Python : Idiomatic way to get list with the lesser size
How to find the shortest string in a list in Python
How to calculate square root or cube root? I was reading Richard Feynman biography when I read that one time he was able to calculate the  cube root of large number in his brain by just using simple facts of everyday life. So my question is there a way to calculate square root or cube root by using just a pen a paper, I mean a systematic way not by trial and error. Prove that $f$ is differentiable When writing my custom function I need to manually append node name to a taxonomy term link. To get the taxonomy term part done I use:    $link_uri = taxonomy_term_uri($term);   $path_alias = drupal_get_path_alias($link_uri['path']);   This works ok, now - I want to append node name ("/" . $node_name), but instead of raw string, I want the Pathauto transliterated output, as set in the URL alias configuration, for that node context.  What function should I use to mimic that output? I looked at hook_pathauto_alias_alter(&amp;$alias, array $context) but I'm not sure that's what I need. What would make a question popular with high views? I was wondering what might be making my questions less attractive to users?  I get very low views most of the time. What should be done to increase a question's popularity? What is the resolution of tapping a blocking creature? Let's say I have declared a blocker during the correct phase and during the activate abilities step I choose to tap the blocker to use its ability.  All the abilities resolve and now we move to the declare damage step.  I believe the resolution is that the attacking creature remains blocked and that it deals damage to my blocker; however, the blocker does not deal damage to the attacker.  How would this change if the blocker had first strike? How would this change if the blocker was sacrificed? Get specific GPS location somehow on windows 8 Optimal tiling of polygon using ArcGIS Desktop? I am trying to tile a polygon with a minimal number of fixed sized squares.  Currently I am creating a fishnet over my polygon then spatially joining the squares that intersect the polygon. This is not optimal.  Also note the squares can be shifted vertically/horizontally but not rotated.  My end goal: The polygon represents a clipped image and I want a tiling of the clipped image. Where each tile is 300px by 300px. Some overlap is fine if that makes the problem easier.  Current    Manually optimized    Are there any tools or algorithms that would help with this? I am proficient with Python and ArcMap.  The polygon was created from line features so I also have access to those segments. Maybe that would will help for generating the squares.  The entire polygon must be covered. Prove that $\mathbb Z_{m}\times\mathbb Z_{n} \cong \mathbb Z_{mn}$ implies $\gcd(m,n)=1$. Prove that $\mathbb Z_{m}\times\mathbb Z_{n} \cong \mathbb Z_{mn}$ implies $\gcd(m,n)=1$.  This is the converse of the Chinese remainder theorem in abstract algebra. Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks! Is a semigroup with unique right identity and left inverse a group? We know that a semigroup with a right identity and right inverse for all elements is a group (e.g. see ). Symmetrically, also a left identity together with a left inverse implies a group. We also know that a semigroup with a right identity and a left inverse is NOT necessarily a group (see ). My questions are:   in a semigroup, is the existence of a UNIQUE right identity together with the existence of a left inverse enough to have a group? in a semigroup, is the existence of a right identity together with the existence of a UNIQUE left inverse enough to have a group?   I think both these claims are false,  ut haven't found a counter-example so far. "Requires 50 reputation" to comment on deleted posts Received an email intended for another person I'm not really sure how email routing works, but someone ordered something on Amazon and I received the email instead of them.  Or maybe we both got it, I don't know.  The order doesn't show up in my account, so I'm certain I wasn't charged for it, but I shouldn't be getting other peoples' emails.  We'll say that my email is johndoe1@gmail.com, and somebody who's email is john.doe1@gmail.com places an order on Amazon.  The confirmation email is sent to me at johndoe1@gmail.com.  I checked the email header, and it did say To: john.doe1@gmail.com which is not my email address.  At first I thought that Google ignores periods in email addresses, but I tested the account setup and it doesn't give any error when you put a period in the address.  I didn't create the account; I just used the "check availability" function and the address I chose with a period was fine.  Maybe someone with knowledge about how Email works could tell me why this happened.  Is this a bug in the way Amazon sends emails?  Or is it a bug in how Google receives them?  Who should I report this issue to? I don't think I ever understood the rationale behind this.  I get that the dot product $\mathbf{a} \cdot  \mathbf{b} =\lVert \mathbf{a}\rVert \cdot\lVert \mathbf{b}\rVert \cos\theta$ is derived from the cosine rule. (Do correct me if I'm wrong.)  However, I never really understood why $\mathbf{a} \times  \mathbf{b} =\lVert \mathbf{a}\rVert \cdot\lVert \mathbf{b} \rVert \sin\theta$. Is there a proof for this?  In addition, how does the vector cross product lead to orthogonal vectors?  I remember learning that they do and I know how to solve equations using the respective formulas, but I never got why is it so. How do I remove all attributes which are undefined or null in a JavaScript object?  (Question is similar to  for Arrays) Can we make it more plain to recruiters that we're not open to relocation? The preference for being open to relocation is a checkbox, and if you don't check it, nothing about relocation shows up in your profile.  Evidently recruiters can't understand that a lack of "I am open to relocation" is the same thing as "I am not open to relocation", and so every single contact I've gotten through Careers is for a job that I would have to relocate for.  Can we make it more obvious to the recruiters (especially ones from Amazon) that we have not checked that box on purpose? Would I be scrutinized at the border for traveling to the US twice in a quick succession? I am a British citizen visiting the USA in early August for a two week vacation with friends. After the holiday I'm returning to my home in the UK for three weeks. After that I will return to the USA and will be working for my British employer under the Visa Waiver Program for a period of 80-85 days.  I have read already that there is technically no problems with this under ESTA rules, but should I limit this working period to a shorter time frame (e.g. 70 or so days) so that it does not negatively affect the decision made by the POE officer? Ideally I would love to be over in the states for the near-full 85 day period.  Any advice or previous experiences anyone can offer?  Some clarifications: As confirmed by the immigration attorney, as I am employed by my UK employer, it will be regarded as a business trip, the important part being that I will be working officially as a consultant for my UK employer just overseas for the allotted 85 or so days Vertically centered horizontal rule filling the rest of a line? I'd like to have a horizontal line extending from the end of the text on a line to the right margin. So far I've found \hrulefill and \leaders\hrule\hfill, but these draw a line that's flush with the baseline of my text — how can I get it to be vertically centered? Is there a proof that $\pi$ is an irrational number? Most math texts claim that $\pi$ is an irrational number. However, I'm having a little bit of trouble understanding that.  Since nobody has calculated all of the digits of $\pi$, how can we know that either:   one of the digits repeats (as in $\frac{10}{3}$) the number eventually terminates     Note: Please be very descriptive in your answers... I don't have anything beyond high school math. unsigned int vs. size_t I notice that modern C and C++ code seems to use size_t instead of int/unsigned int pretty much everywhere - from parameters for C string functions to the STL.  I am curious as to the reason for this and the benefits it brings. The mdframed environment fails to break into several pages (slides) when used in a frame environment from the beamer class.  In the other hand, the boitecoloriee environment from the boites package can be broken into several pages.  Here is a document that demonstrates the issue. It should not be compiled directly into pdf because boitecoloriee uses pstricks.  \documentclass{beamer} \usepackage{xcolor,boites,boites_exemples,pstricks} \usepackage{mdframed} \usepackage{lipsum}  \begin{document}  \begin{frame}[allowframebreaks]{Using \texttt{boitecoloriee}}   \begin{boitecoloriee}     \lipsum[1-2]   \end{boitecoloriee} \end{frame}  \begin{frame}[allowframebreaks]{Using \texttt{mdframed}}   \begin{mdframed}     \lipsum[1-2]   \end{mdframed} \end{frame}  \end{document}   Maybe is there a way to fix mdframed to work in slides too. Any clues? Can I publish parts of the Ph.D thesis as a paper in a journal?