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Borek
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Looks like they were just missed, and once they were answered, there was no sense to delete the content.
But nothing has changed, that's for sure.
But nothing has changed, that's for sure.
Borek said:Looks like they were just missed, and once they were answered, there was no sense to delete the content.
But nothing has changed, that's for sure.
Here's a bit on my philosophy on this topic.jackmell said:May I complain about something I feel is unfair? Here's the scenario:
A poor helpless student comes here with a problem and says, "I have no idea where to begin" or something like that and the forum rules are "you must show your work to get help".
Well, does anyone see a contradiction there? How can they show their work if they don't have a clue how to start? And what, poor sympathetic me comes along and thinks, "well, I know just what they need" but no, I'll get popped if I "intervene" so like a good worker-bee I say nothing and the Riemann Hypothesis remains unproven.
Alas, I am beset by the ironies in my life.
Jack
Amen to that.arildno said:"My road through math is littered with wrong ones."
My physics teacher taught me this last year. As crazy as it sounds, this is an almost surefire way of getting "unstuck."arildno said:Very often, just LISTING the variables explicitly, rather than let them float about in the brain is just the nudge one needs to organize the thoughts..
Said no one. Ever.Astronuc said:I've heard that brute force usually works.
WHOA! I like this method! Why was I unaware of this? :tongue:jhae2.718 said:I like the "Feynman Problem Solving Method" myself:
- Write down the problem.
- Think really hard.
- Write down the right answer.
leroyjenkens said:Actually, in some cases, "I have no idea" happens. It happens to me sometimes. I can't think of an example, but I've been in situations where I have no idea where to begin on a problem, and it's not due to laziness, it's just probably me drawing a blank. Sometimes a push in the right direction will help and wouldn't be considered holding their hand. But of course, you can't know when someone IS just being lazy, so I see the dilemma.
leroyjenkens said:Actually, in some cases, "I have no idea" happens. It happens to me sometimes. I can't think of an example, but I've been in situations where I have no idea where to begin on a problem, and it's not due to laziness, it's just probably me drawing a blank.
brmath said:You know, I think we can start by cutting people some slack. If they are really being lazy, we'll find out fast enough. Hopelessly confused and frustrated is also possible.
I like to give them an answer that would start them off in the right direction. Or ask if they understand the definition of whatever the basic thing is.
Some respond well and begin making progress. Others clearly are hoping to get off with little work, or maybe to get me to do it for them.
I must add, some of the problems people are given are ridiculous and indicate mostly that their professor has no idea how to teach and/or doesn't him/herself understand the material. Wish I could message those people ...
Also, some of the students have no business in whatever the course is, are clearly unprepared, and I wish I knew what to tell them.
brmath said:What is giving me the most trouble are the students who just plain do not belong in whatever class it is. I remember one who was working on a 2-dim problem - probed for a starting point, asking several increasingly simple questions; but gave up when he/she didn't know anything about the relationship of a tangent line to a circle and the radius to that point.
I recently worked with another who started in the wrong direction, didn't understand why not, and eventually turned out not to understand anything -- was guessing at answers without a scrap of logical thought or insight.
What should I do for students who clearly are misplaced? The best advice would be to drop the class, but I can hardly suggest that.
SteamKing said:These are the toughest cases to deal with. Sometimes, I wonder if these students didn't wander into the wrong class by mistake and didn't realize it.
How? Do you mean in a take-home assignment, or in a closed-book exam?brmath said:Re cheating, they are getting better and better at it due to fine cellphone technology.
Indeed, and why deprive the world of a skillful escort to produce an incompetent economist?Why deprive the world of a good history teacher to produce an incompetent mathematician or physicist?
strangerep said:How? Do you mean in a take-home assignment, or in a closed-book exam?
I have a good and kind friend I grew up with, who is now Head of the Economics Dept at a major university. He told me a story about a girl student who always achieved good results for assignments, etc, etc, and seemed thoroughly interested in his course. But come the (closed-book) exam, she crashed and burned horribly and my friend was quite upset. I didn't know how to tell him that he had simply been played all along by a cheating young girl who knew how to charm naive older men...
I disagree with your opinion on what's not helpful. There are way too many students who don't get it that math courses are cumulative, and that teachers expect that a student in course N + 1 should be reasonably competent in the material from course N. A student who can't do arithmetic is going to find it impossible to carry out complicated calculations in algebra or trig or more advanced subjects. I don't find anything wrong with telling such a student to review basic algebra or whatever he or she is having problems with.Medgirl314 said:I feel that "I have no idea where to start" is unacceptable, but "I HAD no idea how to start" is, if followed by a reasonable attempt to solve the problem. What I feel is unreasonable, though, is that some members(not mentors) who have already been to college "help" someone with a basic problem, but insult their knowledge or intelligence while doing so. It's okay to say "I think you missed a step." or, "Here's a link to a similar problem, do you see where you went wrong?" But I don't think it's helpful to say things such as "This isn't even algebra, this is basic arithmetic." or "Maybe you should review basic algebra." or "You'll never succeed in physics if you don't have such basic concepts down." However, this is only some members, some others are extremely helpful.
Medgirl314 said:That's true. Those were my thoughts too,brmath. I wish we had more Homework Helpers with your attitude!
My thought it that just POSTING a question means admitting you don't know everything, or at least that you don;t know the concept very well, so there isn't a need for people to point that out. Especially when the OP is working hard at the problem and not just seeking answers.
Medgirl314 said:I do think that maybe we should have a different section for non-homework problems,because I and a few others I have seen on this forum are doing EXTRA work and they already KNOW the answer, but they need an in-depth explanation to truly understand how to get there. Does that make sense?
That's why there are the other forums. If it's not homework, the question can be asked as such.Medgirl314 said:I do think that maybe we should have a different section for non-homework problems,because I and a few others I have seen on this forum are doing EXTRA work and they already KNOW the answer, but they need an in-depth explanation to truly understand how to get there. Does that make sense?
Medgirl314 said:Oh, okay! I was somewhat confused because I read on other threads that any questions resembling homework MUST be asked in the homework forum, even if they're not assigned. Thanks for clearing that up!
Borek said:As explained earlier - sometimes what counts as a HW or HWlike question is a matter of a personal opinion. But if you will post in the technical forum, following the rules of the HW forum (mainly explaining precisely what it is about and showing your effort) and you will add a comment that you are not interested just in the solution, but in some details of the method/theorems used/blahblah, you would have to be extremely unlucky and meet a Mentor with a headache/toothache/wifeache/whatever to get smashed for your post.
Borek said:... you would have to be extremely unlucky and meet a Mentor with a headache/toothache/wifeache/whatever to get smashed for your post.
SteamKing said:Happy wife, happy life, Borek. Do the Poles have a similar saying?
I think I know why.Borek said:We don't need a saying, we just know it.
sharan swarup said:I have read a few posts out here and would like to give my opinion. If you teach someone about RLC circuits, he or she must at least know the notations ( "at least" here means the least possible knowledge without understanding) in calculus.
He or she should know that dy/dx is the rate of change of y with respect to variable x. The person should also know that if dy/dx=k, then he should be able to express y in terms of k. If a person says that it is not known to him, it is really frustrating given the fact that second order differential equation is solved.