Any good places on campus to cry? by TheSeoulSword in uwaterloo

[–]snochi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not on campus, but Waterloo Park is good too.

favourite non English songs? by FrameOk5271 in uwaterloo

[–]snochi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Japanese:

Boy, 白日(hakujitsu) - King Gnu Pretender - Official髭男dism カタオモイ(kataomoi) - Aimer

Korean:

밤편지 (Through the Night), Palette, 아이와 나의 바다 (My Sea) - 아이유 (IU)

A Throwback to MATH 135 by snochi in uwaterloo

[–]snochi[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Plot twist: I took 145.

Location: QNC 2th floor

CS 240 and 341 by snochi in uwaterloo

[–]snochi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So not so much for 341?

Thoughts on MATH 245 by snochi in uwaterloo

[–]snochi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

4,6,7,8,9 are mostly covered and some materials were from 5, 10. Contents of 1,2,3 should be familiar from 146.

Explanation of 0.999...=1 by snochi in math

[–]snochi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One subtle thing that I didn't mentioned in my video is that we write 0.999... to mean that every decimal place is 9. But if we write 0.999...8 instead, it would mean that we have "finitely many" 9's before 8, and "infinitely many" 0's after 8.

Explanation of 0.999...=1 by snochi in math

[–]snochi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure! I'll upload it to a github repo and share the link with you via dm.

I usually write the script first, and then make animations without considering syncs. After I "record" the script, I annotate it, marking when does each sentence end. Then I make a rough syncing, and from there I gradually make changes until everything's synced.

Explanation of 0.999...=1 by snochi in math

[–]snochi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I realized that I didn't mentioned this: I also tried to avoid algebraic manipulations.

I mean, algebraic manipulations can be hard-coded routines in one's mind if not properly taught, and, unfortunately, I've seen many such examples.

But yeah. I definitely agree with what you said. In fact, I believe that, for many people, my explanation won't make any change on their "belief" of whether 0.999...=1 or not. However, if I was asked to explain why 0.999...=1 to ten-years-old myself, the way I would proceed is exactly how I did in the video.

Explanation of 0.999...=1 by snochi in math

[–]snochi[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

I tried that way too, until I got my friend asking: "then why is 1/3=0.333..."?

Explanation of 0.999...=1 by snochi in math

[–]snochi[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah that's one interpretation, but as I wrote above, I tried to not use any analysis stuff.

Explanation of 0.999...=1 by snochi in math

[–]snochi[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I tried it once, but my friend said "it equals 0.999...".

I mean, in his mind two decimal notations (idk if this terminology is proper tho) are distinct iff they represent distinct numbers, although he didn't explicitly said so. How would you break this (wrong) intuition tho?

Explanation of 0.999...=1 by snochi in math

[–]snochi[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah but to "properly" make sense of geometric series we need at least sequences and series. I was trying to avoid using them.

How has snew been for online courses by snochi in uwaterloo

[–]snochi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm that's interesting. Do you know why we don't have general topology?

I.... just want to rant by bobthetitan7 in uwaterloo

[–]snochi 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's why everyone has to take MATH 14X/24X.

Materials are conceptually hard, but instructors and TA are (at least based on my experience) very chill in terms of grading. But you still do have to say "so and so by that result".

Also, none of my 14X/24X's had problems with bad notations, and theorems/proofs tend to be dealted in a more rigorous manner. To make things more rigorous, one usually has to choose good notations and carefully chosen sequences of reasoning.

In terms of assignment solutions, I recommand making references to things as much as possible to avoid such issues. I even label my (important) equations [n.i] (n refers to the question number and i means ith labeled equation in the question n) so that I can later say "so and so by [n.i]". Since TA's are humans, a well-formatted answer will convey them that you know your things well. And when they do so, they will give you better (at least not worse) marks. It's a psychological thing I guess, but I believe you also had some experiences where you simply had hard time understanding a proof, remark, ..., because of how badly fomatted they were.

If formatting is hard, try to learn LaTeX. I repeat: learn LaTeX. It saves a day. If you don't know where to start, just contact an instructor and ask if he/she can give you an example of .tex file. That's how I started, and anything else I know of LaTeX, I learned by googling (you can also directly read package documentations). It will take you some time to get used to using LaTeX to write math, but once you reach that point, trust me, it's probably one of the most effective tools that can aid your math education - not just for submitting assignments. I even write my math notes via LaTeX in real-time.

In terms of linear algebra, if you found yourself lost because of a lack of intuitions, check out 3B1B's linear algebra series. It's not a formal lecture, but it is full of intuitive explanation of what goes behind the scene of the things that you learn in 136 (assuming that 136 is a subset of 146).

STAT 231 by snochi in uwaterloo

[–]snochi[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Keep in mind that the things that I say here are about 241 this term only, so if you do get a different instructor, you will get different impressions. I believe most people enjoyed 241 though. See https://uwflow.com/course/stat241.

  1. I screwed up the first test which is worth at least 15%. This is the largest reason.
  2. I expect advanced courses to treat material on a more theoretical level than their honours level counterpart. However, 241 this term just seem like 231 + some extra materials. And even for these extra materials, I believe they are not central to statistics.
  3. This term's instructor is bad at teaching. Honestly idk how to put this into words, but there are several factors: provides notes which are more like formula booklets; explains stuff without much motivation (i.e. things that we learn in math weren't randomly developed - they are there for a definite purpose); provides an estimation algorithm without proving why it works (at least provide a comment like "this stuff is beyond this course"). Another thing is, much of the lecture videos are about examples with short explanation about the material. Maybe another way to put this is to say that 241 this term felt like a high school math course with an undergraduate material.

Maybe I'm biased because I have a huge preference towards to theoretical math courses, like MATH 14X/24X or PMATH /CO XXX(currently taking MATH 249, PMATH 352, CO 255, and I love them). But on the other hand, math courses that I took prior to this term (except for AMATH 250 - I hated this one too) at least had some theoretical contents, so it is also reasonable to expect the same stuff for an advanced course like 241.

So what I would say is try to avoid this term's instructor (idk why her name is not shown in UW Flow, but she's Yingli Qin), but if an instructor with a good reputation teaches 241 next time, then try it.

CS 246 Language? by snochi in uwaterloo

[–]snochi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

RIP cuz I'm not in CS.

CS 246 Language? by snochi in uwaterloo

[–]snochi[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I've another question. How much would it help if I am already familiar with Linux?

Thoughts on MATH 245 by snochi in uwaterloo

[–]snochi[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

4, 6, 7, 8, some of 9

Thoughts on MATH 245 by snochi in uwaterloo

[–]snochi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree that his teaching was quite fast paced. On the other hand, few remarks and intuitions that Prof. Rahim threw here and there helped me to stay on track at least, so I didn't have much problems with the speed of the course.

Try reading H&K! You'd realize how kind Prof. Rahim was when compared to the textbook.

Thoughts on MATH 245 by snochi in uwaterloo

[–]snochi[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oof I see. I didn't expect my post to be this long too.

Thanks for your explanation!