The Irrational Numbers Clock is slightly more complicated that the Unit Circle Radian Wall Clock. Also, the fact that it looks like a blackboard has a certain scholarly appeal. While I am a mathematician, anyone with high-school math should be able to read this clock. That’s not because they’ll know what all these irrational numbers are, it’s just that all you just need to do is look at the position of the hands to figure out the time.
Read more @ Technabob
I
It seems to me quite logical on how math classes should proceed. The professor presents some theory, with theorems and their demonstration, as well as definitions and propositions, before venturing into a slew of examples. For some reason, this is completely absent from my classes in Taiwan. The examples. I don’t know what these profs are thinking, but examples are paramount for students to understand some of the theory. OK, my complex analysis prof is good. he gives examples and answers questions well¹.
-Knock knock!
-Who’s there?
-3 period.
-3 period?
–3 PERIOD IMPLIES CHAOS!
Seemed a lot funnier in my head after 27 hours awake.
Or more like 32 hours no sleep.
Then 2 hours sleep.
Then 6 hours no sleep.
Getting really loony.
Update: I got about 10 hours sleep last night and woke up refreshed.
-Ça, c’est un gars marié! Tu devrais apprendre de lui.
That’s a married man! You should learn from him.
[Andrée-Anne to her boyfriend David when I filled her glass, Rose’s glass and her boyfriend’s glass before serving myself]
-So, what do you think?
-About what?
-About skinny jeans on guys.
-Like Nat’s jeans? (pointing at Alex’s girlfriend Nat, who’s wearing skinny jeans)
-Yes but on a guy. I watched Star Académie last night and this douche was wearing canary yellow skinny jeans with a red top. I guess he tried to own them, but it didn’t really work out.
-I don’t think they work for me.
Caro, Rose and me
-Watch out, I’m made of muscle!
-See these? (she says pointing at her boobs) These aren’t breasts, they’re pectorals!
Caro to me on our way to class
Technorati publishes information about a ‘statistically significant’ study they completed. Whoever they asked what statistically significant meant didn’t give them a right answer. I don’t mean to sound overbearing, but I don’t consider a study of 1000 respondents statistically significant, that’s because I’m a math major. Definitely not enough to infer conclusions about the 1.5 million blogs that were updated this week. You need more respondents than that. Anyway, that’s just my opinion. Surveys have a way of being used anyway you what to. (via swissmiss)
Today, campus security decided that everyone needed to know where to go in case of an evacuation. Hundreds of students congregated to the science faculty building.
I got some new direction from my editor and my mind is already ruminating on what he told me. Things are going well on that front.
I went to a show yesterday night. I saw We Are Wolves (wiki). It was pretty sweet. I didn’t stay for Digitalism, they started at around 00:30. Too late for me. I went home. I did take some great pics, which I’ll upload later.
Today, I had to run home during lunch hour to get a form that I had forgotten this morning. I didn’t have any milk at home, so I didn’t get my morning tea fix. By then, I was feeling the withdrawal symptoms. I stopped for a few minutes to gulp down a scalding cup and went back to school.
Afternoon classes start at 1:30. I arrived at the central bus stop at 1:27. I started sprinting to my faculty building. I managed to get into my seat in class at around 1:33. I hadn’t missed anything. It didn’t help that the guy sitting behind me has a mild case of Tourette’s syndrome.
This morning, it was 4C. This afternoon it was 19C. You can imagine how that went. I was overdressed in the morning. I had on way too many layers. When I arrived home, I dumped off a few of them. In the bus back to school, I took of the rest. I had a t-shirt on while I sprinted.
I’ll have a scheduling conflict this whole semester. It’s between a Number Theory class and a Complex Analysis class. I’ve decided to attend the Number Theory class. I love analysis and the prof has scheduled only two exams, no homework or tests in that class. My Number Theory professor has got her usual slew of tests, homework and exams. After my Number Theory class, I found Nancy to photocopy her notes from the Complex Analysis class. She confided that today’s class wasn’t very clear.
I wasn’t surprised. I had my Complex Analysis professor earlier that same day in Algebraic Structures. He did what I’d describe in French as Du coq à l’âne. That idiomatic expression means that he went from one subject to another. My classmate Caro was doing a Sudoku puzzle during class.
The whole department had a meeting for the first year students today, at 3:30PM. I got roped into it because I needed Nancy’s notes. I stayed for the meeting. I got to chat with Emmanuelle, a girl I knew back in 2001, who was hired by the math department to run the CDA, a place where first year students can get help with solving math problems.
Afterward, I dropped off my form at work and went home. I walked a lot. Students walk a lot. I don’t mind it. It’s very healthy.
After classes, a 2nd year student was talking about soulmates. He said that he’s been with his girlfriend for three years, but she’s not his soulmate.
I’ve finished my classes for the week. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me. Most of my weekend will be spent doing math work and prepping next week’s classes. I’m working four hours tomorrow.
I had a small test today in Mathematical Analysis I. It was about mathematical series. I’ve made a constant effort to stay on top of that class. Until now, I have an A average. I got 100% in the last mini-test. (PDF, French)
I’m pretty sure that I’ll do very well in the last exam next week. I know that I’m getting an A in that class. I’m a bit bummed by my lab partners. All four are in Economy. Of those guys, Remi is really good. If we were doing the Practical Homework by ourselves, we’d get high marks. But since we only have an hour to complete a few exercises, the group needs to work together in order to finish them and hand them in. For the last few months, all of the exercises that I’ve been handing in got 100%. The other ones, the ones that I couldn’t do myself, because of lack of time, had small errors. We ended up with an A- average on those. I’m a bit miffed. Especially since I usually did the hardest ones by myself. Anyways, we ended up with an 8.5/10 average. They are worth 10% of the final grade.
Three of the four mini-tests count for 20% of the final grade. I’ve got 17.33/20. I got 31.15/35 in the last exam. So I have 56.98/65 until now. There is one last exam next week. I need 33.02/35 (94%) in order to get an A+. It’s feasible, since the subject matter is pretty easy for me.
To get an A, I only need to get 81% in the last exam.
I like the way that we were graded in that exam. The mini-tests are great to review the subject matter and to see what you need to study for the exam. I’d like to get 100% in the last exam. It’s been a long time since I got an A+ in a class.
