Okay seems like everyone i know got tricked by this question. (Even Idris refused to attempt it) And of course the beautiful thing is that the problem is so simple to state and solve. Primary school maths really.
A bird flies from A to B then back to A again.
It does this twice. The first time there was no wind.
The second time, theres a constant wind blowing from A to B.
The Ultimate hustler Question is...
Which takes the bird a longer time to complete? The trip with or the trip without wind ?!?!?!
-remember that in both cases the bird flies from A to B then back again to A.
100% of people said the two trips take the same time to complete.
Their standard explanation goes something like this. In the trip with wind, the increase in speed given by the wind when the bird flies from A to B is offset by the decrease in speed when the bird flies back from B to A so in the end, it would be as if there was no wind at all. Formally put, with or wihout wind, the birds average speed is the same, so the time taken for both trips must be equal.
Then they get the greaatest shock of their lives when they find out that this is in fact WRONG!!
In reality, the trip with wind always takes longer than the trip wihout wind.. XD
Since this is a mathematics site, i'm going to leave you guys some time to try and prove this and leave the solution for the next post.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Fantastic
Wikipedia says that Kang Kong is healthy and has as much iron as spinach.
It seems incredible to me that in this modern age of science and technology, there are still people who believe age old myths about food that are ridiculous and fantastic. How many of you believe that prawns and shrimps are "toxic"? How about the idea that Kang Kong makes your legs weak? Or even that potato chips are "heaty" and give you sorethroat?
After a long 5 months of staying in the hospital and thus having an increased knowledge of medicine, I can assure you that no vegetable sold in the supermarket has the amazing abilliy to make your legs weak.
Also, "prawns and shrimps are extremely good sources of protein and yet very low in fats and calories, making them very healthy to eat"(http://www.helpwithcooking.com/) . Prawns are also not known to have any toxins in them, and certainly nobody has ever gotten sick from eating a fresh, healthy and well-cooked prawn.
Many chinese, on the other hand, believe in the heatiness and cooling theory. Which is a load of bullshit. In fact, i discovered this once when i had a sorethroat. i thought about how people always said that salt cures ulcers and sorethroat, and thought of how to get large amounts of salt into the throat. Haha i came up with an ingenious plan. Eat extra salted potato chips! Incredibly, my sorethroat instantly felt better and disappeared the next day. In fact, this method works most of the time. Proving that the heatiness theory is incorrect. In fact, don't you find it ridiculous that food can be classified into two such broad categories(heaty and cold)? Common sense will tell you that they are insufficient to understand nutrition. On top of that, sorethroats, colds, flu, fever.. etc are all known to be caused by bacteria and viruses. Most people know and accept this, but why is it then that they still think being too heaty can cause you to be ill? Aren't they contradicting themselves? Its like believeing in both Christianity and Hinduism. Choose one religion man!
In fact, after confirmation with a doctor, i found out that the reason many people have sorethroats after eating nuts and potato chips is because the rough and hard texture of the food tends to scratch against the walls of the throat, possible damaging it. Also the oil from the chips, if not washed away by drinking lots of water, tends to repel saliva, which has natural anti-bacterial properties. Thus being a more potent ground for bacteria to grow. So there you have it. I beg people to trust empirical evidence and not to place too much faith in far-fetched claims. Question every information before accepting it, it will make you smarter.
And no Maggi Mee does not cause you to lose your hair. Neither does it have the fictitious "wax" thats get trapped in your intestines.
Chilli is an excellent source of vitamin C, much higher than orange in fact. And as a fruit, is very healthy. And no, there is no such thing as heatiness. Again, the misconception probably came from the oil in those oily chili sauces that as i explained before, tends to be a good place for bacteria to grow. In fact i've been chewing on fresh cut chilli padis for years and i can tell you that not once have i gotten sick from eating it.
Also ingesting chilli seeds certainly will not lead to "stones" in the stomach. In fact the fruits of seeds are routinely eaten by birds, who pass it out in their faeces. This helps to disperse them. Primary school science hello..
So there you have it. As long as you watch your weight and cook your food well and keep proper oral hygeine after you eat, everything is healthy to eat.
I admit that while most of the claims have been confirmed by doctors and achieve regular consistency on nutrition websites, there are one or two that are deduced by myself using the most elementary aspects of medicine and science and logic.
Life is already as restricted as it is. Why restrict yourself further with unbased claims?
It seems incredible to me that in this modern age of science and technology, there are still people who believe age old myths about food that are ridiculous and fantastic. How many of you believe that prawns and shrimps are "toxic"? How about the idea that Kang Kong makes your legs weak? Or even that potato chips are "heaty" and give you sorethroat?
After a long 5 months of staying in the hospital and thus having an increased knowledge of medicine, I can assure you that no vegetable sold in the supermarket has the amazing abilliy to make your legs weak.
Also, "prawns and shrimps are extremely good sources of protein and yet very low in fats and calories, making them very healthy to eat"(http://www.helpwithcooking.com/) . Prawns are also not known to have any toxins in them, and certainly nobody has ever gotten sick from eating a fresh, healthy and well-cooked prawn.
Many chinese, on the other hand, believe in the heatiness and cooling theory. Which is a load of bullshit. In fact, i discovered this once when i had a sorethroat. i thought about how people always said that salt cures ulcers and sorethroat, and thought of how to get large amounts of salt into the throat. Haha i came up with an ingenious plan. Eat extra salted potato chips! Incredibly, my sorethroat instantly felt better and disappeared the next day. In fact, this method works most of the time. Proving that the heatiness theory is incorrect. In fact, don't you find it ridiculous that food can be classified into two such broad categories(heaty and cold)? Common sense will tell you that they are insufficient to understand nutrition. On top of that, sorethroats, colds, flu, fever.. etc are all known to be caused by bacteria and viruses. Most people know and accept this, but why is it then that they still think being too heaty can cause you to be ill? Aren't they contradicting themselves? Its like believeing in both Christianity and Hinduism. Choose one religion man!
In fact, after confirmation with a doctor, i found out that the reason many people have sorethroats after eating nuts and potato chips is because the rough and hard texture of the food tends to scratch against the walls of the throat, possible damaging it. Also the oil from the chips, if not washed away by drinking lots of water, tends to repel saliva, which has natural anti-bacterial properties. Thus being a more potent ground for bacteria to grow. So there you have it. I beg people to trust empirical evidence and not to place too much faith in far-fetched claims. Question every information before accepting it, it will make you smarter.
And no Maggi Mee does not cause you to lose your hair. Neither does it have the fictitious "wax" thats get trapped in your intestines.
Chilli is an excellent source of vitamin C, much higher than orange in fact. And as a fruit, is very healthy. And no, there is no such thing as heatiness. Again, the misconception probably came from the oil in those oily chili sauces that as i explained before, tends to be a good place for bacteria to grow. In fact i've been chewing on fresh cut chilli padis for years and i can tell you that not once have i gotten sick from eating it.
Also ingesting chilli seeds certainly will not lead to "stones" in the stomach. In fact the fruits of seeds are routinely eaten by birds, who pass it out in their faeces. This helps to disperse them. Primary school science hello..
So there you have it. As long as you watch your weight and cook your food well and keep proper oral hygeine after you eat, everything is healthy to eat.
I admit that while most of the claims have been confirmed by doctors and achieve regular consistency on nutrition websites, there are one or two that are deduced by myself using the most elementary aspects of medicine and science and logic.
Life is already as restricted as it is. Why restrict yourself further with unbased claims?
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Calculus
Well its been a long time since i did some real mahs.. Besides i promised Teck Siang. So here it is.
y=f(x)
dy/dx=f '(x) (1)
On the other hand,
y=f(x)
F(y)=x , where F is the inverse function of f.
F '(y)=dx/dy
dy/dx=1/F '(y)
dy/dx=1/F '[f(x)] (2)
Combining equations (1) and (2), we have
f '(x)=1/F '[f(x)]
F '[f(x)]=1/f '(x)
Well most of you (including myself when i came up with this) must be thinking, wtf is that, and how can something like that actually be useful?
Well my original intention was to find an equation to relate the inverse function with its derivative. Which would have made me famous overnight..XD Sadly, this cannot be manipulated to give me such an equation, but it does have interesting uses.
for eg to find the integral of 1/x, we let f '(x)=1/x
then, f(x) must be the integral.
F '[f(x)]=1/f '(x)
F '[f(x)]=1/1/x=x
since the equation is an identity in x, we can replace every x in the equation with F(x)
F '[f(F(x))]=F(x)
since F is the inverse of f, f[F(x)] must be equal to x
F '(x)=F(x)
Now think about what this equation is trying to say. Its simply telling you that the derivative of F(x) is equal to itself. In fact we only know one such function , which is e^x. Haha..
So since F(x)=e^x
f(x) must be equal to the inverse of e^x, which is lnx.
f(x)=lnx
Thus we have shown, without doing ANY differentiation or inteegration of both 1/x and lnx, that the integral of 1/x is lnx. Quite cool. Don't you think? In fact the only two important properties we have used are,
1/dy/dx=dx/dy
and that
e^x is its own derivative.
Sadly, this "trick" that i've used doesn't work for other functions.. Maybe i can develop it further.. hmm...
In any case, I think either i'm going bonkers, otherwise I'm getting smarter.
A little sidenote: A lot of people coming to my site tell me they don't understand the mathematics on my site. In fact, that is perfectly normal. Even for professional mathematicians, they do not understand new mathematics the first time they read it. Most of the time, hey have to analyze and go through the text many times before they can fully grasp it. This is where the problem with many people lie. When they do not understand the text, they do not take the effort to properly anaylyze or think about the text. Just like music and art and literature, effort must be made to understand the subject before one can fully appreciate its beauty. And i promise you, the mathematical beauty that we speak of is certainly real. (with the exception of complex mathematics, where things are imaginary XD)
In fact i find it a waste that people get put off by mathematics because it seems so hard to grasp. Mathematics is a language more useful than any other.
y=f(x)
dy/dx=f '(x) (1)
On the other hand,
y=f(x)
F(y)=x , where F is the inverse function of f.
F '(y)=dx/dy
dy/dx=1/F '(y)
dy/dx=1/F '[f(x)] (2)
Combining equations (1) and (2), we have
f '(x)=1/F '[f(x)]
F '[f(x)]=1/f '(x)
Well most of you (including myself when i came up with this) must be thinking, wtf is that, and how can something like that actually be useful?
Well my original intention was to find an equation to relate the inverse function with its derivative. Which would have made me famous overnight..XD Sadly, this cannot be manipulated to give me such an equation, but it does have interesting uses.
for eg to find the integral of 1/x, we let f '(x)=1/x
then, f(x) must be the integral.
F '[f(x)]=1/f '(x)
F '[f(x)]=1/1/x=x
since the equation is an identity in x, we can replace every x in the equation with F(x)
F '[f(F(x))]=F(x)
since F is the inverse of f, f[F(x)] must be equal to x
F '(x)=F(x)
Now think about what this equation is trying to say. Its simply telling you that the derivative of F(x) is equal to itself. In fact we only know one such function , which is e^x. Haha..
So since F(x)=e^x
f(x) must be equal to the inverse of e^x, which is lnx.
f(x)=lnx
Thus we have shown, without doing ANY differentiation or inteegration of both 1/x and lnx, that the integral of 1/x is lnx. Quite cool. Don't you think? In fact the only two important properties we have used are,
1/dy/dx=dx/dy
and that
e^x is its own derivative.
Sadly, this "trick" that i've used doesn't work for other functions.. Maybe i can develop it further.. hmm...
In any case, I think either i'm going bonkers, otherwise I'm getting smarter.
A little sidenote: A lot of people coming to my site tell me they don't understand the mathematics on my site. In fact, that is perfectly normal. Even for professional mathematicians, they do not understand new mathematics the first time they read it. Most of the time, hey have to analyze and go through the text many times before they can fully grasp it. This is where the problem with many people lie. When they do not understand the text, they do not take the effort to properly anaylyze or think about the text. Just like music and art and literature, effort must be made to understand the subject before one can fully appreciate its beauty. And i promise you, the mathematical beauty that we speak of is certainly real. (with the exception of complex mathematics, where things are imaginary XD)
In fact i find it a waste that people get put off by mathematics because it seems so hard to grasp. Mathematics is a language more useful than any other.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Back home.
Phew. Finally back home after 1 week of hell.. Luckily the Indian Lumbar Puncturer was quite skillful. I like Indian doctors. They're friendly and really really professional. Unlike some chinese doctors wth that stuck up attitudes.. :X I guess its due partly to their family upbringings... How chinese mothers always tell their kids "you'd better become a doctor/lawyer!" And hows its considered a big deal if you become one.. I've always disliked doctors.. They place too much faith in their science.. Which like all sciences, cannot be proven to be true.. How can you place a human life on uncertainty?
Well. Thats what i like about maths. Things are nearly always certain.
Anyway, not much to write about.. Just returned home after yet another session of chemo.. Its good to know that i've only bout two months of chemo left if nothing goees wrong. After that i should be able to get back to my life. Although it is a bit sad to know that so many things have changed. And how some things can never be like the way it was. But well life goes on.. Hopefully, that is..XD
And this morning i dreamt that i had grown back my hair! I spent the whole of my dream styling and combing it.. Haha turns out i really miss it..
I also dreamt of Shi Xiong and Isabel and Catherine.. And we were all playing tag in an arcade.. -.-
Anyone who can crack dreams?
Well. Thats what i like about maths. Things are nearly always certain.
Anyway, not much to write about.. Just returned home after yet another session of chemo.. Its good to know that i've only bout two months of chemo left if nothing goees wrong. After that i should be able to get back to my life. Although it is a bit sad to know that so many things have changed. And how some things can never be like the way it was. But well life goes on.. Hopefully, that is..XD
And this morning i dreamt that i had grown back my hair! I spent the whole of my dream styling and combing it.. Haha turns out i really miss it..
I also dreamt of Shi Xiong and Isabel and Catherine.. And we were all playing tag in an arcade.. -.-
Anyone who can crack dreams?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Video Games
I love video games. Been playing them a lot recently, especially since God of War and FFVII:CC have both just been recently released.
I remember my first ever video game console to be a pirated version of NES my Dad got for me in 1998. It came at a price of about 70 bucks and had games like Duck Hunt and Mario. I only had about 2-3 cartridges and of course, the only real game was Mario. But i sucked at it though. and hence didn't like the console very much.
My first real step into the world of real gaming was probably simultaneous with thousands of boys islandwide, with one of the greatest games of all time,
Pokemon! My Dad first got me a game boy colour in late 1999, then when the game became famous in 2000 i got myself a yellow version and started my badge-collecting adventure in the lands of Kanto. The yellow version was really great since it allowed players to obtain all three staters (Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander) without trading. The only downside was that Raichu was unobtainable in the game. i remember desperately trying to evolve my Pikachu with a thunderstone only to realize that it could not be done.
Pokemon yellow was really one of my favourite games. In fact i loved it so much that when i cracked my teeth in primary 3 and my mum asked me what i wanted after the tooth surgery i told her "pokemon yellow guidebook". And with that tool in hand i almost completed the pokedex, with the exception of Mew and one other pokemon i cannot remember. Of course i still continued to play the game and i was hustled once at Macdonalds when a group of secondary school students tricked me into trading my level 70 Mewtwo for a level 100 dragonite, telling me how it was very rare and unobtainable in Singapore cartridges. -.- However, that wasn't the only stupid thing i did. After obtaining the Master Ball in Vermillion, i set out like normal players to the seafoam islands. Upon reaching the twin islands, i saw a Seel and thinking that it was an extremely rare Pokemon(since it used ice beam and that just sounded so powerful since prior to that ice moves were unheard of), used the one and only most powerful pokeball in the game to capture it.. Idiot.
And with that Pokemon remains one of my favourite games till now. In fact even after most of my friends grew out of it, i continued collecting and battling with my neighbour-friends, Royce and Loic. (most of my classmates follwed at most only up till the crystal version)
Continuing with my video gaming adventure, the next huge step was in getting a Sony Playstation. My dad bought me the playstation in 2000 when he won money playing mahjong. But admittedly, the console failed for me because i did not know which games to buy. For eg, at that time i never even knew that final fantasy existed. And all my games were real lousy. My only real games were Metal Slug ,a Monster Rancher card game ,Digimon World(which sucked like fuck), and Gran Turismo which admitedly if you're not a fan, isn't real exciting.
And so for a while i switched my attention to Tamiya mini 4WD cars and Beyblades(Let it rip!!!). Until the arrival of Super yoyo in 2002. Before that, the only thing that i knew about yoyo's was that you bought them in cheap 1 dollar goodies machines. Those that you put a coin into the slot and twisted a knob that would release a single "goodie ball", kind of like a pokeball, and woud open to release a small yoyo inside. (Damm what are those things called?!) And that you could perform basic tricks like the sleeper, walk the dog and rock the baby with it. My dad happened to be quite good at it, showing and teaching me all the basic tricks. In fact my first brush with yoyo was in 1997 when proyo was released, but at the time i was simply too young and too small to know anything. Of course the main thing with Super yoyo was the anime on kids central. At first, i didn't actually think that the tricks shown on tv could actually be done. I thought that it was all a cartoon exageration, like how they could control beyblades with their mindXD, until i saw a trick being done at Ang Mo Kio games shop Rowell. I remember asking the boy how it was done. He was very cocky and showed off to me some other complex string tricks and told me "you cannot get it one la". Haha. That made me very angry and i spent that entire month training and practicing on my own, going to the internet for tips. In the end, i mastered all the complex tricks the cartoons did and was more pro than the boy. I went back to Rowell to show off, but i never did meet up with him again.
Oh my, i seemed to have strayed off the topic haven't I? Actually no, because in early 2003 while strolling along Orchard road with Royce we stumbled across a yoyo competition hosted by Toys 'R' Us for young kids till 13. Both Royce and me signed up. Royce wasn't good enough, but I got second:D.
Actually i should have gotten first, because the last match was between me and some primary 5 chiobu. And the one who did more loop the loops won. I was first. I did a fucking hundred loops, to the audiences wild applause. (They were like counting with me "95-96.. 100!!!!!!" clap clap clap*) then the judge came in and checked my string configuration and told me, "the 3-knot is not allowed." Walau, the three-knot is a professional string configuration used worldwide by pros to help looping. and you didn't even tell me beforehand that you didn't allow it. Whats worse they did not allowed me to have time to change my string(the yoyo string gets fucked up when you do that many loops) and straightaway asked me to redo the looping. Faced with a useless string and a string configuration i was not used to, i only managed to do 14 loops. While the girl, they never did check her string configration, but i realized only when my dad told me after the competition, did 28. But in fact the girls string was so short that she was more of like doing inside around the worlds. yoyo players would know what i mean. And she got first. Obviously, the judges were favouring the little girl.
Anyway with that i got second and a $250 voucher. I used the voucher wisely to get myself a Game Boy Advance SP and my mum bought me my first game, Pokemon Sapphire. Phew finally back to videogames.
With the game boy advance, i discovered a term that would be my most favourite genre of games till now. RPG's aka role playing games. Also i had my first brush with another of the greatest games of all time, FINAL FANTASY. This was in the form of FF:Tactics Advance for the GBA. i quickly became a pro at it.
When i transitioned into secondary school life, i became a true gamer, extensive use of the internet meant that i now knew which games were hot and which were not, and about the latest gaming developments. i got myself the psp(before its official release) and ps2 in 2005. The nintendo ds in late 2006 and of couse the Wii late last year. Playing games like Final Fantasy X(the only game to which i cried playing it.), Final Fantasy X-2 , Start Ocean 3, Tekken, Gran Turismo, Kingdom Hearts and of course, the ever popular Pokemon! I regret a bit about getting the Wii due to a decreased lack of support from Square enix.. But i would probably be getting a Playstation 3 late this year.
Of course i'm not shy to admit that while i am an avid gamer, i am clearly not good in it. Especially in FPS games like Halo which requires ultra fast reflexes and strategy and games like Age of empires which requires managing resources, i routinely get thrashed by others even non-gaming individuals. The place where i'm good at are rpg's but even then i loseout to people like Kenneth who can complete FFX in a few weeks. I'm sure he would lose to me in a batlle though! Too bad most rpg's are solo. As for online mmorpg's, i just don't have the time nor money to play them.
Haha with that its time to say goodbye. What a long story! Ahh tomorrow go back to hospital again... NOOOOO!!! :'(
I remember my first ever video game console to be a pirated version of NES my Dad got for me in 1998. It came at a price of about 70 bucks and had games like Duck Hunt and Mario. I only had about 2-3 cartridges and of course, the only real game was Mario. But i sucked at it though. and hence didn't like the console very much.
My first real step into the world of real gaming was probably simultaneous with thousands of boys islandwide, with one of the greatest games of all time,
Pokemon! My Dad first got me a game boy colour in late 1999, then when the game became famous in 2000 i got myself a yellow version and started my badge-collecting adventure in the lands of Kanto. The yellow version was really great since it allowed players to obtain all three staters (Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander) without trading. The only downside was that Raichu was unobtainable in the game. i remember desperately trying to evolve my Pikachu with a thunderstone only to realize that it could not be done.
Pokemon yellow was really one of my favourite games. In fact i loved it so much that when i cracked my teeth in primary 3 and my mum asked me what i wanted after the tooth surgery i told her "pokemon yellow guidebook". And with that tool in hand i almost completed the pokedex, with the exception of Mew and one other pokemon i cannot remember. Of course i still continued to play the game and i was hustled once at Macdonalds when a group of secondary school students tricked me into trading my level 70 Mewtwo for a level 100 dragonite, telling me how it was very rare and unobtainable in Singapore cartridges. -.- However, that wasn't the only stupid thing i did. After obtaining the Master Ball in Vermillion, i set out like normal players to the seafoam islands. Upon reaching the twin islands, i saw a Seel and thinking that it was an extremely rare Pokemon(since it used ice beam and that just sounded so powerful since prior to that ice moves were unheard of), used the one and only most powerful pokeball in the game to capture it.. Idiot.
And with that Pokemon remains one of my favourite games till now. In fact even after most of my friends grew out of it, i continued collecting and battling with my neighbour-friends, Royce and Loic. (most of my classmates follwed at most only up till the crystal version)
Continuing with my video gaming adventure, the next huge step was in getting a Sony Playstation. My dad bought me the playstation in 2000 when he won money playing mahjong. But admittedly, the console failed for me because i did not know which games to buy. For eg, at that time i never even knew that final fantasy existed. And all my games were real lousy. My only real games were Metal Slug ,a Monster Rancher card game ,Digimon World(which sucked like fuck), and Gran Turismo which admitedly if you're not a fan, isn't real exciting.
And so for a while i switched my attention to Tamiya mini 4WD cars and Beyblades(Let it rip!!!). Until the arrival of Super yoyo in 2002. Before that, the only thing that i knew about yoyo's was that you bought them in cheap 1 dollar goodies machines. Those that you put a coin into the slot and twisted a knob that would release a single "goodie ball", kind of like a pokeball, and woud open to release a small yoyo inside. (Damm what are those things called?!) And that you could perform basic tricks like the sleeper, walk the dog and rock the baby with it. My dad happened to be quite good at it, showing and teaching me all the basic tricks. In fact my first brush with yoyo was in 1997 when proyo was released, but at the time i was simply too young and too small to know anything. Of course the main thing with Super yoyo was the anime on kids central. At first, i didn't actually think that the tricks shown on tv could actually be done. I thought that it was all a cartoon exageration, like how they could control beyblades with their mindXD, until i saw a trick being done at Ang Mo Kio games shop Rowell. I remember asking the boy how it was done. He was very cocky and showed off to me some other complex string tricks and told me "you cannot get it one la". Haha. That made me very angry and i spent that entire month training and practicing on my own, going to the internet for tips. In the end, i mastered all the complex tricks the cartoons did and was more pro than the boy. I went back to Rowell to show off, but i never did meet up with him again.
Oh my, i seemed to have strayed off the topic haven't I? Actually no, because in early 2003 while strolling along Orchard road with Royce we stumbled across a yoyo competition hosted by Toys 'R' Us for young kids till 13. Both Royce and me signed up. Royce wasn't good enough, but I got second:D.
Actually i should have gotten first, because the last match was between me and some primary 5 chiobu. And the one who did more loop the loops won. I was first. I did a fucking hundred loops, to the audiences wild applause. (They were like counting with me "95-96.. 100!!!!!!" clap clap clap*) then the judge came in and checked my string configuration and told me, "the 3-knot is not allowed." Walau, the three-knot is a professional string configuration used worldwide by pros to help looping. and you didn't even tell me beforehand that you didn't allow it. Whats worse they did not allowed me to have time to change my string(the yoyo string gets fucked up when you do that many loops) and straightaway asked me to redo the looping. Faced with a useless string and a string configuration i was not used to, i only managed to do 14 loops. While the girl, they never did check her string configration, but i realized only when my dad told me after the competition, did 28. But in fact the girls string was so short that she was more of like doing inside around the worlds. yoyo players would know what i mean. And she got first. Obviously, the judges were favouring the little girl.
Anyway with that i got second and a $250 voucher. I used the voucher wisely to get myself a Game Boy Advance SP and my mum bought me my first game, Pokemon Sapphire. Phew finally back to videogames.
With the game boy advance, i discovered a term that would be my most favourite genre of games till now. RPG's aka role playing games. Also i had my first brush with another of the greatest games of all time, FINAL FANTASY. This was in the form of FF:Tactics Advance for the GBA. i quickly became a pro at it.
When i transitioned into secondary school life, i became a true gamer, extensive use of the internet meant that i now knew which games were hot and which were not, and about the latest gaming developments. i got myself the psp(before its official release) and ps2 in 2005. The nintendo ds in late 2006 and of couse the Wii late last year. Playing games like Final Fantasy X(the only game to which i cried playing it.), Final Fantasy X-2 , Start Ocean 3, Tekken, Gran Turismo, Kingdom Hearts and of course, the ever popular Pokemon! I regret a bit about getting the Wii due to a decreased lack of support from Square enix.. But i would probably be getting a Playstation 3 late this year.
Of course i'm not shy to admit that while i am an avid gamer, i am clearly not good in it. Especially in FPS games like Halo which requires ultra fast reflexes and strategy and games like Age of empires which requires managing resources, i routinely get thrashed by others even non-gaming individuals. The place where i'm good at are rpg's but even then i loseout to people like Kenneth who can complete FFX in a few weeks. I'm sure he would lose to me in a batlle though! Too bad most rpg's are solo. As for online mmorpg's, i just don't have the time nor money to play them.
Haha with that its time to say goodbye. What a long story! Ahh tomorrow go back to hospital again... NOOOOO!!! :'(
Friday, April 4, 2008
Oh no...
Just returned home on Monday. This round of chemo had a bit of problems. The sedation caused me to feel sick. And i had a bad backache due to the bone marrow extraction. Siao liao la.. One week plus never post anything! (Nobody's going to visit my blog anymore!)
Daniel came over to HQ yesterday to visit me, though i think playing pool was his most imporant objective. Anyway, glad to know that i Can still beat him in pool, or maybe it was just him pitying a sick patient, but i doubt so XD. (Anyway i wasn't playing seriously daniel!) Goes to show that the cue really doesn't make much difference in gameplay. At least thats what i think. Besides, I feel that I am living proof that n the hands of a capable pool player, all shots that can be done with a thousand-over-dollar 314 predator cue can also be done with a cheap 10 dollar 2nd-hand cash converters cue, albeit with as much effort. Thus i despise people with expensive cues XD. In fact a normal new cue worth about 100-200 dollars is about as good enough a cue as you'll ever need unless you're a professional pool player. And no, i don't think anyone in Singapore qualifies to be proffesional. My idea of a professional pool player is a person who can survive solely on playing pool. And that excludes coaching, setting up pool parlours.. etc...
Okay, enough of all the pool and hot air. Lets move onto the real fun and the real world. Mathematics. Indeed, Mathematics is the code that the world is designed with. Equations and laws in physics, chemistry, engineering that so accurately describes the real world are written and explained not philosophically nor spiritually, but mathematically.
If there was indeed a God, he would have hidden mathematical secrets into the laws of the real world. By studying and revealing these laws, we are discovering the creator's little treats. And that makes Euclid's Elements more religious than the holy bible!
Jokes aside, lets get onto some serious fun.
Today, we will show that the harmonic series diverges. Known since about the 1300's. If you can't follow this proof, either i am a very bad explainer or that your level of intelligence is 700 years old!
The harmonic series is 1+1/2+1/3+1/4+1/5+1/6.... and so on. Upon looking at this series, most people's reaction would be that the series converges to a value, since the terms ultimately becomes zero. Indeed, the fact the the individual terms become zero is a neccesary but not sufficient condition of the convergence of a series. If the terms do not zoom off to zero fast enough, it is still possible that the entire value of the sum diveges(becomes infintiy).
Daniel came over to HQ yesterday to visit me, though i think playing pool was his most imporant objective. Anyway, glad to know that i Can still beat him in pool, or maybe it was just him pitying a sick patient, but i doubt so XD. (Anyway i wasn't playing seriously daniel!) Goes to show that the cue really doesn't make much difference in gameplay. At least thats what i think. Besides, I feel that I am living proof that n the hands of a capable pool player, all shots that can be done with a thousand-over-dollar 314 predator cue can also be done with a cheap 10 dollar 2nd-hand cash converters cue, albeit with as much effort. Thus i despise people with expensive cues XD. In fact a normal new cue worth about 100-200 dollars is about as good enough a cue as you'll ever need unless you're a professional pool player. And no, i don't think anyone in Singapore qualifies to be proffesional. My idea of a professional pool player is a person who can survive solely on playing pool. And that excludes coaching, setting up pool parlours.. etc...
Okay, enough of all the pool and hot air. Lets move onto the real fun and the real world. Mathematics. Indeed, Mathematics is the code that the world is designed with. Equations and laws in physics, chemistry, engineering that so accurately describes the real world are written and explained not philosophically nor spiritually, but mathematically.
If there was indeed a God, he would have hidden mathematical secrets into the laws of the real world. By studying and revealing these laws, we are discovering the creator's little treats. And that makes Euclid's Elements more religious than the holy bible!
Jokes aside, lets get onto some serious fun.
Today, we will show that the harmonic series diverges. Known since about the 1300's. If you can't follow this proof, either i am a very bad explainer or that your level of intelligence is 700 years old!
The harmonic series is 1+1/2+1/3+1/4+1/5+1/6.... and so on. Upon looking at this series, most people's reaction would be that the series converges to a value, since the terms ultimately becomes zero. Indeed, the fact the the individual terms become zero is a neccesary but not sufficient condition of the convergence of a series. If the terms do not zoom off to zero fast enough, it is still possible that the entire value of the sum diveges(becomes infintiy).
To the actual calculations.
S=1+1/2+1/3+1/4+1/5+1/6..
notice that we can group the terms like this.
S=[1]+[1/2]+[1/3+1/4]+[1/5+1/6+1/7+1/8]+.....
S=1+1/2+1/3+1/4+1/5+1/6..
notice that we can group the terms like this.
S=[1]+[1/2]+[1/3+1/4]+[1/5+1/6+1/7+1/8]+.....
Each of the grouped terms is more than 1/2.
Since there are an infinity of grouped terms, there an infinite number of terms more than half, and thus S is infinity as well..
But the divergence is extremely slow.. Indeed no computer would even hint at its divergence in a short period of time. For example. if we sum up the first 10^43 terms we would only get something less than 100.
But the divergence is extremely slow.. Indeed no computer would even hint at its divergence in a short period of time. For example. if we sum up the first 10^43 terms we would only get something less than 100.
Which is like. tiao-.-
Just goes to show that mathematicians are smarter than computers:D.
(more hot air)
In the next post i'll show why people who can go to jc but choose to go poly are (in my opinion) idiots-Mathematically..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)