Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Tank-Ace on February 03, 2012, 07:04:02 PM

Title: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Tank-Ace on February 03, 2012, 07:04:02 PM
We're learning about atomic bonding in class, and our teacher is just plain stupid. Her analogy for the D-block electron orbits was, "imagine its like a parking structure, You want to park in the top corners first, then you move back, but you don't want to park right next to the door".

Then she had us try to find the electron configuration of  U+5 with no further instructions while she went to go 'print some coppies' in the teachers lounge (does not have a printer).


At least its not as bad as our trig teacher, who threw the imaginary number i, and the unknown quantities "A", "B", and "Q" into a logarithm equation. Or his favorite gag, the "nonreal answer" equation, where he makes this huge-arse problem for us to solve, only to have it result in division by zero or some crap like that, and then references the answer in the next problem, so we have to actually do it to make sure  :bhead.

And can someone help me find the answer to this one: Tan(a)+Sec(a) (Csc(A)Cos(B)) divided by Cot (A)
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: coombz on February 03, 2012, 07:33:39 PM
Do your own homework.

Also, pay more attention to your English teacher.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Melvin on February 03, 2012, 07:35:48 PM
Learn how to spell copies and the rest will fall into place.

 :aok
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Tank-Ace on February 03, 2012, 07:42:37 PM
Do your own homework.

Also, pay more attention to your English teacher.

It seems all you do is call people on their bad grammar and spelling, and only those who aren't too bad at it.

Also, spell-check doesn't say "coppies" is wrong
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: coombz on February 03, 2012, 07:46:55 PM
No, but I do do that a lot to you

I find it painfully awful that foreign people can write better English than someone for whom it is their native language

Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Penguin on February 03, 2012, 08:25:27 PM
We're learning about atomic bonding in class, and our teacher is just plain stupid. Her analogy for the D-block electron orbits was, "imagine its like a parking structure, You want to park in the top corners first, then you move back, but you don't want to park right next to the door".

Then she had us try to find the electron configuration of  U+5 with no further instructions while she went to go 'print some coppies' in the teachers lounge (does not have a printer).


At least its not as bad as our trig teacher, who threw the imaginary number i, and the unknown quantities "A", "B", and "Q" into a logarithm equation. Or his favorite gag, the "nonreal answer" equation, where he makes this huge-arse problem for us to solve, only to have it result in division by zero or some crap like that, and then references the answer in the next problem, so we have to actually do it to make sure  :bhead.

And can someone help me find the answer to this one: Tan(a)+Sec(a) (Csc(A)Cos(B)) divided by Cot (A)

Those are some bad teachers.  However, your disgust with their methods is the first step to overcoming their ineptitude.  Go home and get on Google, and look up ionic bonding tutorials.  The trig teacher however, is just an a-hole for doing that.  His job is not only to teach you math, but to teach you to love math.  Making you do large problems that result in 'undefined' is no way to foster a faith that math is a worthwhile subject.  Go on Wikipedia and look up 'Eigan Vector,' you'll love it.  Or, try to use math to solve problems that you make up in your head.  If you run out of math, jump on the internet and learn some more.  Or, if you're totally stuck, rederive it or potentially add to the field in order to get that problem done.  That's how Newton invented calculus.

-Penguin
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: JOACH1M on February 03, 2012, 08:30:04 PM
It seems all you do is call people on their bad grammar and spelling, and only those who aren't too bad at it.

Also, spell-check doesn't say "coppies" is wrong
I'm sure suckoff and Perdweeb would love to give you a grammar and spellin lesson. 👌👍
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Spikes on February 03, 2012, 08:46:45 PM
I'm sure suckoff and Perdweeb would love to give you a grammar and spellin lesson. 👌👍
At least they can spell Joachim.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Tupac on February 03, 2012, 08:47:58 PM
Play nice chillens
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: JOACH1M on February 03, 2012, 08:58:13 PM
At least they can spell Joachim.
I forgot this game was about learning how to spell...
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Spikes on February 03, 2012, 09:14:42 PM
(http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001812009/2034269628_Grammar_Police_xlarge.gif)
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: JOACH1M on February 03, 2012, 09:15:26 PM
(http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001812009/2034269628_Grammar_Police_xlarge.gif)
:salute :bolt:
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: coombz on February 03, 2012, 09:17:51 PM
(http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001812009/2034269628_Grammar_Police_xlarge.gif)

;D nice

although I prefer the grammar knight

(http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/images/smilies/grammar.gif)

doesn't work so well on this light coloured background ;<
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: kilo2 on February 03, 2012, 09:24:29 PM
I'm sure suckoff and Perdweeb would love to give you a grammar and spellin lesson. 👌👍

Only when you try to insult peoples intelligence and spell something wrong in the process.


Oh look you insulted my cpid how original. 
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Motherland on February 03, 2012, 09:32:00 PM
Your math teacher doesn't sound like a bad guy. He's teaching you to be thorough. Making assumptions can be disastrous in higher level maths. Plus I always love when I do some several step thing and end up having everything cancel or something silly.
Of course I've had the luck of having some great teachers over the past couple of years. Take advanced classes if you can... the better teachers usually get those.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: coombz on February 03, 2012, 09:46:06 PM
Only when you try to insult peoples intelligence and spell something wrong in the process.

you mean like in the OP? :)
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: JOACH1M on February 03, 2012, 10:00:17 PM
you mean like in the OP? :)
Pffft  :rofl



Oh look you insulted my cpid how original.  
Wilhojo ring a bell?
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: kilo2 on February 03, 2012, 11:43:50 PM
Pffft  :roflWilhojo ring a bell?

Yeah I came up with that. Original.

Betty coined suckoff.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: B-17 on February 04, 2012, 12:45:36 AM
GRAMMAR POLICE, FORM UP!!!
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: cattb on February 04, 2012, 01:22:48 AM
No, but I do do that a lot to you

I find it painfully awful that foreign people can write better English than someone for whom it is their native language


I live in the USA and  english is the native language, then why when I have called places I have to press 1 for english?
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: curry1 on February 04, 2012, 01:34:08 AM
At least its not as bad as our trig teacher, who threw the imaginary number i, and the unknown quantities "A", "B", and "Q" into a logarithm equation. Or his favorite gag, the "nonreal answer" equation, where he makes this huge-arse problem for us to solve, only to have it result in division by zero or some crap like that, and then references the answer in the next problem, so we have to actually do it to make sure  :bhead.

And can someone help me find the answer to this one: Tan(a)+Sec(a) (Csc(A)Cos(B)) divided by Cot (A)

Wow your math teacher sounds like every single math teacher I have ever had.  He makes you check your work.  Always plug your answers back into the problem and check your work.  Always.  Period.  You cannot be good at math and not check your work.

If you could write out your problem better I could make more sense of it right now there is a space in the middle of it and I think it is missing some details.  When you mean "answer" do you mean solve?  Do you mean simplify?  Is it equal to zero?  Refrain from using spaces and English in stead of saying "divided by" put a '/' and the first and second halves in parentheses.

For now I can say that tan(a) + sec(a) = (sin(a)/cos(a))(1/cos(a))  = sin(a)/cos^2(a)

(csc(A)cos(B)) = ((1/sin(A))(cos(B))) = cos(B)/cos(A)

((sin(a))/(cos^2(a))(cos(B)/cos(A)))/(cos(A)/sin(B))

Now I can already tell that if I was thinking about this problem correctly that the denominator is going to cancel out some of the top trig values.  Or simplify it.  I'll gladly work this out on a sheet of paper tomorrow if you want and scan it.  Just revise your question.

My goal and every other engineer or to be engineer's goal should be to create more.  You can get a job as an engineer.  There is a demand for them.  Excel in math, excel in science.  Help the country.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Rob52240 on February 04, 2012, 05:04:40 AM
(http://piggington.com/files/images/ogre.jpg)
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: rpm on February 04, 2012, 07:51:00 AM
It seems all you do is call people on their bad grammar and spelling, and only those who aren't too bad at it.

Also, spell-check doesn't say "coppies" is wrong
SPELL-CHECK??? You're relying on spell check for your writing? Do you use Wikipedia for History reports?
No wonder you're struggling. When I was a kid, using a calculator (after they were actually invented) was considered cheating. We had to physically write out the formulas, ect with pencil and paper showing how we got the answer.

And we had to walk uphill both ways in 3' of snow! :old:
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: helbent on February 04, 2012, 11:44:11 AM
LMAO ROB.

In geography class, a fellow student asked what the big lake in central Florida was.  The teacher said, "Thats the everglades."

Sigh.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Penguin on February 04, 2012, 11:51:40 AM
Regarding calculators, they only need a little bit of regulation to be used effectively.  They make working with large, small, and complicated numbers easier.  In chemistry, for example, I just isolate the variable and let the calculator sort out the mess on the right side.  There's no thought in just grinding out long multiplication problems.  However, in math, I see a perversion of the subject in the way that we test for knowledge.  As you said, checking is of the utmost importance, but we are only given enough time to go through the problem once.  If we teach it that way, then 'being thorough' is replaced with 'being a calculator' because the only way that a human can make sure that the answer is right is by plugging the answer back in, while a calculator will always produce the same answer  (garbage in, garbage out still applies).

Time pressure causes stress, which causes errors, which misrepresents actual comprehension of the material.  Furthermore, 'speed' is not something that needs to be drilled.  It comes with experience, which can be gained by working with higher-level formulas right away.  Think of it like using a hammer; there's no point in spending hours perfecting your swing, just build something that uses the hammer a lot.  The hammer can be any basic idea, and the thing being built using it is a higher-level idea that incorporates it.  We do it that way in chemistry.  We are given the periodic table and that of the cations and anions, and don't need to memorize it.  However, by constant use in many areas I have ended up memorizing the atomic numbers, masses, families, and positions of a good number of elements.  Drilling that wouldn't have sped me up that much, and the time was spent on learning more subjects in greater depth.

Do you guys agree that incorporating basic concepts into higher ones is a better option than drilling them for subjects like math and chemistry?
 
-Penguin
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Tank-Ace on February 04, 2012, 01:23:14 PM
Holy crap, this got WAY off topic for the most part. Coombz, I blame you and your compulsive dick-moves for this  :noid.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Shuffler on February 04, 2012, 01:27:20 PM
It seems all you do is call people on their bad grammar and spelling, and only those who aren't too bad at it.

Also, spell-check doesn't say "coppies" is wrong

Your the one complaining about school.... lol
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Tank-Ace on February 04, 2012, 01:31:51 PM
I never said he was complaining, hes not. But he seems to really enjoy calling me on my less than perfect (but still better than many people's) grammar and spelling.

After a while "wow, I can't believe you speak English this poorly" comments get old, especially when spell check sees no errors, everything is punctuated correctly, and there is nothing worse than words like 'wanna' in my post.

Just saying, he has yet to make a remark towards me about anything other than my grammar.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Shuffler on February 04, 2012, 01:33:22 PM
Guess your feeling the way your teachers do now.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: coombz on February 04, 2012, 04:16:08 PM
I never said he was complaining, hes not. But he seems to really enjoy calling me on my less than perfect (but still better than many people's) grammar and spelling.

After a while "wow, I can't believe you speak English this poorly" comments get old, especially when spell check sees no errors, everything is punctuated correctly, and there is nothing worse than words like 'wanna' in my post.

Just saying, he has yet to make a remark towards me about anything other than my grammar.


Well, I could say something about you being a sad case with no life, as evidenced by your continuing to make large volumes of posts complaining about Aces High gameplay and squads while you don't even have an active account.  :rofl  But then, I'm pretty sure everyone can already see that.

I could also make posts calling you out for being an immature kid who simply parrots other peoples' (most notably, your KN squaddies) hateful and negative opinions in an attempt to 'fit in' and be edgy. For example, your regular attacks on the Top Gun squadron, despite the fact that you haven't even had an active account since before that squad was formed.  :lol You're slamming the entire squad, because...? DrBone and JOACH1M have owned you a lot in the past? Because perdweeb has some sand in his vagina? Grow up and stop the baseless hate speech and maybe I would have some small modicum of respect for you.

Another example is your bandwagon hatred of my squad The Few (skill-less horders apparently =D). I've never even seen you online once in all my time playing the game, which suggests you do not play in a timezone where Euro-based players (the majority of The Few) are flying. But still, you know all about us, right?

oh, and I've never made a remark to you except about grammar? nice selective memory you've got there :aok 

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,327068.msg4280014.html#msg4280014
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,322838.msg4231503.html#msg4231503

just a couple from recent memory, I know there were some more in the past but I'm too lazy to search that far back  :angel:

Oh, and you're also one of the guys who whines all the time about being bombed while in a GV  :cry (http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/images/smilies/boohoo.gif)

And despite all these things, the fact that there are little kids in European primary schools who can write better English than you is what disgusts me the most.  :old: If you were my kid I'd have you put down.

Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Motherland on February 04, 2012, 04:20:11 PM
It comes with experience, which can be gained by working with higher-level formulas right away.  Think of it like using a hammer; there's no point in spending hours perfecting your swing, just build something that uses the hammer a lot.  The hammer can be any basic idea, and the thing being built using it is a higher-level idea that incorporates it.  We do it that way in chemistry.  We are given the periodic table and that of the cations and anions, and don't need to memorize it.  However, by constant use in many areas I have ended up memorizing the atomic numbers, masses, families, and positions of a good number of elements.  Drilling that wouldn't have sped me up that much, and the time was spent on learning more subjects in greater depth.

Do you guys agree that incorporating basic concepts into higher ones is a better option than drilling them for subjects like math and chemistry?
 
-Penguin
Math and chemistry are two different subjects and need to be taught differently.
Even the packet that you're given to use on the AP test has a periodic table and a lot of formulas on it.
That said, there's still a lot of stuff you need to memorize for chemistry. Just less equations and stuff, as the important thing is to remember how to apply the equations.
In math, you're not given equations/formulas so much as you're given rules. And rules need to be memorized, plain and simple. When I took calculus my teacher (probably the best teacher I've ever had, and I was lucky enough to have him two years in a row) had given us several sheets that were printed front and back with formulas. At the beginning of the year they were all gibberish... halfway through we'd memorized around two of the pages front and back. Most people had lost them as we never used them. Finding something on there is a nightmare, as even being printed front and back there was a lot of information condensed in a little space. But at the same time, it all seemed like it was obvious and didn't need to be said... because that's just how math works. I guess I'm muddling this a little bit but there's a point... and I guess it's that there are no 'big' and 'small' concepts in math, it's just a pyramid that progressively gets bigger and bigger, and if you're like me or any of my friends, it's something that clicks around the time you get to calculus... and all the ways that you've been taught math all of the sudden make sense, and you never ask 'when will I ever use this?' ever again, because you realize that even if something doesn't really seem to be very useful at the moment in a year or two it will be essential, and even if something seems hard in another month it will be step 1 of a 5 step problem and you'll be able to do it without thinking, and you begin to appreciate (to a degree) when your teacher makes you do it 'the hard way' or doesn't give you the shortcut. Math's funny like that.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: kilo2 on February 04, 2012, 04:49:08 PM
Well, I could say something about you being a sad case with no life, as evidenced by your continuing to make large volumes of posts complaining about Aces High gameplay and squads while you don't even have an active account.  :rofl  But then, I'm pretty sure everyone can already see that.

I could also make posts calling you out for being an immature kid who simply parrots other peoples' (most notably, your KN squaddies) hateful and negative opinions in an attempt to 'fit in' and be edgy. For example, your regular attacks on the Top Gun squadron, despite the fact that you haven't even had an active account since before that squad was formed.  :lol You're slamming the entire squad, because...? DrBone and JOACH1M have owned you a lot in the past? Because perdweeb has some sand in his vagina? Grow up and stop the baseless hate speech and maybe I would have some small modicum of respect for you.

Another example is your bandwagon hatred of my squad The Few (skill-less horders apparently =D). I've never even seen you online once in all my time playing the game, which suggests you do not play in a timezone where Euro-based players (the majority of The Few) are flying. But still, you know all about us, right?

oh, and I've never made a remark to you except about grammar? nice selective memory you've got there :aok 

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,327068.msg4280014.html#msg4280014
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,322838.msg4231503.html#msg4231503

just a couple from recent memory, I know there were some more in the past but I'm too lazy to search that far back  :angel:

Oh, and you're also one of the guys who whines all the time about being bombed while in a GV  :cry (http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/images/smilies/boohoo.gif)

And despite all these things, the fact that there are little kids in European primary schools who can write better English than you is what disgusts me the most.  :old: If you were my kid I'd have you put down.



Sounds like someone stole your sweet roll.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Melvin on February 04, 2012, 04:56:31 PM
If you were my kid I'd have you put down.



 :O        


 :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl


You Sir, are the first recipient of a perfect 5 rofl's out of 5.

Keep up the good work.


 :salute


EDIT:
If you were my kid, I'd have you put down.

Fixed.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: coombz on February 04, 2012, 05:41:36 PM
Sounds like someone stole your sweet roll.

maybe, but the Mrs just brought me a bacon sandwich  :D

and that's pretty ironic coming from a member of the whiniest group of babies I've ever seen in over 10 years of online gaming (I'm including Debrody even though he left your squad ;) )
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: kilo2 on February 04, 2012, 05:55:55 PM
maybe, but the Mrs just brought me a bacon sandwich  :D

and that's pretty ironic coming from a member of the whiniest group of babies I've ever seen in over 10 years of online gaming (I'm including Debrody even though he left your squad ;) )

We just let people know when we are dissatisfied with certain aspects of their game play.
 
10 years really?
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: curry1 on February 04, 2012, 06:19:05 PM
Regarding calculators, they only need a little bit of regulation to be used effectively.  They make working with large, small, and complicated numbers easier.  In chemistry, for example, I just isolate the variable and let the calculator sort out the mess on the right side.  There's no thought in just grinding out long multiplication problems.  However, in math, I see a perversion of the subject in the way that we test for knowledge.  As you said, checking is of the utmost importance, but we are only given enough time to go through the problem once.  If we teach it that way, then 'being thorough' is replaced with 'being a calculator' because the only way that a human can make sure that the answer is right is by plugging the answer back in, while a calculator will always produce the same answer  (garbage in, garbage out still applies).

Time pressure causes stress, which causes errors, which misrepresents actual comprehension of the material.  Furthermore, 'speed' is not something that needs to be drilled.  It comes with experience, which can be gained by working with higher-level formulas right away.  Think of it like using a hammer; there's no point in spending hours perfecting your swing, just build something that uses the hammer a lot.  The hammer can be any basic idea, and the thing being built using it is a higher-level idea that incorporates it.  We do it that way in chemistry.  We are given the periodic table and that of the cations and anions, and don't need to memorize it.  However, by constant use in many areas I have ended up memorizing the atomic numbers, masses, families, and positions of a good number of elements.  Drilling that wouldn't have sped me up that much, and the time was spent on learning more subjects in greater depth.

Do you guys agree that incorporating basic concepts into higher ones is a better option than drilling them for subjects like math and chemistry?
 
-Penguin

No I don't agree because if you were thrown in to a college level physics class hat involved calculus you wouldn't have any i dea what is going on without taking calculus previously.  You have to learn math in and out.

You always have enough time to check your work.  It doesn't matter how much time you are given.  As you said  "speed... comes with experience" do your homework.  If you aren't fast enough.  Do more problems until you are.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: coombz on February 04, 2012, 06:31:41 PM
10 years really?

probably more  :old:

I guess you can't really count playing Doom/Doom 2 via null modem ;----)  But I was enjoying stuff like Duke3D, Warcraft 2 and Quake on various online services when I was 15 ish, which is more like 13 years ago
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: kilo2 on February 04, 2012, 06:33:24 PM
probably more  :old:

I guess you can't really count playing Doom/Doom 2 via null modem ;----)  But I was enjoying stuff like Duke3D, Warcraft 2 and Quake on various online services when I was 15 ish, which is more like 13 years ago

Starcraft is much better than Warcraft ever thought of being.

That's what I was playing back then online. That and Diablo.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: rpm on February 04, 2012, 06:35:32 PM
If you were my kid I'd have you put down.
Well that was kinda harsh.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Melvin on February 04, 2012, 06:38:55 PM
Well that was kinda harsh.

That was hilarious.

Even if he did forget the comma.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: coombz on February 04, 2012, 06:52:10 PM
Starcraft is much better than Warcraft ever thought of being.

That's what I was playing back then online. That and Diablo.

I could never get into SC...but then I am terrible at RTS games in general

much love for Diablo though. They just don't make 'em like they used to...which is why I can't really get excited for D3 :(
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: kilo2 on February 04, 2012, 07:03:04 PM
I could never get into SC...but then I am terrible at RTS games in general

much love for Diablo though. They just don't make 'em like they used to...which is why I can't really get excited for D3 :(

Yeah I imagine its going to try and cater to the WoW drones which would be terrible.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Matador on February 04, 2012, 08:49:40 PM
wolframalpha.com is you friend for solving math problems. just as a warning dont get used to just typing it in, actually try to work it out, use the "show steps" tool to see where you could have gone wrong or if you are stuck at a certain point.

usually I use it for integrations that can get complex fast especially involving partial fraction decomposition
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: bigsky on February 04, 2012, 10:34:59 PM
numbers + letters = waste of my time = not important math to me
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: mensa180 on February 05, 2012, 10:45:58 AM
wolframalpha.com is you friend for solving math problems. just as a warning dont get used to just typing it in, actually try to work it out, use the "show steps" tool to see where you could have gone wrong or if you are stuck at a certain point.

usually I use it for integrations that can get complex fast especially involving partial fraction decomposition

Good advice, that site is really useful especially when teaching yourself new and complicated material.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Tank-Ace on February 05, 2012, 11:41:41 AM
A while back, I met a guy who was able to tell my range in a GV by simply (acording to him) studying the trajectory of the incoming round.

Is that possible, or BS? And if it is, which part of math would that be?
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: bagrat on February 05, 2012, 12:12:20 PM
bad teachers huh?

I had a teacher who would come in, turn on the overhead and leave all the time. People would write everything down but would still have questions. She would not further explain anything, only tell people to refer to the notes or read the notes aloud. More outspoken students would get irritated and comment on portions of the notes they didn't understand and repetitivly request for her to explain her notes. Eventually she would kick out the students who really wanted to learn calling them a distraction and everyone else got good at copying answers. 
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Motherland on February 05, 2012, 12:55:33 PM
A while back, I met a guy who was able to tell my range in a GV by simply (acording to him) studying the trajectory of the incoming round.

Is that possible, or BS? And if it is, which part of math would that be?
I remember when I played regularly the trajectories of other people's shots were only roughly shown on your screen, which caused a lot of 'shooting through this and that (mostly trees hills and buildings)' complaining. So it's not likely that he was telling the truth, although I suppose he could have gotten a feel for how the rounds arc.

That would be trig/physics though.
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Penguin on February 05, 2012, 05:17:14 PM
Math and chemistry are two different subjects and need to be taught differently.
Even the packet that you're given to use on the AP test has a periodic table and a lot of formulas on it.
That said, there's still a lot of stuff you need to memorize for chemistry. Just less equations and stuff, as the important thing is to remember how to apply the equations.
In math, you're not given equations/formulas so much as you're given rules. And rules need to be memorized, plain and simple. When I took calculus my teacher (probably the best teacher I've ever had, and I was lucky enough to have him two years in a row) had given us several sheets that were printed front and back with formulas. At the beginning of the year they were all gibberish... halfway through we'd memorized around two of the pages front and back. Most people had lost them as we never used them. Finding something on there is a nightmare, as even being printed front and back there was a lot of information condensed in a little space. But at the same time, it all seemed like it was obvious and didn't need to be said... because that's just how math works. I guess I'm muddling this a little bit but there's a point... and I guess it's that there are no 'big' and 'small' concepts in math, it's just a pyramid that progressively gets bigger and bigger, and if you're like me or any of my friends, it's something that clicks around the time you get to calculus... and all the ways that you've been taught math all of the sudden make sense, and you never ask 'when will I ever use this?' ever again, because you realize that even if something doesn't really seem to be very useful at the moment in a year or two it will be essential, and even if something seems hard in another month it will be step 1 of a 5 step problem and you'll be able to do it without thinking, and you begin to appreciate (to a degree) when your teacher makes you do it 'the hard way' or doesn't give you the shortcut. Math's funny like that.

'Doing it the hard way' is important for stuff like factoring, imaginary numbers, etc.,.  However, telling the kids why they need to do it that way is very important.  Imagine trying to win WWII without telling anyone what Germany was doing.  It would be very hard to convince someone to build an airplane to bomb them if we told them to 'just do it'.  Showing kids what it should look like when they're done is essential.  For instance, when teaching the quadratic formula, telling them how it was derived, who invented it, and how it makes life easier goes a long way when it  comes to getting kids to memorize:

x=(-b)+-((b^2+4ac)^1/2)/2

Doing the above gives kids a good picture of what the heck they're doing.  Just having them memorize different rules will get old quickly.  Don't get me wrong, I like math!

-Penguin
Title: Re: I hate bad teachers
Post by: Tank-Ace on February 05, 2012, 09:17:04 PM
I remember when I played regularly the trajectories of other people's shots were only roughly shown on your screen, which caused a lot of 'shooting through this and that (mostly trees hills and buildings)' complaining. So it's not likely that he was telling the truth, although I suppose he could have gotten a feel for how the rounds arc.

That would be trig/physics though.

I kinda figured he wasn't telling the whole truth, but it was worth looking into. But whatever, I can still just guess ranges pretty damn accurately, and if that fails, theres always the Mils system in German tanks  :aok.

And you are correct about the incoming rounds. That, along with peoples general lack of common sense (e.g., they can't seem to grasp how different ranges and elevations affect the field of vision and line of fire for the enemy), contributes greatly to the "wtf, he shooted through a bush!" crys.