July 29

Sunday July 29, 2007 5:10 am Lethbridge

It is +14 C with a high forecast of +35 C. Sunrise 5:57 Sunset 21:18 Hours of daylight: 15:21

A. Morning Musings

5:15 am

We had 11 hours of +30 C yesterday, with a high of +36 C. The forecast for today is more of the same.

Immediate	Description	Time
Literature	Begin reading "The Metamorphosis and Other Stories" by Franz Kafka	1 hr
Mathematics	Continue ch. 1 of "Abstract Algebra" by Herstein	1 hr
Mathematics	Complete problems 3.9 - 3.30 of "The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems"	4 hr
Mathematics	Continue reading "The Black Swan" by Nassim Taleb	1 hr

C. Actual Learning Activities

5:20 am

Mathematics 30

July 29, 2007

5:30 am

I plan to continue the exercises for chapter 3 this morning. It is too hot for any serious activity, including serious study, but doing a few problems is okay.

The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems (2006) W. Michael Kelley

Chapter 3 Rational Expressions

Here are my scans (original at color - photo, 150 dpi, custom size 8 x 10.5 in, export at width of 600 pixels) of the problems I completed in a one hour session this morning.

calculus

6:50 am

Much better. No careless errors. I did confuse the expressions for x^3 + y^3 and x^3 - y^3, but I think I now have that under control. The remaining exercises were straight forward and easy. But a little review and practice is worth while.

3:30 PM

I plan to continue the exercises for chapter 3 this morning. It is too hot for any serious activity, including serious study, but doing a few problems is okay.

Here are my scans of an hour session earlier this afternoon.

calculus

3:35 PM

A good session. The last problem gave me a little difficulty as it was a new type of question. I preferred my approach to that in the book.

7:40 PM

I wanted to complete the exercises for chapter 3 today. I did another session from 3:35 to 4:50 PM and then a final session from 7:10 PM to 7:40 PM.

Here are my scans of these sessions:

calculus

7:55 PM

I now feel that I genuinely understand the exercises for chapter 3 Rational Expressions. Basically this chapter was about algebraic manipulations involving equalities and inequalities. The next chapter, still review, is about functions. This is one of the key concepts underlying calculus.