We did mental math today, and we got an xtra salty motivational speech from Mr. Max. ;)
We should not be afriad to fail; we learn from our mistakes, after all. Also, my mark was lacklusture on the mental math sheet, so it tells me that I need to practice more. Good thing it didn't count!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Relfections for monday and tuesday.
I was absent on Monday, so I came back and copied the lecture notes to my USB Storage Device.
Tuesday was a work period. Of course, I gave thought a lot about why I'm in this course. For one thing, I need it for university; also, I want to understand mathematics, and this is the most hardcore course that the school offers in that subject. ;)
It's a real hurdle for me to learn a topic like this: you are given a method for carrying out and solving a problem. But, you don't understand the "why" part. I have to accept the fact that I need to take a "leap of faith" and bite the bullet in order to learn this, but in the case of mathematics, it isn't too hard to explain the why part.
Why radians instead of degrees? Well, degrees is a system based on an arbitrary constant, so we need something a little more precise. Why the number base 10? Well, we evolved to have 10 fingers, and we very well could use a system based in two (binary), 8 (octal) or 16 (hexadecimal), but that doesn't matter too much.
Eh, I don't know why I'm getting so philosophical about the subject; I should be focusing on the subject matter, but math can be a really dry subject or it can be really damn interesting if we are given the "meat" along with the basic material.
Yes, that's my biggest problem: I'm thinking too much about the wrong things. I don't know. I'm kinda like a fish whose at the bottom of a boat, flopping, slapping, struggling to get back into the water. How am I going to get back into the lake? I guess I'll have to struggle through the material.
And another thing: I have to teach this to myself. Mr. Max is providing the material for me (pay attention during the lectures!); I have to take the material and teach it to myself. That's why there's so much homework I guess. . . .
Tuesday was a work period. Of course, I gave thought a lot about why I'm in this course. For one thing, I need it for university; also, I want to understand mathematics, and this is the most hardcore course that the school offers in that subject. ;)
It's a real hurdle for me to learn a topic like this: you are given a method for carrying out and solving a problem. But, you don't understand the "why" part. I have to accept the fact that I need to take a "leap of faith" and bite the bullet in order to learn this, but in the case of mathematics, it isn't too hard to explain the why part.
Why radians instead of degrees? Well, degrees is a system based on an arbitrary constant, so we need something a little more precise. Why the number base 10? Well, we evolved to have 10 fingers, and we very well could use a system based in two (binary), 8 (octal) or 16 (hexadecimal), but that doesn't matter too much.
Eh, I don't know why I'm getting so philosophical about the subject; I should be focusing on the subject matter, but math can be a really dry subject or it can be really damn interesting if we are given the "meat" along with the basic material.
Yes, that's my biggest problem: I'm thinking too much about the wrong things. I don't know. I'm kinda like a fish whose at the bottom of a boat, flopping, slapping, struggling to get back into the water. How am I going to get back into the lake? I guess I'll have to struggle through the material.
And another thing: I have to teach this to myself. Mr. Max is providing the material for me (pay attention during the lectures!); I have to take the material and teach it to myself. That's why there's so much homework I guess. . . .
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Hey, hey!
I've assessed myself mathematically, and I'm right about here: the only thing I really know is that a radian is 180/PI.
As an aside, I found a really awesome website:
This isn't as important, but partaking in this would really put you ahead since the stuff here is harder than the highschool ciriculum:
I might enter, but only if I show Mr. Max that I really care about the competitions and practice for it.
Back to the math!
3 * 180/PI = PI.
Or, three radians is equal to 180 degrees.
Also:
Sin = y/1 Secant = 1/x
Cos = x/1 Cosecant = 1/y
Tan = y/x Cotangent = x/y
Well, the change to radians just teaches me to view the measurement of a unit circle (or polygon) in a different way. Speaking of unit circles, I found this lovely diagram on wikipedia:
and :
As an aside, I found a really awesome website:
This isn't as important, but partaking in this would really put you ahead since the stuff here is harder than the highschool ciriculum:
I might enter, but only if I show Mr. Max that I really care about the competitions and practice for it.
Alright, my last posts were junk. Hopefully, this will be the exception. ;)
Back to the math!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Work.
Today was a work day, since our teacher was absent for the day. I did learn one thing: I have to work harder. I'm in no danger right now, but I could fall behind.
I really need to get my act together. Heck, this post wasn't even done yesterday, like it should have been.
But, I have my goal in mind. I'm going to get that 90 percent.
I really need to get my act together. Heck, this post wasn't even done yesterday, like it should have been.
But, I have my goal in mind. I'm going to get that 90 percent.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Reflections: 11/9/09
Today, we learned about radians. I knew about radians beforehand, so that made things easier today. One thing that was discussed in class was a simple algebraic trick where:
(a/b)/(c/d) = (a * d) / (b * c)
A radian (180/π) is about 57.2968 degrees. I'm going to memorize that, and I will do some math problems over the weekend in order to "get into the curve" of doing things.
(a/b)/(c/d) = (a * d) / (b * c)
A radian (180/π) is about 57.2968 degrees. I'm going to memorize that, and I will do some math problems over the weekend in order to "get into the curve" of doing things.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Goals
My goal for this semester is to get at least 90 percent in pre-calculus math. I want to get a high grade so I get scholarships when I go to the U of Manitoba. I'm contemplating the idea of getting a geology, geophysics, or mathematics degree, and science requires good math skills.
Worthy of note is that I own a book on computer graphics, and I need to learn a fair bit of math in order to go through it:
I'm also taking game design, so the skills I aquire in pre-calculus math will help me write the code for the game. (If all goes well, I think I'll show the results of my programming off to the class.)
Lastly, it is my goal to create a 3D program of some sort in C. It will most likely end up being a game engine, but I won't know for sure. One of my bigger inspirations for this is Ken Silverman, the programmer who built the game engine for Duke Nukem 3D.
As he said on his build page:
How do I get started in 3D programming?
Know your math! For 3D engine programming, you will need to master: algebra, trigonometry, and geometry (feel free to sleep through calculus). You also should learn how to manipulate vectors, such as dot and cross products.
http://advsys.net/ken
Worthy of note is that I own a book on computer graphics, and I need to learn a fair bit of math in order to go through it:
I'm also taking game design, so the skills I aquire in pre-calculus math will help me write the code for the game. (If all goes well, I think I'll show the results of my programming off to the class.)
Lastly, it is my goal to create a 3D program of some sort in C. It will most likely end up being a game engine, but I won't know for sure. One of my bigger inspirations for this is Ken Silverman, the programmer who built the game engine for Duke Nukem 3D.
As he said on his build page:
How do I get started in 3D programming?
Know your math! For 3D engine programming, you will need to master: algebra, trigonometry, and geometry (feel free to sleep through calculus). You also should learn how to manipulate vectors, such as dot and cross products.
http://advsys.net/ken
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