Saturday, April 29, 2006 

Blogging on Blogging (Vectors - Ivy)

all right..... what do i know about vectors...well....you know about the angels, it makes me confuse.... but i figure it out someway. well hopefully...i don't know if im going to do good in this unit..but i need.to do good..or else i'm not going to get my credit.... i know i did bad in probability and statistics...i didn't really go look on my note or review so it's my fault...and i am working fulltime in the evening.. but anyways.. well.. problem is in this case..... in grade 10 i didn't understand trigonometry the sohcahtoa thing or the cosinlaw i don't even know how the heck i passed that course..but anyways....i've been looking through my notes and i was trying to understand it...and i actually did get it..i just need to take more time to look on my notes.. and hopefully i'll pass.




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Sunday, April 23, 2006 

The DaVinci Code Quest Sunday



It started last week. Google releases one puzzle each day for 24 days until the movie "The Da Vinci Code" is released in May. So far 7 puzzles have been released. You have to solve the puzzle to reveal a clue. Then you have to answer the clue question(s) to advance to the next puzzle. You can win a prize for solving all 24 puzzles. Now I realize this is all about marketing and they're really just trying to get as many of us as possible to go see the movie but the puzzles are really cool! Google searching often helps to find the answers. One of the puzzle questions can be answered using The Fundamental Principle of Counting and the very first (sudoku-like) puzzle uses a couple of mathematical symbols.

Challenge 1: What is the question that can be solved using The Fundamental Principle of Counting and how do you use the counting principle to find the answer?

Challenge 2: What mathematical symbol is used in the very first puzzle and what number does it represent? (Not the "delta," in a later puzzle it has a different meaning.)

You have to sign up for a Google Homepage in order to play, but that's a free and very useful service. After that you can begin the game. Click on the US button to start 24 days of fun! (Actually, 17 because you could work through the first eight today.) Don't forget to also find the answers to the Challenge Questions above!. ;-)




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Sunday, April 09, 2006 

Four Colour Sunday!


You may have heard that any map can be coloured with four colours in such a way that neighbouring countries receive different colours. That it can be always done is one thing. How to do it is another. Are you ready to start colouring?

(Thanks again to Think Again!)




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Tuesday, April 04, 2006 

Why Should I Learn Math?

This is taken from an article (Math Will Rock Your World) from Business Week. A few snippets:


Y'wanna get a really interesting job working with people on lots of interesting things?



But just look at where the mathematicians are now. They're helping to map out advertising campaigns, they're changing the nature of research in newsrooms and in biology labs, and they're enabling marketers to forge new one-on-one relationships with customers. As this occurs, more of the economy falls into the realm of numbers. Says James R. Schatz, chief of the mathematics research group at the National Security Agency: "There has never been a better time to be a mathematician."


Learn math!


How'd ya like a six figure salary?



...new math grads land with six-figure salaries and rich stock deals. Tom Leighton, an entrepreneur and applied math professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says: "All of my students have standing offers at Yahoo! (YHOO) and Google (GOOG)."


Learn math.


D'ya wanna to work on the biggest most cutting edge issues of our day?



This mathematical modeling of humanity promises to be one of the great undertakings of the 21st century. It will grow in scope to include much of the physical world as mathematicians get their hands on new flows of data .... "We turn the world of content into math, and we turn you into math," says Howard Kaushansky, CEO of Boulder (Colo.)-based Umbria Inc., a company that uses math to analyze marketing trends online.


Learn math.


Y'wanna make one of the most significant contributions to the betterment of humanity?



"The next Jonas Salk will be a mathematician, not a doctor."


Learn math.


What are the implications for k-12 education?



Outfitting students with the right quantitative skills is a crucial test facing school boards and education ministries worldwide. This is especially true in America. The U.S. has long leaned on foreigners to provide math talent in universities and corporate research labs. Even in the post-September 11 world, where it is harder for foreigners to get student visas, an estimated half of the 20,000 math grad students now in the U.S. are foreign-born. A similar pattern holds for many other math-based professions, from computer science to engineering.


The challenge facing the U.S. now is twofold. On one hand, the country must breed more top-notch mathematicians at home, especially as foreigners find greater opportunities abroad. This will require revamping education, engaging more girls and ethnic minorities in math, and boosting the number of students who make it through calculus, the gateway for math-based disciplines. "It's critical to the future of our technological society," says Michael Sipser, head of the mathematics department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At the same time, school districts must cultivate greater math savvy among the broader population to prepare it for a business world in which numbers will pop up continuously. This may well involve extending the math curriculum to include more applied subjects such as statistics.



Learn more math!


"But I don't like math. Besides, I don't need it. I'm going into the humanities or business!"



As mathematicians expand their domain into the humanities, they're working with new data, much of it untested. "It's very possible for people to misplace faith in numbers," says Craig Silverstein, director of technology at Google. The antidote at Google and elsewhere is to put mathematicians on teams with specialists from other disciplines, including the social sciences.


Just as mathematicians need to grapple with human quirks and mysteries, managers and entrepreneurs must bone up on mathematics. Midcareer managers can delegate much of this work to their staffers. But they still must understand enough about math to question the assumptions behind the numbers. "Now it's easier for people to bamboozle someone by having analysis based on lots of data and graphs," says Paul C. Pfleiderer, a finance professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. "We have to train people in business to spot a bogus argument."



Ya gotta learn more math!



Yes, it's a magnificent time to know math.


'Nuff said.




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Sunday, April 02, 2006 

Roboclaw Sunday!


Move the robot arm to pick up the ball. Clean, simple design. I got to level 19. I died. It's a doozy!




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