Slog Assignment.

Note: I think I just did something stupid and forgot to public my "Working towards a goal. (4)" which I did Thursday night before I left for Rochester. Anyway that is why I havent posted in the last couple days. *(4) only talked about me going through the Slog Assignment topics. :/ I hope that is not too crucial. 

Today I worked on actually starting the Assignment/Mathematical portion of this slog. 

Below is my starting works on the first two problem solving questions:

1. Space Splicing: 

I can divide a sheet of paper into two regions with a single straight line. With two straight lines, I can divide a sheet into four regions, and with three straight lines I can divide it into seven regions.

If n is some positive whole number, what is the maximum number of regions I can divide a sheet of paper into with n straight lines?

2. Paper Folding: Grasp one end of a strip of paper between the thumb and index finger of your right hand, and grasp the other end between the thumb and index finger of your left hand. Fold the strip of paper once, so that the end of the strip that was in your left hand now is on top of the end that was in your right hand, and the thumb and finger of your left hand now grips the fold at what was the middle. If you were to unfold the strip of paper now, it would have a single crease in a direction you might want to call "down."

If you carry out the fold several times, always folding the strip so that the end of the strip that is in the left hand is placed over the end that is in the right hand, what pattern of "up" and "down" folds do you get? For example, if I make two folds, I get a left-to-right pattern of "up," "down," "down."

Note: This is mainly me pondering these questions. I shall post more tomorrow/day-after.

Working towards a goal.(3)

When I title this (if I havent mentioned this before) of "Working towards a goal" I am saying that my goal is: (Since I am always on the brick of just passing in this course) Is understanding and catching up, passing this course. (And till this SLOG is due I will update daily on my progress).

Problem Solving Episode:
I guess I finally understand what the mathematical portion of this slog is after bugging a bunch of upper years (who ended up not knowing much) then finally finding the prof. and asking him. Spending the rest of today and most of tomorrow going through the examples and questions given.

Preparing for Finals:
Today I saw my tutor again. She helped me understand and notice all the pieces I am missing from my proofs. (Things such as re stating the base case or the hypothesis to explaining why defining an n/k value i necessary (all of which I thought were obvious before)).

Note: I have always felt horrible for asking questions before usually because I feel like I am burdening everyone around me. Having a tutor that specifically wants to answer my questions, let's me ask my stupid questions without feeling really bad (so hopefully I will get really well prepared for this exam).

Working towards a goal.(2)

Class in general:
Been practising writing proofs. I met up with my tutor as I said before and I realized that the formatting and structure of my proofs are usually very off. After getting a few tips from her I have been trying to practise them and seeing if I am doing all right now.
Slog:
As for the mathematical problem, I am not really sure on what to work on yet. Trying to figure out a question is hard, and I am not sure I am approaching this right. I completely forgot to ask Danny about this on Monday and have been trying to find him to clarify the kind of question I should be trying to solve again all Tuesday. I will try again tomorrow, hopefully I can figure this out, so that the last 2 weeks before this slog is due is spent full on working towards (trying) to solve this mathematical episode.

Working towards a goal.(1)

Safe to say I won't be getting a great mark in this course. But I sure do not want a failure. The other day I finally got in contact with a tutor that I got connected through the professor with. Today I met her. We went over the structure of a couple different kinds of proofs were and looked over my past assignments. (I realized I have trouble with the structure/layout of proofs).

I got home and then proceeded to work/start on my assignment 3. Trying a different route (which is not procrastination). I think I have got off on a good start.

I will try to update again soon. Oh, I will start writing up my problem solving episode soon!

My issues.

I went and talked to Danny for a bit and I think I am beginning to understand my issues with this course. I am horribly sad that I only started realizing this so late into this course, also that if I started going to office hours and getting help a lot earlier I don't think I would be having such a bad time.

The tendency I have, that I am starting to notice is that I look at examples done in class, or in the text book and I imitate them, because the answers are already given, it doesn't help that I am usually lost in class, it doesn't help either that there aren't many places were you can find helpful practise problems, other then an assignment which is marked and worth 10%. This also sadly means that I need to get better in my problem solving abilities. I should stop trying to remember where I have seen such a question before (like that last quiz we had, had almost the same question from lecture) and just be able to rationally think it out.

I guess another issue of mine, is that all the failures/bad marks I am getting so far affects my future performance. Dumb as it may seem I was actually refraining myself from even writing this blog. This is why despite me saying I will be writing tomorrow on Tuesday, it actually took me a couple days to be brave (not the right word, cause I'm talking about a blog, but still I feel horrible) enough to write/update in this blog.

Anyway I will be waiting for my tutor here, ALSO thinking up a mathematical proof to talk about for the rest of the 2 weeks, (which I have noticed that I am missing/forgetting about) when I mentioned about this SLOG during office hours with the prof. Imagine the horror if I completely forgot about it. Hopefully I will not lose too many marks by mentioning it so late. And hopefully everyday for the next week I can update my progress on this project.

Getting help.

I can't believe it's already Saturday, any way I got my test back and I did not do well at all. Talked to the prof about my choices with this course and realized I don't have many more chances to bring my grades up.

Plus side, I studied for the quiz on Thursday and I found it easy. I was able to give in an answer in both the ways that I was taught to do it in. Yay for Deterministic finite state automata.

When I started reading the tutorial I had no idea what was happening, also with the help of the Textbook, everything seemed foreign. As usual when I start learning something. I think it is because it was a completely new topic kinda. So for the first time (because I got this piece of advice from a fellow student) I went online to look up DFSA's. First I went to wikipedia and realized that that would be no help at all cause it's a giant wall of text that I would not understand. Then I used Youtube, and despite not having that many videos (probably cause I searched Deterministic finite state automata), the videos I did find made it seem so easy (kind of). With the video's and then reading through the textbook again I was actually capable of keeping up with lecture on Thursday (I also went to office hours).

It will take a lot of work, but I will stick with 236, and work hard. I even contacted a potential tutor, that I got with the help of the prof. Hopefully this all goes well. I am planning on going to the library tomorrow to review some of the previous chapters/lectures so I can get help on monday from the prof or someone.

Rock Bottom?

Despite this being the last place that I wanted to be since the begining of the year. I think I just let everything I didn't want to happen...happen. I fell behind in everything and now my grades are suffering.

I can think back and ask myself...was it the hours I spent watching random tv shows to comfort myself from my poor grades that resulted in me getting even worse grades. Or was it my fright at having the courage to go up and ask for help.

Couple of weeks past and almost all the chances to help raise my grades is gone. All I have is one assignment and I think 2 quizes left till the final exam. I am terrified...

Next couple of days I am going to try a different... I will update tomorrow.

Admitting there is a problem.

so...I handed in my assignment. I am not sure at all how I feel about it.

But. I did kinda face a hurdle on friday...I finally admitted that I needed help...I went to the prof and talked to him about my troubles in this course. Hopefully advice will lead me in the right direction.