I noticed Python comes with built-in methods such as .upper() or lower() and these two are part of the string object.  "a string".upper() "A STRING".lower()   What confuses me is that some functions are not called on an object, for example the function type  type("a string")   So in this case, is "type" considered a method or just a stand-alone function which is built into the language?
I know that python has a len() function that is used to determine the size of a string, but I was wondering why it's not a method of the string object.  Update  Ok, I realized I was embarrassingly mistaken. __len__() is actually a method of a string object. It just seems weird to see object oriented code in Python using the len function on string objects. Furthermore, it's also weird to see __len__ as the name instead of just len.
Gravitational field intensity inside a hollow sphere Visit the UK with an expired French identity card The infinite product of the sines of all positive integers is zero I tried to prove that $\prod\limits_{k = 1}^\infty  {\sin k = 0}$  Define $$P(m)=\prod\limits_{k = 1}^m  {\left|\sin k\right|}$$  then I take the logarithm of both sides $$\log P(m)=\log \prod\limits_{k = 1}^m  {\left|\sin k\right|}$$  which can be written as $$a_m=\log P(m)=\sum\limits_{k = 1}^m  {\log\,\left|\sin k\right|}$$ for any $k\in\mathbb{N}$ we have $0&lt;\left|\sin k\right|&lt;1$, so all terms of the sum above is strictly negative.  I say that the sequence diverges: $\left\{a_m\right\}_{m\in\mathbb{N}}\to\,-\infty$  This is a delicate point on which I have some doubts.  I know that  $$\int\limits_0^\pi  {\log \left|\sin x\right|{\text{ d}}x}  =  - \pi \log 2$$ and that the function $\log \left|\sin x\right|$ is periodic with period $\pi$,  so the integral from 1 to $\infty$ diverges to $- \infty$. Then the series diverges as well for the integral test for convergence.  As $\log P(m)\to\, -\infty$ we can say that $P(m)\to\,0$ as $m\to\,\infty$  Therefore $$\mathop {\lim }\limits_{m \to \infty } \prod\limits_{k = 1}^m {\left| {\sin k} \right| = \mathop {\lim }\limits_{m \to \infty } \prod\limits_{k = 1}^m {\sin k = \prod\limits_{k = 1}^\infty  {\sin k = } 0} }.\quad \blacksquare$$ Suppose $f(x)$ is linear i.e. $f(x + y) = f(x) +f(y) $ and monotone on $[-\infty, +\infty]$, then $f(x) = ax$, a real. Suppose $f(x)$ is linear i.e. $f(x + y) = f(x) +f(y) $ and monotone on $[-\infty, +\infty]$, then $f(x) = ax$, a real.  We know $f(0)=0$, and if one assumes differentiability it is quite easy.      But how does monotone make up for differentiability? How do I share internet with Windows from my Linux box? I have a Linux (Ubuntu 12.04) PC connected to the internet with a Greenpacket WiMax USB modem. I want to share the Internet connection with another computer running Windows 7 Home Premium, connected to the Linux PC over a LAN. Is this possible? How? Is the reverse possible instead (connecting the internet to the Windows computer and sharing it with Linux)? Is a switches voltage and current rating a hard limit? How to Backup and Restore Android OS without Rooting How can I start to learn web development? I'm very interested in learning web development and have learned some basics regarding HTML and CSS a few years back from W3Schools, but I never learned how to develop websites that are up to today's standards, i.e. free-flowing sites without the use of tables to govern the design of the site.  What are some good resources that I can start with? How can I install themes in Lubuntu? What is the speed of sound in space? Given that space is not a perfect vacuum, what is the speed of sound therein? Google was not very helpful in this regard, as the only answer I found was $300\,{\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}$, from , which is not a source I'd be willing to cite. 16 GB USB flash drive capacity down to 938 MB After writing the FreeNAS IMG to a 16 GB USB flash drive, I can now only use 938 MB. I used the Win32 Disk Imager tool to write the IMG to the device. Then later, when I inserted the the USB drive into my Windows 7 computer it said that it had to be formatted, because it couldn't read it. I believe this is normal. So I formatted it inside Windows using the format option when prompted. So in Windows Explorer now, 938 MB is reported as capacity of this device.    Also, when i check the properties dialog box I can see the same numbers.    And when I check with diskmgmt.msc I can see there are several volumes I don't recognize and unallocated space of 12.79 GB.    Now, I have another 2 GB USB flash drive with the same problem. It too was used for FreeNAS, and it too has a reported capacity of only 938 MB. I thought it was broken there for a while, until I saw the same problem with this 16 GB model.  I tried using diskpart on the 2 GB model, and I saw that there were several partitions there (list partitions) just like on this one. So I used the clean option to try to wipe it, but that wiped off everything so it's totally useless now. I'm not sure how to rebuild it.  Is this a standard routine, like part of the whole "user experience", that whenever you make a bootable USB falsh drive with FreeNAS, it messes up your device? I am new to FreeNAS, so i wouldn't know. But it sure looks like it. Maybe it is in fact the format operation in Windows that messes things up... I don't know. It's not very nice.  How do I restore the capacity back to 16 GB-ish (14.9 GiB)? New breaker and panel: What's the brown goo where they connect? Why are floating point numbers inaccurate? How do you compute negative numbers to fractional powers? My teachers have gone over rules for dealing with fractional exponents. I was just wondering how someone would compute say: $$(-5)^{2/3}$$ I have tried a couple ways to simplify this and I am not sure if the number stays negative or turns into a positive. I know that if a negative number is raised to an odd power it is negative, but fractional powers are neither odd or even. Is there a general rule for dealing with these types of problems? Integration of $e^{ax}\cos bx$ and $e^{ax}\sin bx$ I am curious about the proof of these two integrations. It would be great if you could point me in the right direction : $ \int{e^{ax}\cos({bx})dx}= \dfrac{e^{ax}}{a^{2}+b^{2}}[a\cos(bx)+b\sin(bx)] + C $ &amp; $ \int{e^{ax}\sin({bx})dx}= \dfrac{e^{ax}}{a^{2}+b^{2}}[a\sin(bx)-b\cos(bx)] + C $ Automatically updating column in feature class when another column is changed? I have a feature class in a file geodatabase and it contains a field called [curing] in short integer type and another field called [IsPopulated] in short integer as well.  What I want to achieve is to make [IsPopulated] automatically populated with "0" or "1" depending on whether the [curing] column is filled with a numeric value.  "Field Calculator" does not help as it's just a one-off operation and NOT automatic. Should I wait for a recession to buy a home? I am currently renting, but am considering buying a house in the future (1-3 years). I want to know if I should even consider waiting for a future recession to buy a home at a better price. Some would argue that we are due for a recession (seems common enough to not need a reference), though none of us can know this is imminent with certainty.   I would not mind waiting to buy if it means my money would go further. However, if I wait and the market does not come down, I risk the inverse as the cost of homes in my area is rising faster than inflation.  All other considerations aside, should I wait for a recession to buy a home and what other risks does this carry? MATLAB/OCTAVE Extracting elements from different sized vectors in a cell array Continuous v. per-chapter/section numbering of figures, tables, and other document elements Smooth transition between two materials