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Not quite the bisection method
In various first year maths courses here, the students learn the "bisection method" for finding zeros of continuous functions. (A zero of a function is a number that makes the answer of the function come out to zero – it's therefore also a point where the graph of the function crosses the x-axis.) It's based on the Intermediate Value Theorem, which basically says that if the function is below zero at one spot and above zero at another, then is must be equal to zero somewhere in between. Here's how the process goes:
Discounting your problem-solving
As I was leaving the other day, a student said that she would come to see us the next day to ask some questions about her assignment. She said she had tried to do as much of it herself as she could, and had only done 70% of it.
Frayed research
Phew! I submitted our article for the MERGA conference last week and now I feel like I've come out of hibernation: I'm standing blinking in the sunlight wondering what happened to everything I was doing before I started work on the article. (One of those things was this blog, which is why I've been quieter than usual lately.)
Only one chance
We've been running Drop-In Centre tutor training recently, and as part of the training we discussed the statistics on how students use the Centre. The focus of this post is the following graph:
Charlotte's Sudoku
The other night I was doing a Sudoku, and my two-year-old daughter Charlotte decided she wanted to help, as she always does at any time when I have a pen and paper she could steal.
The Fairyland Clickety-Clock
This post is again inspired by the television show The Fairies (you have been warned!).
Four Triangles and Three squares
The picture here holds something really cool:
Very Unique
I often hear that the phrase "very unique" is not a correct thing to say. The explanation is that the word unique means "there is nothing else like it" and as such is already an absolute. So there's no grades of unique: something is either unique or it's not – there is nothing else like it or there is someting like it. This is a good explanation, so I agree we shouldn't use the phrase "very unique".
Plastic bag CPR
There is a saying that goes "practice makes perfect", but I've had several people point out to me that a truer statement is "practice makes permanent". If you do something over and over, it will stick – whether it is the right thing or not.
Rhapsody's sunburn
My daughter asked to watch The Fairies (distributed through ABC for Kids) this morning and as we ate our breakfast I watched as Harmony and Rhapsody visited their friend Bubbles the Beach Fairy on Fairy Beach.
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