Archive for November, 2006

Is 0.999… = 1 ?

// November 23rd, 2006 // 23 Comments » // Tech

What would you say if I said that 0.999… (Also written 0.\bar{9}or0.\dot{9}) is equal to one? NO! Obviously… since we think that let there be any number of 9’s after the decimal, its still infinitesimally smaller than 1. That’s what I thought out loud when I first saw this article. But the weird thing is that there exists not one but numerous proofs of varying difficulties proving the above fact that indeed they are equal if we take into account Real Number System i.e., the normal numbers we use for the mathematically challenged.

Proof by Fractions:
 
Algebraic Proof:

The proof which is so obvious is based on a few basic assumptions of Real Numbers but they are assumptions anyways. Any one of those assumptions have to be undermined to make this equality void.

For A more lucid account see Wikipedia’s Featured Article on 0.999…

"Bond, James Bond" – Casino Royale (2006)

// November 19th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Movies & TV

Bond with his Silenced WaltherP99

“Bond, James Bond” – The line was music to my ears after waiting for the movie so long. I went to the movies the very first day it released near us and boy was I glad that I watched it that day! The first half of the movie is fast paced action, a blur compared to its second half which focuses mainly on the human side of bond. The opening titles were in B&W and lemme tell they did not impress me. May be the director, Martin Campbell, was trying for that retro look.

Casino Royale is the first novel by Ian Fleming and the 21st Bond Movie. It traces the path of Bond obtaining his License to Kill – “00″ Status, his falling in love with the woman Vesper Lynd, his heartbreak and how Bond, a detached womanizer we know him as today came to be. The people needed a younger Bond so obviously Pierce Brosnan was out. Daniel Craig, who was selected for the role after much speculation and numerous other auditions, was more Bond than anyone could expect to be. Brosnan was more of a male model who revelled in his gadgetry, charm, airplanes and cars lacking the essential characteristics of a spy/assasin – ruthlessness, grit and what you could say as ‘roughness’. But Daniel Craig seemed a bit too Blonde to be a Bond, apart from that he was simply PERFECT!

The bombmaker chase is one unforgettable sequence at the starting of the film. Played by the Sebastian Foucan, one of the pioneers of Parkour which was higlighted in his escape sequence in the film. The infamous testicle torture scene was as wicked as it can get. The Aston Martin DBS crash scene, was awarded a Guinness World Record for the most cannon rolls in a car – created by a nitrogen air-cannon, the record was set at seven. The Miami airport runway scene, Bond’s Poisoning, the sinking of a Venetian Palazzo and the shooting of Mr. White are some of the arcs in the whole circle that completes this Bond movie. I was not big fan of Eva Green infact I did not even know anything about her before this movie but she did one hell of a Bond girl act. The villain, Le Chiffre, could have put up a better act but one has to get satisfied with Mads Mikkelsen.

This cannot be said as the remake of the older Bond film which was very loosely based on the novel and more of a comedy flick than an authentic Bond movie. But lets hope the other films will be remade with newer Bonds and Futuristic setting. All in all that was one great movie.

GeForce 8800 – The Next Level In Gaming

// November 15th, 2006 // No Comments » // Tech

The GeForce 8800 is an eigth generation NVIDIA GeForce graphics adapters and is the first one with DX10 compatibility. It is yet to be tested with DX10 applications. I being an avid NVIDIA fan stumbled upon the article this day was simply amazed by the potential it has. The GeForce 8800 comes in two models – GeForce 8800 GTX priced at approx. $599 and GeForce 8800 GTS priced at approx. $499. Considering what these card have got to offer one can jump on these cards this holiday season.

Specifications/Performance

GeForce 8800 GTX

GeForce 8800 GTS

Stream Processors

128

96

Core Clock (MHz)

575

500

Shader Clock (MHz)

1350

1200

Memory Clock (MHz)

900

800

Memory Amount

768MB

640MB

Memory Interface

384-bit

320-bit

Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec)

86.4

64

Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec)

36.8

24

Click To Enlarge! Click To Enlarge!

Here’s What the FAQ ran like:

Q: Do these new GPUs support DirectX 10?
A: Yes. The GeForce 8 Series GPUs are not only the first shipping DirectX 10 GPUs, but they are also the reference GPUs for DirectX 10 API development and certification.
Q: Is this a new architecture or a spin of the GeForce 7 Series architecture?
A: This is a completely new DirectX 10-compatible, unified architecture.
Q: Is a single GeForce 8800 GTX GPU faster than dual GeForce 7900 GTX GPUs running in SLI mode?

A: Yes.
Q: Is a single GeForce 8800 GTX GPU faster than a single GeForce 7950 GX2 card?
A: Yes.
Q: Do the new GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce 8800 GTS GPUs support SLI technology?
A: Yes. All GeForce 8800 GPUs support NVIDIA SLI technology.
Q: What kind of memory do the GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce 8800 GTS-based graphics cards use?
A: High-speed GDDR3 memory.
Q: Will you offer 512MB or 256MB versions of the GeForce 8800 GTX or GeForce 8800 GTS?
A: Not at this time.
Q: Do these GPUs support HDCP?
A: Yes. All NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX- and GeForce 8800 GTS-based graphics cards are HDCP capable. Q: How many transistors do the NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series GPUs have?
A: 681 million
Q: What manufacturing process do the NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series GPU use?
A: 90nm

For More Info On These Cards Visit:

Nvidia Official Site
AnandTech
TOMS Hardware
Techtree