Marginal Notes

Jul 24, 2006 23:41

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... )

Leave a comment

Comments 29

radio_supply July 25 2006, 06:05:59 UTC
I like mechanics. My family has a bit of a history with them (my LJ username is the name of Radio Supply Inc., my grandpa's former radio/tech warehouse in Regina.)

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

ageofscience July 25 2006, 16:50:10 UTC
If only we lived in the same city and you could teach me! I would really like to be less... completely ignorant of how things work. I think knowledge of mechanics and fixing stuff also gives one some manner of cyberfeminist cred, no?

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


a_clear_job July 25 2006, 14:32:26 UTC
Vertex Q of square OPQR is on a circle with the center O. If the area of the square is 8, what is the area of the circle?

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

birdflew July 25 2006, 16:08:42 UTC
A+ for you.
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

a_clear_job July 25 2006, 17:03:23 UTC
hey, are you saying my math level is only grade 7?! :P i'll have you know i took finite and calculus back when Ontario Academic Credits still existed!!! heheh. honestly, the only reason i posted the wiki entry for vertex is because i had to look it up, being unsure at my memory of what it meant. fortunately, my initial guess was correct, and the rest of the equation follows logically, because, yes, you do in fact learn PiR² and the Pythagorean theorem in grade 7 (in fact i think it was grade 6 for me).

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

birdflew July 26 2006, 06:18:34 UTC
hey, are you saying my math level is only grade 7?!

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


takethatrussia July 25 2006, 16:41:54 UTC
i saw your journal thru a mutual friends and i added you. i hope you do not mind. rose

Reply

ageofscience July 25 2006, 17:08:14 UTC
Not at all! I have no objection to friendly faces!

Reply


allscrapedup July 25 2006, 17:06:28 UTC
Haha, this post made me remember that one of the determining factors when it came to my grad school choices was whether or not I had to write the GREs to apply. I hope to boycott them for as long as possible. In fact, maybe I will try and research why they are pointless and a waste of time and money.

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

ageofscience July 25 2006, 17:27:56 UTC
Totally! And you put it very well when you were talking about wanting to learn in different ways. And I love how our grandparents' professions always seem so amazing and novel compared to the soul-sucking office jobs we all have nowadays. I guess that's what we get for abolishing (or, automating?) the trades. Watchmaking is such a good example of that! And also funny, because back in highschool when I was really into Marx, clock/watch making was always my pet example of why capitalist modes of production are oppressive :)

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


ivytheadventure July 25 2006, 17:29:35 UTC
doodie,
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

ageofscience July 25 2006, 20:25:24 UTC
I had no idea you'd done so much biking! Even more things we could have bonded over in Edmonton, if only we'd known!

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

Up