Study Less, Get Better Grades

First off, the answers to my St. Patrick’s Day math problems. 1) The probability that the leprechaun has drunk a gallon of beer is 1. The numbers on opposite sides of a normal six-sided die always sum to seven. 2) No leprechauns go home sober. The probability of flipping an infinite number of heads with a fair coin is zero. (1/2)^infinity = 0. 3) The game theoretically never ends because with a coefficient of restitution of zero, the ball doesn’t bounce. In actuality, the game ends when the leprechauns pass out, so the answer to the last question is “very drunk.”

Next up, my latest very scientific analysis definitively proving that studying makes your grades worse. I meant to put this up after my first round of prelims, but I was busy with f*****. [Note for anyone who clicked the link and was expecting something very different: 1) Count the number of asterisks again. 2) Get your mind out of the gutter.]

My first round of prelims was scheduled such that I had three prelims in seven days. I still can’t decide whether I prefer having that happen or having one prelim every week for the majority of the semester, which I did last semester. Anyway, the fluid mechanics (fluids) prelim was a Thursday, so I spent the weekend before the prelim getting ahead on homework for other classes (I admit I also worked a shift for Cornell Productions on Friday night and went to pep band for all of Saturday afternoon/night). I started studying for fluids on Monday. In between going to class, doing other homework, and other mostly necessary things like eating and sleeping, I got in almost five hours of studying for fluids.

After the two and a half hour fluids prelim, I had to go and finish my physical chemistry homework. I just had a few things to wrap up, so it only took two hours. I took Friday off, did other homework on Saturday morning, went to pep band on Saturday afternoon/night, and studied for p-chem mostly on Sunday and Monday. I ended up getting in about four hours of studying for p-chem.

The p-chem and macroeconomics prelims were scheduled for the same time, so I took the makeup exam for macroecon on Wednesday. That meant that after the p-chem prelim I went back to my room and studied for econ. By which I mean I reviewed a previous prelim for 40 minutes. Then on Wednesday I went to my six hours of class, followed by dinner, followed by the prelim. Notice I did not have time to study for econ on Wednesday. Notice that the only time I mention studying for econ is for 40 minutes on Tuesday night.

This is what happened when I got my grades back.

Note the trend of grades decreasing as more time is spent studying. Ignore that there are only three points on the graph. Also ignore the fact that each prelim was taken for a different class. Further ignore the fact that a lot of the macroeconomics material was a review of microeconomics, which I took last year. In addition, ignore the fact that each class has a different curve. The takeaway lesson is that studying obviously makes grades worse. According to the best fit line, I should study about -1 hour to get a hundred on my next prelim. It’s too late for fluids, but I still have p-chem and macroecon coming up after the break (in the same week . . . again).

St. Patrick’s Day

The Google Doodle of the day tells me that it’s St. Patrick’s Day today, so what better way to celebrate than with some math problems?

1) A leprechaun is playing a game. He rolls a die, and every time his roll and the number opposite on the (normal, six-sided) die sum to seven, he drinks a quart of beer. After four rolls, what is the probability that the leprechaun has drunk a gallon of beer?

2) At the leprechaun bar, the probability that a leprechaun is forbidden another drink by the bartender is the same as the probability of flipping an infinite number of tails in a row with a fair coin. How many leprechauns go home sober?

3) Two leprechauns are playing ping pong with a ball with a coefficient of restitution of 0. The loser of each point drinks a pint of beer. What is the final score of the game, how long does the game take, and how drunk are the leprechauns at the end of the game?

Answers to come in my next post, and for the record, here’s the real reason St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated.

Pi Day

As of right now, I do not have any pie, but I do have some very exciting pie charts. A couple weeks ago I tracked/estimated the amount of time per week I spend on various activities. I was either in class or doing homework/class related activities for about 47 hours, I got just under 56 hours of sleep, I spent about 10 hours eating, and the remaining 57 hours of the week were spread out among a large number of other activities.

Here’s what the pie chart looks like (click to zoom in):

Other includes everything from travelling to and from class, church, rock climbing , pep band, going to see Frozen, listening to the Revolution game on the radio, and blogging, among other things.  What’s underrepresented in this particular week is pep band, because I ended up having to skip most of the events to do problem sets and go to office hours.

Then I decided to break down my class time to see how much time I spent on each class. In terms of lectures and discussions, I have 2 and a half hours of biomolecular engineering, 3 hours and 20 minutes of physical chemistry, 3 hours and 40 minutes of physical chemistry lab, 4 hours and 25 minutes of fluid mechanics, and I’m supposed to have 2 and a half hours of economics. I say supposed to because my TA never showed up for discussion. Class time total for the week: 15 hours, 50 minutes.

That was added to any homework, studying, or prelims for the week, which included a p-chem prelim, an econ prelim, 7 hours of fluids homework on Thursday, and 6 hours of bio homework on Friday. It was a fun week, but aren't they all?

Here’s the pie chart for the breakdown of my class time:

Even with a p-chem prelim instead of a problem set, I think the numbers came out about the same as usual. We have bio problem sets due about every other week, so that number can vary a lot. As for fluids . . . I have no words to sum up this class.

So to close, have a Happy Pi Day. I have the entire afternoon free, but don’t worry, my next round of problem sets should be assigned in a few hours.

The Aliens are Here

I don’t know why the sky is that color, but it’s unnatural, so it must be the aliens.

Cornell wins, Jenny dies, end of [Love] Story