Wolfram Computation Meets Knowledge

Date Archive: 2016 May

Education & Academic

An Exact Value for the Planck Constant: Why Reaching It Took 100 Years

Blog communicated on behalf of Jean-Charles de Borda.

Some thoughts for World Metrology Day 2016

Please allow me to introduce myself I'm a man of precision and science I've been around for a long, long time Stole many a man's pound and toise And I was around when Louis XVI Had his moment of doubt and pain Made damn sure that metric rules Through platinum standards made forever Pleased to meet you Hope you guess my name

Introduction and about me

In case you can't guess: I am Jean-Charles de Borda, sailor, mathematician, scientist, and member of the Académie des Sciences, born on May 4, 1733, in Dax, France. Two weeks ago would have been my 283rd birthday. This is me:
Education & Academic

New Derivatives of the Bessel Functions Have Been Discovered with the Help of the Wolfram Language!

Nearly two hundred years after Friedrich Bessel introduced his eponymous functions, expressions for their derivatives with respect to parameters, valid over the double complex plane, have been found.
In this blog we will show and briefly discuss some formerly unknown derivatives of special functions (primarily Bessel and related functions), and explore the history and current status of differentiation by parameters of hypergeometric and other functions. One of the main formulas found (more details below) is a closed form for the first derivative of one of the most popular special functions, the Bessel function J:
Education & Academic

Special Event: New Wolfram Language Resources for the Classroom

Earlier this year we launched Wolfram Programming Lab as the place to start learning the Wolfram Language. And since launch, we've received a lot of feedback and support from educators and students interested in using Programming Lab in their classrooms. Programming Lab was conceived and designed with teaching in mind, and to help make Programming Lab the best possible learning environment, we've developed some new tools for both students and teachers. We invite you to preview these new materials at a special virtual event, New Resources for the Classroom: Virtual Workshop for Educators.
Computation & Analysis

Computational Stippling: Can Machines Do as Well as Humans?

Stippling is a kind of drawing style using only points to mimic lines, edges, and grayscale. The entire drawing consists only of dots on a white background. The density of the points gives the impression of grayscale shading. Back in 1510, stippling was first invented as an engraving technique, and then became popular in many fields because it requires just one color of ink. Here is a photo of a fine example taken from an exhibition of lithography and copperplate art (the Centenary of European Engraving Exhibition held at the Hubei Museum of Art in March 2015; in case you're curious, here is the museum's official page in English).