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Everyday uses for math

In Algebra II, I sit behind this disgruntled kid who likes to make a fuss out of everything. He’s passed all the math classes he needs to have passed, and yet they’ve placed him in another math class anyway. I’ve had him with some other classes, and in every one, he has driven the teacher toward an early grave with his constant questions. But in this particular class, his nitpicks are more evident. One time we were doing a very easy word problem about using the length of a cheetah’s stride and its average speed to find how far it ran (or something like that). He just had to inquire, “Was the cheetah running?” Even worse, he meant it seriously. Or, at least, he didn’t seem to think it was funny.

He doesn’t seem to have friends (and probably wonders why), as I always see him in the minutes before school starts sitting outside at a table alone with his head down. (Morality Police take note: I intend to approach him and make conversation when it’s warmer.)

Anyway, this isn’t so much about his character as it is his programming prowess. As I’ve said, I sit behind him, and every day instead of taking notes, he fiddles around on his graphing calculator, doing things beyond the wildest dreams of anyone still using a two-line-display scientific calculator (like me. Actually, I lost mine and am currently using one that I found.) Not only does he play games, but he also makes his own. As an aspiring computer programmer (I took my first programming class last semester), his slot machine game has fascinated me. Instead of fruits and things like that, it shows mathematical symbols. The actual machine is a line drawing (we’re talking about a monochrome display here) that he made himself. But the thing that impressed me most is that you can bet — and even win back — money with it.

So, you ask, can Mr. Aspiring Programmer match the challenge with a PC equivalent of said game? I think I probably could. I just haven’t been able to yet. Having not had the class in about eight weeks, I’ve become a little rusty. Also, I haven’t been able to install the program we use to make our programs yet. It’s prohibitively large; I’ll probably need a new hard drive in order to install it.

But till then, let me just add this idea to my imaginary checklist of programming projects to try before I’m in Programming II next school year (hopefully the first semester). They do games in that class, so maybe by having made a slot machine game I’ll have a head start.

Remember Ask Jordon?

Tom: Have you every played the board game Risk?

Nope.

Chase Taylor: What is the B major scale?

As far as I know, the chords of the B major scale are as follows.

I: B
ii: C#m/Dbm
iii: D#m/Ebm
IV: E
V: F#/Gb
vi: G#m/Abm
vii: A#dim/Bbdim

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong (I wouldn’t want to “cheat” by looking it up, but I’m pretty sure it’s right). For my chart of the chords of minor scales, which I’m also fairly sure is fairly right, see the Minor Scale Chart Thing.

Airports come and go. A lot of them are small and can only be described simply as airfields. Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields has photos of 1,239 abandoned or demolished airfields in all 50 United States. So odds are, if you live in the U.S., you can learn about some that are (or were) near you. The site provides an interesting trip to through the golden years of aviation.