6.23.2 Greatest hits from previous weeks

6.23.2.1 What does # mean in Mathematica?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=19035

I asked Mathematica to compute the following 
 
 Solve[c (1-x)^2-x^(1/4) == 0, x] 
 
 
and it returned this: 
x = Root[#1^8 c^4 - 8 #1^7 c^4 + 28 #1^6 c^4 - 56 #1^5 c^4 ... 
[syntax] [core-language]
 

asked by ronanymous https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=5730 37 votes

answered by Dr. belisarius https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=193 64 votes

6.23.2.2 Where can I find examples of good Mathematica programming practice?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=18

I consider myself a pretty good Mathematica programmer, but I'm always looking out for ways to either improve my way of doing things in Mathematica, or to see if there's something nifty that I haven't ... 
[reference-request] [programming]
 

asked by J. M.'s discontentment https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=50 550 votes

answered by faysou https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=66 484 votes

6.23.2.3 How do I identify the source of a "Tag times protected" error?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=11982

I have some code that looks like 
 
 Table[ 
a = 1; 
b = {2, 3} 
c = i;, 
{i, 2} 
] 
 
 
which gives an error: 
Set::write: Tag Times in c {2,3} is Protected.... 
[warning-messages] [syntax] [debugging] [faq]
 

asked by dearN https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=204 28 votes

answered by Mr.Wizard https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=121 35 votes

6.23.2.4 How to create a new "person curve"?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=17704

Wolfram|Alpha has a whole collectionź of parametric curves that create images of famous people. To see them, enter  WolframAlpha["person curve"]  into a Mathematica ... 
[graphics] [image-processing] [algorithm] [wolfram-alpha-queries] [generative-art]
 

asked by Simon https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=34 83 votes

answered by Vitaliy Kaurov https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=13 45 votes

6.23.2.5 Mathematica 10.0.x freezes in Initializing kernels

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=92931

Bug caused by paclet update and fixed by paclet update. 
I updated to Windows 10 and have been running Mathematica fine on it for over a month.  For some reason, it has just stopped working. I don't ... 
[bugs] [front-end] [system] [kernel-startup] [paclets]
 

asked by mitcheljh https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=6783 80 votes

answered by ilian https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=145 101 votes

6.23.2.6 Extract real part of a complex expression better than Re does

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=3306

I have a complex expression with real positive variables only. 
 
Mathematica Input Style: 
 
... 
[symbolic] [trigonometry]
 

asked by max https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=796 33 votes

answered by nixeagle https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=814 52 votes

6.23.2.7 Calculate the 2D Fourier transform of an Image

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=29203

I am new to Mathematica, and using version 8.0. 
 
I would like to calculate the 2D Fourier Transform of an  Image  with Mathematica and plot the magnitude and phase ... 
[image-processing] [image] [fourier-analysis]
 

asked by user8727 https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=8727 15 votes

answered by Nasser https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=70 32 votes