What does Steven do on his first day of summer break?
Well, he's been lying on the couch all morning. . . . programming his TI 83 Plus calculator. That's right. The following interview may prove illuminating:
Mom: What program, exactly, are you writing for your calculator?
Steven: I'm writing a program that uses the rational roots theorem to factor any polynomial into linear factors. The progam will factor any polynomial of a degree greater than two into a degree of two, and then it will use the quadratic formula to find the last two zeros, be they irrational or imaginary, in simplified form.
Mom: What if they're rational?
Steven: (Incredulous epression.) Then, it'll tell you.
Mom: Duh.
Steven: I don't think you quite have the grasp of my program, Mom. It won't just give you an approximation to the nearest millionth of the irrational roots, if there are any. It leaves them in simplified radical form.
Mom: So, the answer is absolutely correct, not an estimate?
Steven: Yes.
Mom: How does this compare to other programs you have written for your TI 83 Plus?
Steven: Well, I've already done a program that factors quadrilaterals and keeps the zeros in radical form. This program will be able to factor ANY polynomial, of ANY degree.
Mom: Oh. That's nice. A little while ago you leapt from the couch and ran around the house in a victory lap of sorts. What was that all about?
Steven: That was when I figured out how to fix the bug that was preventing my For loop from trying all possibilites of P over Q.
Mom: Well, that explains it! You were shouting something about absolute value. Was that part of the solution?
Steven: No. That was the second bug that I fixed, having to do with a different For loop, which was populating the lists of P and Q.
Mom: And it's only Monday!
Well, fam, there you have it. Summertime. Kick back and relax!!!
8 comments:
ha ha! Nothing beats summertime like mathematical thinking! Really though, I'm impressed he can even say sentences like that. I'm pretty sure I couldn't even pretend to be that smart. :) And, I'm impressed that you can even have enough knowledge to come up with questions...I wouldn't even know what to say!
Steven, steven. Sounds like you need me there to spice up your life a little. haha. I didn't understand one word in the blog, that can't be a good sign. Hopefully math is the language of love...if it is, you'll have no trouble with the ladies. haha. Enjoy your summer. Summers are the best!
I think it is very humanitarian of Steven to attempt communication with those of us beings of inferior intelligence. It is a privilege to be related to him. Truly. We spent our first post-graduation day as follows:
Jeffrey made a series of successful and, in his opinion, "highly ethical" decisions which led him to some astronomical victory in the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic game. This took many hours of hard work. Chris went to see Kung Fu Panda with some friends for the 2nd time in 4 days. The girls and I took Heidi to get a throat culture, but finding it negative seemed to make her feel good enough to go shopping so I could buy everyone a new Webkins stuffed animal. We now have a stuffed hamster (in addition to the real one), a penguin, and a pink platypus to add to our 836,700+ (which is an estimate, and not an exact solution) other stuffed animals in the house. Joy. So, Steven, good for you for enriching your mind and doing something worthwhile on this the threshold to your summer months. And yes, Jill, I agree with Hannah that I am impressed that you were able to carry on a decent conversation with relevant comments. My head starts hurting when the children use mathematical terms more complex than "quotient" so I would be lost.
I think it is very humanitarian of Steven to attempt communication with those of us beings of inferior intelligence. It is a privilege to be related to him. Truly. We spent our first post-graduation day as follows:
Jeffrey made a series of successful and, in his opinion, "highly ethical" decisions which led him to some astronomical victory in the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic game. This took many hours of hard work. Chris went to see Kung Fu Panda with some friends for the 2nd time in 4 days. The girls and I took Heidi to get a throat culture, but finding it negative seemed to make her feel good enough to go shopping so I could buy everyone a new Webkins stuffed animal. We now have a stuffed hamster (in addition to the real one), a penguin, and a pink platypus to add to our 836,700+ (which is an estimate, and not an exact solution) other stuffed animals in the house. Joy. So, Steven, good for you for enriching your mind and doing something worthwhile on this the threshold to your summer months. And yes, Jill, I agree with Hannah that I am impressed that you were able to carry on a decent conversation with relevant comments. My head starts hurting when the children use mathematical terms more complex than "quotient" so I would be lost.
This, Mom, is why you are always thrilled when you have a DAUGHTER over. The conversation expands beyond scientific american and rational/irrational numbers.
Okay, so did I catch this one part of Steven's program correctly? Instead of giving you an answer that is completely useless, like .547059485309049582049580-09808, your program will keep the answer in a form that is actually helpful? I can't think of what that would actually be, but I can grasp the implications. I think.
Boy, you really know how to have fun!
Becca: That is correct. Instead of saying 3.828427125, it says 1+2√2. It is very handy for tests, where teachers want exact answers. Unfortunately, I won't be taking any math tests for the next few months.
I have to laugh at the glaring misquote in mom's recollection of the conversation--you can't factor a "quadrilateral", because that's just a geometric shape! Hahaha! But you can factor a "quadratic equation", which must have been what Steven actually said.
That said, I am very proud of Steven's program. I'm curious how you determine the various trial factors p and q. Is it an exhaustive search through all possible integers up to the maximum, testing them one by one to see if they are factors?
We are having a great debate here about whether or not Steven said "quadrilateral." I KNOW what a quadrilateral is. I just thought it was also some slang you math guys use for "quadratic equation." Well, I'm glad I gave Danny such a chuckle.
Post a Comment