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Thread: Painter's problem

  1. #1

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    So Unbanned DiGiTaIErRoR's Avatar
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    Painter's problem

    A painter has varying paints which vary in opacity, x. He wants to figure out how many coats of paint, y, are required to make a certain paint of opacity x appear at full opacity. What equation should he use?

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    Frenzied Member Spajeoly's Avatar
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    Lots of paint, drop-cloth & a big-a$$ brush.

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    I'm about to be a PowerPoster! mendhak's Avatar
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    Assuming full opacity is 100, and x is a percentage (such as 0.25),

    y = 100/x


    Or am I missing something here?

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    It's additive.

    Say he has 50% opaque paint. Two coats and this becomes 75% opaque.

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    I'm about to be a PowerPoster! mendhak's Avatar
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    In each case, you'd have to take the sum of the geometric series. In our 50% example,



    1 = x(1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + ...)



    Sum of a geometric series is

    S = a(1-rn)/(1-r)


    In our example, a = x, r = 1/2 and S = 1

    1 = x(1-(.5)n)/.5

    And I'm too dumb to go on from here , but hope this leads you somewhere!

    See? My my posts are of varying bull**** x.

  6. #6
    transcendental analytic kedaman's Avatar
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    x has to be of full opacity, and then we have y=1.
    Use
    writing software in C++ is like driving rivets into steel beam with a toothpick.
    writing haskell makes your life easier:
    reverse (p (6*9)) where p x|x==0=""|True=chr (48+z): p y where (y,z)=divMod x 13
    To throw away OOP for low level languages is myopia, to keep OOP is hyperopia. To throw away OOP for a high level language is insight.

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    I'm about to be a PowerPoster! mendhak's Avatar
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    That's what I was confused about.

    If x < 1, then y = infinity.

  8. #8
    transcendental analytic kedaman's Avatar
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    Originally posted by mendhak
    That's what I was confused about.

    If x < 1, then y = infinity.
    we cannot solve the equation (1-x)^y=0 for x<1
    Use
    writing software in C++ is like driving rivets into steel beam with a toothpick.
    writing haskell makes your life easier:
    reverse (p (6*9)) where p x|x==0=""|True=chr (48+z): p y where (y,z)=divMod x 13
    To throw away OOP for low level languages is myopia, to keep OOP is hyperopia. To throw away OOP for a high level language is insight.

  9. #9
    I'm about to be a PowerPoster! mendhak's Avatar
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    This is like the half-distance paradox.

    Me and Cameron Diaz are standing a few meters apart in a room. Between us, there are two halves. If I move half forward, then there's another two halves between us. Like this, there are an infinite number of halves.

    Of course until we start making out, but that doesn't figure into mathematical terms.

  10. #10

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    ...appear at full opacity...
    Which, for this sake, we'll say is >98% opaque.

  11. #11
    transcendental analytic kedaman's Avatar
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    then we have
    (1-x)^y=0.02
    y=log1-x 0.02
    Use
    writing software in C++ is like driving rivets into steel beam with a toothpick.
    writing haskell makes your life easier:
    reverse (p (6*9)) where p x|x==0=""|True=chr (48+z): p y where (y,z)=divMod x 13
    To throw away OOP for low level languages is myopia, to keep OOP is hyperopia. To throw away OOP for a high level language is insight.

  12. #12

    Thread Starter
    So Unbanned DiGiTaIErRoR's Avatar
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    Originally posted by kedaman
    then we have
    (1-x)^y=0.02
    y=log1-x 0.02
    Hmm.

    y=log1-x 0.02

    gives me a negative result when x is .5.

  13. #13
    transcendental analytic kedaman's Avatar
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    then your calculator is broken, mine gives ~5.64
    Use
    writing software in C++ is like driving rivets into steel beam with a toothpick.
    writing haskell makes your life easier:
    reverse (p (6*9)) where p x|x==0=""|True=chr (48+z): p y where (y,z)=divMod x 13
    To throw away OOP for low level languages is myopia, to keep OOP is hyperopia. To throw away OOP for a high level language is insight.

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