So, having had the day off from school, I honestly don't know if this is required of me. I've decided, however, that my grade is more important than laziness and I kind of want this to updated weekly, if only for continuity's sake. (heh heh... continuity) This was the last week before exams, and I just can't wait for the mad cramming that's bound to take place on Monday and Tuesday. I imagine that it'll be largely boring, monotonous, and just general busywork next week, but that's neither here nor there. On to the past week's events.
So, I said that I'd talk about the weeks events, but there honestly wasn't much done. Monday was review, Tuesday was stuff with f' and f''. Fairly simple, not too hard to grasp, and I think I have it (mostly) down. We did, however, start a test on Thursday, (a bit late, I might add) and I think it went okay. Granted, we have yet to be given the non-calculator portion, but from what I remember, the stuff with the calculator wasn't too bad. I did get a little stuck on some of the explanations though, I'm honestly done with the derivative junk and I don't really care about why all these things work. It's a little harsh, but after seven weeks straight (I just went back and checked) of derivatives and their related applications, I think I can speak for most of us in saying that derivatives are getting stupid. I'd really like to move on to something else, but I don't think I'll get my wish till after Christmas Break. But hey, maybe we'll have some sort of Christmas miracle and get a little reprieve from the monotony of derivatives? Anyways, getting back on topic, I managed to reason through the process in my head well enough to at least trick myself into thinking it made sense and worked that way. I did, at the very least, get the answers themselves right (or, I think I did) so it shouldn't hurt me too bad.
I can only wonder what'll be on the non-calculator portion though. I mean, some of these problems could have easily been on the next part, and I think at least one of them was simply an explanation of how something or other works. I hope there isn't too much to do with critical points though, for whatever reason I've lost all ability to find zeroes in my head. It doesn't help that half the questions involve some kind of complicated squaring and square root combination that results in some stupid irrational zero, but I've had trouble even finding the more simple ones. Hopefully that doesn't carry over into next week, but who knows. I think I remember the teacher saying that it'd be a lot simpler on the non-calculator part, but I don't know. We'll see when it comes.
Anyways, that's about it. I've pretty much run out of stuff to say, and next week will likely be similar. Although, I will have an exam to rant about... hmm, maybe next week's will be a bit easier to write. I've found myself having to think a bit harder to do these, not sure how much of it is my own stagnating interest in derivatives and how much is just my readiness for a lengthy break. Heck, this three day weekend may even solve it, though I suspect not. Thanksgiving will definitely be a good reset button of sorts though, so I should get a bit more of my intellectual zeal back afterwards. Probably. I'll almost certainly update on Friday, so see you then.