[jhan523]

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

* Watches as Mowicz constructs a spaceship out of math, tears a hole in the universe and flys away to another universe where Pi equals exactly 3 *

Changing constants? Do you think that different universes have different laws? That would be pretty cool ^-^ But kind of confusing... because in order to travel between universes, wouldn't the laws have to be the same?

[Mowicz]

No one knows because you'd need an external view of our universe to make such a conclusion.

(Kind of like how in order to define a 'perpendicular line' you need to look in a 2-D plane, even though a line is a 1-D object)

*Watches Dillon's amusement as he discovers his ridiculous comment was taken seriously*

[deadpool]

PS. If you want to go into Econ or Finance, make sure you are taking as much math as possible. Upper year Econ becomes intermediate calculus and I have seen countless people fail exams simply because they don't have a strong calculus background.

[MacEng]

The Math Help Centre (located in the basement of Hamilton Hall) is extremely helpful! Free tutoring!

http://www.math.mcmaster.ca/undergra...pin_center.php

[Marlowe]

Originally Posted by Mowicz

"The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close up." ~ Chuck Palahniuk

First off- Chuck Palahniuk is my absolute favourite writer. No one else even comes close to matching his style.

Secondly, for all the math fans out there: http://www.mathstat.uottawa.ca/~rsmith/Zombies.pdf An extremely interesting use of math, and basic enough that its not scary to first years (Or at least, the math isn't scary. The concept of a zombie outbreak on the other hand...)

All credit to Temara.

[mellye]

Yay! Mowicz approves my article! I feel slightly honoured. I could die now. HAHA.

[huzaifa47]

Originally Posted by Mowicz

"The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close up." ~ Chuck Palahniuk

Now I know you're not condoning we neglect the big picture now, are you Huzaifa? :p

And I never said anything about parallel universes...I simply used the mathematical jargon "Universe of Discourse" (which is just a fancy way of saying "Everything that's true, given my assumptions")

---------------

Dear Esteemed Reverend of honourable numerical jargon.

This entity was merely implying that a decent majority of people who aren't that comfortable with math might be alienated by words like "axiom" and "math is like a universe" and so on! The everyday Jim Bob doesn't get mathematical jargon, instead for him it represents everything he doesn't like about maths I know it might be hard for you to understand though

p.s: Did anyone get the Chuck Palahniuk Reference?

[Mowicz]

I'm not sure whether or not to take that as an insult (since it sounds like one :p) or rely on my better judgment, knowing it's you and just assume it's a snarky response. :p

I agree entirely, that people would be intimidated if I were to go around and give a full blown jargony sentence like this: "The fundamental group of the projective plane is the free group on one generator, with one relation. The fundamental group of the torus is the direct product of the infinite cyclic group with itself...thus, since these are not isomorphic groups, the projective plane and the torus are different topological objects." See the difference? You'll note I never really burst into technical jargon like that...though I could have. :p I'm definitely the type to get excited enough.

No, what I did was introduce the terminology in context. Specifically, in a context that implies their meaning because they aren't very technical words, just definitions.

"It comes down to axioms: Things which are assumed true without proof determine what a mathematician is working with."

That's how you teach someone a new word after all...we do it regularly, and it's how our vocabulary grows. You don't restrict your vocabulary just because someone may not know or appreciate one of the words you're using...neither am I.

[huzaifa47]

Originally Posted by Mowicz

I'm not sure whether or not to take that as an insult (since it sounds like one :p) or rely on my better judgment, knowing it's you and just assume it's a snarky response. :p

I agree entirely, that people would be intimidated if I were to go around and give a full blown jargony sentence like this: "The fundamental group of the projective plane is the free group on one generator, with one relation. The fundamental group of the torus is the direct product of the infinite cyclic group with itself...thus, since these are not isomorphic groups, the projective plane and the torus are different topological objects." See the difference? You'll note I never really burst into technical jargon like that...though I could have. :p I'm definitely the type to get excited enough.

No, what I did was introduce the terminology in context. Specifically, in a context that implies their meaning because they aren't very technical words, just definitions.

"It comes down to axioms: Things which are assumed true without proof determine what a mathematician is working with."

That's how you teach someone a new word after all...we do it regularly, and it's how our vocabulary grows. You don't restrict your vocabulary just because someone may not know or appreciate one of the words you're using...neither am I.

LOL if you are reffering to the first line; you still didn't get the Chuck Palahniuk reference yet did you?

hahah I was just saying that from my personal experience, once things get a bit to complicated regarding technical jargon people just wave the white flag , I've personally been through it :S After that point they simply give up, its a pretty sad situation; see with stuff like philosophy even if it is complicated at first people can use spark notes or re-read it or get someone to explain in layman's terms! But Maths is a nightmare to teach because only very very few special teachers have the ability to make it simple :(

It's similar to student apathy threshhold, but that's another story.....

And as for my snarkiness here: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Myers-B...Indicator/INTJ

#6,#8 & #10 Soo In a way I can state that I never really had a choice I was destined to be a pure INTJ which is like less then 1% of the population *shrugs*

[Marlowe]

I definitely don't get the reference... I haven't read Pygmy yet though, if its from that. There is Reverend Godless in Haunted, but I don't recall that specific mantra from his story. Survivor maybe?

Now its going to bug me, lol.

[lawleypop]

Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

I definitely don't get the reference... I haven't read Pygmy yet though, if its from that. There is Reverend Godless in Haunted, but I don't recall that specific mantra from his story. Survivor maybe?

Now its going to bug me, lol.

Wikipedia.

[~*Sara*~]

How did this quiz results topic start on a "Calculus" thread XD. Back to the "Myers-Briggs" thread! XD

[huzaifa47]

Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

I definitely don't get the reference... I haven't read Pygmy yet though, if its from that. There is Reverend Godless in Haunted, but I don't recall that specific mantra from his story. Survivor maybe?

Now its going to bug me, lol.

It's Pygmy You should really get its ASAP! Its ridiculously good, it takes a couple of attempts to figure out though with its language(some type of engrish)

[Marlowe]

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

It's Pygmy You should really get its ASAP! Its ridiculously good, it takes a couple of attempts to figure out though with its language(some type of engrish)

I reserved a copy at my library at the beginning of the summer but still haven't gotten it. :( I was kindof disappointed with Snuff, so its nice to here he's back on track.