Ow. I don't think my legs work properly anymore. They're really sore and bending at the knee hurts a lot. I attribute this leg-pain to gym class, in which I have to do a lot of push-ups and sit-ups and complicated exercises. Gym class does not make me happy. >.<
Like Momo said, finals are coming up. This does not make me happy either. Geometry proofs are especially annoying, as I know why things are congruent (aside from the fact that they're always congruent, because things in proofs always are; sometimes, I wonder why they bother asking if it's already obvious that ABC and DEF are congruent from the minute you see the words "Prove ABC and DEF congruent") but it's difficult to correctly iterate it onto paper in the form of "statement" and "reason." Especially when the teacher tells you that she did it in all of five steps, when you're already on step 17 and desperately wondering if you've done something wrong.
Sigh.
Anyway, that's mostly it for today.
Right.
I'll just be going now.
xiy.
Geometry proofs, on top of being extremely hard, are actually pointless. I understand people's arguments for how many math concepts are used in daily life, but triangular congruence is NOT one of those concepts. >.<
ReplyDeleteVirgil! You are the one that says, "By the transitive property..." on a semi-daily basis! But you're right--proofs are unnecessary. I kind of like them, though (only when I get them). That was a perfect description of math, xiy.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as if you're in one of those classes that sucks the soul out of Geometry. Geometry is a beautiful and creative subject. Geometry has little to do with statement reason proofs.
ReplyDeleteOf course once you've discovered something is true you need to go back and write it up in a convincing way and that's where the proofs come in and are necessary. But the soul of geometry is in playing with the rules and figuring out what's true.
To me, Geometry is a game. The Axioms and Postulates are the rules of the game -- and now we play. What's cool is what changes when you change one of the rules. Changing Euclid's fifth postulate led to the geometry of the sphere and of hyperbolic space (non-Euclidean geometry).
Peter Hilton is a world famous mathematician whose son had the same problem in Geometry that you are having (and that I had). The son kept writing down "obvious" in the reasons column (as did I). He kept getting horrible grades in Geometry (as did I). Hilton told his son to go knock on the teachers door. If the teacher said "come in" then the son was allowed to keep writing "obvious", if the teacher said "open the door and come in" then the son had to change his ways.
House's Dad
@Lynda: it's what he does, darling. he's like in the editing business? kinda their 'thing' :P
ReplyDeletex
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