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Tub wrote:
Wait.. at time t (in seconds) the woman has a horizontal distance of 3.5*t feet to the streetlight (assuming she's directly under the streetlight at t=0).
A straight line from streetlight through the woman's head will touch the floor at
(3.5t) / 7 * 12 = 6t feet (interception theorem),
thus the tip of the shadow moves at 6 ft/s.
Of course the length of the shadow at any given time is the horizontal distance between the woman and the tip of the shadow, which is
(6t - 3.5t) = 2.5t feet
Did I misunderstand the question? Where's the derivative?
You're correct on both counts, of course... The way I was taught is detailed here. You basically take the derivative of both sides of an equation with respect to time (d/dt) to find the answer.
There are probably other related rates problems that can't be solved in easier methods though, am I right? Otherwise, what is the point of learning this way of solving? =[
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Tub wrote:
That can be answered by trivially applying the intercept theorem, which I learned in 8th class when I was 13. I'm not familiar with your scholar system, how old is a "first year calc student" actually?
Yes, as you mention, knowledge of similar triangles is needed to solve this. But you also need to find the derivative of a couple different things since the question asks about a specific moment in time. I'm not really sure it can be done otherwise, or if there's a quick way to do it without derivatives.
As for your question, I suppose it could vary. I'm not familiar with too many people who took Calculus in High School (which would be up to the twelfth year), but it's fairly common for students going to college to take it their first or second year there (so 13th or 14th).
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First off, thanks everyone for the help with the x / sqrt(x) thing.
Also, I just learned how to do related rate problems. They got under my skin at first but now I think they're kinda neat. Here's one that I particularly liked (though I realize that this is probably a common question for first year Calc students):
A streetlight sits 12 feet off the ground. A woman who is 5 feet tall is walking away from the streetlight at a rate of 3.5 feet / second. How fast is the tip of her shadow moving? How fast is her shadow lengthening?
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Pointless Boy wrote:
Of fairly average playing, of a pretty bad transcription, you said, "Wow, this is amazing!" But I suppose speaking plainly and without rancor is somewhere between murder and pedophilia nowadays. Next time I should just stab someone and thereby avoid all the controversy.
You obviously know a lot more about music technique than I do, and I felt like you were being condescending about my comment (which I guess may have been a naive comment, but hey, I've never taken lessons or anything). On the other hand, I'm far from ignorant when it comes to music in general, so I'm not going to withhold any opinions.
Pointless Boy wrote:
between murder and pedophilia
I'm sorry if I came off as jumping down your throat. I hate arguing, so please try to understand that I wasn't attacking you.
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Pointless Boy wrote:
ElectroSpecter wrote:
[Sheer hyperbole]
Sorry, but how is an opinion "sheer hyperbole?" Perhaps if I had said "I watched the Lion King one million times when I was little," or, "Fabian, you are truly a God of the Keys who puts scum like Sir Elton to shame."
But really... I'm just praising him. Just because our opinions don't coincide doesn't mean that mine is exaggerated.
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moozooh wrote:
Shouldn't there be another pod segment, or am I remembering this wrong? I thought there were three.
The next level, Tube Race, has the third (very long) pod segment. However, in the Sega CD version, this whole level is skippable due to a warp (which subsequently makes Andy Asteroids shorter). Perhaps it's not as entertaining, but it's faster...
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L-Spiro wrote:
Do Runnin’ on Empty, Hollywood Nights, and Rhiannon please.
All 3 are songs to which I listen rather frequently.
L. Spiro
I learned part of Runnin' on Empty, but since the song is more of a band effort than a piano piece, and since I can't arrange music for piano, it's not that good. I learned the intro to The Load Out, however, and it sounds great and I'd like to learn the rest of it (ironically, The Load Out is, in my eyes at least, the ultimate band song, but the piano is the real backbone here).
Hollywood Nights was the first Bob Seger song I knew, and I love it to death but I don't know if it would be his most interesting song on piano... I would LOVE to learn Against the Wind, since it's mostly piano anyway. Beautiful Loser might be nice.
And Rhiannon, YES. I would definitely try to learn this.
Yes! Totally awesome. One of my favorites of his.
This thread makes me want to break out my (horrible) keyboard and upload something. Unfortunately, I only ever learned to play video game music (which I still think is actually pretty sweet), but I would love eventually to be able to play Jackson Browne songs, and maybe some Bob Seger and / or Fleetwood Mac (not sure what Fleetwood Mac would sound like on piano, I bet Landslide would sound nice).
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Tompa wrote:
Alaktorn: I'm actually three frames faster into the first bonus. The in game timer is really crappy.
Let's take some frames before entering the bonus:
Frame 1: 14:82 (On the in game timer)
Frame 2: 14:83
Frame 3: 14:84
Frame 4: 14:85
Frame 5: 14:96 (Where I enter the bonus)
Frame 6: 14:97
Frame 7: 14:90
Frame 8: 14:91 (Where was0x enters the bonus)
Also, download the SNES9X 1.43 version I posted on the previous page, it's version 17 and you'll be able to play the movie using that one.
Will entering the bonus later give you a better timer when it spits you out of the bonus?
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Here's a (probably simple) question that I unfortunately can't seem to explain:
Why does something like 15/sqrt(5) equal 3*sqrt5?
Or in simpler terms, why does x/sqrt(x) equal sqrt(x)?
To clarify, it makes sense to me when you plug in numbers but I can't explain it abstractly.
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So the second pod part of Down the Tubes needs some work, but I have a pretty good grasp on HOW it needs work, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Basically, the pod has a maximum x and y speed that oscillates around 750ish. To reach maximum speed in any given direction, it's best to start the pod off with the thrusters at the corresponding quandrantal angle, as it will reach max speed the fastest this way (e.g. for positive x speed, face them right; negative y speed, face them down, etc.).
The nice thing about the pod speed, at this point, is that maximum speed can be preserved in an x or y direction (or both), as long as the thrusters don't stray more than 90 degrees in either direction of the speed that you want to preserve. So if you have x speed maxed in a positive direction, for example, you can face the thrusters straight up or straight down or any angle in between and the average x speed won't change (well, the oscillation changes slightly, but I think it changes for the better).
Also, changing directions is much faster if you bounce off walls. Turning the thrusters at the right time will allow you to switch from 750ish in one direction to 750ish in the other direction. BUT... walls aren't always in optimal places.
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Also remember that the Riverside Race timer jumps around stupidly (easy to see with frame advance) so touching the flag later might result in a lower real-time record.
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I'm guessing that in general I won't get much feedback as this is a Sega CD run, so here's a YouTube WIP of Big Bruty and Down the (You)Tubes:
Link to videoLink to video
Disclaimer: I suck at encoding.
Also, are there any forum rules about embedding the video directly in the post? I don't see it done very often, so I figured there's some sort of reason not to.
EDIT: Thanks moozooh.
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Toothache wrote:
I would tend to go by what the game defines, rather than some arbitrary goal. And this 'perfect amounts of all missable items' goal is as arbitrary as it gets. In no other TAS, not even 100% playthroughs, does it ever define you to get maximum of every collectable item there is, so why should an FF9 TAS be any different.
Ditch the arbitrary goal, go by what the game defines, and aim for the fastest time possible. It would make the TAS, at least from my perspective, much more entertaining.
The problem here is that the game does nothing to define what a Perfect Game is. The only person to do that so far (to my knowledge) is Atomos, and his definitions, while not exactly arbitrary, are tailored to fit a gameplay style that is "perfect" excepting cases like the missable purchasable items, which, since you can't get 99 of each, and since purchasing a maximum amount of each is nearly impossible to define or do in a real-time playthrough, is just defined as "perfect" @ enough to equip to every party member that can equip + one extra for the inventory. Which is somewhat arbitrary, but relieves a lot of work on the player at the expense of less items while still falling under Atomos' perfect guidelines.
Which is what bothers me about the run.
Toothache wrote:
does it ever define you to get maximum of every collectable item there is
Exactly, I agree, but SINCE the run would be using Atomos' definitions, you would have to get 99 of SOME items. In section H04 of his guide, he mentions this about recovery items and gems. And because of this, getting 99 of some items and just 4 of others (even though you could get more) is bothersome. Sorry if I'm beating this to death.
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Wren, what are your thoughts on the "Obtain perfect amounts of all missable items" discussion? Just curious.
To summarize what I said before (correct any of this if it's wrong):
Any of those 31 items can be purchased in shops before the 4th disc, but limited time in an EII run does not permit 99 of each, so Atomos just truncated the "perfect" amount so that it fit some guideline that he made up (which is fine).
My argument is that in a TAS you can actually allocate all the extra time you have to buying as many of these items as you can, and that this is "more perfect" than just buying like 4 of each, or whatever.
Again, I've never really started this challenge in earnest (the idea of maxing the jump rope mini-game scares me) so I may be not quite correct up there in my description ^
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Whoops, regarding Skidda's Row (the ice level you mentioned), I think it would probably end up being faster to switch to Dixie at the beginning of this level, as she needs to be in the lead anyway for Murky Mill. The reason the run is still like this is because the warp in Murky Mill was originally used, and Kiddie needed to throw Dixie. Now I think we figured out it's faster to just do the level normally. I think.
I don't know about the bouncing off water thing... it might be slower but I have yet to really check, as I haven't TASed this particular level in a couple years.
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ALAKTORN wrote:
I'm watching it now and have a few questions, why (when running) you sometimes roll continuosly and some other times roll+jump?
The reason here is that continuous rolling is slower than the roll+jump but faster than running. So on unique areas that require us to move forward a little before rolling (e.g. running close enough to a cliff to roll off it), we substitute the run+roll+jump with slow-roll+fast-roll+jump, if that makes sense. Of course, roll+jumpX2 would be faster, but often there isn't enough room. Sorry if that's confusing.
ALAKTORN wrote:
edit: after continuing to watch, I see you switch back to Dixie, is there a reason why Kiddy is faster on the snow level?
The real reason here is that it's much faster to use Kiddie on Tidal Trouble and it takes a few dozen frames to switch to Dixie. Dixie has the same running speed as Kiddie, but her roll is indeed faster. This is actually something I've never really tested extensively, but the more important thing is maximizing the utility of the Kongs* while minimizing the amount of time spent switching between them (which usually means getting hit, as this usually allows us to do something in addition to switching Kongs, such as passing through a line of enemies that you usually need to use barrels to get through or something else of that time-consuming nature). Of course, in longer levels it may indeed be best to switch to Dixie manually, and the time would be made up by her slightly faster rolls in the long run, but it's somewhat doubtful.
* Kiddie can bounce on the water, kill large enemies, and handles barrels and team throws much better, Dixie has her helicopter move.
ALAKTORN wrote:
also I noticed a funny glitch after the bonus levels when Kiddy jumps against a wall, how is that executed? xD
You just have to jump at the right time. It actually saves time in some bonus levels, as the bonus will fade when a Kong hits a wall. So in bonus levels that have doors at the end, jumping into the wall lets us exit faster. Any other time you see it done it's just for show.
