Blog

My mental health is much improved since last week, and I hoped that my first day back from break would be productive. I found myself unable to think clearly enough to do any active math, though, and ended up falling back on reading Infinite Powers again. I am rather discouraged about that. Maybe things will improve as the week goes on.

Speaking of which, I will not be blogging on Friday or Saturday of this week or on Monday of next week, because I am going to church camp.

I took yesterday off from study and blogging to attend two family gatherings, but while doing housekeeping on the blog today, I decided to take the rest of this week off as well. I just need a break. Trying to keep up with my math review project while dealing with a long depressive episode is causing a lot problems. My medication has been adjusted, so hopefully things will improve over the coming days. See you next Monday, readers.

Today was not as good as I hoped. I read more of Infinite Powers.

I am feeling better today. I read more of Infinite Powers, but I was able to read longer and focus better than earlier in the week.

Time got away from me today, and I did not start on my math until quite late. By that point I was too tired to absorb much, so I ended up only watching half of a YouTube video. Tomorrow will almost certainly be better.

I am still not functioning well, though it isn’t as bad as sometimes. Today I read more of Infinite Powers. I am enjoying it less than I was. Strogatz has moved on from the historical development of calculus to an overview of calculus concepts (currently the derivative), which are not new to me. I don’t know whether it will become more interesting again or whether I should find another book.

Today I was not feeling well, but I worked for a short time on geometry proofs. Hopefully I will be able to post them later in the week.

Today I puttered around, doing a bit of reading from several different sources and working to prove two propositions about trapezoids that I found in Elementary College Geometry. I made good progress, but I am not ready to post the results yet.

Speaking of posting results, I am thinking of changing the way I use this blog. Rather than posting daily, I am considering posting only when I have something I consider interesting to share. I would lose the motivation provided by sharing my progress every day, but I would also be spared the feeling that I’m letting down or boring my readers. Let me know what you think.

I will leave you with half a joke. I thought of the set-up today, but I have yet to think of the punchline:

The Axiom of Choice and the Parallel Postulate walk into a bar…

Today I experimented with reading math outdoors. I found it difficult to concentrate, so I don’t think I will be doing that regularly. Nevertheless I did get a ways farther in Elementary College Geometry. (Which text I don’t actually recommend. It’s not very well edited.)

I will be taking Friday and Saturday off study and blogging to attend an online convention. Expect me back on Monday.

I’ve been feeling the need for a little geometry review, so today I read the first few chapters of the LibreTexts book Elementary College Geometry. I stopped when I got to the section on triangle congruence properties, though, as I still want to prove some of those myself. SAS is proposition 4 in Euclid’s Elements, which at least narrows down what tools are needed for the proof. (Some subset of the constructions in propositions 1-3.)