Probability

This problem that you have endured while swimming has also occurred to me many times while attending a movie at one of the large movie theaters. More than once I have gone to  watch a movie in a vast movie theater and have had an individual come and sit directly next to me in an almost completely empty theater. When there are approximately  twenty open seats in the vicinity, it always makes me wonder what the probability is that this person would choose the seat directly next to mine. Because there is a seat on either side of me there would be a two out of twenty chance that said person would sit next to me, making it highly improbable and as you noted in your blog, perhaps a bit inconsiderate.

Why Americans Stink at Math

This article " Why do Americans stink at math?" is very eye opening. The fact that the majority of the population believed that the third pound burger from A&W was less meat than the quarter pounder is very intriguing to me. My first thought goes to the education which most of these people have received, and the fact that it has obviously not properly instilled the knowledge that comes from learning math. This problem might also have appeared merely from time. After not studying arithmetic for long periods the in and outs of fractions may have been lost to these people, though it does seem that something as basic as 1/3 vs. 1/4 would be a memorable concept. Unfortunately innumeracy is not as widely known as the topic of illiteracy but is still very important. Without knowing the basic concepts of mathematics your life would be much harder. This idea is clearly illustrated by the McDonald's burger which cost these people more for much less. I hope that in the future people will pay more attention to their studies so that they can avoid these situations.

BIG numbers

There's no easy way to wrap our minds around the concept of an extremely large number. When pondering the question of how many single blades of grass are residing on our large campus, my mind cannot begin to process the vast amount, and that is why we have come up with different ways to comprehend the thought of an extremely large integer. The use of exponents in mathematics has opened up a new world of infinitely large numbers.
One way to think of these humongous numbers is to think of the vast number of stars in the sky when you look up on a clear night. The number of stars in the universe is such a large number that it directly correlates to the exponential numbers of which we have been learning. The seemingly infinite amount of stars comes close to the absolutely infinite quantity of numbers.

Comparison of Law of Cosines, Law of Sines and Pythagorean Theorem

The law of cosines, law of sines and Pythagorean theorem are all very important parts of trigonometry. Firstly the Pythagorean theorem is very useful when finding the sides of a right triangle. All it takes is squaring side c and setting it equal to the sum of the squares of side a and b. The law of cosines is simply an extension of the Pythagorean theorem, this takes the Pythagorean theorem and subtracts 2(a)(b)cos(C) from the equation. This is very helpful when working with SAS and SSS triangles. When using the Law of cosines the triangle that you are using does not have to be a right triangle and also allows you to use an angle of the triangle to assist in finding its values. The Law of Sines is very helpful when working with AAS and ASA triangles because to use this you need two angles. All of these Laws and theorems are intertwined like a well oiled machine, and without one the whole machine will stop working.

The graduation speech

 Dr. Stefano Bertozzi's speech talked a lot about how you shouldn't eat more than you bring, which is a very good mantra for everyday life.  In this speech he talked about how many people do more bad than they do good in the world, which is not a good way to lead your life. By exemplifying the idea that if you give as much as, or more than you take, yours and everyone else's lives will become more balanced. I really like the idea that you should be giving more to the world through doing good things and being kind to people than you are taking from it. Dr. Bertozzi's whole talk was very inspirational and well said. It left the audience to think about whether their affect on the world will be a positive or negative one.  This speech affected my way of thinking about each thing that I do and how I will be able to balance it out. Overall Dr. Bertozzi does a great job in helping everyone to think about giving their kindness and adding to the world instead of taking from it without contributing anything to the metaphorical pot luck.