i hate trig, part 2

[Hooahguy]

so my last math test before the final exam is tomorrow, and guess whats the topic?
TRIG.

i spent over 4 hours studying, only know 1/3 of the material even remotely.
i am so for this test. i just hope it doesnt mess up my grade too much, i have an 81.3 average in the class.

[Subotan]

Trisg isn't that bad.

Certainly not Core 2 Trig for A Level.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Threads like this remind me why I am glad I never have to do sums anymore.

Unless I am watching Countdown, of which I am the champion...

Well not with words, I never get more than 4 it seems... but with the numbers round anway.

[LittleGrizzly]

I remember the word trigonometry... even using it and i don't think I minded it... at a loss to even remember what its for now...

Countdown is solid, im proud if I manage to get a 5, the numbers are usually pretty easy though...

[A Nerd]

I'm not a math wiz, but I was quite good at trig. Calculus however, that's were it all went downhill. Bye bye computer science major.

[Centurion1]

im in calc bc just took ap exam. pm if you need any help and use a website,

www.physicsforums.com if you have any problems free and the same comfort of a vbulletin experience of the .org

seriously go ahead pm me i need to brush up on my trig. my teacher HAS to give us an exam even though we have done an ap exam (stupid administration) so its on old material.

and that website is really helpful i could use it in college probably as well.

[Megas Methuselah]

I NEVER HAVE TO TAKE ANOTHER MATH CLASS AGAIN EVER. CALCULUS FROM MY FIRST YEAR HAS BEEN FORGOTTEN TWO YEARS AGO* AND I AM EXCEEDINGLY HAPPY.

*Damn, that makes me feel old.

[Centurion1]

*ahem* quite

[Hooahguy]

i have to take Stat next year, but i hear its easy.

[Subotan]

i have to take Stat next year, but i hear its easy.

Well, you hear wrong.

[Secura]

Ugh, trig... I'll never be able to get SOH CAH TOA out of my head for as long as I live. >.<

I NEVER HAVE TO TAKE ANOTHER MATH CLASS AGAIN EVER.

Ha, I thought this too, but you'd be surprised.

In the modern workplace, at least in the UK, you need to keep your knowledge of maths and English up to date... if your qualifications in the two subjects were acquired longer than five years ago, then you have to do some refresher course rubbish to ensure that you've not forgotten the basics... stuff like spelling, punctuation, grammar, calculating percentages, Pythagoras (cos that totally has real-life application, "oh look, a triangle!"), BODMAS... stuff that I would have thought people never forget and that everyone learns, but in the event that you have forgotten/don't know/suck at their exams, they will shove you into a class to brush up. >.<

I took my GCSEs in 2003 (A* in English Language, B in Maths), and then was told I'd have to take an exam anyway even though I was insistent that there was no need; I'm not usually one for gloating, but getting 100% on both exams was something nice to rub in the faces of the JobCentre's pen-pushers. I would have thought going to university was evidence enough that I at least didn't need to take the English one. ¬_¬

[Viking]

cos(x)^2 + sin(x)^2 = 1 is totally my favourite identity, which one's yours?

[Subotan]

Ha, I thought this too, but you'd be surprised.

In the modern workplace, at least in the UK, you need to keep your knowledge of maths and English up to date... if your qualifications in the two subjects were acquired longer than five years ago, then you have to do some refresher course rubbish to ensure that you've not forgotten the basics... stuff like spelling, punctuation, grammar, calculating percentages, Pythagoras (cos that totally has real-life application, "oh look, a triangle!"), BODMAS... stuff that I would have thought people never forget and that everyone learns, but in the event that you have forgotten/don't know/suck at their exams, they will shove you into a class to brush up. >.<

I thought that too, so I dropped Maths for AS once I got an A at GCSE. I then found I liked economics and wanted to do it at Uni, so I had to drop German A2 and pick up Maths AS. It's worked well for me, although it wa hard at first.

cos(x)^2 + sin(x)^2 = 1 is totally my favourite identity, which one's yours?

a^2=b^2+c^2-2bcCosA is fun

[Centurion1]

Psh subordinate stats isn't that hard

[Rhyfelwyr]

I'll never be able to get SOH CAH TOA out of my head for as long as I live.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Memories of my maths teachers nasal whine are flooding back to me...

[Subotan]

Psh subordinate stats isn't that hard

Maybe not hard, but so mind-numbingly dull and time consuming that you wish they were hard. At least they'd be interesting then.

[gaelic cowboy]

Trig hmm if only sums would stay that easy take for instance Linear Algebra now there is a boggle.

[Subotan]

Binomial Expansion anyone?

[gaelic cowboy]

Binomial Expansion anyone?

Uhh just thinking of it brings all the horror back to me the mind wanders I never wish to see any of it again.

The worst is when its an easyish Laplace surprisingly handy but very long far too easy to make a silly mistake in and matrices even handier but even easier to make a silly mistake.

Most the problems follow handy rules but then you end up adding 2+2 and get five cos you were wandering and the whole sums wrong and you cant see where.

Here is a thing I found on the tinterwebby to lighten the mood

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington engineering mid-term. The answer was so "profound" that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn't ceased...
Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote Proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let us look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year, "...that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.", and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze."

This student received the only A.

- Unknown

[A Nerd]

Philosophy is WAY more sexy than mathematics, I would give it an A too. I've known it to snow in hell...

[drone]

Maybe not hard, but so mind-numbingly dull and time consuming that you wish they were hard. At least they'd be interesting then.

As a comp sci major, I had to take both a Probability class, and a Statistics class. Taught by the Math department. Combinatorics as well, but that was kind of fun. Prob/Stats is for actuaries, but the theory is supposedly useful for network/data comms. Brutally boring.

Drink numbs the pain...

[Crazed Rabbit]

[B]The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington engineering mid-term. The answer was so "profound" that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn't ceased...
Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote Proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let us look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added.

Well that simply confirms my poor opinion of UW engineering*. Or whoever wrote that. Boyle's law is for situations with constant temperatures (and constant mass). A much more appropriate equation would be the Ideal Gas Law, ( PV = nRT ) which provides for changing temperature and mass.

Ugh, trig... I'll never be able to get SOH CAH TOA out of my head for as long as I live.

Don't worry; I've forgotten what you're talking about.

CR
* I am aware this is an anecdote.
EDIT: Indeed, snopes says it dates to a well regarded scientist circa 1920.

[Hooahguy]

well the math test is over.
it wasnt as bad as i thought, i think i may have gotten 2 wrong, but thats part of a 7 question test.
so im not so sure... but he does give half-credit.
but at least its over.

[A Nerd]

7 questions?! They must have been incredibly detailed! It's been a long time since I took math, and never a seven question exam! Good luck to you!

[Hooahguy]

most of our test are 10 questions.

[A Nerd]

Wow! A lot has changed since I was in school! I remember I took a calculus test during my senior year of high school, I wanted to drop the class at the beginning of the semester after a disasterous couple of weeks of pre-calc my junior year and those arduous few days of my senior year (why I still opted to take calculus I don't know), anyway, I took a test one day and didn't know anything by way of answers for the entire exam, as far as I know I wrote gibberish, but I managed to get a low C. I always thought it was a pity-pass so the teacher didn't look bad. I honestly don't think I subconsiously knew any of the answers. No point or moral to the story, just felt like rambling. I should have majored in English!

[Subotan]

Calculus is nowhere near as hard as people say it is, certainly not when compared to other kinds of maths.

[A Nerd]

Mabey to some, but I had no idea what I was doing. I could blame it on the teacher, which I have been known to do, but I have always been more at interpretative course studies than the more rigid and exacting ones. If you say that mathematics can be interpretative in its own right than that proves my point. Much easier to interpret a poem than a mathematical equasion. At least in my experience.

[gaelic cowboy]

Mabey to some, but I had no idea what I was doing. I could blame it on the teacher, which I have been known to do, but I have always been more at interpretative course studies than the more rigid and exacting ones. If you say that mathematics can be interpretative in its own right than that proves my point. Much easier to interpret a poem than a mathematical equasion. At least in my experience.

No I disagree maths has one way to solve a question a poem can have several interpretations the basic maths we all know even up to uni level is not going to change anytime soon.

[A Nerd]

Cool! I don't feel so dumb now! :)