I am indeed feeling better today, but I still stuck to reading Infinite Powers. I may be up to more calculus exercises tomorrow.
Blog
Onward
Today was rough, so I read more of Infinite Powers. I have some reason to hope I may feel better tomorrow. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, faithful readers.
Bad Times
I try to keep non-mathematical ruminations to a minimum on this blog, but today I will indulge a bit. I’m still struggling with my review project, and I don’t really understand why. Being away from home and having the extra responsibilities of house sitting is a stressor. Yet I feel as if I’ve been more productive in the past in the face of the same amount of mental drag. My feeling that I should be coping better is now becoming its own source of stress, which I realize is not productive.
At any rate, today I read more of Infinite Powers. I’m enjoying Strogatz’s in-depth exposition of a topic. His treatments of the many topics in The Joy of X were (by necessity) shallower than I would have liked. The latest protagonists of the tale are Fermat and Descartes, though the portrait of the latter is unflattering.
Discombobulation Escalates
Today was not a day hospitable to good intentions, but I did at least manage more light reading. Let’s try this again on Monday.
Discombobulation
Although my house sitting duties are light, I’m still having trouble fitting my review project into the changed routine. Yesterday, I forgot to do any study or blogging. Today I have only managed some light reading. I’m going to try to organize things better tomorrow.
Muddling Along
I was very tired today, but I read more from Infinite Powers and also worked a bit on my question about the composition of functions. I didn’t make any new progress on the latter. I am too tired again to write about what I have worked out so far, also, so the curious will have to wait for that.
Quick Words
I almost forgot to post this evening, and I have only a few minutes before midnight. I had things to get done today that left me with limited energy, so my study time today was dedicated to more reading from Infinite Powers rather than to calculus exercises. More of those tomorrow, I hope.
Olly Returns
Hello again, faithful readers. I spent today’s study time reading the next section of my calculus book and investigating some of the ideas it presented. In particular, I was interested in what pairs of functions, $f(x)$ and $g(x)$, have the property that $f(g(x))=g(f(x))$.1 I made some minor discoveries, but I am too tired this evening to write them up. Perhaps tomorrow.
- To do. ↩︎
Next Week
I had a difficult day and spent my study time watching videos, including a nice documentary-style one about the math of relativity. I admit that I’m looking forward to my day of rest tomorrow.
I am actually contemplating taking all of next week off study and blogging. I will be traveling again, settling in as a live-in sitter for two cats, visiting with family, and attending Pride events. It will be a lot for me.
Stationary Plates
I’m feeling much better, but struggling to get my various plates spinning again. Today I read more of Infinite Powers, finishing the section focused on Galileo as well as the succeeding one on Kepler. I’m developing an affection for Kepler, for whom math and religious devotion were definitely intertwined.