Natural Blogarithms

Did I ever tell anyone how much I love grading? No? There’s a reason why I haven’t. So, I like to know where my students stand but there comes a point that I begin to lose my patience. Recently, the world of downloadable music and playlists on my IPAQ has helped to significantly lengthen that patience. It takes just a little good music in the background to keep my spirits up and my resolve strong. Here’s the list that helped me out tonight:

Rod Stewart - The Way You Look Tonight
Rod Stewart - Forever Young (Album Version)
Rod Stewart - Maggie May [Edit Version]
Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World
Louis Armstrong - When You’re Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You) [1958 Single Version]
Tom Jones - She’s A Lady
Roy Orbison - Crying
Paul Anka - Put Your Head On My Shoulder
Johnny Mathis - Chances Are
Neil Sedaka - Calendar Girl
John Mellencamp - Jack & Diane
The Who - Pinball Wizard [Original Album Version]
Steve Winwood - Roll With It
Kansas - Dust In The Wind
Tom Petty - Free Fallin’
Poison - Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

Yeah, it’s a little hodge-podge (word of the week) but it got the job done.

written by SplineGuy

I liked this one too.

The MegaPenny Project | Index Page

written by SplineGuy

I love teaching mathematics! (Good day)

written by SplineGuy

I’ve created another blog that a few of my readers may be more interested in. The content on Natural Blogarithms will continue to be a mix of math, education and faith. I am moving my personal entries regarding family and parenting stuff over to a new blog. Check it out, if you are interested:

Zone Defense

written by SplineGuy

I am not a huge fan of blonde jokes, but every once in a while one tickles me. This just might be the greatest blonde joke, ever.

written by SplineGuy

I was wrong. In class this morning, I seemed have fabricated a memory. I could have sworn that somewhere in either reading or my many math classes over the years that I was taught the name of the components of a subtraction problem. We most all still remember the names of the parts of a division problems, namely the dividend, divisor and quotient.

I thought I knew that in the problem:

That A as the subtractend, B was the subtractor and C was the difference. Well, C is correct, but the other two are WRONG!

Thanks to a student in class this morning, who learned this from homeschool curriculum, the correct name for A is the minuend and B is the subtrahend. After verifying this from several sources, I have this to say: Way to go, homeschoolers!

Some Sources: Mathworld and American Heritage Dictionary

And by the way, apparently I just made up my answers because according to Google, there are a total of two websites on the face of the earth that have the two words subtractor and subtractend. (Make that three, if this is ever indexed by Google)

written by SplineGuy

As I told two of my classes yesterday, “I love the first day of class each semester!! It’s like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, a magnificent, beautiful, breathtaking scene. You’re on the edge of all this new information, new skill, new knowledge. It’s just sitting there waiting for us to dive in to.” Okay, so you don’t dive into the Grand Canyon, but its still exciting.

I am teaching 5 courses this semester: 2 College Algebra sections, Trigonometry, Calculus IV, and Differential Equations. My schedule is quite balanced so that I have a very similar schedule from day to day. I am definitely looking forward to this semester. I haven’t yet got to know my lower level classes very well to see if they’ll relax and keep the atmosphere light. I know that both of my upper levels are filled with some great students, ones that seem to really enjoy the subject and will be willing to work to learn it. Plus, I should have a wealth of new blunders now that I am lecturing 11 times a week.

written by SplineGuy

I am becoming a goal oriented person. That’s not been true my entire life but having just finished some major long term goals this year, I am now in a bit of a vacuum when it comes to life goals. I had a few big ones, such as finish my Ph.D., have a family, teach mathematics at a University. Check, check and check. Over the next few days, I am going to be writing the goals of 2006 into a new page on this blog. You’ll find the link to the right under my reading list link (which is also going to be revised and updated). These may be a little cheesy, but sounds like a good guide to me.

Resolution Solution

Joan Esherick, a freelance writer, lives with her family in Pennsylvania.

Need Some Goal-Setting Help? Here are 10 easy tips:

• Write down your goals.
• Then cut them in half!
• Tell someone your goals.
• Keep track of your progress.
• Reward yourself with each success.
• Be optimistic.
• Be prepared for difficulty and failure.
• Adjust course as needed.
• Measure growth by months and years, not days.
• Treat each day as a brand-new beginning.

—J.E.

written by SplineGuy

I doubt, with the holiday, that anyone noticed but the blog was down for the last few days. We left town to visit family and my wireless router, Linksys WRT54G, decided to spontaneously change my static IP setting. As a result, the dynamic DNS forwarding was going to a non-existent server. Yada yada yada, It’s back up now. Sorry for any inconvenience caused to those of you who have become addicted to the incomprehensible math speak of Natural Blogarithms.

Oh and by the way, Merry Christmas!!!!

written by SplineGuy

I cannot take credit for this but found it downright hilarious. I hope it is appreciated.

There’ve been a lot of tropical storms/hurricanes this season–so many that they used up the standard names and had to begin using letters of the Greek alphabet as names. We’re up to Epsilon, now. The other day, an airplane went to the eye of that storm to gather data. They fell short of getting good data, but they were within Epsilon.

HA HA HA!! HT: Confessions and Cunctator

written by SplineGuy