First of all I want to say it was a good day in Mathland. I only had 1 moment of sheer panic where I wanted to cry. With the help of my teammates who patiently clarified for me without scorn what we were to do I was successful. Thank you Cindy and Bill. Cindy has always been kind but Bill, the middle school teacher, went out of his way to keep clarifying for me what we were to be doing. The students at McLoughlin Middle School are lucky to have such a kind, compassionate, patient math instructor on their staff! I was even able to understand and execute the problem. I even asked a question that the teachers on the class wanted me to share with the group! I felt successful!
Also much thanks to awesome Bjorge team from the Central Point School district who helped lay some background for me so I could eventually understand this problem.
All along my problem has been I have no "schema", background knowledge, to even gain entrance into a math problem. Last night while doing my homework I did not even know where to start on question 2. I got question 1 and what I needed to do. I did not do it right though!
Question 1 was about 9 Supreme Court Justices shaking hands before they start a session. How many handshakes? I got there would be 8 handshakes because you don't shake your own hand. What I did not get was that if there are no duplicates allowed, the number would decrease each time.
Or I could have just done 9 x8= 72 and since no duplicates are allowed I would need to divide 72 by 2 to equal 36.
The next part of the homework was to come up with the algebraic algorithm for this problem. With the extent of my knowledge I knew there had to be one but had no clue how to even go about it. I totally stole the answer but it was not a meaningless steal. I actually understand it!!!
It would be: n x(n-1)
2
The next question seemed to have nothing to do with the handshake but everything to do with the little bit of graph theory that was introduced to us. Here are the definitions given to us and I must say after working with them all day they are cement in my mind. I knew NOTHING about graph theory until this week. ( I think I maybe falling in love with it though...)
All of sudden we were asked to sketch a graph using K3, K4, K5, and K6. I knew I needed vertices and adjacent lines for my drawings. What I did not know was how to place the vertices in space? I also misread the question which does not make for success. I put them in a linear mode first alternately every other one. (Because I misread the question.)
The first thing I asked my colleagues was,
"Where do I put the vertices in space? How do I know where to put them?"
They said they just started trying them out. They were thinking in more straight lines I think.
This is when I discovered "beauty'!
This is fun! I love the designs that come out from graphing! It is art! Is this what artists do unconsciously in their brains when they create art???!!!! I think it must be so. Their brains see in math, art and forms that create beauty!!! Check this out:
I see vertices and adjacent lines and the intersects!!!!
Could this be a graph of something in space? I think so. How incredibly blessed artists are to be able to create such beauty unconsciously using math!!!!
So I get this part of graphs and I actually enjoyed the math today. With help and guidance I can do math.
I thought the Bridges of Koenigsberg, Treeville, and Euler Circuits were totally fascinating and cool.
Check this out:
I'm still not going to be a great fan of math and wax enthusiastically for hours about math problems but I do appreciate the math. I also do not want children to have the horrible phobia I have about math. This is such anguish for me and to feel success today was huge in my world.
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