h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Morning all, It is 7.45 here. I am on the PC early as the mechanic is coming to take my darling car for its MOT and major service I hope it passes!

So I thought I would take the time whilst I'm waiting to read the backlog. What was most of it about? Maths . I failed my O level, mainly due to the fact that I changed schools as we moved a lot, did old maths, then new maths, then old again, I was short sighted so couldn't see the chalkboard and various other reasons, including the fact that I found it boring!

So I thought No2 son was very brave to decide to retake Maths GCSE to get a higher grade, he got a D (a pass, but A-C grade is better). Imagine my horror when he asked me to help him with long multiplication! Hadn't done any in at least 30 years! Anyway after much head scratching, I managed it with out resorting to a calculator and the answer was correct when we checked it!

However, I drew the line at long divison and hubby will have to help with that one!

What a long and boring posting! Now I shall go and get some brekkie!

Caerwynn, I can report that in Godzone at 8pm on Tuesday night the roast that I have just finished was delicious

Thank you Matina

Burp

Glad to hear you enjoyed your roast, Loony. I like roasted with slithers of garlic and sprigs of rosemary tucked into slits in the skin, scrummy!

The car has gone now, please all keep your fingers crossed for its MOT. It hasn't failed one yet in its 11 year life, but there maybe a first time.

Maths! Bah!
I remember the second problem, and myself and a fellow now-doctor puzzling it out with coins. I can't quite remember the explanation, but it is to do with the way the problem is expressed. Your not actually subtracting from where it sounds like you are or something. As to the first, too many zeroes to be bothring with at this time in the morning
[Munchkin, Dr. of Physics, failer of Maths]

I'd love to learn more math. I have been playing with the thought of taking some evening classes but there never seems be enough time/money....

As has been said your example about the money is due to expressing it in not quite accurate way. Darned if I can remember the explanation though.
The most important thing I can remember from the maths type education I got was an engineering thing to do with poles on the right hand side of the plane causing instability. It is also the punchline to a bad engineering joke...

Lil, your web safe colours thing came up in a conversation (or at least someones version of the colour table from your article).

Look at the question the other way up Doc

They have paid 27 for the TV

25 for the TV
+2 to the salesmans pocket
=27

Pound back each
=3

Total 30

The question tries to mislead you into
30-2=28
28/3 != 9

rather than

30 - 3 (the change)=27
27/3=9

Well said, that man.

That's why I always use cards! Can't cope with change.

Ah, change. It's fun to go into a grocery store worked by underpaid kids who don't no math at all during a power outage. Pay for the items bought so that the kids must struggle to try to work through it.

That, and walking up to random people on the street and asking them what the cubed root of 9345129501.4 is.

You're a cruel boy, Affy, and the answer is 2106.339836

That's according to my 50 button calculator, of course

My problem with math is that while I cannot stand it, I am inexplicably good at it. Back in high school I struggled through AP Calculus with barely passing grades, then I had that moment with the stupid comment about adding zero, just days before the end of term. It all crystalized and much to my surprise I scored a "5" out of "5" on the exam. I have never taken another math course since. I am still plagued by the inability to do simple subtraction in my head, while immediately grasping the concepts behind public-key encryption.

My husband is like that, can't remember the names of most of his relatives, or anyone famous, or books he has read, yet he holds thousands of IP addresses in his head.

We went in to discuss a new mortgage and the advisor wanted the percentage of some figures and before he could turn his calculator on my best beloved came out with the right number.

So when we travel I leave all the currency up to him and he leaves all the talking up to me! Works well.

*looks at the backlog, turns pale and decides to leave it virgin*

I love maths though I was not so good at it.

I need some advice - I wrote an entry and i send it to the peer review but noone wants to read it. Is it because the topic was boring (land-art) or because the article was bad?

I would like to be better at maths. Perhaps I should have listened more closely when the lectures were on math subjects when I was at uni. Or go and find some interesting book to read (anyone read The Code Book by Simon Singh?) .

I've had a quick look at the article Hatifnat and it looks good. Sometimes the threads on Peer Review seem to get ingnored for some reason. I don't know why that is
Certainly sounds like an interesting concept that you're describing

Could just be it went in at the same time as a number of terribly exciting titles involving fast cars, cute animals and rice production. Try bumping it back up the list.
*This has been advice on a subject he knows nothing about by Munchkin, waffling in an ill informed way since 1992*

[WM]

I guess I should write an entry about a cute rice-eating animal who got killed under the wheels of a very fast car.
*sighs*

...though I don't know any rice-eating animal, cute or not cute.