Mental Viscosity
400 words | Posted by Scott on September 23rd, 2009
Scott was 24.00 years old when he wrote this!
Filed under: Circuitry, Dentistry, General, Microcontrollers, Prime Numbers
A few weeks into dental school I feel I’m fairing decently. I have reached a point where I know everything will be okay, but am still disappointed at the [immense] amount of time it requires. There are so many things I wish I could do, but all of my projects need to be placed on a 4-year hiatus. I can bask in the satisfaction of the few projects I completed this summer, and I only hope that it’s enough to last me for four years. Dentistry, while important, is nothing more than emulation/repetition of what everybody else does. I simply have to satisfy my creative and ingenuitive desires in my hobbies, whatever they may be. For now, this website will cease to grow. Perhaps when I become more in control of my studies I will contribute to it, but in all likelihood I won’t be able to do anything worth writing about until 4 years from now [sigh]. With that being said, adieu, and goodnight.
I realized I never posted video of my finished prime number generator, so here it is. Full details are described on the project page. In brief, the 2-digit display on the left is the last two digits (in base-10, decimal) of a number currently being tested for primeness. This number is also displayed on the bottom red bar above the yellow lights (in base-2, binary). Once proven to be prime (by attempting to divide it by every number between 2 and its square root, every 1000th attempted number shown in yellow lights in binary), it’s loaded onto the top row of red lights (binary) and on the character LCD. N represents the Nth prime, with V representing its value. Half way through the video, the display says that the 16,595,044′th prime (N) equals 306,692,621 (V). Don’t believe it? Check my work.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 12:30 pmand is filed under Circuitry, Dentistry, General, Microcontrollers, Prime Numbers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
One Response to “Mental Viscosity”
| Jonathan Richard, M.D. wrote the following at 12:20:54 AM on November 24th, 2009 |
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Stumbled across you DIY EKG from Hack-a-day. Enjoyed your blog and have learned a few things. I’ve gotten into electronics recently, while in the process of motorizing a telescope. As a Mac user, I’ve been frustrated with the lack of projects like the DIY EKG project and lack of hardware integration for Macs. I’m toying with making my own EKG that will interface with my Macs so that I can digitally record an EKG, as I’m in the process of going to an electronic medical record. Sciantific American had a DIY EKG article using an Instrumentation Amp (Analog Devices AD624) I’m going to give that one a try. As a fellow professional, I encourage you to find time or make time for hobbies like yours — it’s one of the best ways to keep your sanity! Good Luck. |