Michael Borland Apps

This application helps you explore an age-old question, "Does GodExist?" It starts by asking you to consider what you mean by God,then presents a series of observations. You'll be asked to indicatehow consistent each observation is with the existence andnon-existence of God. In the end, the odds that God exists arecomputed. Obviously, this application isn't likely to settle thedebate, but it should provide food for thought and livelydiscussion. I've had Christians tell me the app promotes atheismand atheists tell me it promotes belief in God. However, the resultis not predetermined nor is this app intended to expound oneconclusion. Rather, it is designed to help you think about theissues. After you've done a calculation, you can share the resultsvia email, Google+, etc. (Facebook doesn't work, but that'sFacebook's fault not mine.) Some suggestions for use: 1. Facilitatediscussions between believers and non-believers, to help understanddifferences. 2. Guide a discussion in an introductory philosophyclass. 3. Conversation starter when you are sitting on an airplaneor bus. (Ok, maybe not.) Questions you can try to answer using theapp: 1. Is an indifferent or evil God more probable than anall-powerful, loving God? 2. Is a God with limited power moreprobable than an all-powerful God? 3. How do your answers to theindividual questions differ from those of a friend with differentbeliefs, and why? Your suggestions for improving this app arewelcome. Please use the "Email developer" link to send yoursuggestions. Mathematical note: the app uses Bayes' theorem toperform the calculations, with a prior probability of 50%.Individual probabilities are restricted to the range 1% to 99% toprevent any single consideration from determining the outcome. Notethat the reason that each observation has two questions is that weneed these two responses to apply Bayes' theorem. If you areinterested in Bayes theorem, check out my "Estimate Anything" app.

This app provides a Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) scientificcalculator for Android Wear devices. In addition to basicarithmetic, it provides other functions, such as roots, powers,reciprocals, trigonometric functions, logs, exponentials,hyperbolic functions, factorials, and combinatorials. It alsoincludes a generous selection of commonly-used physical constants,plus conversion of temperatures and angles. The grid of operatorsis accessed by swiping the keypad up and down. The RPN stack is 10deep, with the x, y, and z registers available for viewing bypressing briefly on the numerical display.

This is a simple tool for astronomers, providing two functions.It's a combination of an astronomy light/flashlight and anastronomy calculator. First, it turns your device screen into avariable-intensity red light, to preserve your dark-adapted vision.The intensity is changed by touching the screen in differentvertical positions. Second, it evaluates the telescope equations toprovide resolution, magnification, surface brightness, etc., aswell as recommendations for optimum viewing. There's also anembedded RPN calculator that pops up when an entry-box is clicked.Note that your screen will stay on as long as you have this appopen. Thus, you should turn off the screen when you are done inorder to preserve your battery. This application requires nopermissions and is ad-free. A good reference for the telescopeequations, which I used in preparing this app, is available athttp://www.rocketmime.com/astronomy/Telescope/telescope_eqn.html Ifyou aren't familiar with how to use an RPN calculator, check outhttp://h20331.www2.hp.com/hpsub/us/en/rpn-calculator.html keywords:astronomy, telescope, night, flashlight, light, equations,calculator, resolution, magnification

Accelerator physics for your Android device.

This application helps use Bayes' Ruletocompute the probability P(H|B+E) that a hypothesis H is truegivenbackground information B and new evidence E. You need to know(1)P(H|B), the "prior" probability of H given B; (2) P(E|B+H),theprobability of E given B and H; and (3) P(E|B-H), theprobabilityof E given B and not H. If you can only guess thesevalues, the"Range" tab allows you to give minimum and maximumvalues for eachquantity. In return, it gives the minimum andmaximum values ofP(H|B+E).This app is based on Richard Carrier's discussionathttp://www.richardcarrier.info/CarrierDec08.pdf. However,theauthor is not affiliated with Dr. Carrier.