Hacker News: LolWolf

New comment by LolWolf in "All elementary functions from a single binary operator"

LolWolf — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:47:04 +0000

well, the statement is: is there a single operation, built from elementary operations, such that all _other_ elementary operations have finite representations.

this preprint answers that in the affirmative

otoh, (x, y) -> 1/(x-y) does not answer this question at all. you can argue that the preprint does so "via the infinite series in an operation" (which I have no idea what that means; surely if exp(x) qualifies then so must 1/(x-y) if we pick a monomial basis?) but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

now, do I think that this is groundbreaking magical research (as I'm currently seeing on twitter) no... But it's neat!

New comment by LolWolf in "All elementary functions from a single binary operator"

LolWolf — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 02:09:41 +0000

I think the point is that it is _finite_. if you allow infinite expressions then the basic monomial basis or quotients thereof are “even simpler”

New comment by LolWolf in "All elementary functions from a single binary operator"

LolWolf — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:00:35 +0000

I don't think this can do any of the "standard" constants or what we generally consider to be closed-form expressions, though ! (E.g., no e, pi, exp, log, etc.)

Breaking Signals, Breaking Systems

LolWolf — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 18:33:09 +0000

Article URL: https://guille.site/posts/breaking-signals/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47443805

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by LolWolf in "We Stopped Using the Mathematics That Works"

LolWolf — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:30:57 +0000

yeah it’s slop; multiple sites also confirm this, seems like they are using clawdbot or whatever

3D Printing a 3D Printer

LolWolf — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:08:35 +0000

Article URL: https://guille.site/posts/3d-printed-printer/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47128861

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by LolWolf in "Unreal numbers"

LolWolf — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 18:20:48 +0000

> True, but with such numbers you will normally not do anything else except computing an approximate value of them.

That's what I think people do with other numbers like "pi" at the end of the day, no? :)

> That is what I meant by "interesting", i.e. the necessity of using symbols of such numbers, obviously for use in symbolic computations, since in numeric computations you would never use the actual numbers, but only some approximations of them.

It's very much an encoding problem, I think. Though we probably, on aggregate, use "unnamed computable numbers" implicitly on the order of as much as we use "named computable numbers" the former just has way more of a "tail" of uses where the "encoding of the symbol" is, e.g., "here's the PDE you use to compute this number"!

(It gets a little weird since we're kind of not distinguishing between the approximation that can be used to construct said numbers to arbitrary precision vs the specific program instance that constructs one specific approximation, but the idea is mostly there.)

New comment by LolWolf in "Unreal numbers"

LolWolf — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 16:19:56 +0000

> few of the computable numbers that are not algebraic are interesting, the main exceptions being the numbers that are algebraic expressions containing "2*Pi" and/or "ln 2".

I don’t think this is true at all. For example: the solution to a generic PDE that has no closed form solution at some point of import is likely transcendental, not algebraic, but definitely computable. (Think, say, Navier-Stokes being used for weather predictions in some specific place.)

New comment by LolWolf in "AI has fixed my productivity"

LolWolf — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 15:16:06 +0000

I don't want to put OP on blast here, but this is unfortunately just complete slop writing.

The points being made are fine, I think, but look, if it's faster for you to generate than it is for us to read, I think this qualifies as denial-of-service-lite.

Why Open Source Matters

LolWolf — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 20:30:47 +0000

Article URL: https://guille.site/posts/why-open-source/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46638813

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by LolWolf in "The likely cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer"

LolWolf — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 15:19:33 +0000

Sweet thanks!

Yes definitely a great extension would be to add a camera in the image plane (alternatively, defocusing the image slightly and using a photodiode would also be fun!)

New comment by LolWolf in "The likely cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer"

LolWolf — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 15:17:52 +0000

it is thoroughly _fine_ advice stated in a shitty way that misses the entire point of this cheap demo

New comment by LolWolf in "The likely cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer"

LolWolf — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 03:02:14 +0000

ah very cool, I see!

good luck! are you posting updates anywhere?

New comment by LolWolf in "The likely cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer"

LolWolf — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 02:51:21 +0000

sure ! I’ll give it a try a little later once I’m at a computer !

(you can too, if you’d like, the CAD files are all online as .step files :)

New comment by LolWolf in "The likely cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer"

LolWolf — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 02:49:29 +0000

Ooh, great question. Usually fractions (~1/20th?) of a turn for alignment, it’s hard to go below that since the mounts are so small and the springs don’t have the tension to keep it super stable. (This is plenty for such a “coarse” set up like a Michaelson but might not be up to par for more delicate ones. This can be improved very easily but it was enough for this experiment!) If you want to observe something on the outputs, you have to do something like exhale on one of the arms or put a soldering iron near one of them—merely touching one of the screws gives you indiscernible output, even if the mirrors are aligned.

Very interesting re: JWT, I will definitely take a peek, thanks !

New comment by LolWolf in "The likely cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer"

LolWolf — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 02:09:09 +0000

I think getting an electron source and creating a robust-ish adjustable set up is v doable, but is definitely more of a Real Project(TM) than this silly little interferometer :)

New comment by LolWolf in "The likely cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer"

LolWolf — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 02:01:47 +0000

I think that’s very much right :)

New comment by LolWolf in "The likely cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer"

LolWolf — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 02:01:17 +0000

I see, what’s the min step size you’re going for?

New comment by LolWolf in "The likely cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer"

LolWolf — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 01:59:58 +0000

i’d probably just get it milled only if you had the CNC handy, the complexity isn’t enough to justify 3d printing it in metal (probably a decent bit more expensive too!)

but at “get it done in JLCCNC” prices I think a thorlabs mount is probably in your future :)

New comment by LolWolf in "The likely cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer"

LolWolf — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 01:58:05 +0000

it’s an interferometer with like 5cm arms made for 3 bucks, it’s not made to be anything other than a basic demonstration !