Stat Mania

Learning

AI can be confidently wrong, biased and easy to over-trust. Six reasons critical thinking has become a survival skill: hallucinations, bias, asking the right questions…

Oct 20, 2026

Why Use break in a while Loop If the Condition Already Stops It?

If a loop runs while i < 10 but breaks at 4, why write i < 10 at all? The condition is the planned exit and break is the exit for a special case. Four short examples…

Printing a Comma-Separated List in C (No Trailing Comma, Clean Line Breaks)

6 min

How to print 0, 1, 2, … with commas in C: why a plain printf glues the numbers together, four ways to avoid the trailing comma, and how works in nested loops for rows…

Shortcut Ways to Write if in C: the Ternary Operator and More

Shorten an if to one line by dropping the braces, write an if-else with the ternary operator ?:, and use other shortcuts: testing a value directly and using a comparison as…

Double Summation (ΣΣ) in Statistics, and How to Code It in C

Statistics

What a double sum means, why statistics keeps using it (grand mean, total sum of squares, ANOVA), and how two nested for loops in C compute it, with a short store-sales…

How to Write a Multiline Git Commit Message (4 Methods)

Four ways to write a commit message with a subject and a body: the default editor, several -m flags, quotes that span lines, and a message file. Plus the conventions that…

Why Learn a Programming Language in the AI Age?

6 min

Learning

AI can write code in seconds, so why bother learning to code? Eight reasons it still matters: directing the AI, knowing how the system works, emergencies, saving tokens for…

pdfLaTeX vs XeLaTeX: Which LaTeX Engine Should We Use?

pdfLaTeX is fast and compatible with almost every package; XeLaTeX uses system fonts and native Unicode. How they differ, how to switch in the terminal, Overleaf and…

Oct 18, 2026

5 for Loop Practice Problems in C (with Hints and Solutions)

Five for-loop exercises in C, from a multiplication table to a star triangle: each with a task, expected output, a step-by-step hint, a tested solution, and a harder…

Oct 17, 2026

5 Nested for Loop Practice Problems in C (with Hints and Solutions)

Five nested for-loop exercises in C: a rectangle, a multiplication grid, a number triangle, a centred pyramid and a checkerboard. Each has expected output, a hint and a…

Oct 17, 2026

Declaring Multiple Variables in One Line in C

How to declare several C variables in one statement (int a, b, c;), initialise them, and avoid the traps: partial initialisation, the pointer asterisk, mixed types and…

Oct 15, 2026

Why Programming Counts from Zero (and Why R Counts from One)

Why C and Python start indexing at 0, why R starts at 1, with everyday analogies, tested code in C, Python and R, and a table of advantages and disadvantages of both.

Oct 15, 2026

Handy Linux Shell One-Liners for Everyday File Tasks

Short, tested Linux shell commands: clean up text with sed, count files with find, rename files in bulk (sequential numbers, hyphens, lowercase), and convert mp4 to mp3 with…

Oct 14, 2026

Recursion in R: Functions That Call Themselves

How recursion works in R: base case and recursive case, indirect recursion, Recall(), recursion on nested lists, R’s depth limits, and memoisation, with tested examples.

Oct 14, 2026

How to Test a Small C Snippet Quickly

Tips

The fastest ways to try a few lines of C: online compilers, a one-line gcc build-and-run command, editor shortcuts, and feeding input from a file.

Oct 13, 2026

Pre-Increment vs Post-Increment in C: ++i vs i++

The difference between ++i and i++ in C: when the value changes, what the expression returns, with compiled examples, and why it only matters inside larger expressions.

Oct 11, 2026

Checking User Input in C: Is It Really a Number?

How to check that user input is a valid integer in C, using scanf’s return value and a stricter fgets + strtol check, with a factorial example.

Oct 11, 2026

How to Reduce Fan Noise in a Linux Laptop Microphone

Linux

Troubleshooting

Why the internal microphone picks up the cooling fan on Linux, and five practical fixes: lower the gain, enable noise suppression, tame power profiles, clean the vents, or…

Oct 10, 2026

How to Save Loop Results in an Array in C

Declare a fixed-size array, fill it with a for loop using the loop index, and grow it with malloc() and realloc() when the number of values is not known in advance.

Oct 7, 2026

5 while Loop Practice Problems in C (with Hints and Solutions)

Five while-loop exercises in C, from printing even numbers to reversing a number: each with a task, expected output, a step-by-step hint, a tested solution, and a harder…

Oct 4, 2026

How This Blog Is Built: Quarto, One Python Hook and One Shell Command

A tour of a static Quarto blog on GitHub Pages: the folder layout, a pre-render script that feeds a dynamic archive, tag cloud and related posts, a dark/light toggle, and a…

Oct 4, 2026

How I Make Statistics Lecture Slides with Quarto and reveal.js

One shared config, one .qmd per chapter: how Quarto and reveal.js turn Markdown, LaTeX math and R code into lecture decks, with a custom theme, drawing on slides, and a…

Oct 4, 2026

srand(time(NULL)) in C: Why Random Numbers Repeat and How to Seed Them

What srand(time(NULL)) really does: why rand() repeats the same numbers without a seed, how time(NULL) fixes that, the unsigned cast, the same-second trap, and why we seed…

Oct 3, 2026

Tossing a Die in C Until We Get a 6

Track every roll of a die in C: print as we go, store the history in an array, tally frequencies, and list which steps produced each face.

Oct 2, 2026

float vs double in C: Precision, Memory, and When to Use Which

How C’s float and double differ in precision, size, range, literals and format specifiers, with real compiler output showing where float goes wrong.

Sep 26, 2026

The switch Statement in C: Syntax, break, Fall-Through and Examples

How C’s switch statement works: matching cases, break, default, deliberate fall-through, grouped cases, chars and enums, and when to choose switch over if / else if.

Sep 26, 2026

10 Short Real-World C Programming Examples (if + Loop Patterns)

Ten compact C snippets — from an ATM PIN check to a vending machine — each pairing a loop for repetition with an if for decision-making, with the real-world problem and a…

Sep 24, 2026

Modulus vs. Remainder: Why -5 % 3 Isn’t the Same Everywhere

Python

Mathematics

Modulus and remainder agree for positive numbers but diverge for negative ones. A walkthrough of the truncated vs. floored division rules behind C, Python, and R’s % and %%…

Sep 24, 2026

if-else in C, Python and R: Syntax Compared Side by Side

The same if / else if / else written in C, Python and R, with a comparison table, the R ‘else on a new line’ trap, truthiness rules, and R’s vectorized ifelse().

Sep 21, 2026

Compiling and Running C Programs on Linux: A Practical Workflow

6 min

Linux

Faster ways to compile and run C on Linux — one-liners, aliases, and Makefiles — plus the warning flags, debugging tools, and practice routine every beginner should adopt.

Sep 20, 2026

The Probability of Having Four Babies of the Same Sex

statistics

probability

A binomial-distribution proof that a family of 4 children has exactly a 1-in-8 (12.5%) chance of all four being the same sex.

Sep 16, 2026

Nested if in C, Explained with Real-Life Examples

What a nested if statement is in C, when the inner check runs, and two worked examples (a store discount and an ATM withdrawal) with flowcharts, code and common pitfalls.

Sep 15, 2026

The Best Order to Write a Research Paper

research

writing

Why writing a paper top-to-bottom causes writer’s block, and the inside-out sequence experienced researchers use instead.

Sep 11, 2026

Batch-Converting PDFs to Markdown with MarkItDown

Microsoft’s MarkItDown CLI only converts one file at a time — here’s how to batch an entire folder of PDFs with a shell loop or a short Python script.

Sep 11, 2026

Why Dispersion Matters as Much as Central Tendency

The mean or median only tells half the story — measures of spread like variance, standard deviation, and IQR reveal risk and consistency that averages hide.

Sep 9, 2026

How to Recover a Frozen Linux Desktop

Linux

Troubleshooting

Two escalating fixes for a hung Linux graphical session, from restarting the display manager over TTY to a safe REISUB reboot.

Sep 9, 2026

The Ultimate Guide to Making Fish Your Default Shell

How to install Fish and set it as your default shell on Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, and Pop!_OS — including the terminal-profile workaround GNOME-based distros need.

Sep 7, 2026

Reading Papers in the AI Age: A Hybrid Workflow

research

reading

Why the best strategy for reading research today isn’t AI summaries or full reads alone, but a 3-pass hybrid workflow that combines both.

Sep 5, 2026

What’s New in qdraw: Shapes, Pages, and a Smarter Eraser

Tools

quarto

A tour of the latest qdraw features — a Quarto reveal.js extension for drawing and annotating directly on slides during a live presentation.

Aug 29, 2026

Structs in C: Grouping Related Data (with Python and R Comparisons)

How C structs group different types into one unit: student records, arrays of structs, points, linked-list nodes, typedef, ->, padding, and how structs compare with Python…

Aug 20, 2026

How to Run Python Inside RStudio with reticulate

Python

Set up RStudio to run Python code alongside R — configure the interpreter, install reticulate, and use three different workflows (scripts, mixed Quarto/R Markdown chunks…

Aug 18, 2026

10 Real-World if / else Examples in C

Ten real-world C snippets, from grade calculators to ATM checks, each showing a different if/else pattern and when to use it.

Aug 10, 2026

Why Use the Geometric Distribution?

probability

discrete distributions

The geometric distribution models the number of trials until the first success in independent Bernoulli trials. This post explains when and why to use it, with a real-world…

Aug 5, 2026

C’s “Hello, World!” Explained Line by Line (for R & Python Users)

A line-by-line breakdown of the classic C Hello World program — what each part does, why C requires it, and how it compares to Python and R.

Jul 21, 2026

The do-while Loop in C: Run First, Check After

How C’s do-while loop works: the body always runs at least once before the condition is tested. Two PIN-entry examples, plus do-while vs while and common pitfalls.

Jul 16, 2026

How to Reset a Bootable USB Drive Using the Linux Command Line

A step-by-step guide to safely wiping a bootable Linux live USB and converting it back into a standard storage drive.

Jun 2, 2026

How to Save Git Credentials on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Git

DevOps

A quick guide to configuring Git credential helpers so you never have to re-type your password or token.

Jun 1, 2026

Understanding the Negative Binomial Distribution

probability

discrete distributions

The negative binomial distribution models the number of trials needed to achieve a fixed number of successes. This post explains its formulation, real-world applications…

May 12, 2026

Be Impressive with Mathematics

1 min

Mathematics

recreational-math

A satirical note showing how (1+1=2) can be obscured using complex identities to appear more impressive for academic reviewers.

Apr 23, 2026

SVM vs ANN: relative power, and usage guidelines

Here’s a clear comparison of SVM vs ANN, their relative power, and usage guidelines.

Jan 5, 2026

How to Make Git Ignore a Folder

Two ways to stop Git from tracking a folder — depending on whether it’s already been committed or not.

Jan 5, 2026

Interaction Effect in Regression Analysis

An interaction effect means the effect of one variable on the outcome depends on the level of another variable.

Nov 19, 2025

Z-score: What it is and what it does

A z-score (also known as a standard score or z-value) measures how many standard deviations a data point is from the mean of a distribution. It’s a way of…

Nov 19, 2025

A/B Testing: A Sample Analysis

A/B Testing– A Sample Analysis. Scenario– Testing a new button color.

Nov 18, 2025

IQR in Statistics

The Interquartile Range (IQR) is a measure of statistical dispersion that describes the spread of the middle 50% of data.

Nov 5, 2025

From t-test to Anova

Let’s build this step by step, starting from a t-test and then showing how it generalizes naturally into ANOVA (Analysis of Variance).

Oct 10, 2025

ARIMA and SARIMA Time Series Models

statistics

time-series

A clear, concise explanation of ARIMA, SARIMA, and related models — followed by minimal R examples..

Oct 6, 2025

Spatio-temporal Analysis Workflow

GIS

A learning roadmap for spatio-temporal analysis, from spatial statistics foundations to R/Python tooling, datasets, and open-source contribution paths.