Grades are in!

After much anticipation, I've just learned that I can now wash my brain of all things trigonometry(har...har) because I passed! Well, I did better than passing but less than an A; you figure it out.

And thanks to astrophoenix for passing on this excellent read: A Mathematician's Lament.

According to this awesome write-up about the current state of math in the US, I just finished this segment of training:

TRIGONOMETRY. Two weeks of content are stretched to semester length by masturbatory definitional runarounds. Truly interesting and beautiful phenomena, such as the way the sides of a triangle depend on its angles, will be given the same emphasis as irrelevant abbreviations and obsolete notational conventions, in order to prevent students from forming any clear idea as to what the subject is about. Students will learn such mnemonic devices as “SohCahToa” and “AllStudents Take Calculus” in lieu of developing a natural intuitive feeling for orientation and symmetry. The measurement of triangles will be discussed without mention of the transcendental nature of the trigonometric functions, or the consequent linguistic andphilosophical problems inherent in making such measurements. Calculator required, so as to further blur these issues.

No More Trig!

Like Jennifer, my spring semester has also drawn to a close. As I walked out of class Wednesday night after my two-hour final, my lips burst into a radiant grin. My immediate thought was, "I did it! No more trig!"

As soon as I thought those words, I had to laugh a little. After all, if I keep pursuing this educational path, I'll continue to use and build upon the principles learned in trigonometry. I'm sure there will come a day when I'll look back and say, "Psshh. Trig. That was easy in comparison to (fill in the blank)."

While June is already starting to fly by, I'm still unsure of many things for this upcoming fall semester. I still don't know if I'll be part time or full time at this point, especially since so many engineering classes are dependent on completion of calculus.

I am excited at the possibility that I'll be attending a 4-year college(even if it is a cheap state-run commuter school) instead of floating around in community college purgatory. For now, it's summertime. Time to bust ass working full-time and save up for the future.

Testing the waters

When I was a wee lass, my family used to frequent the Jersey shore. Thus, it came to be that I would learn to swim before riding a bike. Learning to swim wasn't without complications. Luckily, my parents cared about my well-being and did their best to preserve my life by outfitting me with a ridiculous orange contraption that was little more than an inner tube sewn into a nylon vest. In the early days of my oceanic swimming, I was pulled down by the undertow gasping for air and unable to fight my way out. Luckily, the obnoxious inner tube lent me some buoyancy and quite possibly saved my life on more than a few occasions.

This is my 2nd semester taking trigonometry. After I keenly decided to go back to school for MechE last summer, I knew I was going to need to brush up on my math skills. The Fall 2008 semester marked 10 years since my last college mathematics class. Since I wasn't enrolled at a 4-year college yet, I trekked down to my local community college to sign up for what would be the 1st of many super awesome math classes(can't you just feel the sarcasm?).

Judging from my transcript, I was approved for trig, which bypassed the need to take the 2 lower level classes, Elementary and Intermediate Algebra. This would've been fine if say, I had taken algebra a year ago or so. I was a bit concerned about how I would fare, but forged ahead with determination.

Luckily, I landed the best math teacher(aside from my pops) that I've ever had. Yet even with his teaching and a coherent book, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. I was struggling to remember basic algebra rules which hindered my understanding of the new material. At the same time, I was reading, "What Color is Your Parachute?" and according to that book I had the skillset to be a photographer or novelist. It was like I was playing Monopoly and got dealt a community chest card that read, "You have not passed math and you will proceed to study liberal arts."

It was at this point, shortly after the 1st test of the semester that I lost my previously strong determination to study math and just plain ol' gave up. It was as if I was a 5 year old all over again trying to fight the wrath of the ocean, my stubby legs flailing about helplessly. I was convinced that I would sincerely be happier as a journalism major.

And I stayed somewhat convinced of this fact until a certain someone named Jennifer planted a small seed in the desert garden of my engineering dreams. She encouraged me to actually talk to real live engineers and the faculty advisor at the college before I let assumptions close the door on engineering. I realized a few very important lessons in the process:

1. It's best to directly ask questions of people who are actually working in the field you want to go into, not the people who switched from a MechE major or your business major friends(no offense!).

2. Speaking to an engineering faculty advisor informed me of the exact classes I would have to take and realistic workloads. The best thing I took away from this experience was that for an engineering major it is particularly crucial to study at least 1-2 hours for every hour spent in class per week. Therefore, a 5 credit hour class should warrant about 5-10 hours a week in study time outside of class.

So here I am again; another semester gone by but not without some valuable lessons learned. This time instead of just jumping in the water, I'm armed with my swanky orange innertube of realistic expectations, support, and additional mathematic knowledge to take on the worst trigonometric undertow the ocean of college can sock me with.