Hmm my ex-classmate just passed away. Cause still unknown. The absolutely sickening part is when your entire class reunites after a long long time, to gather in silence at a very saddening affair.
Aren't we all coming of age, to a time where death seems to be more common than before? zzz
On the x-y plane, is coordinate (1,2) before or after the coordinate (2,4)? (1,2) comes before (2,4) from the origin while (2,4) comes before (1,2) if seen from (3,6)
The apparent contradiction disappears when we define mathematically that coordinates should always be taken from with respect to the origin to eliminate any irregularities.
See the problem with linguistics? The phrase A "comes before" B always has some form of ambiguity because it takes into account orientation from a variable point of reference which in this case is A.
Hence the beauty of mathematics, where definitions and axioms goes a long way in preventing us from entering a fiery debate of why 1+1=2 and not =3.
How about logical contradictions?
The entire process that I've just described earlier falls into a process of logical contradiction. Perhaps maybe the mathematical way of a logical contradiction is different from a philosophical way of contradiction. Though i highly doubt it. haha.
1) God Exists 2) None of the sentences in 1) and 2) is true.
Let's prove the following by a contradiction. Suppose 1) is false.
Now. We know that 2) can either be true or false.
(Case 1) Suppose 2) is true. So we've decided that none of the sentences in 1) and 2) is true. In other words, 1) and 2) are both false. But didn't I just suppose that 2) is true? Something's wrong.
So obviously... it must be Case 2...
(Case 2) Suppose 2) is false. That means either sentence 1) or sentence 2) is true. But based on the original assumption that i've made, this implies directly that sentence 1) is true. But didn't I suppose right from the start that 1) is false?
Cool. That means 1) is true. God exists. Come on come on. Time to be a better man. Stop sinning.
Note that the statement has no clear indication whether it is true or false in the first place.
Suppose the statement is true. So we conclude that the sentence is a lie. Wait a minute. The statement is true. True to the fact that the sentence is a lie. How can I reconcile a truth and lie?
Suppose the statement is false. Ok. So the sentence is a not a lie. But if right is to left as is lie is to truth, so the sentence is true. Congrats. I just told you something that is false is true.
Confused? Hence the distinction between predicate and truth logic. In laymen terms, you can't combine the sentence per se to be in reference to actual statement itself.
Or basically, you don't want to define a group of objects to contain that very group itself. Very clumsy.
Anyway, you might be surprised if I told you that all the above is Maths.
The former, where you invest way too much time trying to figure out some proofs, which may or may not be successful in helping you in your thesis, compared to the latter, not too damaging to your brain, pretty easy to just sail through, easy to attain decent grades and eventually, landing you with a job that potentially may pay you far better than what the former might offer.
Yeah i'm pissed, because I'm getting quite fed up with this journal of mine.
The arrogant rabbit gives the slow moving tortoise a headstart in a race. It grants the tortoise a 1km headstart.
Now let's assume certain facts about the rabbit and the tortoise.
1) The rabbit and the tortoise move at constant speed, without any acceleration. 2) The rabbit moves at a speed faster than the hare.
Now. Suppose the rabbit is 1km behind the tortoise. After certain amount of time has elapsed, naturally the rabbit reaches the 1km mark, the point where the tortoise had a headstart and the point where it started the race from. However in that span of time, the tortoise moves a certain amount of distance further forward from the 1km mark, thereby still ahead of the rabbit.
Repeat this process again for another frame of time. The rabbit now leaves the 1km mark to reach the point where the tortoise has left off previously. However, the tortoise once again remains ahead of the rabbit in the race as it inches forward with those steady 4 stumpy legs.
It seems, the rabbit never ever catches up with the tortoise, if we continually break down the time frames into smaller and smaller intervals. In other words, the rabbit has infinite number of points to catch up, points where the tortoise left off previously in the previous time frame.
What's the problem here?
Space has no tolerance for infinity. Like how we postulate that 2 parallel train tracks appear to meet in the end of the horizon. Pretty dumb when [-inf,inf] is defined in complex calculus.
I thought it was more of a movie on the Joker instead of Batman. Flip a couple of correct switches in a very nice guy and u turn him into a very bad one. Hmm but I wonder how they did the makeup for 2 face. Probably a green patch on the left side of his face, throw in CGI and wala. gross.
lemme put a smile on that face of yours! MWAHAHAHHAHAahHhahhahHA
Oh Hellboy 2 was utterly fantastic. I forgot to mention it in my previous posts. I watched it on Saturday. In comparison to Hellboy, which i watched again on Channel 5, i think the sequel is ten times more superior to its predecessor. And I really think Guillermo del toro is a darn good director man.
Ok tomorrow's Batman time. Amazingly we managed to get tickets, despite all the cinemas in town being booked for private screenings and functions.
WALL-E opening 28th August. zzzz. For a show to obtain a 97% rating, i think there must be something special about it. haha.
Sian. Time to bath and lose brain cells at microsoft word thereafter.
Eh i'm quite surprised. It seems that number of people reading my blog is pretty decent. Haha. Thank you for viewing my spectacular crap and nonsense.
Anyway, I went to a condo for tuition today. When i signed in the guest list and observed the "purpose of visit" column, it was chock full of the magic word "tuition".
I was laughing when I heard that TJ isn't having school next week. I remembered the time when RI had this inaugural online learning week where we all could stay at home and study material via the internet. Damn cool la. It was basically a week off school where all of us indulged in Playstation and Sega Saturns (yesyes i know it's Wii, Gamecube, N64, PSP now)
Then again, I notice a similar problem that many of my students face. Let's say they have a problem with a Maths question exists, and despite staring at the uploaded solution on the Internet Portal, they are still left clueless. Here I come, writing down the exact same steps as presented in the solution, with the additional ingredients of pen ink, saliva, a deep husky sound and the occasional circles and arrows and they understand the problem.
2 slightly different situations. But one common problem.
Reliance.
It seems that we humans learn best in the presence of another person. Be it the latter having the responsibility of being a disciplinarian, or a facilitator or an educator, or just being present with intrinsic face value (pun intended), the idea is clear. We need people to supervise or look over us or teach us or simply just be around as an invisible form of motivation.
Unless you are personally sedentary and stone in nature, the power of people around you can do wonders. Hence the clutter of people in Starbucks mugging their asses away, when they can probably save time on the travel and the coffee by studying at home.
Eh wait. I'm potentially guilty of this. Republic Poly should be seeing a foreign entity come end of Nov this year again. Though my main reason is to enjoy the free aircon haha. Oops.
Ok i really have quite a weird timetable. I have Tuesday and Friday free. Woohoo.
Monday 2pm - 10pm straight (break from 4-6pm on odd or even week undecided) Wednesday 2pm-4pm, 6pm - 10pm Thursday 9am - 12pm, 2pm - 4pm
I like i like. MA4230 Matrix Computation MA4260 Stochastic Operations Research DSC4211 Analytical Tools For Consulting EC3303 Econometrics PC1325 Einstein Weirdness (zzzzz) MA99999999999999 HONOURS PROJECT IN GRAPH THEORY (ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ)
I'm not looking forward to PC1325 though. My physics is freaking lousy. If anyone has recommendations on modules, do let me know. I think if i can prove this nonsensical result in my thesis, I'll be a champion. But if I can't prove it, I can go drown myself in pee derived from a human's steady diet of Asparagus.
Huh? School's starting in like 3.5 weeks time. Zhongwen's leaving for London in like 1.5 weeks time. My reservist is in like 5 months time. The Dark Knight opens in like 0.5 weeks time. My parents are leaving for Genting in like 1.5 weeks time. Michelle's leaving for London in like 7.5 weeks time. =(
And I think I got to use the toilet to bomb in like 0.00000001 weeks time. Urh...
Yea. I another new student. Maths of course. If I was tutoring Chinese, you could buy Toto System 7 and probably ace the Group 1 Prize every week for the next century.
Considering the rate at which parents are signing up their children for tuition, I can't help but concur the newspaper article on the tuition frenzy. But I can also understand why the students require assistance in their academic aspects.
1) Insane Common Tests and Examinations
I got a shock when I saw some of the questions that existed in the common tests and prelim papers. If they can even send me into a stupor on rare occasions (yea i'm expecting myself to do every A level question with ease which fortunately has been thus far), then we really think all our JC students are Nashlings and Cauchies and Riemanians. If the exam is an attempt to ensure that the student understands the basic concepts and applications, then the questions present are simply a blatant attempt to leech dry their creative juice, their stamina and undermine their confidence.
A simple analogy is this. The schools are teaching you how to drive a car on automatic transmission and then expect you to drive a F1 car during a night race for examinations.
2) Lack of Exam Strategy
Most of my students always have a tendency to fumble on their graphical calculators (GC). In fact, when schools tweak their questions to maximize the potential of the GC, students are still left clueless, because somewhere along the way, be it lack of practice, or teachers leaving the onus of learning their GCs on their students, they have a tendency to completely forget how to operate the functions and use the functions to their benefit.
Part a Part b Part c phobia. Maths Examinations are full of sub-partitioned questions. Maybe they should put as a reminder to all students on the front of the booklet that you can still try to do Part b and Part c if u mess up Part a along the way. Based on experience, you most probably can add an additional 5 marks to your existing score. (university exams included lol)
3) Disinterest
Of course. When you keep doing integration and differentiation and wonder why on earth do you even do it, when you probably don't even appreciate it's importance in Optimization, Finance, Engineering, Economics, Computing and Statistics. I still think topics like Planes in Vectors, Maclaurin's Series and Complex Numbers can really kill your desire if you don't see it's practical usage in life.
4) Over-reliance
Touchy issue. I always thought that tutors are meant to be facilitators and supplements to additional questions or to assist students in revision for topics they are unsure of. But when we start to supplant the role of the teacher completely, then perhaps the student is better of attending school with me as the Maths teacher than listening to their existing one.
5) "Don't do well for A-Levels, that's it" mentality
nah that stupid a level cert isn't a means to a desirable end. it helps, but only so much. in fact when you go to uni, it's a reset button all over again. i was reading the convocation book for Michelle's year and some people that I know, who have pretty moronic personalities and aren't exceptionally smart in my opinion, end up with a big fat first class honours. while people whom I respect based on my interactions with them, end up bottom heavy.
I guess that's where we tutors come in, in hopes of rectifying points 1 to 3. Hence the surge in demand. For a country whose only resource is brainpower, it's no wonder everyone's placing such a high premium on education. Ironic that it's an intangible commodity, where we tutors are acting as traders and calling a long position on the price of it. Haha.
Anyway solely my opinion. Don't take this post, throw it to the Straits Times Forum or complain about my irregularities or justifications. Or I will sue you like how every American loves doing.
My new 22inch Samsung LCD monitor is obscene. I can do my thesis 2 pages at a time. I can also surf the web with 2 firefox browsers loaded simultaneously. And it's dirt cheap too. $329. To think my initial 19 inch Samsung CRT monitor costs $449 at the time of purchase 4 years ago.
