Pete's Log: the zen of numerical methods
Entry #413, (School)(posted when I was 22 years old.)
by far i think that the largest problem i have with math is my attention span, especially when it comes to reading mathematical texts. fortunately, the textbook Jesus Izaguirre chose for the numerical class seems to hold onto my attention span better than most math books. i think one improvement i can make for mathematical reading, tho, is learning the names of ALL greek letters. I know several of them, but when I encounter math formulas with ones I don't know, I tend to either skip them entirely, or to read them as "f of that thing equals the derivative of g of that other thing" which really doesn't help my comprehension too much. need to find table of names of all greek letters. i do like the explanation that the book gave on how errors are relative: "For exampe, an error of 1 is much less significant in counting the population of the Earth than in counting the occupants of a phone booth." Now I must return to my reading.