i. Growing up, my father desperately tried to instill in me a fearlessness of things mechanical. If there were tools to be used, I was to be there learning these Extremely Valuable Life Lessons of tablesaw operation or how to change a flat tire or the art of roof reshingle-ry. As a child who clutched to proper femininity like my gender life raft, I
(
Read more... )
Comments 29
I hate math, though. It's a theoretical structure that doesn't appeal to me like a linguistic or musical theory structure would.
---
Chelle
Reply
You're definitely right. It totally is a whole different theoretical structure. It's a whole 'nother world out there, with hard and fast rules, and without the troubles of nuance! It's kind of lovely in a way that everything mathematical can be explained according to the exact same rules, over and over. Part of me almost wishes that everything were like that, until I remember, wait! I hate empiricism!
Reply
Which essentially leaves me with two questions. 1. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 2. I used to know this?!
from wikipedia.org:In geometry, a vertex (Latin: corner; plural vertices) is a corner of a polygon (where two sides meet) or of a polyhedron (where three or more faces and edges meet).if you talk it out in your head, it's not that bad ( ... )
Reply
Pam, with practice you’ll become a pro at these questions because it’s all..what? grade 7 math? It just takes some refreshing and getting used to the sorts of questions that get asked because once you’ve solved a few hundred you’ll see that they’re very repetitive and all sorta require the same kind of intuitive thinking. You’re really not going to get any mathematically complex problems on the GRE, so it’s just a matter of getting your head around it and thinking simple. Too bad you’re not in Ottawa anymore because I have a sick obsession with doing these sorts of problems, and we could spend afternoons on math review. How fun does that sound? :(
When/why are you taking the GRE?
Reply
but i haven't gotten an A+ for math in over 12 years, so yay for me! i feel like lisa simpson, being graded well (on a math problem) is like a good drug. :P
this arithmetic matrices calculator is awesome.
Reply
Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying ;)
That calculator is cute, but IMO matrices are only useful insofar as they help me kill everyone at Sudoku, which is itself only useful because I've decided that breaking Sudoku is the key to solving the mystery of NP-complete problems, which will win me a million bucks and hopefully a mention on Numb3rs.
Reply
Reply
Reply
But..good luck! And from what I've heard/read, I wouldn't get too stressed out over the math section, because if you're applying to a PhD program that clearly doesn't need math I don't think they'll really pour over all your math problems. Although I could be wrong.
Also, as per my zine, I also wish I knew more about mechanics/fixing things. My grandfather on my dad's side was a watchmaker! He built and repaired clocks and watches as a hobby, so cool.
Reply
Hehe. I definitely remember you mentioning that and being fully in support of it as a determining factor! Unfortunately, once you start looking down south for your pedagogical needs, you sadly lose the ability to be choosy about standardized test requirements. Though I'm admittedly putting a minimal amount of effort into studying and preparation. I'm kind of hoping that I'll get to York and decide I love it there and want to stay for my PhD so the GRE will be in vain anyway.
Reply
i. i know what you are talking about with bike stuff. i can't fix everything on it, but biking all over canada left me with some hefty knowledge that has left me very empowered. the funny thing is that one sexist asshole at a bike shop could take that away from me in an instant.
ii. draw it out. always draw math pictures. the "o" is the centre, the vertex is ... whatever they said. YOU CAN DO IT!!!
i have complete and utter faith in you.
Reply
I definitely wish I could find a lady friend nearby to teach me bike stuff, or learn about bike stuff with me. It's HARD learning on your own. And actually, sexist asshole dudes at bike shops is basically the exact reason I vowed a long time ago that I needed to learn this stuff myself. It definintely does make a person feel rotten. In Ottawa, basically my choices for bike repair were either to go to the shop owned by a guy who was generally a racist/sexist and treated me like a moron, or to go to the shop where the owner stared at my boobs the whole time and treated me like a moron.
And I kinda hate that those seem to always be the only options we have unless we learn to fix stuff ourselves, because all indications that Asshole Bike Shop Dude Syndrome is prevalent the world over, huh?
Reply
Leave a comment