Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!


What sort of questions or features are asked or referred to a lot?



The FAQ page contains all the most frequently referred to items that don't fit most categories to being a document or are asked a lot from E-mails I get. There are some "unimportant" FAQ as well.

FAQ question index:
1. How do I know when there's an update?
2. Sometimes, I see that you you have an update that is later than the site's general last update. Why?
3. I'm bad at math and have no idea how to use those formulas you mention. Can you explain how they're used?
4. Where do you get all those unique chracters like the † and ‡ in footnotes and math symbols like the × and ÷?
5. How does your pronunciation key work?
6. How can I print something without the light text color?
7. What is meant by "nearest common fraction"?
8. What's with all the footnote markings?
9. Do your videos you have available have any sound?
10. Are the videos safe for anyone?
11. While viewing your videos, your images appear pretty dull and detailless. Why?
12. What are all those large number names past a trillion?

1. About updates



Q. How do I know when there's an update?

A. Updates are noted via the main index. Within each category, you'll see three headers, "What's new?", "Fixed made?" and "Future plans". The first two relate to updates and the third is what I have planned for future updates. Within the first two, you'll see a level indicating the degree of the update or fix. The higher the level, the greater the update or fix made. An update includes added information, added pictures, or a new page all together. A fix indicates corrections such as a link leading to the wrong page, an image that's not displaying correctly, to fixes in the content to correct inaccurate or false information I may have accidentally added. If there hasn't been any updates for a while, you'll see "nothing since" followed by the date and exact time of the last update made within that category. Also, you can see when my site, in general has been last updated via the top part of the main index. For the information on the degrees of the updates and how long something will stay on, refer to the cooresponding footnote at the bottom of the main index to get the full details.

2. How the update dates are noted



Q. Sometimes, I see that you you have an update that is later than the site's general last update. Why?

A. This is because I manually insert this data and I have a high tendency to forget. Because I don't know javascript or any other scripting, I can't write up a small script to do so. Though I do have the fundamentals of scripting, it's not enough.

3. Using the formulas given



Q. I'm bad at math and have no idea how to use those formulas you mention. Can you explain how they're used?

A. The most basic of mathematics you need is low-level algebra [especially the order of operations and knowing what variables are]. The order of operations goes as follows:

  1. Replace the variables [which are always 2 to 4 letters long and always in all caps] with numbers you wish to use.
  2. Do all things in the innermost set of parentheses first before anything. [note, a fraction in a formula is considered division inside parentheses, do those first if they are inside the innermost parentheses.]
  3. Do all powers and roots [these are numbers that are smaller than normal and raised from the main level of the main font.
  4. Do all multiplication and division from left to right. You can change division into multiplying the reciprocal. The questions 8÷4 and 8×1/4 mean the same thing.
  5. Do all addition and subtraction from left to right. You can change subtraction into adding the opposite. The question 15-8 is the same as saying 15+-8. This is useful when subtracting negatives, just add a positive instead.
  6. Fraction bars are like parentheses. Do the question as if the top part [numerator] was in parentheses and follow the order of operations there. Then do the bottom part. You may work both the top and bottom parts at the same time, but do only one step on each side though.
  7. Anything under a radical is done first before applying the root.


Given a simple formula, say the formula to calculate what your result will be when you add all numbers from 1 to the random number, RN:



First, as with all formulas, substitute what the variable will represent. Let's say we want to add 1+2+3+4+5+...+49+50. RN, in our case is 50. We substitute 50 for RN replacing the RN variable. Next, we do the content in the top part of the fraction inside the parentheses first. 50+1=51. Remove the parentheses as (51) is the same as 51. Next, multiply 50×51. This gives you 2550. Now you have a fraction. 2550/2 is the same as stating 2550÷2, which happens to be 1275. If you were to actually add all those numbers from one to fifty, you'll get 1275. Now, how about a more complex formula, like the gradual neutralization formula:



Since this formula has many variables [one formula I have has six], you need to know what each variable represents, which is always given immediately after the formula. ACOM is the adjusted compatibility, COM is the original compatibility, TM is the amount of time [in any unit of time] since you've last seen the object, and TK is the the total time in which you've known the object. You want to find ACOM. Let's say that you met a friend 5 years ago and have been with each other a lot. Your friend then goes on a two-week vacation. Your original compatibility with that friend was 980. Because the units of time must be the same, lets convert the units of time into months. 5 years is 60 months. Two weeks is about a half of a month [actually, it's very close to .46 of month]. Let's substitute COM with 980, TM with .5, and TK with 60. We then work out the formula as shown:



Let's follow along from top to bottom.

  1. Start with the original formula.
  2. Substitute COM with 980, TM with .5, and TK with 60.
  3. Divide .5÷60 to get 1/120.
  4. Square root 1/120 to get about .0913. Because it doesn't come out evenly, the equal sign goes from straight to squiggly, meaning "approximately".
  5. Add 1+.0913 to get 1.0913.
  6. Invert 1.0913 [that is, put a bar above the number and 1 above that]. This gives you about .9163, again not coming out nicely enough.
  7. Subtract 980-500, in the innermost parentheses. You get 480 from this.
  8. Multiplication comes first before addition. Do 480×.9163 to get 439.824.
  9. Finally, add 439.824+500 to get 939.824.


Instead of having to work out the formulas as they are on paper [with a calculator], once I gain control of writing javascripts, I'd write a calculator where all you have to do is simply type in what each variable is equal to without any math knowledge required. Instead of working out this very complicated formula like this, the computer does it in a split second. In our example, your friend goes from a compatibility of 980 to about 940, not a bad drop, but it could be worse. Once you meet your friend again, this is almost immediately brought back to where it was.

With formulas that depict a range, noted by the "less than or equal to" symbols, you work out each side individually. Mainly the damage range formulas are like this. Whether the equal sign is straight, squiggly, or a comparative symbol, the arithmatic is just the same.

4. Special characters



Q. Where do you get all those unique chracters like the † and ‡ in footnotes and math symbols like the × and ÷?

A. These unique characters come from a program on all Windows operating systems [as far back as 3.1 to what I know of [Windows 95?]. To see this complete list of 224 characters, many of which you might be familiar with, click on Start, then run. Type in "charmap.exe" and hit enter [or click okay]. That's it! Select any font you want that's in your system and the extra characters are displayed. Just left-click on the character you want, click select, go up into the text area, highlight the characters and click "copy". Paste it on the text editor that you wish to use the special character on, including Internet Explorer in a text field.

5. Pronunciation



Q. How does your pronunciation key work?

A. Pronunciation is only available on possibly hard-to-pronounce words/names. The full key for the whole alphabet is as follows:

A as in apple ---> A pl ---> a
A as in age ---> AYJ ---> ay
B as in big ---> BIHG ---> b
C as in cow ---> KOW --->k
C as in city ---> SIH tee ---> s
D as in dog ---> DAWG ---> d
E as in cent ---> SEHNT ---> eh
E as in scene ---> SEEN ---> ee
F as in fog ---> FAWG ---> f
G as in giraffe ---> JRAF ---> j
G as in gold ---> GOHLD ---> g
H as in hot ---> HAWT --->
I as in igloo ---> IH gloo ---> ih
I as in ice ---> IS ---> i
J as in jug ---> JUHG ---> j
K as in kite ---> KIT ---> k
L as in log ---> LAWG ---> l
M as in mop ---> MAWP ---> m
N as in not ---> NAWT ---> n
O as in odd ---> AWD ---> aw
O as in ocean ---> OH shuhn ---> oh
P as in pot ---> PAWT ---> p
Q as in quilt ---> KOOIHLT ---> koo
R as in road ---> ROHD ---> r
S as in seen ---> SEEN ---> s
S as in as ---> az ---> z
T as in tan ---> TAN ---> t
U as in ugly ---> UH glee
U as in use ---> YOOZ ---> yoo
V as in vacuum ---> VAK yoom ---> v
W as in water ---> WAH tr ---> w
X as in extra ---> EHX truh ---> x
X as in xylophone ---> ZI luh fohn
Y as in yet ---> YEHT ---> y
Z as in zebra ---> ZEE BRUH ---> z
OO as in boot ---> BOOT ---> oo
OO as in foot ---> FUT ---> u
OO as in floor ---> FLOHR ---> oh
[schwa] as in ago ---> _goh ---> _

Any sounds that are familiar to some letter above will be like the examples above. Accented syllables are noted by capitalization and italics. Heavily accented syllables are noted by ALL CAPS, accented syllables are noted by italics, and unaccented syllables are noted by normal type. Sounds barely noticable are noted with the underscore. This represents that upsidedown e you see in dictionaries and is called the "schwa".

6. How to print



Q. How can I print something without the light text color?

A. It's not that easy. I have it this way for a reason, and only those who know computers well enough will be able to figure this out. For those who aren't knowledgable about computers, NEVER USE THE BROWSER'S PRINT ICON, as it prints the document as it is with your printer's defaults [in color is the most likely which makes the text barely readable]. To print it normally, use the file menu and select "print". On this screen go to "properties" for your printer. Change these options so that the printer prints in grayscale, not color. In addition to that, if you want to save ink, choose the lowest quality printing possible or whatever it is that's of a lower quality than "normal". Though the quality is barely noticable, especially with text [and the formulas I have are text], the printer may print twice as fast, if not faster [inkjet printers only, laser printers questioned as I've never used one]. You'll have to print each page individually, but the summary is a shortened view and it is recommended that you print that instead of the report as a whole. However, if you do want the whole report, the main report, you can get the complete report by highlighting all the text pressing control+C to copy this text to the operating system's clipboard, then opening up your text editor [preferrably not notepad as it's obviously glitched when you get to about 30,000 characters and it's likely there's about 100,000, so MSWorks or Word are highly suggested, even Windows Wordpad is useful] and pasting the copied text into it. Open up the second page and repeat the process of copying and pasting the text [only, you don't need to open up your text editor again]. Repeat the process for all pages. With MSWorks, you should be able to copy and paste the images too which are the formulas. This, however, won't get the images.

Also, since version 4.0 of my site, all things that are cross-referenced to this report and all other reports outside the main report you're reading are defined if necessary. The links are there only if you want more information on the cross-referred topic.

7. Nearest common fraction



Q. What is meant by "nearest common fraction"?

A.To help provide great accuracy with rounding and to have simplicity, I round to the nearest common fraction. Common fractions are those ending in commonly used denominators. The number in each denominator value is given a priority. This is only used when a fraction is hard to tell whether it's closer to another or not. Denominators greater than 100 are rarely used, mainly only if something comes out exact or so close to it and is less than 1000. Odd-balls like 45 [from 90] only occur when a fraction can get reduced. Think of 16/90. This can be reduced to 8/45 and 45 isn't on the list.

Denominator valuepriority of use
Whole numbers[only if the value is too close to that of a whole number and less than 1/120 of a whole number off from it]
210
39
49
59
68
76
89
97
109
112
128
144
155
163
182
208
243
258
307
407
508
605
701
804
903
1002
greater than 100only if something comes out exactly or so close to it, especially from doing division


8. Footnotes



Q. What's with all the footnote markings?

A. Footnotes are used for two primary reasons:

  1. To denote a possible cross-reference to another report [New to version 4.0: the meaning of the term involved is defined or explained on the page with the cross-reference without the need of going to the other reports, but sometimes, this is not possible mainly when the cross-reference references an entire document or report. New to version 5.0: Cross-references now point to which section a piece of information can be found if more information is requested.]
  2. To explain something [i.e. the large number names, what antimatter is, etc.]


There are two cases in which footnotes occur as well, tables, and the page in general. Tables mostly have explanatory footnotes [2nd reason from above; like the footnotes at the bottom of the table near the end on large numbers], and page footnotes mostly are cross-references to other reports [like the footnotes at the bottom of this page]. Table footnotes have "Table footnotes:" preceding the actual notes following just below the table and page footnotes just have "Footnotes:" preceding the main notes. All footnotes follow the same order on every page, and all footnotes appear at the bottom of something [table footnotes appear at the bottom of the immediate table they were used on, and page footnotes appear at the bottom of every page just above Angelfire's advertisements and my main cross-references [the home page and FAQ page as well as the current category you're in [features index, games index, tips and tricks index, etc.]]. Sometimes, though somewhat rare, table footnotes have footnotes in them as well. These are page footnotes and appear in the "Footnotes:" section. The order of the footnotes is the same as it was in version 3:

  1. *
  2. **
  3. ***
  4. †
  5. ‡
  6. ††
  7. ‡†
  8. †‡
  9. ‡‡
  10. †††
  11. ࠠ
  12. †‡†
  13. ††‡
  14. ‡‡†
  15. ‡†‡
  16. †‡‡
  17. ‡‡‡


Going beyond this point probably wouldn't happen. If it does, the symbol "§" appears before number 4 and the cycle continues again. So far, only this page has so many footnotes that the symbol § is actually used.

New to Version 4.0: Footnotes are repeated among the same pages, even within the same report to make it easier to navigate and keep on topic.

New to Version 5.0: Footnotes that are cross-references now mention which section of the document is referenced. If it mentiones "read sections 2 and 6 here", to learn further knowledge with the shortest reading, you only need to read through sections 2 and 6 of that page that has been cross-referenced.

9. My AVI animations



Q. Do your videos you have available have any sound?

A. Absolutely none of the videos have sound mainly because of file size. A 140 MB video lasting 64.1 seconds compresses to 112 KB quite easily, yet, adding in the lowest quality MP3 available [8Kbps, or 1 Kilobyte per second], this comes to adding another 64 kilobytes, rather a lot, yet, sound might scare you if you may not be expecting it. One final reason is that making these sounds is extremely difficult to come by. For these reasons, all videos have no sound. To improve the time needed to view the videos, I'm moving toward making them as animated GIFs. This has far more advantages than disadvantages. The only minus is that the file size is a bit bigger, but you can immediately view the animation without having to put a 10 meg video on your system.

10. AVI animation ratings



Q. Are the videos safe for anyone?

A. As far as ratings, all would be classified as "G" as the spell's effects only show the effects and the target is a rock, not much of anything. For the mind game videos, they are all like classic cartoons. A sample of one of the videos as a GIF image is found in the spell system report.

11. Low-quality AVI animations



Q. While viewing your videos, your images appear pretty dull and detailless. Why?

A. Compression is the main key*. When doing videos, I optimize them so they compress the best. In that 140 MB video, adding all the details [let alone taking 20% longer to make] would make 112 KB become a huge 600 KB download. That's why I use low quality. Also, it makes it slightly faster to make the videos. I can finish a 100 frame video in about 2 hours, and with the spells, in about 30 minutes [mainly because complex math isn't involved** to working out].

12. Large numbers



Q. What are all those large number names past a trillion?

A. I know all the numeric names from the millions and billions you know to some rare and complex ones like "quattuorquinquagintillion", the longest word I know. Yet, you're almost guarenteed not to find "unvigintillion" and beyond in the dictionary [with the possible exception of "googol"]. This table below lists all of these numbers from the basics to the extremes as well as some other information.

number nameexponential valueprefix
one0— —
thousand3— —
million61
billion92
trillion*123
quadrillion154
quintillion185
sextillion216
septillion247
octillion278
nonillion309
decillion**3310
undecillion3611
duodecillion3912
tredecillion4213
quattuordecillion4514
quindecillion4815
sexdecillion5116
septendecillion5417
octodecillion5718
novemdecillion6019
vigintillion***6320
unvigintillion6621
duovigintillion6922
trevigintillion7223
quattuorvigintillion7524
quinvigintillion7825
sexvigintillion8126
septenvigintillion8427
octovigintillion8728
novemvigintillion9029
trigintillion9330
untrigintillion9631
duotrigintillion9932
googol†100— —
tretrigintillion10233
quattuortrigintillion10534
quintrigintillion10835
sextrigintillion11136
septentrigintillion11437
octotrigintillion11738
novemtrigintillion12039
quadragintillion12340
unquadragintillion12641
duoquadragintillion12942
trequadragintillion13243
quattuorquadragintillion13544
quinquadragintillion13845
sexquadragintillion14146
septenquadragintillion14447
octoquadragintillion14748
novemquadragintillion15049
quinquagintillion15350
unquinquagintillion15651
duoquinquagintillion15952
trequinquagintillion16253
quattuorquinquagintillion16554
quinquinquagintillion16855
sexquinquagintillion17156
septenquinquagintillion17457
octoquinquagintillion17758
novemquinquagintillion18059
sexagintillion18360
unsexagintillion18661
duosexagintillion18962
tresexagintillion19263
quattuorsexagintillion19564
quinsexagintillion19865
sexsexagintillion20166
septensexagintillion20467
octosexagintillion20768
novemsexagintillion21069
septuagintillion21370
unseptuagintillion21671
duoseptuagintillion21972
treseptuagintillion22273
quattuorseptuagintillion22574
quinseptuagintillion22875
sexseptuagintillion23176
septenseptuagintillion23477
octoseptuagintillion23778
novemseptuagintillion24079
octogintillion24380
unoctogintillion24681
duooctogintillion24982
treoctogintillion25283
quattuoroctogintillion25584
quinoctogintillion25885
sexoctogintillion26186
septenoctogintillion26487
octooctogintillion26788
novemoctogintillion27089
nonagintillion27390
unnonagintillion27691
duononagintillion27992
trenonagintillion28293
quattuornonagintillion28594
quinnonagintillion28895
sexnonagintillion29196
septennonagintillion29497
octononagintillion29798
novemnonagintillion30099
centillion‡303100
uncentillion306101
duocentillion309102
etc.etc.etc.
ducentillion603200
unducentillion606201
etc.etc.etc.
tricentillion?903300


Table footnotes:
* Most don't know what's after a trillion. In all numbers past this point, there will be a footnote explaining what the number means so you don't have to refer to this long chart.
** About 1 in a million would know what's after this point.
*** After here are number names ever-so-rarely used.
† This might be one of the exceptions for footnote number 3 as some know what it is.
‡ This is where I'm not fully sure what comes after this point. Beyond here are only guesses, except for ducentillion and trecentillion.
†† What source did I get this list from? View my source.

Footnotes:
* Compression is hard to explain on how it works, however, I do have some experiments you could try at this location.
** To find out why such complex math is involved with the mind game videos, read this detailed report to learn the process of how I make videos.