I usually post cheerful things, but not today. I'm not sure whether to organize this post by subject or by calendar, but let me start by subject.
Topology
We had an in-class midterm Thursday morning. I left 3 out of the 5 questions completely blank. This exam also has a take-home portion, originally due Tuesday but now technically due Thursday. I have answered three of the questions so far and I have worked several hours on each of the other two questions with no results.
One of those two was originally wrong, which I pointed out to our professor (gingerly, since I am usually mistaken about such things), and so he fixed it (hence the new due date). The new question is similar to a question we had in our last homework which I couldn't answer then, either. I can get 10 bonus points for turning in a counterexample to the original statement, which I have written up.
So basically I am up to 60/100 points for this exam, and the maximum I can get (considering the lost points from the in-class part) is 80/100. I have no reason to believe that low scores are OK in this class and I think most people will be able to get the problems I couldn't get.
Algebra
We had an in-class exam Friday afternoon. I wrote correct (I believe) answers for 2.5 out of 5 problems, and a woefully incomplete answer for 1/2 of another problem. I'm expecting around a 50% on this exam. We also have an assignment due Thursday which I haven't even looked at.
Probability
I would have had a meeting with my professor for this reading course on Thursday, but I asked him to postpone it, so we meet tomorrow morning instead. I have four assigned problems this week, of which I have completed 1.5. There is another question that I can tell is extremely easy but I can't find the math to express the question and so I can't possibly give an answer. I haven't even looked at the fourth question.
Normally we would meet again on Thursday by which time I would have read another section of our book and answered the questions for that section, but I can't see that happening at all. I have no idea how much of this the professor will tolerate; he doesn't have a particularly tolerant demeanor.
So basically I feel completely doomed right now. Everything I work on turns to shit. I should note that, unlike in most of my life so far, I am not in this position as a result of slacking off. I've been working hard the entire semester. I studied for both exams and felt reasonably well-prepared for each one. I've taken about three Sundays off this entire semester.
Anyway, that's my life at the moment.
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Hated Professors
Back in 2007, I took "Introduction to Proofs," the class at my alma mater that was designed to transition you from the computational type of math with which most people are familiar to proofs-based theoretical math. It is kind of a grab-bag course at that school, dabbling in proposition logic, (abstract) algebra, analysis, discrete math, etc.
I hated my professor, Dr. J.
Hated him.
He would talk to the class in this sort of angry way all the time. He barely graded our homework. One time he gave us a quiz and then, when he returned it, and someone asked him how to do one of the problems, he couldn't do it on the board. One time he mistakenly declared that "Fish only bite when the moon is full" would translate to "The moon is full implies that the fish are biting" instead of the converse.
Ugh. I hated that guy. He was ugly too.
I did hear from someone else that their proofs class had covered way fewer chapters than ours. So we covered a lot of material, and at the end had to write a paper (ugh!). I wrote about taxicab geometry, which was very interesting for me when I did it. (The taxicab metric has appeared in so many courses since then it's not even funny - including this year in topology.)
Over the years, my hatred of Dr. J faded. I'd see him in the halls or elevator and he was always friendly to me. I guess he remembered me, probably as a good student. He was happy that I was going to grad school. For all I know he was a nice guy after all.
And in the meantime, time after time, these weird "obscure" (to me at that time) topics that we covered in that class came up. When I took my second non-Euclidean geometry course in undergrad, the abstract algebra we'd done in Proofs was really useful. Having covered (very well) the definitions of sets, relations, functions, etc., made them so much easier to understand in future classes. Cardinal numbers didn't show up again until my second semester of grad school, so it's great that I learned about them in there. The Peano axioms showed up in the first semester of grad school and nowhere inbetween.
Did I mention I really did not know the first thing about writing math (as opposed to logic) proofs when I started that class, but totally learned how?
Man, that class was awesome. It was easily one of the most useful classes I ever took. From an outcomes perspective, Dr. J was brilliant. I bet he was one of the best Proofs professors at my school. I bet he still is.
All of this is to say that my feelings about a professor can have very little relationship to how much I am learning or how useful the course is. This is not the only example of me hating someone and then thinking later that they were pretty great, or that I learned a ton. What it tells me is that I should put a lot less stock in my own feelings in situations like this.
I hated my professor, Dr. J.
Hated him.
He would talk to the class in this sort of angry way all the time. He barely graded our homework. One time he gave us a quiz and then, when he returned it, and someone asked him how to do one of the problems, he couldn't do it on the board. One time he mistakenly declared that "Fish only bite when the moon is full" would translate to "The moon is full implies that the fish are biting" instead of the converse.
Ugh. I hated that guy. He was ugly too.
I did hear from someone else that their proofs class had covered way fewer chapters than ours. So we covered a lot of material, and at the end had to write a paper (ugh!). I wrote about taxicab geometry, which was very interesting for me when I did it. (The taxicab metric has appeared in so many courses since then it's not even funny - including this year in topology.)
Over the years, my hatred of Dr. J faded. I'd see him in the halls or elevator and he was always friendly to me. I guess he remembered me, probably as a good student. He was happy that I was going to grad school. For all I know he was a nice guy after all.
And in the meantime, time after time, these weird "obscure" (to me at that time) topics that we covered in that class came up. When I took my second non-Euclidean geometry course in undergrad, the abstract algebra we'd done in Proofs was really useful. Having covered (very well) the definitions of sets, relations, functions, etc., made them so much easier to understand in future classes. Cardinal numbers didn't show up again until my second semester of grad school, so it's great that I learned about them in there. The Peano axioms showed up in the first semester of grad school and nowhere inbetween.
Did I mention I really did not know the first thing about writing math (as opposed to logic) proofs when I started that class, but totally learned how?
Man, that class was awesome. It was easily one of the most useful classes I ever took. From an outcomes perspective, Dr. J was brilliant. I bet he was one of the best Proofs professors at my school. I bet he still is.
All of this is to say that my feelings about a professor can have very little relationship to how much I am learning or how useful the course is. This is not the only example of me hating someone and then thinking later that they were pretty great, or that I learned a ton. What it tells me is that I should put a lot less stock in my own feelings in situations like this.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tricking My Brain
Disclaimer/spoiler alert: The following insights are brought to you by the miracle of introspection, and should not be confused with factual statements about the human brain.
Sitting down to do work for a few hours at a time is very hard for me. Hell, sometimes even sitting for half an hour to do math (which I like better than most kinds of work) is hard for me. I sometimes think that I have ADD, though I can certainly read a novel for hours.
It feels like there is a part of my brain that is fundamentally discontent to sit and work. It feels like a relatively animal part of my brain - not a conscious, smart part. And it is somewhat easily tricked.
I usually listen to music while I work. I can work to a variety of music, but I find that dance music (the kind you'd hear in a club - any kind of dance club) is one of the most effective kinds. It seems to trick my brain into thinking I am having fun and moving around rather than sitting and working. It's like a part of my mind is actually moving and doing something with a rhythm, and gets soothed/tricked into letting me get some work done.
Today, Pandora on my phone was acting up and sounding shitty as it sometimes does, so I switched to Simply Noise, which I haven't tried to work to before. I have an app for it on my phone.
Of the different noises, I like the brown noise the best, and I like to make it oscillate. It sounds like ocean waves to me.Very soothing.
After listening to this for a while and working, I realized it was extremely soothing indeed. It feels very much like it makes that part of my brain think I am actually asleep. That part doesn't seem to mind sleeping - in fact, it's pretty much content to let me sleep forever. It was really an amazing feeling. I think I may try this more often in the future.
Sitting down to do work for a few hours at a time is very hard for me. Hell, sometimes even sitting for half an hour to do math (which I like better than most kinds of work) is hard for me. I sometimes think that I have ADD, though I can certainly read a novel for hours.
It feels like there is a part of my brain that is fundamentally discontent to sit and work. It feels like a relatively animal part of my brain - not a conscious, smart part. And it is somewhat easily tricked.
I usually listen to music while I work. I can work to a variety of music, but I find that dance music (the kind you'd hear in a club - any kind of dance club) is one of the most effective kinds. It seems to trick my brain into thinking I am having fun and moving around rather than sitting and working. It's like a part of my mind is actually moving and doing something with a rhythm, and gets soothed/tricked into letting me get some work done.
Today, Pandora on my phone was acting up and sounding shitty as it sometimes does, so I switched to Simply Noise, which I haven't tried to work to before. I have an app for it on my phone.
Of the different noises, I like the brown noise the best, and I like to make it oscillate. It sounds like ocean waves to me.Very soothing.
After listening to this for a while and working, I realized it was extremely soothing indeed. It feels very much like it makes that part of my brain think I am actually asleep. That part doesn't seem to mind sleeping - in fact, it's pretty much content to let me sleep forever. It was really an amazing feeling. I think I may try this more often in the future.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Small Revelation about Time Management
Grad school life has been pretty great for me so far, but the major thing that I struggle with is getting work done. I don't usually have an actually overwhelming amount of work to do, but I waste a large number of hours each week procrastinating or trying to start working, when if I just worked I would have more free time to do things like read.
I have, however, realized one thing that has made a big difference over the past few weeks, and that is that I really hate doing things at the last minute. When it's "do or die" and you will stay up all night to finish something due the next morning, it feels like some giant metal rod is pressing against you. Sometimes the thought of doing the work is intolerable but, of course, not doing it at all is unthinkable.
The "correct" way to avoid this is to do the work ahead of time, but I sometimes struggle with that. My revelation is that just moving that "last minute" point up by a day has a huge impact. So my current strategy is staying up all night the night before the night before something is due, rather than just the night before.
You would think it wouldn't matter or help. Staying up all night is staying up all night, right? (I've not literally had to stay up all night yet; I'm using the term loosely.) But it actually makes an enormous difference to me. I have that "I am not going to bed until I [more or less] finish this" urgency to keep me going, but without the horrible iron bar feeling. Instead, I have the virtuous and enjoyable feeling of kicking ass by getting something done early. Also, once I get to the point where I have only a little bit left to do, I can leave off and finish up the next day with minimal stress.
It's sort of exciting to have a working, specific strategy to avoid being crushed by things at the last minute.
I have, however, realized one thing that has made a big difference over the past few weeks, and that is that I really hate doing things at the last minute. When it's "do or die" and you will stay up all night to finish something due the next morning, it feels like some giant metal rod is pressing against you. Sometimes the thought of doing the work is intolerable but, of course, not doing it at all is unthinkable.
The "correct" way to avoid this is to do the work ahead of time, but I sometimes struggle with that. My revelation is that just moving that "last minute" point up by a day has a huge impact. So my current strategy is staying up all night the night before the night before something is due, rather than just the night before.
You would think it wouldn't matter or help. Staying up all night is staying up all night, right? (I've not literally had to stay up all night yet; I'm using the term loosely.) But it actually makes an enormous difference to me. I have that "I am not going to bed until I [more or less] finish this" urgency to keep me going, but without the horrible iron bar feeling. Instead, I have the virtuous and enjoyable feeling of kicking ass by getting something done early. Also, once I get to the point where I have only a little bit left to do, I can leave off and finish up the next day with minimal stress.
It's sort of exciting to have a working, specific strategy to avoid being crushed by things at the last minute.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The End
Tonight is my abstract algebra final. I have a take-home part to turn in, and then the final itself is supposed to take about an hour, though we have two hours for it. I'm not as ultra-prepared as I have been for some other tests, but I think I am prepared enough. The take-home part was difficult but I think I'll have close to full credit on it, and I only need a high D or low C on the final in order to have an A in the course.
This is not just a final exam, it is the final exam. Barring the unforeseen, this will be my last act as an undergraduate. My other classes are finished. Sunday is the graduation ceremony, which I am not attending, but after which I will consider myself to have graduated.
Taking my last exam would feel stranger, of course, were I not starting grad school in the Fall. It will be different from this, but will still feature math, homework, exams, and all of that. Leaving my job in a couple of months is going to be weirder than graduating, I think.
I was thinking about my family earlier, the two sides. On my mother's side of the family, everyone goes to college. My grandfather, mother, aunt, and two cousins (which is everyone I know from my side of the family) all have degrees (did my grandmother? I wonder), and my aunt and cousins either have or are working on graduate degrees of some stripe.
College seems more rare on my father's side of my family. My grandfather went to college and seminary, but my grandmother didn't go to college. Of their four children, I believe only one of my aunts has a degree. My father took some college courses but did not graduate. Two of my three cousins started or are about to start college; probably the older has graduated by now (assuming she did graduate).
I have mixed feelings about graduating. It's not really much of an accomplishment for an intelligent person with a middle-class background. You expect it. I had a perfect opportunity to go to my dream school right out of high school, basically for free, and the only reason I didn't get my degree there was that I wasn't mature enough to actually go to classes, do work, study, and so on.
At the same time, it has taken me a number of years to get this degree while working, and I did, over all that time, develop a work ethic (at least towards school), learn how to tackle difficult material, and gain various academic skills, such that I am, these days, a good student. So I do feel a certain sense of accomplishment in finishing something that was initially hard for me. And it was certainly enjoyable as well.
Anyway, tonight is it - the end of my undergraduate career.
This is not just a final exam, it is the final exam. Barring the unforeseen, this will be my last act as an undergraduate. My other classes are finished. Sunday is the graduation ceremony, which I am not attending, but after which I will consider myself to have graduated.
Taking my last exam would feel stranger, of course, were I not starting grad school in the Fall. It will be different from this, but will still feature math, homework, exams, and all of that. Leaving my job in a couple of months is going to be weirder than graduating, I think.
I was thinking about my family earlier, the two sides. On my mother's side of the family, everyone goes to college. My grandfather, mother, aunt, and two cousins (which is everyone I know from my side of the family) all have degrees (did my grandmother? I wonder), and my aunt and cousins either have or are working on graduate degrees of some stripe.
College seems more rare on my father's side of my family. My grandfather went to college and seminary, but my grandmother didn't go to college. Of their four children, I believe only one of my aunts has a degree. My father took some college courses but did not graduate. Two of my three cousins started or are about to start college; probably the older has graduated by now (assuming she did graduate).
I have mixed feelings about graduating. It's not really much of an accomplishment for an intelligent person with a middle-class background. You expect it. I had a perfect opportunity to go to my dream school right out of high school, basically for free, and the only reason I didn't get my degree there was that I wasn't mature enough to actually go to classes, do work, study, and so on.
At the same time, it has taken me a number of years to get this degree while working, and I did, over all that time, develop a work ethic (at least towards school), learn how to tackle difficult material, and gain various academic skills, such that I am, these days, a good student. So I do feel a certain sense of accomplishment in finishing something that was initially hard for me. And it was certainly enjoyable as well.
Anyway, tonight is it - the end of my undergraduate career.
Friday, April 30, 2010
One Down, Two To Go
My math seminar met this morning for the second-to-last time. I was hoping we wouldn't meet during our final exam period (as required by law), and indeed we will not. And I was hoping the homework assigned today would be the last one. Instead, the professor assigned no homework today. ("I know it's the end of the semester," he said.) Next week will be a little bit of a wrap-up plus a show and tell from him about Daubechies wavelets.
Even though not having this last homework is a very small thing, I'm immensely relieved by it. I'll go next week, of course, but as far as having to do actual work, the course is over for me. He did say that if we aren't quite at an A, we can have an extra assignment due finals week to make it up. My average, however, is something in the A+ range, so I can safely skip that.
Whewwwwwwww.
Even though not having this last homework is a very small thing, I'm immensely relieved by it. I'll go next week, of course, but as far as having to do actual work, the course is over for me. He did say that if we aren't quite at an A, we can have an extra assignment due finals week to make it up. My average, however, is something in the A+ range, so I can safely skip that.
Whewwwwwwww.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Exams
This week, I have exams in abstract algebra and advanced calc. Next week is the last week of school. The following week, I'll have finals in those two classes.
The abstract algebra exam is tonight. I'm well-prepared for it, and should do well, though the tests in that class are harder than the class generally is, so I'll still have to think and work hard to do well tonight. I'm on track to get an A in the class, which I'd like to do, especially since I really enjoy the material.
Tomorrow night is the advanced calc test. I'll finish studying for that tonight, but I don't feel very well-prepared for it. There is also a take-home portion due next Monday that I'm not looking forward to. I feel in some ways really done with this class. Of the three test grades (not counting the final), one is dropped, and my other two grades are an 83% and a 92%, so I could let this one go non-catastrophically, but I'll need to know the material for the final exam anyway, so I might as well apply myself and try to do well.
Assuming this test grade is not higher than an 83% (and is thus dropped), I'll need about a 10% on the final exam in order to pass the class with a C (required for graduation), or about a 50% to get a B. It's very unlikely I would get less than a 50%, but I'd hate to scrape by with an F on the final.
My third class, the "seminar" that is not, has becoming increasingly abstruse to me. I still need to finish up the homework that was due last week, that I got stuck on and got some hints in class about, plus this week's homework. I am hoping that we'll only have one more assignment after this, rather than having one due finals week. (We won't have a final exam, at least.) I can usually fake my way through the homeworks; I have about a 98% average in the class so far.
I'm ready for the semester to be over. It still boggles my mind that I'm actually graduating.
The abstract algebra exam is tonight. I'm well-prepared for it, and should do well, though the tests in that class are harder than the class generally is, so I'll still have to think and work hard to do well tonight. I'm on track to get an A in the class, which I'd like to do, especially since I really enjoy the material.
Tomorrow night is the advanced calc test. I'll finish studying for that tonight, but I don't feel very well-prepared for it. There is also a take-home portion due next Monday that I'm not looking forward to. I feel in some ways really done with this class. Of the three test grades (not counting the final), one is dropped, and my other two grades are an 83% and a 92%, so I could let this one go non-catastrophically, but I'll need to know the material for the final exam anyway, so I might as well apply myself and try to do well.
Assuming this test grade is not higher than an 83% (and is thus dropped), I'll need about a 10% on the final exam in order to pass the class with a C (required for graduation), or about a 50% to get a B. It's very unlikely I would get less than a 50%, but I'd hate to scrape by with an F on the final.
My third class, the "seminar" that is not, has becoming increasingly abstruse to me. I still need to finish up the homework that was due last week, that I got stuck on and got some hints in class about, plus this week's homework. I am hoping that we'll only have one more assignment after this, rather than having one due finals week. (We won't have a final exam, at least.) I can usually fake my way through the homeworks; I have about a 98% average in the class so far.
I'm ready for the semester to be over. It still boggles my mind that I'm actually graduating.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Living Under Threat
I made a discovery about myself and my motivations a few months ago in therapy, and I think I wrote about it at the time, but it's worth revisiting because I keep realizing it over and over and it's something I need to remember to apply. And that is that (a) I respond much more strongly to positive than to negative motivations, and yet (b) my natural instinct is to try to motivate myself negatively.
I don't remember, as a child, ever being given positive reasons to do anything. (I mean, of course I was given positive motivations for things that are intrinsically fun, like swimming or going to Disney World. I'm talking here about things one would not naturally want to do.) It was never, "Eat your vegetables so you'll grow big and strong," or, "Think how great you'll feel when your homework is all finished," or, "If you're an honest person then people will trust and respect you." The reason for doing something hard was always the avoidance of some negative outcome like not getting into a good program in school or being disbelieved or being one of those ridiculous children who will only eat hamburgers.
This strikes me now as a bit odd (although possibly not as odd as it actually is).
Last night, I needed to finish the homework for my Seminar class today. I really didn't want to - I wasn't looking forward to puzzling out the proofs I needed to write, and the class doesn't (generally) interest me that much. I really fought myself over it, but there was no way I could justify not turning it in. But I didn't want to do it. But if I didn't do it, then I wouldn't have it, and I'd have to do it later and apologize to Dr. Ruch again and feel bad about it.
Eventually I was able to cajole myself into doing the assignment, which turned out to be really easy once I was willing to put in the required organized effort. And once it was done, I felt amazing! I absolutely love the feeling of having a completed assignement ready to turn in. Also, the proofs turned out to be moderately fun. Overall it was terrifically satisfying and I was really high from it.
And that is how I should have motivated myself, not by pondering how screwed I would be if I didn't do it, and by convincing myself I had no choice (which is pretty much never true, and don't think I don't know it), but by thinking about how much I would enjoy having it done, and how good I would feel about finishing it on time and doing a good job on it. But that type of motivation doesn't often occur to me.
The thing is, after a lifetime of living under threats (my mom's, when I was a kid, and my own internal ones), I am not very responsive to them. Not that many horrible things have ever happened to me as a result of my actions (or inaction), so most of those past threats have turned out to be baloney. Other threats ("I need to lose weight or I'll die of diabetes") are either far in the future or so horrible that they cause me to avoid thinking about the topic at all.
And who wants to live a life of doing things just to avoid some bad outcome? I mean, seriously? I am a descendent of millions of generations of humans and other creatures who survived despite the perilous nature of living, and I live in the safest and happiest time of all (so far). It's no wonder I'm not that easily frightened.
For the most part, if my only motivations for doing something are negative, it better be pretty easy. Wearing a seat belt is a good example of something easy that we only do to avoid something bad. Everything else worth doing has some positive reason behind it - it's satisfying, or remunerative, or improves the quality of one's life in some other way.
So, to hell with threats. I am gonna MESS THESE THREATS UP. I call them out.
I don't remember, as a child, ever being given positive reasons to do anything. (I mean, of course I was given positive motivations for things that are intrinsically fun, like swimming or going to Disney World. I'm talking here about things one would not naturally want to do.) It was never, "Eat your vegetables so you'll grow big and strong," or, "Think how great you'll feel when your homework is all finished," or, "If you're an honest person then people will trust and respect you." The reason for doing something hard was always the avoidance of some negative outcome like not getting into a good program in school or being disbelieved or being one of those ridiculous children who will only eat hamburgers.
This strikes me now as a bit odd (although possibly not as odd as it actually is).
Last night, I needed to finish the homework for my Seminar class today. I really didn't want to - I wasn't looking forward to puzzling out the proofs I needed to write, and the class doesn't (generally) interest me that much. I really fought myself over it, but there was no way I could justify not turning it in. But I didn't want to do it. But if I didn't do it, then I wouldn't have it, and I'd have to do it later and apologize to Dr. Ruch again and feel bad about it.
Eventually I was able to cajole myself into doing the assignment, which turned out to be really easy once I was willing to put in the required organized effort. And once it was done, I felt amazing! I absolutely love the feeling of having a completed assignement ready to turn in. Also, the proofs turned out to be moderately fun. Overall it was terrifically satisfying and I was really high from it.
And that is how I should have motivated myself, not by pondering how screwed I would be if I didn't do it, and by convincing myself I had no choice (which is pretty much never true, and don't think I don't know it), but by thinking about how much I would enjoy having it done, and how good I would feel about finishing it on time and doing a good job on it. But that type of motivation doesn't often occur to me.
The thing is, after a lifetime of living under threats (my mom's, when I was a kid, and my own internal ones), I am not very responsive to them. Not that many horrible things have ever happened to me as a result of my actions (or inaction), so most of those past threats have turned out to be baloney. Other threats ("I need to lose weight or I'll die of diabetes") are either far in the future or so horrible that they cause me to avoid thinking about the topic at all.
And who wants to live a life of doing things just to avoid some bad outcome? I mean, seriously? I am a descendent of millions of generations of humans and other creatures who survived despite the perilous nature of living, and I live in the safest and happiest time of all (so far). It's no wonder I'm not that easily frightened.
For the most part, if my only motivations for doing something are negative, it better be pretty easy. Wearing a seat belt is a good example of something easy that we only do to avoid something bad. Everything else worth doing has some positive reason behind it - it's satisfying, or remunerative, or improves the quality of one's life in some other way.
So, to hell with threats. I am gonna MESS THESE THREATS UP. I call them out.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
It's only 6:45 PM here, but I'm about at the end of my homework-doing rope. I got the abstract algebra homework finished this morning with relative ease, and I have finished two out of six homework problems for advanced calculus, and made a good start on a third, but I can't seem to continue further. Apparently there are limits to my ability to work on math. Who knew?
In other news, I got 5 loads of laundry done this weekend as well, which is pretty good.
Bah.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
My Day
I've been sick most of this week, and have fallen grievously (by my standards) behind in my courses. So I am counting on this weekend as a big catch-up time.
I got up at 8:30, unusual in and of itself. I went to bed at 10:30 last night promising myself a good 12-14 hours of sleep (I needed it), but I seemed ready to get up at 8:30, so I did.
With breaks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I spent nearly all day at my desk doing math. I have to admit that the math was interspersed with web-surfing, which is a very bad habit of mine that is hard to break. Nevertheless, I was at my desk from about 9:30 AM until about 10:30 PM with only a couple of hours of breaks, which means I got a lot done even though I didn't work consistently all day (and the ratio of surfing to work increased as the day wore on).
Here is what I did:
Oh, and about the CV/resume. I was asked to send one to the graduate director of one of the programs I've applied to because they want to submit me for a university-wide fellowship that they think I have a good shot at. So that is very exciting! The professor told me that the resume (he did not call it a CV) did not need to be anything "fancy" so I just buckled down and did it without trying to make it ultra-perfect. There is not that much to say, really. I basically took my regular resume, put academic things on top of the work things, and very concisely summarized the work things so they wouldn't be bored out of their minds by lists of industry-specific software packages I know, etc.
Here is what I hope to do tomorrow:
I got up at 8:30, unusual in and of itself. I went to bed at 10:30 last night promising myself a good 12-14 hours of sleep (I needed it), but I seemed ready to get up at 8:30, so I did.
With breaks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I spent nearly all day at my desk doing math. I have to admit that the math was interspersed with web-surfing, which is a very bad habit of mine that is hard to break. Nevertheless, I was at my desk from about 9:30 AM until about 10:30 PM with only a couple of hours of breaks, which means I got a lot done even though I didn't work consistently all day (and the ratio of surfing to work increased as the day wore on).
Here is what I did:
- Reviewed about five sections of my old calculus textbook to learn/remember what there is to know about power series, Taylor polynomials, and Taylor series, on that level.
- Completed the homework due last Wednesday in Advanced Calc II.
- Wrote my academic-oriented resume (or slightly CV-like document).
Oh, and about the CV/resume. I was asked to send one to the graduate director of one of the programs I've applied to because they want to submit me for a university-wide fellowship that they think I have a good shot at. So that is very exciting! The professor told me that the resume (he did not call it a CV) did not need to be anything "fancy" so I just buckled down and did it without trying to make it ultra-perfect. There is not that much to say, really. I basically took my regular resume, put academic things on top of the work things, and very concisely summarized the work things so they wouldn't be bored out of their minds by lists of industry-specific software packages I know, etc.
Here is what I hope to do tomorrow:
- Finish the abstract algebra homework that is due Tuesday.
- Go over the material I missed in seminar Friday, and start on that homework. (It is due Friday, but I need to start early to give myself a good chance to think about the hard parts between now and then.)
- Get a good start on the advanced calculus homework due Wednesday.
- Get a good night's sleep.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Survey Says...
Today, at my school's request, I took the National Survey of Student Engagement. A screenshot of one of the last pages of the survey:
I am old.
I am old.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Settling In
The first couple of weeks of my semester were a little nerve-wracking, but I seem to be settling in nicely now. I've turned in some homeworks, gotten good grades, mastered some material that originally frightened me, and my easy class is finally getting to some good stuff too. (It is still a little frustrating to sit in a room with students who are vocal about their difficulty in understanding the Euclidean algorithm despite being shown several examples, but I try to remind myself of all the times I am clueless and confused about things that will seem basic later on.)
I am a bit astonished by my progress as a math student over the past few years. It's not so much that I've learned a lot of math as that I've picked up a lot of skills I never had before. I now know how to read a math textbook (i.e., with pencil and paper, writing things down). I approach homework quite differently. I study. I am much better at tackling problems I'm not sure I can do than I was in the past. I am better at writing proofs. I know more Greek letters than ever before. And so on.
Life is good, I tell ya.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
A Math Class of the Second Kind
My third math class this semester is "Senior Mathematics Seminar," which is a 1-hour class that meets once a week and could be about anything. Our particular class is about wavelets, which are like functions with finite absolute area. (In other words, the area under the curve, whether above or below the x-axis, is finite over the reals.) That's my understanding so far, at least.
I realized after the first day of this class that I've experienced two types of math classes, and this is the rarer second type. Of course, this categorization is as suspect as all such attempts, but bear with me, if you please.
I used to think of math courses as going in a line, roughly from arithmetic up through algebra and then calculus. But that's really as far as that particular line seems to go. Beyond that, the field spreads out and you have classes like probability & statistics, linear algebra, etc., that do not go in a specific order. Of course, those classes then spawn their own chains.
But these days a different classification makes more sense to me. Now I see most classes as sort of "tool" classes, where you learn a lot of tools that are broadly applicable (like calculus, linear algebra, set theory, etc.). And then the other classes are more "application" classes (whether they are applied or theoretical) in which you use various kinds of tools to understand some new area. My second geometry course was one of these application-type classes, using a lot of linear and abstract algebra (and a touch of geometry, though not much), and this wavelets course is the same way (so far mainly with respect to calculus and analysis).
At any rate, the class has been all right so far. Our professor has roughly the style and personality of a very toned-down Steve Martin - like maybe Steve Martin playing a math professor in a serious movie. I was confused a lot this past week, and left class feeling like I'd been crying, though of course I did not actually cry, and I've realized that I really need to read the book before class rather than only looking at it afterwards (which is kind of obvious, but not my usual M.O. for math). It looks like we'll only have graded assignments and possibly some kind of small projects later on; there's been no talk of exams. So it should be all right, though it's hard for me to see how I have time for two classes (this one and Advanced Calc II) that require serious thought.
I realized after the first day of this class that I've experienced two types of math classes, and this is the rarer second type. Of course, this categorization is as suspect as all such attempts, but bear with me, if you please.
I used to think of math courses as going in a line, roughly from arithmetic up through algebra and then calculus. But that's really as far as that particular line seems to go. Beyond that, the field spreads out and you have classes like probability & statistics, linear algebra, etc., that do not go in a specific order. Of course, those classes then spawn their own chains.
But these days a different classification makes more sense to me. Now I see most classes as sort of "tool" classes, where you learn a lot of tools that are broadly applicable (like calculus, linear algebra, set theory, etc.). And then the other classes are more "application" classes (whether they are applied or theoretical) in which you use various kinds of tools to understand some new area. My second geometry course was one of these application-type classes, using a lot of linear and abstract algebra (and a touch of geometry, though not much), and this wavelets course is the same way (so far mainly with respect to calculus and analysis).
At any rate, the class has been all right so far. Our professor has roughly the style and personality of a very toned-down Steve Martin - like maybe Steve Martin playing a math professor in a serious movie. I was confused a lot this past week, and left class feeling like I'd been crying, though of course I did not actually cry, and I've realized that I really need to read the book before class rather than only looking at it afterwards (which is kind of obvious, but not my usual M.O. for math). It looks like we'll only have graded assignments and possibly some kind of small projects later on; there's been no talk of exams. So it should be all right, though it's hard for me to see how I have time for two classes (this one and Advanced Calc II) that require serious thought.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Contempt
My abstract algebra class has a clump of students in it who were also in my linear algebra class, and I've noticed that the dislike I felt towards them in linear algebra has carried right over to the new class. I think I actually hold them in contempt, which is definitely uncharitable of me. But I've been thinking about why this is.
I initially thought it was because I view them as stupid. Viewing people as stupid because they are confused in a class, and then finding them contemptible for it, is definitely not an attractive trait. But I don't think it's actually that, because I certainly don't always dislike (much less feel contempt for) other students who seem to have trouble with the material. A lot of people in my advanced calculus class struggle, some noticeably more than I do, and I respect them.
I think there are two things these algebra kids do that I dislike. First of all, they talk to each other helplessly about their difficulties. In advanced calc, the conversations go something like
A: Man, this series stuff is hard.
B: I know, dude. Did you do the homework?
A: Some of it. Did you get #3?
B: Yeah. I talked to Dr. X about it and he said to use [xyz].
A: Oh, duh. That makes sense. I was totally stuck on that.
By contrast, these algebra kids have conversations more like
A: This class is impossible.
B: I know, right!
A: That homework didn't make any sense at all.
B: Totally. There was nothing like that in the notes.
A: I just don't get this kind of stuff.
The other thing they do that bugs me, and this was greatly on display in our last class together, is blame the professor when they are confused. This was the group of people who always got angry after the exams because they didn't feel like they were adequately warned of what kinds of questions would appear (despite our receiving several practice exams that were similar to the real one each time). They seem to view any expectations they can't meet as unfair and wrong.
Most of the time, it doesn't occur to me to blame a professor when I'm confused. I guess I could, if the material were completely out of line with reasonable expectations (like that one stats class Sally took years ago), but generally, I assume it's my own problem to solve. Since these students don't ever seem to mention anything they've tried (like studying, or working extra problems on their own), one gets the sense that they want absolutely everything spoon-fed to them.
I remember once in linear algebra, one of them asked our prof for a recommendation of some sample problems to try at home. She pointed out the relevant section of the textbook, but that wasn't enough - they really wanted to be told specific problems from the section that they should do. I don't really get that.
It's not that I'm such an awesome student, always studying and doing everything that I should in order to understand the material. I'm decent now, but I have really sucked in the past. But I've always known that my sucking was about me, and not about the unfairness of the universe.
I'm starting to feel that in general, the question, "What have you tried?" (or, to yourself, "What could I try?") should be asked more often. I definitely find it a helpful one when I start to feel helpless.
I initially thought it was because I view them as stupid. Viewing people as stupid because they are confused in a class, and then finding them contemptible for it, is definitely not an attractive trait. But I don't think it's actually that, because I certainly don't always dislike (much less feel contempt for) other students who seem to have trouble with the material. A lot of people in my advanced calculus class struggle, some noticeably more than I do, and I respect them.
I think there are two things these algebra kids do that I dislike. First of all, they talk to each other helplessly about their difficulties. In advanced calc, the conversations go something like
A: Man, this series stuff is hard.
B: I know, dude. Did you do the homework?
A: Some of it. Did you get #3?
B: Yeah. I talked to Dr. X about it and he said to use [xyz].
A: Oh, duh. That makes sense. I was totally stuck on that.
By contrast, these algebra kids have conversations more like
A: This class is impossible.
B: I know, right!
A: That homework didn't make any sense at all.
B: Totally. There was nothing like that in the notes.
A: I just don't get this kind of stuff.
The other thing they do that bugs me, and this was greatly on display in our last class together, is blame the professor when they are confused. This was the group of people who always got angry after the exams because they didn't feel like they were adequately warned of what kinds of questions would appear (despite our receiving several practice exams that were similar to the real one each time). They seem to view any expectations they can't meet as unfair and wrong.
Most of the time, it doesn't occur to me to blame a professor when I'm confused. I guess I could, if the material were completely out of line with reasonable expectations (like that one stats class Sally took years ago), but generally, I assume it's my own problem to solve. Since these students don't ever seem to mention anything they've tried (like studying, or working extra problems on their own), one gets the sense that they want absolutely everything spoon-fed to them.
I remember once in linear algebra, one of them asked our prof for a recommendation of some sample problems to try at home. She pointed out the relevant section of the textbook, but that wasn't enough - they really wanted to be told specific problems from the section that they should do. I don't really get that.
It's not that I'm such an awesome student, always studying and doing everything that I should in order to understand the material. I'm decent now, but I have really sucked in the past. But I've always known that my sucking was about me, and not about the unfairness of the universe.
I'm starting to feel that in general, the question, "What have you tried?" (or, to yourself, "What could I try?") should be asked more often. I definitely find it a helpful one when I start to feel helpless.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Class Report: Advanced Calc II
I wasn't going to blog about this class, but I actually had a reader request, if you can believe that.
At any rate, we are in a new classroom this semester, but otherwise the course is much the same as Advanced Calc I - same professor, a subset of the students from last semester, and a very similar syllabus. There are two new students, including Ed.
The one thing the prof changed on the syllabus is how he handles late work. Last semester he gave a 5% bonus to homework turned in on time, and hypothetically took 5% off for every day it was late (so you'd get full credit for turning it in one day late). But I don't think he ever actually gave a penalty, and he would accept things up to a week or two late, which resulted, naturally, in some people getting pretty far behind on homework. This semester the on-time bonus is only 2%, and he will not take homework more than 2 days late except by prior arrangement. In practice, I suspect this means he'll take late work anyway (which he seems to suspect as well). I only turned in one assignment late last semester (and it was only one day late, I think), so I don't think this policy change will affect me.
I enjoy the style of this class a lot. It's a straight-up lecture that is very well organized, and the professor has excellent handwriting and a great presentation style. Partly because this course is taken mainly by math majors who are not secondary math ed folks, it seems to be a sharper crowd than I've seen in some of my other courses.
We get weekly homework that consists of six problems to turn in and several more problems that we don't turn in. I did the "several more problems" on the first couple of homeworks last semester, and then stopped doing them. I typically find it hard enough to finish the six mandatory problems every week; the other time I put into the class is more profitably spent reviewing definitions and proofs.
So that's Advanced Calc II.
At any rate, we are in a new classroom this semester, but otherwise the course is much the same as Advanced Calc I - same professor, a subset of the students from last semester, and a very similar syllabus. There are two new students, including Ed.
The one thing the prof changed on the syllabus is how he handles late work. Last semester he gave a 5% bonus to homework turned in on time, and hypothetically took 5% off for every day it was late (so you'd get full credit for turning it in one day late). But I don't think he ever actually gave a penalty, and he would accept things up to a week or two late, which resulted, naturally, in some people getting pretty far behind on homework. This semester the on-time bonus is only 2%, and he will not take homework more than 2 days late except by prior arrangement. In practice, I suspect this means he'll take late work anyway (which he seems to suspect as well). I only turned in one assignment late last semester (and it was only one day late, I think), so I don't think this policy change will affect me.
I enjoy the style of this class a lot. It's a straight-up lecture that is very well organized, and the professor has excellent handwriting and a great presentation style. Partly because this course is taken mainly by math majors who are not secondary math ed folks, it seems to be a sharper crowd than I've seen in some of my other courses.
We get weekly homework that consists of six problems to turn in and several more problems that we don't turn in. I did the "several more problems" on the first couple of homeworks last semester, and then stopped doing them. I typically find it hard enough to finish the six mandatory problems every week; the other time I put into the class is more profitably spent reviewing definitions and proofs.
So that's Advanced Calc II.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Class Report: Abstract Algebra
Tonight was the first meeting of my abstract algebra class. So far, I have very good feelings about the class. Some good things:
The classroom for this class is sort of awful - comparatively long front-to-back and cramped side-to-side, with those desks I hate. It's also excessively warm and airless. But that's me being finicky about spaces.
- The professor is very charming. (It may seem trivial but I really do appreciate this.)
- She is going to give a quiz every Thursday that is all definitions. I think it's really smart to emphasize definitions in a class like this. If you don't know the real math definition of something you can't do proofs, etc., with it.
- Expectations seem high so far. For instance, the material I was afraid would be reviewed in this class (some basic definitions I've had in a lot of math classes) is stuff we are to review on our own and be prepared to take a quiz on on Thursday.
The classroom for this class is sort of awful - comparatively long front-to-back and cramped side-to-side, with those desks I hate. It's also excessively warm and airless. But that's me being finicky about spaces.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
The Impending Semester
My schedule for next semester (starting Tuesday Jan 19) is as follows:
MW 7:00-8:15PM - Advanced Calc II
TR 5:30-6:45PM - Abstract Algebra I
F 10:00-10:50AM - Math Senior Seminar
It is going to suck a bit having to go to school every day of the week, and that Friday time is a killer as far as work goes. But at least my weeknight classes are 75 minutes instead of 110 like last semester; that should make those a lot easier as far as attendance goes.
I'm really looking forward to the second half of advanced calculus. I enjoyed the first half a lot, both the material and the professor, who is one of the best I've had. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the familiar people from last semester. Also, Ed is taking the class with me this time, so that will be fun too.
Abstract algebra is a great topic - I listed algebra as an interest in most of my grad school statements of purpose - but I'm a bit concerned that I already know so much of it from my other classes (especially Proofs and the geometry class I took a year ago). It's not always fun when a lot of a class is a review. But it should be proofs-intensive, and that is always exciting. I hope there is a lot of homework. (I always feel this way before and after the semester, but never during.) The professor scheduled to teach it has excellent reviews, so I have high hopes for her.
I'm not sure exactly what to expect from the Friday seminar. There are only six students enrolled, which is fun for any class, but especially good for a seminar, assuming the class actually has that type of format. I'm not sure how a seminar works in math, but that's probably just ignorance on my part. The topic is wavelets. We'll see.
Anyway, I'm pretty ready. I just need to clean my room (I try to do this between semesters so it's not chaotic for homework) and clean out my school binder.
MW 7:00-8:15PM - Advanced Calc II
TR 5:30-6:45PM - Abstract Algebra I
F 10:00-10:50AM - Math Senior Seminar
It is going to suck a bit having to go to school every day of the week, and that Friday time is a killer as far as work goes. But at least my weeknight classes are 75 minutes instead of 110 like last semester; that should make those a lot easier as far as attendance goes.
I'm really looking forward to the second half of advanced calculus. I enjoyed the first half a lot, both the material and the professor, who is one of the best I've had. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the familiar people from last semester. Also, Ed is taking the class with me this time, so that will be fun too.
Abstract algebra is a great topic - I listed algebra as an interest in most of my grad school statements of purpose - but I'm a bit concerned that I already know so much of it from my other classes (especially Proofs and the geometry class I took a year ago). It's not always fun when a lot of a class is a review. But it should be proofs-intensive, and that is always exciting. I hope there is a lot of homework. (I always feel this way before and after the semester, but never during.) The professor scheduled to teach it has excellent reviews, so I have high hopes for her.
I'm not sure exactly what to expect from the Friday seminar. There are only six students enrolled, which is fun for any class, but especially good for a seminar, assuming the class actually has that type of format. I'm not sure how a seminar works in math, but that's probably just ignorance on my part. The topic is wavelets. We'll see.
Anyway, I'm pretty ready. I just need to clean my room (I try to do this between semesters so it's not chaotic for homework) and clean out my school binder.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Fenceless Confusion
Every Monday and Wednesday when I go to my class in the science building, I park in a corner lot, walk up to and then through the North Classroom building, and when I emerge, walk around the gigantic fence that has surrounded the Science building for probably about two years while they've been working on the new building.
Monday night I came out of North Classroom and...what? Was I in the wrong place? Everything looked different.
Oh. The fence was gone. Amazing! Now you can walk right up to the new science building:
Later, when I came out of class, I headed down the sidewalk, and automatically turned left where the fence has a corner, except...there was still no fence, and I was automatically dodging nothing.
So I walked over to the new building instead and looked through the windows. They're not quite done finishing the inside, and it's not open yet (to judge by all the signs direly warning you not to go in), but it looks pretty great. One thing I was happy to see was that at least the classrooms I could look in had tables with simple chairs rather than one-piece desks. I find that type of arrangement far more comfortable.
Hopefully at least one of my three classes next semester will be in there so I get to experience it before I graduate. It's the least I deserve for having to walk around that fence for years.
Monday night I came out of North Classroom and...what? Was I in the wrong place? Everything looked different.
Oh. The fence was gone. Amazing! Now you can walk right up to the new science building:
Later, when I came out of class, I headed down the sidewalk, and automatically turned left where the fence has a corner, except...there was still no fence, and I was automatically dodging nothing.
So I walked over to the new building instead and looked through the windows. They're not quite done finishing the inside, and it's not open yet (to judge by all the signs direly warning you not to go in), but it looks pretty great. One thing I was happy to see was that at least the classrooms I could look in had tables with simple chairs rather than one-piece desks. I find that type of arrangement far more comfortable.Hopefully at least one of my three classes next semester will be in there so I get to experience it before I graduate. It's the least I deserve for having to walk around that fence for years.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Wavelets
When I looked up my professor for next semester's "Senior Math Seminar" (the 1-hour class I have on Fridays), I saw that he had written a book about wavelets. And apparently that is going to be the topic for our class, and we'll be using his book.
I don't think I've had a textbook written by my actual professor since...well, Rice. And I only know I had one at Rice because of Jason's famous comment (on a course evaluation he happened to be present for) that the lectures were much better than the textbook (which had been written by the professor). And come to think of it, that may have been Sally's class, so I'm not sure I've ever had this particular experience.
I don't think I've had a textbook written by my actual professor since...well, Rice. And I only know I had one at Rice because of Jason's famous comment (on a course evaluation he happened to be present for) that the lectures were much better than the textbook (which had been written by the professor). And come to think of it, that may have been Sally's class, so I'm not sure I've ever had this particular experience.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Next Semester
I was only going to have two classes (one 3-hour and one 1-hour) next semester, but when I checked the schedule, I saw an opportunity to take Abstract Algebra, which, along with Differential Equations, is one of the most noticeable courses missing from my schooling so far. As of this moment, I am registered for the following classes next semester:
Advanced Calc II (Mon/Wed 7:00-8:15 PM)
This is the continuation of my current class, but unlike my current one, it is 3 hours instead of 4, which will be easier on the schedule.
Abstract Algebra I (Tue/Thu 5:30-6:45 PM)
Yes, once again I will be going to school every day of the week. But wait! There's more!
Senior Mathematics Seminar (Fri 10:00-10:50 AM)
This is a one-hour course required of all math majors. I've looked up past syllabi, and it looks like the professor just picks a topic of some kind and you do projects or something like that. It's convenient that this only meets once, for an hour, and I'm glad it's not on the same day as any of my other classes, but of course it's a bit inconvenient to go to campus in the middle of my morning at work.
Anyway, it should be a fun semester. It's technically 1 less credit hour than I have this semester, despite that I'm taking one more class. We'll see. And, of course, I am supposed to graduate at the end.
Advanced Calc II (Mon/Wed 7:00-8:15 PM)
This is the continuation of my current class, but unlike my current one, it is 3 hours instead of 4, which will be easier on the schedule.
Abstract Algebra I (Tue/Thu 5:30-6:45 PM)
Yes, once again I will be going to school every day of the week. But wait! There's more!
Senior Mathematics Seminar (Fri 10:00-10:50 AM)
This is a one-hour course required of all math majors. I've looked up past syllabi, and it looks like the professor just picks a topic of some kind and you do projects or something like that. It's convenient that this only meets once, for an hour, and I'm glad it's not on the same day as any of my other classes, but of course it's a bit inconvenient to go to campus in the middle of my morning at work.
Anyway, it should be a fun semester. It's technically 1 less credit hour than I have this semester, despite that I'm taking one more class. We'll see. And, of course, I am supposed to graduate at the end.
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