Other posters have suggested that there is probably some hole, or holes, from way back when that caused problems later on, and they are probably right. A tutor would certainly help, but if this is not feasible, I suggest that you start off by going on a hole-discovery quest.
Try this technique: Find an interesting but non-trivial problem. Now assess yourself:
Do the problem, giving yourself a commentary as if you were explaining it to your high school self. Take notice of any spot where you stumble or hesitate. This will point you to either a hole in your understanding, or a lack of skill that is holding you back. Don't worry about whether you 'should' know this or not; you are searching for something that you think you understand, but haven't mastered properly.
It might be that you don't recognise factors of numbers larger than 20 (more common than you might think), or perhaps there are aspects of fractions or ratios that you haven't quite mastered (lots of students are caught out here, and it makes everything else so much harder). Other "gotchas" include limits, complex numbers and calculus. It might be that your middle school teachers emphasised concepts but not mathematical language, without which thinking mathematically can be quite difficult.
Whatever, once you have found a hole, work at getting absolute mastery over this area.
I agree, books etc. won't do it. What I would love to see in English classes is a notion that mathematically-inclined people almost take for granted: that contradictions highlight a weakness in the argument, somewhere.
In the quest for producing essays that are "balanced", the students are encouraged to think that holding simultaneously mutually exclusive points of view is desirable. This, of course, is not true. If you can, try to get the students to see the different assumptions that lead to the different perspectives. This type of analysis will be invaluable in all subjects.
You seem to trolling, else you imagine that only definition number 6 applies:
theory:
1. A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
2. The branch of a science or art consisting of its explanatory statements, accepted principles, and methods of analysis, as opposed to practice: a fine musician who had never studied theory.
3. A set of theorems that constitute a systematic view of a branch of mathematics.
4. Abstract reasoning; speculation: a decision based on experience rather than theory.
5. A belief or principle that guides action or assists comprehension or judgment: staked out the house on the theory that criminals usually return to the scene of the crime.
6. An assumption based on limited information or knowledge; a conjecture
The pub analogy has a flaw too, because there is a difference between criminal activity and wanting civil redress.
Demanding information about students so that civil redress can be sought just in case there may be an infringement is just going too far.
It is not necessary to believe that music should be freely available to be upset about this. I am so upset at the bully-tactics that I refuse to buy music from RIAA-affiliated artists, and only purchase from independent sources. There is some really great free stuff available to promote new bands - check out: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/listen/mp3s.htm
You underrate the value of the Queen's diplomatic role and seem to think that wealth/success should be proportional to effort/artistic value.
No matter what field you look at, there are always examples of brilliant work being (relatively) overlooked.
Imnsho, if you want cracking good jokes in a fantasy world, try Terry Pratchett. If you want a brilliantly paced story arc, try the Jonathon Stroud's Bartemious Trilogy.
And for great plots with subversive anti-establishment undercurrents, try Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. These authors are just plain brilliant. Perhaps their originality gets in the way of wild success.
I hope that the end of H.P. leads to people seeking out other good books.
Niven is also on record saying that it was criticisms from MIT students chanting "The ringworld is unstable" which at least partly inspired him to fix engineering problems in Ringworld in Engineers of Ringworld.
Didn't the 'smart alec' news reporter realise that Einstein had grown up with the metric system? Einstein had never had a reason to memorize how many feet were in a mile, and would naturally look it up if ever he needed it. I presume that the reporter would need to look up the captial cities of German states, but I would be terribly surprised if Einstein would have needed to.
Instead of feeling outrage at a mere thirteen year old treading on adult turf, think of it as a learning experience, a project if you like, for what is obviously a very bright kid.
I'd be impressed if he were my child. Is anybody truly surprised that he is inexperienced?
You are right. As an H1B, you are definitely second-class, and it's horribly high risk. Should your position be terminated for any reason, legally you and your family must leave the country immediately - and I mean the same day. The logistics escape me. There used to be an unofficial 10 day grace period to leave the country, but the "terrorism" crackdown eroded even that.
So, buying a house is extremely high risk. You pay social security, but cannot benefit from it. Your spouse cannot work. You are tied to one employer, who has complete leverage over you. Even with a benevolent employer, it is no fun.
The product is clearly defective if a Sony DVD will not play in a new Sony DVD player, and it is hard to imagine that this is not Sony's fault. However, let's assume good faith on the part of the customer, retailer and manufacturer, since there is no obvious reason to claim that anyone has been dishonest. The aim is to make it Sony's problem, not the problem of the customer or retailer.
Intially, the problem is with the customer, who is not at fault.
The implied "fit for purpose" contract that the customer has is with the retailer, from whom the purchase was made. The retailer, by selling someone else's product, takes on the risk of the product being defective.
The correct customer response is to return the product to the retailer, who is not at fault, but has the responsibility to the customer for the defective product. Now the problem is with the retailer, who is also not at fault.
The ultimate responsibility belongs to the manufacturer, and that is where the problem should reside.
The remaining step is for the retailer to take issue with the manufacturer. The tricky bit for the retailer is that the DVD is not faulty in every situation, which makes it difficult to return, since the retailer may not be able to verify the fault. The customer, not being lazy and wishing to maintain a relationship with the retailer, could do the right thing to help the retailer in this regard by providing a written letter of complaint detailing the problem, which makes it much easier for the retailer to go back to the manufacturer. It has the added benefit of making the intial return process reasonably civil.
Imus, middle-aged white guy, abused his privileged position in a stupid (not funny) attack on people who really "don't deserve it" (quote from Imus's own words).
OF COURSE IT MATTERS WHO YOU ARE!
Can you imagine language like this from President Bush? The Pope? How about a teacher?
At the other extreme, we expect rappers to come out with hurtful foul language, and just look at the result: some people seem to think that that makes it ok for Imus.
The law applies equally, at least in principle, but standards don't. We adjust our language and manners according to context, and pointlessly tearing down young relatively vulnerable people on public airwaves doesn't meet the standards Imus should have met, even for a shock jock.
> Microsoft knows that no one ever got fired for buying IBM [or] Microsoft.
IBM managed to get itself in a bit of a hole in the late eighties, as I recall. IBM seemed to be untouchable, and then was outmanouvered from a near monopoly position. Microsoft faces a few of the same issues: the need for upward compatibility, difficulty being able to respond quickly to pressing concerns, in MS's case, security.
Linux provides a chance to regain some of the flexibility that MS needs to maintain dominance. It may even be possible to for MS to produce a clean product which is outstandingly good. They have the capability; we just haven't seen it for a while...
You can be informed by assessing the candidates statements on what they would like to do. While you get some clues, these can be quite unreliable in practice.
You can also be informed by the track record of what a party or candidate does.
As an analogy, in a job interview, what counts for more:
what you promise to do, or what you have already achieved?
Slashdot Mirror
Other posters have suggested that there is probably some hole, or holes, from way back when that caused problems later on, and they are probably right. A tutor would certainly help, but if this is not feasible, I suggest that you start off by going on a hole-discovery quest.
Try this technique:
Find an interesting but non-trivial problem.
Now assess yourself:
Do the problem, giving yourself a commentary as if you were explaining it to your high school self. Take notice of any spot where you stumble or hesitate. This will point you to either a hole in your understanding, or a lack of skill that is holding you back. Don't worry about whether you 'should' know this or not; you are searching for something that you think you understand, but haven't mastered properly.
It might be that you don't recognise factors of numbers larger than 20 (more common than you might think), or perhaps there are aspects of fractions or ratios that you haven't quite mastered (lots of students are caught out here, and it makes everything else so much harder). Other "gotchas" include limits, complex numbers and calculus. It might be that your middle school teachers emphasised concepts but not mathematical language, without which thinking mathematically can be quite difficult.
Whatever, once you have found a hole, work at getting absolute mastery over this area.
Repeat. Have fun.
I agree, books etc. won't do it. What I would love to see in English classes is a notion that mathematically-inclined people almost take for granted: that contradictions highlight a weakness in the argument, somewhere.
In the quest for producing essays that are "balanced", the students are encouraged to think that holding simultaneously mutually exclusive points of view is desirable. This, of course, is not true. If you can, try to get the students to see the different assumptions that lead to the different perspectives. This type of analysis will be invaluable in all subjects.
You seem to trolling, else you imagine that only definition number 6 applies:
theory:
1. A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
2. The branch of a science or art consisting of its explanatory statements, accepted principles, and methods of analysis, as opposed to practice: a fine musician who had never studied theory.
3. A set of theorems that constitute a systematic view of a branch of mathematics.
4. Abstract reasoning; speculation: a decision based on experience rather than theory.
5. A belief or principle that guides action or assists comprehension or judgment: staked out the house on the theory that criminals usually return to the scene of the crime.
6. An assumption based on limited information or knowledge; a conjecture
The pub analogy has a flaw too, because there is a difference between criminal activity and wanting civil redress.
Demanding information about students so that civil redress can be sought just in case there may be an infringement is just going too far.
It is not necessary to believe that music should be freely available to be upset about this. I am so upset at the bully-tactics that I refuse to buy music from RIAA-affiliated artists, and only purchase from independent sources. There is some really great free stuff available to promote new bands - check out: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/listen/mp3s.htm
You underrate the value of the Queen's diplomatic role and seem to think that wealth/success should be proportional to effort/artistic value. No matter what field you look at, there are always examples of brilliant work being (relatively) overlooked. Imnsho, if you want cracking good jokes in a fantasy world, try Terry Pratchett. If you want a brilliantly paced story arc, try the Jonathon Stroud's Bartemious Trilogy. And for great plots with subversive anti-establishment undercurrents, try Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. These authors are just plain brilliant. Perhaps their originality gets in the way of wild success. I hope that the end of H.P. leads to people seeking out other good books.
Niven is also on record saying that it was criticisms from MIT students chanting "The ringworld is unstable" which at least partly inspired him to fix engineering problems in Ringworld in Engineers of Ringworld.
Didn't the 'smart alec' news reporter realise that Einstein had grown up with the metric system? Einstein had never had a reason to memorize how many feet were in a mile, and would naturally look it up if ever he needed it. I presume that the reporter would need to look up the captial cities of German states, but I would be terribly surprised if Einstein would have needed to.
Instead of feeling outrage at a mere thirteen year old treading on adult turf, think of it as a learning experience, a project if you like, for what is obviously a very bright kid. I'd be impressed if he were my child. Is anybody truly surprised that he is inexperienced?
You are right. As an H1B, you are definitely second-class, and it's horribly high risk. Should your position be terminated for any reason, legally you and your family must leave the country immediately - and I mean the same day. The logistics escape me. There used to be an unofficial 10 day grace period to leave the country, but the "terrorism" crackdown eroded even that.
So, buying a house is extremely high risk. You pay social security, but cannot benefit from it. Your spouse cannot work. You are tied to one employer, who has complete leverage over you. Even with a benevolent employer, it is no fun.
The product is clearly defective if a Sony DVD will not play in a new Sony DVD player, and it is hard to imagine that this is not Sony's fault. However, let's assume good faith on the part of the customer, retailer and manufacturer, since there is no obvious reason to claim that anyone has been dishonest. The aim is to make it Sony's problem, not the problem of the customer or retailer.
.
Intially, the problem is with the customer, who is not at fault.
The implied "fit for purpose" contract that the customer has is with the retailer, from whom the purchase was made. The retailer, by selling someone else's product, takes on the risk of the product being defective.
The correct customer response is to return the product to the retailer, who is not at fault, but has the responsibility to the customer for the defective product
Now the problem is with the retailer, who is also not at fault.
The ultimate responsibility belongs to the manufacturer, and that is where the problem should reside. The remaining step is for the retailer to take issue with the manufacturer. The tricky bit for the retailer is that the DVD is not faulty in every situation, which makes it difficult to return, since the retailer may not be able to verify the fault. The customer, not being lazy and wishing to maintain a relationship with the retailer, could do the right thing to help the retailer in this regard by providing a written letter of complaint detailing the problem, which makes it much easier for the retailer to go back to the manufacturer. It has the added benefit of making the intial return process reasonably civil.
So you are saying that charity work should protect one from the consequences of bad behavior.
Yeah, right.
How can you blame the girls for overplaying the victim role? Wasn't it their restrained response that made Imus look doubly bad?
I'm sorry that you were called worse than a whore by the time you were six(!), but that doesn't make senseless bullying acceptable.
Imus, middle-aged white guy, abused his privileged position in a stupid (not funny) attack on people who really "don't deserve it" (quote from Imus's own words).
OF COURSE IT MATTERS WHO YOU ARE!
Can you imagine language like this from President Bush? The Pope? How about a teacher? At the other extreme, we expect rappers to come out with hurtful foul language, and just look at the result: some people seem to think that that makes it ok for Imus. The law applies equally, at least in principle, but standards don't. We adjust our language and manners according to context, and pointlessly tearing down young relatively vulnerable people on public airwaves doesn't meet the standards Imus should have met, even for a shock jock.
> Microsoft knows that no one ever got fired for buying IBM [or] Microsoft.
IBM managed to get itself in a bit of a hole in the late eighties, as I recall. IBM seemed to be untouchable, and then was outmanouvered from a near monopoly position. Microsoft faces a few of the same issues: the need for upward compatibility, difficulty being able to respond quickly to pressing concerns, in MS's case, security.
Linux provides a chance to regain some of the flexibility that MS needs to maintain dominance. It may even be possible to for MS to produce a clean product which is outstandingly good. They have the capability; we just haven't seen it for a while...
You can be informed by assessing the candidates statements on what they would like to do. While you get some clues, these can be quite unreliable in practice.
You can also be informed by the track record of what a party or candidate does.
As an analogy, in a job interview, what counts for more:
what you promise to do, or what you have already achieved?