"omg math help" thread II!

[amy]

Okay uh I suck at math too, help me plz. ^^; this is precalc, but not too hard I think cause it is normal level. (This is my way of being proactive)

so about multiplying imaginary numbers, do you distribute it like you would say (x + 3) (x - 5)?

so (1 + 2i) (3 + 3i)

would be 3 + 3i + 6i + 6i^2, or -3 + 9i?

[John]

3 + 3i + 6i + 6i^2 is the right answer.

[amy]

cool, I got that part right :D

and addition is (1 + 2i) + (3 + 3i) = 4 + 5i right?

[John]

Yup, just add the like terms.

[Venom112]

It is not like it matters that much anyway. You can't really do it wrong. Sure, your mathematics teacher will likely claim you did it wrong, but come back with this retort.

"Perhaps instructor, but consider this. We are using imaginary numbers. Why, it barely makes sense it does. There are so many real equations and numbers, we should be using them, but instead we waste our time on fancy and folly! It is the childhood playland of math addicts. Then something came to me throughout the mists of this confusion. If they are imaginary numbers, surely imaginary means can solve them! Thus it is impossible for you disprove my imaginary system!"

teacher: Guffaaw!? *considers* *gives Amy an A for understanding existentialism*

[Arcane]

Imaginery numbers are bullshit enough... but they come up with even more bullshit with math. Take an infinite series. There's an infinite number of terms being added up, so you would imagine that an infinite number of numbers being added together would be infinity (or negative infinity). Nope, not always the case. Infinite series can add up to finite numbers. This is one of the reasons why I'm never taking another calculus class again in my life.

[amy]

Imaginery numbers are bullshit enough... but they come up with even more bullshit with math. Take an infinite series. There's an infinite number of terms being added up, so you would imagine that an infinite number of numbers being added together would be infinity (or negative infinity). Nope, not always the case. Infinite series can add up to finite numbers. This is one of the reasons why I'm never taking another calculus class again in my life.

I have no idea how I'm going to avoid calc senior year. xP I could take statistics but that sounds even worse.

[Arcane]

I have no idea how I'm going to avoid calc senior year. xP I could take statistics but that sounds even worse.

I've never taken a statistics class (though I will be soon), but I've heard that they're not bad. Calculus requires a lot of visual aptititude, there's a lot of graphing involved and you need to be able to grasp abstract concepts pretty well.

[amy]

statistics just sounds boooring to me (xD ENJOY), calculus is at least theoretically interesting. I'll probably take "Intro to Calculus" anyway, so it won't be that brutal :D

[Venom112]

I've never taken a statistics class (though I will be soon), but I've heard that they're not bad.

Not to mention you can come up with a bunch of cool ways to distort the facts. Like how average can be either a mean or a median, but it is rarely ever stated!

I would assume the class would be like that anyway, in my high school the two dregs of classhood were statistics and futuristics, and I was partial to the study of... THE FUTURE! *poses*

[David]

Statistics is a class of common sense. You'll have trouble if you're going into AP Stats from Precalc, or don't feel that math comes to you almost 'naturally'.

There's only about 4 formulas/equations to memorize throughout the entire class, but you have to remember at least 30 other things (what is correlation, how do you find it, why is it meaningful, what is it's purpose, rinse and repeat for about 20 other terms) and apply them to special questions.