Happiness Revisited

"To overcome the anxieties and depressions of contemporary life, individuals must become independent of the social environment to the degree that they no longer respond exclusively in terms of its rewards and punishments."

The way I interpreted this quote was that one must be willing to take chances in life. Whether this is going for a thrill or going down a path that many people don't approve of, the normal way of life will slowly become boring to you. Even if you may have a good life, exciting things may be the last thing to happen in your life. You must take initiative to go after hobbies, passions, ect. Sometimes I wonder why people under so much stress don't decide to take a break or go for a run. Taking your mind off something could prove to be beneficial. You may even feel better than you did before you were stressed out.

Mastery QQC

"This is the nature of mastery: mastery is an asymptote"

This metaphor says that mastery is something you can approach but never fully reach. It also makes one question the point of mastering something. When you first start off mastering something, in the beginning you quickly gain an understanding of it, but once you start getting used to your current mastery level and attempt to achieve a higher one, the road becomes harder and longer. I wonder what it means to "fully master" something and how would one know they have mastered it to the best of their abilities.

Happyness Tips

Reading those 50 tips as a group was an interesting story. There were many tips that I followed but never actually gave it any thought. i thought that the best one was about how Jesus is the answer to everything, i felt that some of these were a little silly and may have been in a previous time when the laws were a bit different.

Numbers chapter 1

"It's much easier to write 1, so that's what we usually do. But we can write some ideas using different words..."

Without this idea, math would be a whole different thing. People rewrite numbers in order to simplify, factor, and solve many problems. One such example uses trigonometric identities. In order to prove x is equal to y, the idea that something can be rewritten into a different form proves to be a great tool. When computing algebraic equations, adding "1" to both sides can open up the problem to new paths one can take to solve it. I know that people have a hard time understanding that 1 is a useful tool that everyone uses.

Numbers Chapter .00000000001

"Once we could write tiny numbers as fractions and as decimal fractions, a whole new world was opened to us."

As we advance to the future, nanotechnology's role in society will grow. With the whole "Smaller yet better" market increasing, nanotechnology is the solution for this demand. The reading mentions how transistors are getting smaller, and are making microchips process data faster. From vacuum tubes resulting in huge computers to transistors resulting in small microprocessors, we have came a long way in a short amount of time. If this keeps up who knows what can be done with nanotechnology. Maybe it can be integrated with the ideas of genetic engineering, or create mechanical solutions to problems surrounding the human body.

Numbers

"Using this argument, it's simple to show that zero divided by zero could be anything at all! The answer is indeterminate."


I've wondered if the words undefined and indeterminate were interchangable. When indeterminates were talked about this in class for the first time, it seemed that they were just a bunch of expressions that couldn't have an answer. I soon found out that they were expressions that did have answers. It's just the issue of which answer is the correct one. You can have an infinite number of ways of writing 0/0, but in the end, its still just 0/0. It's makes me think of all the different ways we can write numbers and expressions. The idea that problems can be rewritten is an essential skill required for problem solving. If something doesn't look familiar to you, rewriting it into a form you have learned to deal with can help you solve the problem. Since 0/0 is one of many indeterminates, I wonder what methods are out there to solve the other ones in the math world.

Euler QQC

"Good notations are important, but the ideas behind them are what really count..."

For me, this quote applies to every part of science and mathematics. You can have great note taking skills, but the lack of understanding the content then the notes are useless. Its just some words on a piece of paper for you to look at while studying for a test. My teachers have always taught me that "Understanding where things are coming from" will get us far in life. With understanding and comprehension, we can create new ideas and rules that would help solving questions easier. It may open new questions, but it also create new opportunities to learn. Same can be said for the realm of science.