Ragesh in Full Throttle!

When we think of “I”, what do we interpret it as? We think “I” am an entity, a human being, an autonomous free willed organism. Oh really? Let’s see. Let’s travel, let’s start in the middle, at the organism level. A person is a set of cells, each carrying out its own responsibilities. What controls these cells? Our brain! Is it? or is our brain controlled by the cells in the brain. So who am I? Am I my brain? is my brain controlling me? or do I control my brain? These two questions are absurd because there is an inherent problematic vague entity here; “me”/”I”. If we take that “me”/”I” out, our questions are not that absurd. Millions of cells work together, each doing its own job, just like a dance pattern shown in World Cup inaugural ceremony. It only leads to a situation, where “me” or “I” don’t exist. We don’t exist per se. What if the cells suddenly decide to stop working in tandem, and diverge and fade away into the vast space?

We are able to perceive organisms because we are at that level, where we are able to distinguish between the millions of molecules that make up a person and the molecules in the air surrounding the person. But that’s just a convenient abstraction. At the molecular level, most things are different and exhibit different properties. At the atomic level, they become more similar. One may not be able to distinguish between the Nitrogen atoms in air and the Nitrogen atoms in ammonia. So at the atomic level, you can’t make out if this atom is a part of what molecule.

Let’s go deeper. perceive at the subatomic level. Everything starts looking similar. For that, imagine, an observer who is small enough to perceive at the subatomic level and since he is so small and limited, he can comprehend only subatomic levels. We are sitting on top of an electron, and in a distance we see another electron. Now since we perceive only subatomic levels. we don’t know if the other electron is part of the same atom? or it’s part of another atom of the same molecule? or it’s part of an atom of a different molecule ? or it is part of an atom of a molecule of a different element? compound? cell? organism? You see, at the subatomic level, we can’t distinguish anything. It could be that we are sitting on an electron inside a person and the other electron you saw was of an atom in the air molecule, see we didn’t find the difference between person and air, we didn’t know where person ended and air started. And you see, most of an atom is empty space, the empty space could be inside a person or outside. The observer sitting at the subatomic level suggestion seems absurd, does n’t it? No, let’s make an analogous counterpart, assume a normal person is perceiving the sky. He sees a bright light, he does n’t know if the light is a satellite of the same planet, or a different planet, a star? a solar system? a galaxy? See!, just like our subatomic observer could not distinguish between atoms, we can’t distinguish between the location of planets, stars, solar systems galaxies etc, we can’t comprehend them. If we start at the subatomic level, electrons revolve around nucleus, and at the top, satellites revolve around planets, planets around starts, starts around black holes, and probably even galaxies are revolving. So we see a fractal like pattern emerge.

So at the subatomic level whole universe is identical. Hence we all are a set of electrons and protons. At a high level, our universe might be a part of a universe set, at the lower level, the electrons could be galaxies themselves. Probably I am not writing this blog, my cells in my body are sick of their ‘unsung hero’ status and want to show who the boss is. I could be just a hostage to my cells, who work at their whim. But hey, why worry, I don’t exist anyways, he who executes functions on a null pointer gets an exception! Take that! you over smart cells!

Musimatics and Fibonacci!

Ragesh G R — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:07:50 +0000

Music and Maths! these two have always enamoured me, and more so when both of them are inter-linked.

One can write an epic on the mathematical fundamentals of music! But I want to focus on some of the interesting patterns in music.

For the benefit of people who don’t know let me touch upon the basics.

The Basics:

Let us take the 12 notes in the musical scale. If you play all twelve one after the other on the Piano, does n’t it “feel” like they are arranged like a stair-case, with equal intervals between steps? Yes, that’s exactly how your ear perceives it, “as if” it is an Arithmetic progression. But the truth is ou ears auditory response is logarithmic. Hence to give you a linear feel, their logs have to be in A.P. Hence actually, these notes are in Geometric Progression. That is, the ratio between each note is the same. What is this ratio?

Let’s look at 13 notes (inclduding the start of the next octave), say

C2, C2#, D2, D2#, E2, F2, F2#, G2, G2#, A2, A2#, B2, [C3... ] OR

Sa, Ri1, Ri2/Ga1, Ri3/Ga2, Ga3, Ma1, Ma2, Pa, Da1, Da2/Ni1, Da3/Ni2, Ni3, [Sa^...]

The 12 notes are arranged in octaves, in way that, the same note in the next octave is twice its frequency. So C3 is twice the frequency of C2, OR Sa^ is the twice the frequency of Sa. Hence all the corresponding notes in the next octave is in phase with the notes in the current octave, because the notes in the next octave are overtones of the current octave tones.

Therefore, when two people sing Sa and Sa^ together, you won’t feel much difference, because every second cycle, the wavelengths synchronise.

Now we have 12 notes in GP and Freq(Sa^) = 2*Freq(Sa).

Therefore each notes is separated by (12th root of 2) or Antilog((1/12 )* log2) = 1.0594 ~~ 1.06

So every note is 1.06 times the previous note, and so (1.06)^12 = 2.

The Patterns:

Now, I told you all these because, there are many interesting patterns based on it.

If you see, Sa and Pa are stable , that is they dont have any derivative frequencies, we can call them the base. That is why most musicians sing Sa, Pa, Sa^ before commencing the concert, so as to set the reference. But the beauty is still to come.

If you take the octave as flanked by the 13 notes from Sa to Sa^, Pa comes as the 8th note. Hmm, 13 and 8 ? does it ring a bell? yes our Fibonacci. 8 and 13 are both consecutive Fibonacci numbers.

One more!, typically not all 12 frequencies are used in a Scale, only 7 are used, that is chosing only one Ri, one Ga etc. So then our Octave becomes 8 notes in length. Now here Pa is the 5th note. 5 and 8 ? does it ring a bell? Oh yes, again consecutive Fibonacci numbers.

So POSITION Wise, Pa divides the Octave in the Golden Ratio, (5:3 Or 8:5)

What about frequency?

Since Pa is the 8th frequency in an Octave. So if the frequency of Sa is say X.

Pa is (1.06)^7 = 1.5 !

So, Sa, Pa, Sa^ has a frequency of X, 1.5X, and 2X respectively.

Notice anything? Yes! they are in Aithmetic Progression! So Pa divides the Octave in the Golden ratio position wise, and divides the frequency in to an Arithmetic Progression!

I can over-ambitious and say that even Frequency-wise Pa divides the Octave ALMOST in Golden Ratio (1.5 ~ 1.6). LOL! But I don’t want to :-p.

See, how many beautiful patterns emerge, even from a simple and basic analysis!

Disclaimer: If you are a music connoisseur, you might have known this already.

Easiest/Laziest formula for Nth Fibonacci number

Ragesh G R — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:31:21 +0000

There are many formulae for finding the Nth Fibonacci number, from recursive to non-recursive. Let me try to find the easiest laziest formula.

We know that most of the Fibonacci numbers ( from the 7th ) are in the Golden ratio. Let Golden Ratio (1.618…) be Phi.

Then F(n) = F(n-1)*Phi = F(n-2)*Phi^2 and so on.

So generally F(n) = F(n-x)*Phi^x

But we can’t write F(n) = F(1)*Phi^(n-1), because this will give you inaccurate results , because the 1st 7 numbers do not follow the Golden Ratio.

So the highest value x can take for a fairly accurate determination is n-7.

So our formula becomes F(n) = F(n-(n-7))*Ph^(n-7)

Therefore F(n) = F(7)*Phi^(n-7)

Fibonacci series goes as 1,1,2,3,5,8,13

So F(n) = 13*Phi^(n-7).

This will give a you a fairly accurate value for Nth Fibonacci.

You can get even lazier and say F(n) = 3*Phi^(n-4)

But this will magnify the error for 3 non compliant numbers and give you inaccurate resulsts, but if only it was accurate, this would be better from a laziness perspective if you are programming, because there are only 4 special cases. Of course we can argue that computation of Phi^(n-4) will take fractionally more time than computation of Phi^(n-7), but we can neglect that

Disclaimer : I am sure this already in some literature, but I got this idea when I was in the restoom (a link to my previous post LOL! ), so its mine , he he ! and I could not find similar text by “lazy” googling

R-Buddies

Ragesh G R — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:47:19 +0000

I have been working in a corporate office for 2.5 years now and have made many real friends. But this is not I am about tell you now. I am going to tell about a set of pseudo buddies you make because you cannot control your body’s metabolism. Yes! Restroom buddies!

You still may think it is some people you befriend in the restroom. No! these are pseudo! Over the past 2.5, I have seen a pattern, the same set of people seem to be present in the restroom when I enter the restroom, regardless of what time I enter, be it morning, noon, afternoon, 3 PM 4 PM whatever odd time, they are there! And even on the same day, they are there everytime you go! Then you realise, that these are the people whose bodies may probably function similar to yours, may be they have the same rate of metabolism, may be they have the same bodily cycles. It makes me get a friendly feeling towards them. After all, who does not like similar people!? Something like a stockholm syndorme. But the friendly feeling is not because you see them everyday, it is because deep down you know that you may be physically similar people.

And this similarity, cannot be masked by any artifical means, it is the most basic of similarity. This is where all humans become equal. The equality here is unbelievable. I see all people from Entry level trainees to Senior Managers everyday, different ages, different ethnic groups, different regions.

It cannot get more equal than this. Irrespective the class / strata / race you are, it only means you may have similar functioning bodies, and no one can deny that or no one can change that. It gives a sense of belonging, that you are not alone.

It might seem gross , does it? Think about it! Where can you find more equality? All protocols cease to exist here. and it is great to know that “similar” people to you exists in all walks of life.

I am writing this because, I was curious to know if anyone else too felt the same way, about meeting the same people in restroom everyday and wondering if that is because these set of people have a similar metabolism pattern as you!

The amazing quartet!

Ragesh G R — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:38:30 +0000

Long ago, in school, when I was solving an arithmetic problem, I observed that 6^3 = 5^3 + 4^3 + 3^3. Interesting enough, I thought, we have atleast one set of such 4 integers x,y,z,w such that w^3 = z^3 + y^3 + x^3.

Now they were all adjacent/contiguous integers. Great! I thought.

Now if that was not interesting enough, the triplet on the right hand side of the equation is a pythagorean triplet! Wow! Great!

So we have a set of quartets {x,y,z,w} which are even more exclusive than the Pythagorean triplets, such that w^3 = z^3 + y^3 + x^3 AND z^2 = y^2 + x^2 (That is to say x,y,z are Pythagorean triplets). Beautiful is n’t it?

To put it simply, we have some perfect cubes which can be expressed as the sum of the cubes of a pythagorean triplet.

Well how frequent are these kind of quartets ? Well an easy answer would be {30, 40, 50, 60}.

But the speciality with {3,4,5,6} is that all 4 are adjecent integers. So they are unique, because, all other quartets will spread out and won’t be contiguous integers.!

Disclaimer: Some of you may have known/observed this already.

BlogAdda

Ragesh G R — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:33:32 +0000

Shall we meet?

Ragesh G R — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:09:41 +0000

“Ragesh!”, a loud cry comes from outside my balcony, I rush to the balcony to find my dear friend Barath ready to shower his sharp and witty comments, as soon as I come to the balcony.. We just stand there, and talk (put mokkai as it is called now, but sometimes even profound things, like Time Travel etc, he he) relentlessly on one thing after another. As we speak, we spot Samson and Srikanth chit chatting near their house. Both Barath and I cry out their nicknames so loud across the 300 yards distance separating them, they come running, atleast to stop us from uttering their nicknames over and over again, and getting damaged in public as our voices richo- chet across the buildings and produce surround sound. he he. Soon, there would be about 6 – 7 of us there , talking away, ah! bliss…good times , good times.. This was year 2000, when we were in Std X, when we didn’t have cell phones or bikes or cars! But still friends of mine and I managed to meet almost everyday (mind u, this is apart from 6 hours of being with each other in school! ).

Come 2003, after all the tension and hype of all the +2 examnations and umpteen entrances ranging from IIT-JEE’s to an examination conducted by a small college, we are free to roam like free birds for 3 solid months. oh and what fun it was. This time it was different though, we would go around in bikes and the friends circle expanded, tearing the streets, with Suku and gang, stopping at a street corner, to eat something, do some “bird watching” and then tease each other on anything that pops up in your mind, however illogical or senseless they are.. Again as we would meet everyday.. go for a walk around the beach, go to each others home.. We were sure our friends would be home, and if not we know where to find them, and hey u are visiting about 12 friends everyday, so odds are that you will find 8 of them.. I would come home for only for food.. hee hee.. just roam around using 1-2 liters of petrol everyday, and would go out no matter how hot, cold , rainy or windy it was.. so will my friends.. Again, we didn’t cell phones, in fact not all had even land phones i guess..

Then we enter college, well, it is not that easy to catch up with all the friends during weekdays because, by the time all of us come back home, it will be about 5:30 p.m and many people went far , even in other states to study, but even then, we would catch up on the weekends, oh yes! the same roaming around we used to in 12th will continue, only difference is each of us will hav a different story to tell about the good, bad and funny things about our colleges. But this time , we got cell phones, so even if we can’t meet, we woud be sendng SMS’s to our friends through out the day till our fingers hurt and go on even after that. Weekends would be fun, some roaming around, some visiting friends houses, mostly Kalpaka’s and eating out, in some road side vendor’s shop, where we can be our naughty and boisterous selves.

And then we got jobs. All interaction reduced to chats. But if it was so, then fine, but chat we used to do in college!, till the wee hours of early morning like the long late night chats I used to have with Kalpaka, Charanya, Sandhya and Srikanth L. Now, everyones online, but almost no one is talking to anyone, (except for Sandhya, Ghanesh and Ravikumar in my case with whom I chat a lot during weekends, and have lot of fun) Why? because, most are fagged out at the end of a long tiring day of 10 – 12 hours (see, I love my job very much, but 12 hours of work and travel will make tired whoever u are), that no one is feeling sprightly enough to communicate. What about SMSs? Oh, don’t get me started! the SMS craze is over, partly because, now the operators have started charging for SMSs and we got bored of it, and if you have a phone like I do, the Nokia N72, sending one SMS will give u ache in the fingers for 1 minute, compared to the 1100′s and 3315′s we owned in college in which u type 100′s of SMS a day faster than you type on the keyboard.. The main reason is we have now got so many avenues to communicate that we take it for granted, we think , “Well, we got phone and SMS and chat and orkut and what not, we can communicate whenever we feel like”, but the “feel like” does nt come more often and we end up not communicating at all. The gap increases, all the more reluctant we feel to catch up with old buddies, Why is it so difficult? I don know..

Last week, the same 7-8 of us who used to meet daily in shcool days, had to send a thread consisting of 300 mails just to decide when and where we all shall meet together, after a gap of aroud about 4 months. This week, my friend and colleague Rajeswari spent endless hours communicating and organising over two days, just to decide where, when and HOW she and 4 of her friends(Sathya, Swetha, Priya and Swathi, who used to meet daily in college and even in weekends), can meet this weekend.

See the HOW, that is a new clause added, first it was anytime anywehere, then it was anywhere but in a particular time coz someone has n’t returned from college and so on, then it was at a particular time, at a particular place coz people come from far away on a weekend, so they dont have enough time to come to all the friends place etc. Now it is how! ya How! everyone is available, but all are busy, “how can we meet? hey I have work, next week our project release, I have a client call next week, so i ll be home at only 9:00 pm and i have work on Sunday too”, so more often , people silently come home, sleep for a day , take rest and go back.

Weekends, are different now, not anyone to hang around, it is rare, It is 2- 3 months since I went out to roam with my friends, no one is available , no one is ready, everyones just sitting around, lazing, taking rest, me too..

Unbelievable! the things we took for granted, are now precious and rare and almost forgotten.. Everyone is preoccupied, or pretend to think so, or even fool ourselves into thinking that we all are preoccupied. We fee like the “Babuli” character in Std X CBSE English text book. We would have thought “I ll never change” and here we are! Time changes us all is n’t it? It might have changed me too. I don know, I don’t have a version control system installed for my character.. LOL!

All I can say is, next time you feel like seeing ur dear friend, don’t call him/her and ask for an appointment!, but yell out her/his name in front of her house, you would n’t want to miss out the pleasant surprise on your friend’s face when he/she sees you, do you? You want to see him/her in his/her shorts and not in their make up and Allen Sollys, don’t you?

.. And if you don’t find him/her at home, don’t go back! look for her/him, probably they are sitting on the same perch you both used to share many a secret, many a joke, and many a crush, probably even thinking about you….

Play Tag

Ragesh G R — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:55:58 +0000

Tagged by Ravi KKumma

Last movie seen in a theatre:

I am not enough a movie buff as to go to a theatre and watch. Yet to watch my 1st movie in a theatre, he he

What book are you reading?

Other than technical e-books or articles, not reading any book as of now.

Favourite board game:

As Ravi said, if Dias Tennis is a board game, then oh yes! DT it is!

Used to love Business game (Monopoly) when Divya and I used to spend long hours playing it..

I love playing Cricket trump cards, Rummy and 5 cards..

Favourite magazine:

AUTOCAR India.. Awesome! Vrrrroommm!. Reader’s Digest

Favourite smells:

Ravi has blown my cover, so gotta admit it, like the smell of new quality books. Then comes smell of my mom’s chicken, cologne ..

Favourite sound:

The sound of my car engine as it climbs to 5500 rpm as I floor the throttle.

Worst feeling in the world:

The fear that your achievements may go unnoticed.

When some one who you care about fails to understand you.

When you are accused of something you didn’t do..

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?

Sometiemes I think “Who am I?”

Sometimes I think “I can’t get up from the bed without drawing a free body diagram and resolving all force vectors”

Sometimes I think “I am an object of a concete class, which method should be performed upon me to make me get up”

Favourite fast food place:

Pizza Corner

Few small shops where I go with my friends.

Javagreen in my office.

Future child’s name:

Mercedes if the child is a female, and Benz if the chid is a male. Only child. I do not want the world population to increase in a fibonacci series because of me ..

Finish this statement, “If I had a lot of money I’d…”

1. Elevate the standard of living of my grandma

2. Buy all the cars I have listed in “The Cars I would love to own page“

Do you drive fast?

You bet! I would to like to embark upon an unending journey to eternity at the velocity of infinity

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?

LOL, what?? Sometimes I hug my mom.. But she is real..

Storms – Cool or Scary?
Cool. Romantic

Do you eat the stems on broccoli?

Nope. Don’t eat broccoli in fact

If you could dye your hair any colour, what would be your choice?

Copper/Burgundy/Gold in different layers

Name all the different cities/towns you have lived in:

Udayanpuram (beautiful. scenic, in Kerala) and Kalpakkam

Favourite sports to watch:

Cricket, esp when Sachin is on song. Formula-1, esp when Michael Schumacher used to drive..

One nice thing about the person who sent this to you:

A typical Libran, driven by his moods, sometimes sober, sometimes light; sometimes cool, sometimes tensed; sometimes as calm as the ocean, sometimes the raging storm, an honest and smart guy who never tries to exploit or cheat anyone..

What’s under your bed?
What do u expect? 10,000$ which I earned selling my latest invention? I wish, he he.. Just the cot. he he

Would you like to be born as yourself again?

Yes!!

Morning person or night owl?

Night owl! anyday (I mean any night. lol)

Over easy or sunny side up?
Depends on my mood..

Favourite place to relax:
My home, if it is my current , then its in my bedroom, with my computer, else it is grandma’s place in my hometown in Kerala, the pulchritude of nature at her pristine best..

Favourite pie:

I have n’t tried, but I like pi though(3.141926…)

Favourite ice cream flavour:
Chocolate! (esp as Sundae or with lots of nuts)

You pass this tag to –

Kalpaka

Revs

Swat cat

(If you can tag yourself that will be great too)

Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond first?

I think it ll be Revs, (if she gets time/access to blog), coz she writes like 10 blogs per nanosecond. her blogging rates is counted at the rate of MPPS (Million Posts Per Second), lol

Make Money from your Blog with Bloggerwave

Ragesh G R — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:47:52 +0000

Make Money from your Blog with Bloggerwave. Well ya, Bloggerwave pays you to write about them and their partners whom you can promote through your blog. Just a novel way to monetize your blog. I know coz I just received a 10$ from them. Quite exciting. he he. Try your luck as well. Happy blogging!

bloggerwave