Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 March 29

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March 29

Combinatorial mathematics

HOW MANY GROUPS OF 5 CAN BE FORMED FROM THE 24 ALPHABETS WITHOUT RECURRING? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dollarman sika (talk • contribs) 00:02, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

That's better asked on the language reference desk. --Golbez (talk) 00:04, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Probably the math one is better anyway please turn off that caps lock :) We'd be all grateful. Snowolf ^{How can I help?} 00:10, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Wait, 24? Which letters did we lose? --erachima formerly tjstrf 00:38, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Lose? It sounds to me like we won 23 more alphabets. I wonder whether we are allowed to choose freely from List of alphabets. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:07, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Or perhaps all the alphabets containing 24 letters? The Mandaic alphabet perhaps? --Bfigura ^(talk) 01:33, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I count 19 distinct characters in "THE 24 ALPHABETS WITHOUT RECURRING", so I'm guessing 11,628 where order is not important. Franamax (talk) 08:43, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

If the questioner can define the set from which he or she wants to choose combinations, the Combination article explains the combinatorial mathematics. However, the questioner also did not specify whether the groups of five are ordered or unordered. If they are ordered, also see Permutation. (I'm getting nostalgic for graduate school now. It's been enough years that I've more or less forgotten the emotional trauma.) --Teratornis (talk) 01:48, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Cheyne-Stokes respiration (I'm not asking for medical info, I'm reminding everyone)

Cheyne-Stokes respiration is low on historical information.Kitty53 (talk) 00:16, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

This would be better stated on the talk page of Cheyne-Stokes respiration. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 00:20, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Editing a template

How do you change caption on the template on the article East Rail Line?Leolisa1997 (talk) 09:58, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

If you mean the big infobox-thing at the top of the page, that's {{HK-MTR route/East Rail}}. The image caption is in the 'caption' parameter. Algebraist 10:01, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you.--Leolisa1997 (talk) 10:06, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

IP

What is the highest number of IP addresses that one person has used to edit Wikipedia? 124.180.107.248 (talk) 09:59, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

There is (I believe) no way of knowing, but it's probably a lot. Some ISPs (AOL, for example) use a proxy system that gives a different IP to every edit. Algebraist 10:04, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

log on problems

I am tryin gto log on, put my I keep getting the message that my password is incorrect, and even when I tried to reset my password, it didn't work. User:englishnerd 12:25, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Make sure You are not typing any capitals, if you aren't try capitalizing some of the letters. If this does not work, go under my prefrences at the top of the page give an email address in the box, hit save, and the next time login fails click Email new password. Good luck ~ DarkZorro 14:34, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

The poster was an IP address who manually added User:englishnerd. At login, I have sent a new password to the e-mail address registered for User:Englishnerd. Try to log in again if you receive it. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:41, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Further to articles in English on EXPO 67, the Universal and International Exhibition of 1967 in Montreal.

Wikipedia

EXPO 67 The 1967 Universal and International Exhibition in Montreal, Canada

Introduction

Yves Jasmin, OC, was Director of Public Relations for Expo 67. His concept was to have Public Relations as the developer of communications strategy, using information and advertising as tactical weapons.

Yves Jasmin was hired in March 1964 and held his position until January 1968. He was part of the seven member management team which held twice weekly meetings to create and launch the huge undertaking of an exhibition, approved by the Bureau of International Exhibitions, an overseer of world exhibitions since 1928. Expo 67 was the first BIE sponsored exhibition in the Americas.

With an original objective of 30 million visits, later raised to 35 millions, and with an extremely limited budget, Expo 67 reached the 50 million visit mark on the very last day of its existence, October 27, 1967.

Yves Jasmin received the Ultimate Achievement Award from the Canadian Public Relations Society, the Golden Anvil from the Public Relations Society of America and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC).

He wrote a book for the 30th anniversary of Expo 67. It was written in French, no English language editor showing the slightest interest in the subject.

He submits his own translation of the Table of Contents, to indicate the scope of his story.

La petite histoire d’Expo 67 is the background story of the making of the Exhibition.

Yves Jasmin lives in Montreal, Canada.

I would like to attach to this statement my own translation of the Table of Contents. Is this acceptable ?

Yves Jasmin,OC. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Camelot67 (talk • contribs) 14:31, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

All content on Wikipedia needs to be verifiable, but, if you can source your edit, feel free to add it in. Be bold in editing :) Steve Crossin (talk to me) 14:38, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Citation for "Elisabeth Rodriguez" article

Hello, I recently created an article titled Elisabeth Rodriguez which is about a young Argentine writer. Before or after some sentences there is a "citation needed" link. i can provide web pages where I got my information but I'm not sure where to place them. My information is in the reference section but I can provide additional links where it says citation needed. The only problem I have is that I cannot find a way to put it there. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Horsjumper123 (talk • contribs) 15:59, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I can't remember if it's WP:REF or WP:CITE but one of them will explain. George D. Watson (Dendodge).Talk^Help 17:05, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

User edit counts

Resolved

Is there any way to find out how many times a user has edited wikipedia? ImperviusXR (talk) 16:36, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Yes, your edit count can be found here. Malinaccier (talk) 16:38, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Question about unified login

Resolved

Hi, I have accounts on other wikimedia projects (pt.wikipedia.org, fr.wikipedia.org and the username is the same in all) and I would like to change ALL my accounts from that projects to a unified login account, with a new username, is this possible? (I already checked and it is available in all, not yet created) can I keep all my contributions in the other projects? what is the best way of doing it? thanks in advance. SF007 (talk) 16:39, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Hi! Unified login is only currently enabled for admins, so unless you are an administrator, I'm afraid that's not possible. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 16:42, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Moreover, according to the information page at m:Help:Unified login#Frequently asked questions regarding renaming, the answer is that you can't rename a unified login at this time but "We expect that a renaming tool will be developed when the need arises."--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:49, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

paradox

as a dyslexic i find wikipedea almost impossible to contribute to so i need some help please. I have discoverd a new paradox relating to special relativity. How do i share it with others? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Raystaines (talk • contribs) 16:42, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not the place for original thought, or original research, as described here. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 16:44, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

How Can i edit and add one information in Wikipedia?

I would like to share one link with a good information provide by you but i am not able to edit it. It was deleted by Wiki Staff daily. one External link is all ready add with that link please help me out

this is the link where i wish to add link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_centre under Additional reading section.

1. http://www.callcentersindia.com/call_center_forum.php 2. http://www.callcentersindia.com/call_centers_news.php —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.174.5.2 (talk) 08:41, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Pushkar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.162.69.173 (talk) 16:44, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

If you are creating a page with an external link only, it will be deleted. If a link is to a non-reliable source, is not relevant to the article or is one you add a lot the chances are it will be removed from an article. George D. Watson (Dendodge).Talk^Help 16:52, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Oh, and Wikipedia does not have staff, just volunteers. There are some MediaWiki foundation staff with accounts but they are so few, and usually so busy, that the chances are they didn't delete the link. George D. Watson (Dendodge).Talk^Help 16:54, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Please review our guideline on adding external links. I don't know what link you were attempting to add but if it has been removed multiple times as you intimate, especially by multiple users, it very likely does not meet or is actively disfavored under our rules. If you advised the name of the article and the link we would be better able to assess your help request.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:55, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Question about future merging of accounts to a unified login

Resolved

Hi, I have accounts on other wikimedia projects (pt.wikipedia.org, fr.wikipedia.org and the username is the same in all) and I would like to change ALL my accounts from that projects to a unified login account, keeping all the contributions, (maybe one day if I become an administrator), should I reserve my username in all today? or if I do this, it will later cause me problems because the username is already in use? thanks in advanceSF007 (talk) 17:04, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

See #Question about unified login. George D. Watson (Dendodge).Talk^Help 17:08, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

This is not answered by the former post. Yes, I would go ahead and create accounts. If the system as implemented for non-admins functions as it does now, it will automatically merge identically-named accounts if they have the same authenticated email address, or you can correctly provide you passwords on other accounts, so it shouldn't cause any problems later. What you are protecting yourself against is another person starting an account under the same username. Those accounts would be foreclosed.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 17:19, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Right ulnar anti sensory.

Questions: The left ulnar motor showed increased latency and the right ulnar anti sensory showed decreaded velocity. Answer these two question please.--72.83.140.196 (talk) 17:39, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

This question might be more applicable at one of the reference desks. This page is for helping users with Wikipeida operation/usage. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 18:02, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I would suggest that this sounds like the beginning of a homework question, which Reference desk people won't answer for you (even if you actually provide the question). However, if you explain what you're having a problem with, they may be able to help you get past it. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 01:58, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

I did not vandalize

All I was doing was researching at this library and a message shows up on screen saying "You have new messages (last change)." I clicked on that and the address I was sent to was

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:166.82.103.142&redirect=no

and it had increasingly stern warnings about vandalism. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.82.103.142 (talk) 17:42, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Because you are using a shared IP address, you are recieving messages meant for other users. To avoid this, you can register an account by clicking "Sign in/Create account" in the top right corner of the screen. Creating an account has many benefits which may be viewed here. Thanks, Malinaccier (talk) 17:45, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I've added a shared IP address to your talk page. That way people will know it's a library and will be more caution when blocking. If vandalism continues, a soft block is likely (this means you can edit only when logged in). George D. Watson (Dendodge).Talk^Help 23:38, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

General availability of unified login

Resolved

I found no information about this, it is currently only for sysops, but is it planned for the "regular" users? and for when? thanks in advance SF007 (talk) 17:42, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I believe this topic/issue was addressed a few sections up. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 18:03, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

No it is not, this is a different one, but thanks anyway SF007 (talk) 18:09, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

It is enabled for sysops only at the moment, as a test of the system. Regular users are to be added later I think. See m:SUL for more info. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 19:12, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

It should be available to all users April 1.   jj137 (talk) 19:13, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you very much! SF 007 (talk) 19:38, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Tournament Brackets

I was looking for the page on here for the format of tournament brackets, but after a half an hour of very hard searching, I came up lame. Can anyone help? Thanks! Stjimmy61892 (talk) 19:08, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Is this what you're looking for?   jj137 (talk) 19:12, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Well, sort of. I was more looking for the format for how to do them, like, rather than a 16-team, maybe a 32 or just the format in general. But yes I am also on that page VERY often :D ::huge basketball fan, very pissed UConn lost in 1st round to San Diego:: —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stjimmy61892 (talk • contribs) 21:09, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

We have an entire Category:Tournament bracket templates, so you should be able to find whichever bracket you need. If not, I'd suggest copying the source into your userspace and playing with it to your heart's content, which is in my opinion the best way to learn these sorts of things. I'd point you to a page that explained how to make them, but I'm not sure one even exists. Someguy1221 (talk) 21:14, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you someguy, that is exactly what I was looking for.Stjimmy61892 (talk) 21:18, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Links in a table

Okay. I want to clarify that I'm on solid ground here before I start digging myself a hole: List of 2008 NASCAR races. Take a look at that table. Should the drivers' names be wikilinked after the first occurrence in a table, or no? I think they should; [User:NoseNuggets] appears to think not. Which is right? Gladys J Cortez 19:19, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

"do not create links to (...) The same link multiple times (...) (Table entries are an exception to this; in general each row of a table should be able to stand on its own)." From WP:OVERLINK. So, this means that in tables every link should be linked again if it occurs later. Rayhou (talk) 19:28, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

As I thought. Thanks!Gladys J Cortez 20:34, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Can someone make a artikel on my website ?

Hallo

Can someone make a artikel on my website- www.ivanov-hosting.com and just say when is founded and thinks like that. I will appriciate it very mutch

Regards

Yordan Ivanov —Preceding unsigned comment added by Silverbros (talk • contribs) 19:34, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Not likely, unless it meets our notability guidelines for websites. Also, since you are affliated with the site, there would likely be a conflict of interest. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 19:36, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Editing Article Titles

Resolved

-weburiedoursecretsinthegarden 21:20, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

How do you edit an article title that has an error? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Puertonatales (talk • contribs) 19:46, 29 March 2008 (UTC) Puertonatales (talk) 19:47, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Once your account is four days old, you'll see a "move" tab at the top of the article. You can use this to rename the page. See Help:Moving a page for more information. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 19:48, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

What page is it? -CWY2190(talk • contributions) 19:50, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

What if I didn't create the page but I want to edit the title?Puertonatales (talk) 19:52, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

The same still applies...but if you want to move the page to an already existing page name you will find this impossible. You would have to contact an admin to do so...--Cameron (t/c) 19:54, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

It looks like your account was created today. You can't move a page until four days after account creation (to prevent vandalism). After four days you will see a 'move' tab at the top of a page. That would let you move the article to a different name. -CWY2190(talk • contributions) 19:55, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks!Puertonatales (talk) 19:56, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I am trying to create an article but whenever i submit it all the text is on one line going straight across the page for quite some space, what should I do?

You've put a space before the text. Take it out, it should be fine =P weburiedoursecretsinthegarden 21:19, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Followup question - This may be a stupid question, but WHY does the system behave in that way when there is a space before the text? Wanderer57 (talk) 22:26, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I believe it's just so there's any easy way to force text into a boxed off area in a monospace font that doesn't word wrap; it's very useful when you need to write in unrendered code or some other example text. And given that we don't indent the first line of a paragraph, there is little reason to need to add spaces at the beginning of a paragraph anyway. Someguy1221 (talk) 22:33, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

In MediaWiki's markup, that's how we do preformatted text. — Kieff | Talk 23:03, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Personal Sandboxes?

Are there such things as personal sandboxes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stjimmy61892 (talk • contribs) 21:30, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Yes - you can create one here.   jj137 (talk) 21:32, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia join date

How does one find out when they first joined Wikipedia? (Not when they made their first edit.) I joined sometime back in 2005 probably, but I want to know when exactly. Thanks! --Alexc3 ^(talk) 21:42, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

You can check the user creation log. For some reason, though, I'm not finding your log entry, though... Hang on. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 21:49, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

The log only goes back to sometime in '06. I don't think there's any way of knowing if it's before that. Algebraist 21:51, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

The page says, "This log goes back to approximately June of 2006; some accounts older than that appear in the log, but most accounts created May 2006 and earlier do not." There's got to be some way to find out though. :\ I don't have any confirmation e-mail about joining Wikipedia in my Gmail account as far as I can tell, which I've had since late 2004. --Alexc3 ^(talk) 22:03, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

To the best of my knowledge, Wikipedia doesn't send out confirmation emails for registration (or at least it didn't in early 2005 when I registered). Other than approximating based on when you first edited, I'm not sure there's any way to pin it down. Canderson7 ^(talk) 02:43, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Oh well, thanks anyway. If anyone sees this sometime and knows how to find out when I registered, please send me a message on my talk page. --Alexc3 ^(talk) 08:03, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

• You did check your user contribs, right? I know it's not a failproof method, but assuming you started editing immediately upon register, then Special:Contributions/Alexjohnc3 says you registered on the 20th of April, 2005. And even if you did not edit immediately, that still gives you a latest possible registry date. Sorry, I doubt you'll find anything more exact than that. --erachima formerly tjstrf 08:09, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Yep, I did check that, but I'm not sure if I started editing as soon as I joined, that's the problem. It's not a big deal, but I couldn't find out when I had registered for sure so I thought someone might know how. Thanks anyway! --Alexc3 ^(talk) 00:55, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

printable page

when I went to the printable page for this article the map did not print out anything like it looks on the page. The whole thing had been "dragged and stretched to the right over a convex structure" and was in essence meaningless to a bunch of young people learning about the pole star. This is well beyond my capabilities, was it me or ? Thanks. Edmund Patrick ( ^confer _work) 22:10, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I just tried it and my printout looks pretty much the same as on my computer screen. Maybe you do have a problem with your computer, the printer, or the driver software. Did the text below the image also stretch and distort on your print out? Is it just this image that is affected when you print? Can you get just the image and print that correctly? - note that the raw image is pretty large so perhaps it will be cropped. How about downloading the image and using an image editing program to print it. Astronaut (talk) 02:19, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the work. it was only the image that was distorted and I tried the separating downloading bit. I did not though try it through an editing tool. I will do that next. Thanks. Edmund Patrick ( ^confer _work) 13:12, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Problems logging in

Resolved

I've been having lots of problems logging in, sometimes my username does not work.... it is a mess, it is because of my username, i choose one, but instead got another one due to technical limitations... can please someone chage it? at: [1] Thanks in advance SF 007 (talk) 22:33, 29 March 2008 (UTC)