously cold -- high temperature was -9 Fahrenheit (-22 Celsius). That was the HIGH temperature.
And in that brutal weather, tens of thousands of people went outside to protest […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
And in that brutal weather, tens of thousands of people went outside to protest […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
January 24, 2026 at 1:51 PM
Very proud of my fellow Minnesotans and Twin Citians: yesterday was brutally, viciously cold -- high temperature was -9 Fahrenheit (-22 Celsius). That was the HIGH temperature.
And in that brutal weather, tens of thousands of people went outside to protest […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
And in that brutal weather, tens of thousands of people went outside to protest […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
I know I posted about this but can't find it -- but today I learned of the --human-numeric-sort option to the GNU "sort" command!
"sort -h" is smart about suffixes: it knows that 999K is less than 1M, and so on.
It's obviously designed to handle input from things like "du -h", which means
du […]
"sort -h" is smart about suffixes: it knows that 999K is less than 1M, and so on.
It's obviously designed to handle input from things like "du -h", which means
du […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
January 24, 2026 at 1:40 PM
I know I posted about this but can't find it -- but today I learned of the --human-numeric-sort option to the GNU "sort" command!
"sort -h" is smart about suffixes: it knows that 999K is less than 1M, and so on.
It's obviously designed to handle input from things like "du -h", which means
du […]
"sort -h" is smart about suffixes: it knows that 999K is less than 1M, and so on.
It's obviously designed to handle input from things like "du -h", which means
du […]
RE: https://graz.social/@publicvoit/115944406944516221
I use emacs *and* vim...and I also use a cargo bike *and* a regular bike...I love this analogy.
I might also compare vim to a fixed-gear bike; riding a fixed-gear bike is a bit different than a regular bike, since you have to learn how to […]
I use emacs *and* vim...and I also use a cargo bike *and* a regular bike...I love this analogy.
I might also compare vim to a fixed-gear bike; riding a fixed-gear bike is a bit different than a regular bike, since you have to learn how to […]
January 23, 2026 at 12:43 PM
RE: https://graz.social/@publicvoit/115944406944516221
I use emacs *and* vim...and I also use a cargo bike *and* a regular bike...I love this analogy.
I might also compare vim to a fixed-gear bike; riding a fixed-gear bike is a bit different than a regular bike, since you have to learn how to […]
I use emacs *and* vim...and I also use a cargo bike *and* a regular bike...I love this analogy.
I might also compare vim to a fixed-gear bike; riding a fixed-gear bike is a bit different than a regular bike, since you have to learn how to […]
Reposted by Dan Drake 🦆
#emacs vs. #vim Real World Analogy: #cargobike Vs. #foldingbike
https://karl-voit.at/2026/01/23/Emacs-vs-vim-Cargo-Folding-Bike/
This isn't supposed to deliver fuel to the gratuitous #editorwar.
It's supposed to clear up a few things why the two tools are so fundamentally different.
HTH […]
https://karl-voit.at/2026/01/23/Emacs-vs-vim-Cargo-Folding-Bike/
This isn't supposed to deliver fuel to the gratuitous #editorwar.
It's supposed to clear up a few things why the two tools are so fundamentally different.
HTH […]
Original post on graz.social
graz.social
January 23, 2026 at 12:29 PM
#emacs vs. #vim Real World Analogy: #cargobike Vs. #foldingbike
https://karl-voit.at/2026/01/23/Emacs-vs-vim-Cargo-Folding-Bike/
This isn't supposed to deliver fuel to the gratuitous #editorwar.
It's supposed to clear up a few things why the two tools are so fundamentally different.
HTH […]
https://karl-voit.at/2026/01/23/Emacs-vs-vim-Cargo-Folding-Bike/
This isn't supposed to deliver fuel to the gratuitous #editorwar.
It's supposed to clear up a few things why the two tools are so fundamentally different.
HTH […]
I found this lovely little utility by @mjd -- it reads lines on stdin, gives you a little menu to choose some of them, and echoes those to stdout.
I'm more of a Python person, so I tried asking a chatbot to convert the code. It went very well.
Get a Python version at […]
I'm more of a Python person, so I tried asking a chatbot to convert the code. It went very well.
Get a Python version at […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
January 21, 2026 at 4:26 PM
I found this lovely little utility by @mjd -- it reads lines on stdin, gives you a little menu to choose some of them, and echoes those to stdout.
I'm more of a Python person, so I tried asking a chatbot to convert the code. It went very well.
Get a Python version at […]
I'm more of a Python person, so I tried asking a chatbot to convert the code. It went very well.
Get a Python version at […]
🧵 1/N
I was struck by this artwork at the Minnesota Museum of American art. It was part of an exhibit called Queering Indigeneity. I noticed the fractions, and pondered what that would have to do with queerness.
Well, being queer could be viewed as being […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
I was struck by this artwork at the Minnesota Museum of American art. It was part of an exhibit called Queering Indigeneity. I noticed the fractions, and pondered what that would have to do with queerness.
Well, being queer could be viewed as being […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
January 11, 2026 at 1:30 PM
🧵 1/N
I was struck by this artwork at the Minnesota Museum of American art. It was part of an exhibit called Queering Indigeneity. I noticed the fractions, and pondered what that would have to do with queerness.
Well, being queer could be viewed as being […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
I was struck by this artwork at the Minnesota Museum of American art. It was part of an exhibit called Queering Indigeneity. I noticed the fractions, and pondered what that would have to do with queerness.
Well, being queer could be viewed as being […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
From Matt Haig's great book "The Humans":
"Listening to music, I realized, was simply the pleasure of counting without realizing you were counting."
"Listening to music, I realized, was simply the pleasure of counting without realizing you were counting."
January 15, 2026 at 4:35 PM
From Matt Haig's great book "The Humans":
"Listening to music, I realized, was simply the pleasure of counting without realizing you were counting."
"Listening to music, I realized, was simply the pleasure of counting without realizing you were counting."
I just completed "Gift Shop" - Day 2 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode https://adventofcode.com/2025/day/2
I did this part in Racket. Oh, Racket, you are so lovely.
#racket #adventofcode
I did this part in Racket. Oh, Racket, you are so lovely.
#racket #adventofcode
Day 2 - Advent of Code 2025
adventofcode.com
January 10, 2026 at 5:24 PM
I just completed "Gift Shop" - Day 2 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode https://adventofcode.com/2025/day/2
I did this part in Racket. Oh, Racket, you are so lovely.
#racket #adventofcode
I did this part in Racket. Oh, Racket, you are so lovely.
#racket #adventofcode
I just completed "Secret Entrance" - Day 1 - Advent of Code 2025 #adventofcode https://adventofcode.com/2025/day/1
(I'm in academia, so I'm always too busy in December to do Advent of Code. But I have time now!)
(I'm in academia, so I'm always too busy in December to do Advent of Code. But I have time now!)
Day 1 - Advent of Code 2025
adventofcode.com
January 8, 2026 at 12:55 AM
I just completed "Secret Entrance" - Day 1 - Advent of Code 2025 #adventofcode https://adventofcode.com/2025/day/1
(I'm in academia, so I'm always too busy in December to do Advent of Code. But I have time now!)
(I'm in academia, so I'm always too busy in December to do Advent of Code. But I have time now!)
TIL a fun thing about Unicode, text, and emojis.
I ran into a very weird encoding / text display thing with checkboxes: I saw both
☑︎
and
☑️
But emacs said both of those were the same: Unicode codepoint U+2611. I couldn't figure out why they were shown differently.
Thanks to […]
I ran into a very weird encoding / text display thing with checkboxes: I saw both
☑︎
and
☑️
But emacs said both of those were the same: Unicode codepoint U+2611. I couldn't figure out why they were shown differently.
Thanks to […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
January 7, 2026 at 2:05 PM
TIL a fun thing about Unicode, text, and emojis.
I ran into a very weird encoding / text display thing with checkboxes: I saw both
☑︎
and
☑️
But emacs said both of those were the same: Unicode codepoint U+2611. I couldn't figure out why they were shown differently.
Thanks to […]
I ran into a very weird encoding / text display thing with checkboxes: I saw both
☑︎
and
☑️
But emacs said both of those were the same: Unicode codepoint U+2611. I couldn't figure out why they were shown differently.
Thanks to […]
The other evening I started reading Daniel Temkin's "44 Esolangs":
https://danieltemkin.com/Esolangs
I just read the introduction and skimmed a few of the languages.
In the following eight hours, I thought of three esolangs of my own!
This book may be slightly deadly to my productivity […]
https://danieltemkin.com/Esolangs
I just read the introduction and skimmed a few of the languages.
In the following eight hours, I thought of three esolangs of my own!
This book may be slightly deadly to my productivity […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
December 18, 2025 at 4:44 PM
The other evening I started reading Daniel Temkin's "44 Esolangs":
https://danieltemkin.com/Esolangs
I just read the introduction and skimmed a few of the languages.
In the following eight hours, I thought of three esolangs of my own!
This book may be slightly deadly to my productivity […]
https://danieltemkin.com/Esolangs
I just read the introduction and skimmed a few of the languages.
In the following eight hours, I thought of three esolangs of my own!
This book may be slightly deadly to my productivity […]
Reposted by Dan Drake 🦆
Second derivatives in the news:
December 18, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Second derivatives in the news:
One thing about being a human using the internet in 2025 is that you have to prove that you are a human all the time, often by doing a CAPTCHA.
One interesting thing I realized about proving you are human: it can be good to make mistakes!
Today I was proving my humanity by clicking on all the […]
One interesting thing I realized about proving you are human: it can be good to make mistakes!
Today I was proving my humanity by clicking on all the […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
December 16, 2025 at 12:20 PM
One thing about being a human using the internet in 2025 is that you have to prove that you are a human all the time, often by doing a CAPTCHA.
One interesting thing I realized about proving you are human: it can be good to make mistakes!
Today I was proving my humanity by clicking on all the […]
One interesting thing I realized about proving you are human: it can be good to make mistakes!
Today I was proving my humanity by clicking on all the […]
Reposted by Dan Drake 🦆
@ddrake here’s our education policy! https://wizardzines.com/education/
Education
wizardzines.com
December 14, 2025 at 1:30 PM
@ddrake here’s our education policy! https://wizardzines.com/education/
New Yorker magazine should have a diaresis over one of the zeros in its 100-year anniversary logo.
December 14, 2025 at 1:07 PM
New Yorker magazine should have a diaresis over one of the zeros in its 100-year anniversary logo.
@b0rk I have your debugging zine and it's great! I want to give it to my students as a reading / resource in my intro programming class. Your zines store mentions teams and companies -- what are your thoughts on use in educational settings?
December 14, 2025 at 1:04 PM
@b0rk I have your debugging zine and it's great! I want to give it to my students as a reading / resource in my intro programming class. Your zines store mentions teams and companies -- what are your thoughts on use in educational settings?
How do you pronounce hexadecimal numbers?
You just say the "digits", right? But that sounds a bit weird, in English, especially the letters -- for example, 0xAC, 0xCD, 0xCF match up with acronyms for alternating current, compact disc, and the Latin "conferatur" for "compare".
In the middle of […]
You just say the "digits", right? But that sounds a bit weird, in English, especially the letters -- for example, 0xAC, 0xCD, 0xCF match up with acronyms for alternating current, compact disc, and the Latin "conferatur" for "compare".
In the middle of […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
December 13, 2025 at 2:50 PM
How do you pronounce hexadecimal numbers?
You just say the "digits", right? But that sounds a bit weird, in English, especially the letters -- for example, 0xAC, 0xCD, 0xCF match up with acronyms for alternating current, compact disc, and the Latin "conferatur" for "compare".
In the middle of […]
You just say the "digits", right? But that sounds a bit weird, in English, especially the letters -- for example, 0xAC, 0xCD, 0xCF match up with acronyms for alternating current, compact disc, and the Latin "conferatur" for "compare".
In the middle of […]
Neat paper on statistics and medical conditions, and the danger of round numbers:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-025-02079-y
You have, say, a condition you can treat. There's some test or biomarker you can examine to determine the risk from the condition. You have a treatment which […]
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-025-02079-y
You have, say, a condition you can treat. There's some test or biomarker you can examine to determine the risk from the condition. You have a treatment which […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
December 4, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Neat paper on statistics and medical conditions, and the danger of round numbers:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-025-02079-y
You have, say, a condition you can treat. There's some test or biomarker you can examine to determine the risk from the condition. You have a treatment which […]
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-025-02079-y
You have, say, a condition you can treat. There's some test or biomarker you can examine to determine the risk from the condition. You have a treatment which […]
@divbyzero @JenJen now you've got me experimenting with square twist tessellations. The pattern on this paper looks neat with the twists.
December 4, 2025 at 12:40 PM
@divbyzero @JenJen now you've got me experimenting with square twist tessellations. The pattern on this paper looks neat with the twists.
I want to combine my usual geeky topics with my political ones, specifically my disapproval (to put it very lightly) of Trump's racist insults of the Twin Cities' Somali community.
Last summer I read "Don't Teach Coding Until You've Read This Book", which makes a strong case that programming […]
Last summer I read "Don't Teach Coding Until You've Read This Book", which makes a strong case that programming […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
December 4, 2025 at 12:23 PM
I want to combine my usual geeky topics with my political ones, specifically my disapproval (to put it very lightly) of Trump's racist insults of the Twin Cities' Somali community.
Last summer I read "Don't Teach Coding Until You've Read This Book", which makes a strong case that programming […]
Last summer I read "Don't Teach Coding Until You've Read This Book", which makes a strong case that programming […]
Having just replied to @pixelate on actual good uses of chatbots and AI, here's another: agriculture. Cool article in Communications of the ACM on this: https:/dx.doi.org/10.1145/3760437
Agriculture is (ahem) ripe for AI applications -- think of things like taking sensor data and using that to […]
Agriculture is (ahem) ripe for AI applications -- think of things like taking sensor data and using that to […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
December 3, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Having just replied to @pixelate on actual good uses of chatbots and AI, here's another: agriculture. Cool article in Communications of the ACM on this: https:/dx.doi.org/10.1145/3760437
Agriculture is (ahem) ripe for AI applications -- think of things like taking sensor data and using that to […]
Agriculture is (ahem) ripe for AI applications -- think of things like taking sensor data and using that to […]
Today I learned another way in which Macalester College takes its Scottish heritage very seriously.
When you get tenure here, the way you find out is...bagpipes.
Typically there's some department meeting or other gathering, where, unbeknownst to the newly-tenured professors, members of the […]
When you get tenure here, the way you find out is...bagpipes.
Typically there's some department meeting or other gathering, where, unbeknownst to the newly-tenured professors, members of the […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
December 2, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Today I learned another way in which Macalester College takes its Scottish heritage very seriously.
When you get tenure here, the way you find out is...bagpipes.
Typically there's some department meeting or other gathering, where, unbeknownst to the newly-tenured professors, members of the […]
When you get tenure here, the way you find out is...bagpipes.
Typically there's some department meeting or other gathering, where, unbeknownst to the newly-tenured professors, members of the […]
A tiny thing that you only will know if you live in a city where you get lots of snow:
The first time you get a good snow that completely covers lawns and roofs and so on, your bedroom at night suddenly is not as dark.
It's the reflectivity of the snow and all the streetlights -- before the […]
The first time you get a good snow that completely covers lawns and roofs and so on, your bedroom at night suddenly is not as dark.
It's the reflectivity of the snow and all the streetlights -- before the […]
Original post on mathstodon.xyz
mathstodon.xyz
November 30, 2025 at 11:52 PM
A tiny thing that you only will know if you live in a city where you get lots of snow:
The first time you get a good snow that completely covers lawns and roofs and so on, your bedroom at night suddenly is not as dark.
It's the reflectivity of the snow and all the streetlights -- before the […]
The first time you get a good snow that completely covers lawns and roofs and so on, your bedroom at night suddenly is not as dark.
It's the reflectivity of the snow and all the streetlights -- before the […]