Category: Updates

I was mildly depressed today—not enough to incapacitate me, but enough to make everything joyless. Nevertheless, I spent an hour and a half on calculus exercises and some additional time thinking about questions I have raised on the blog. I haven’t got anything fun to share, though. I’m afraid that may be increasingly common as I try to apply myself more consistently to calculus review.

I’m not sure how long I worked on math today; I puttered on and off all afternoon. I read more in my calculus book, browsed some math study resources, sought advice on Reddit about how to choose textbook exercises, and started writing up my work on the logarithm problem I brought up a while ago. Unfortunately, the last of those tasks proved quite fiddly, and I didn’t finish it for today’s post. Tomorrow, I hope.

Today I read part of the next section of my calculus text, having finished the exercises from the previous section on Saturday. (I would have liked to read more, but the day was very busy in other ways. Sigh.)

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the best way to organize my calculus review. Continuing to do all of the exercises in every section would be excessive, I think, and it would also take a very long time. I’m not sure of the best alternative. One option is to do all of the odd-numbered exercises in each section. That would be an improvement, but I think it might still be too much. Another idea is to read all of the sections in a chapter, then do the chapter review exercises provided at the end, perhaps going back to the section exercises for more practice on certain concepts. I think this may be what I will try first. I’m also open to suggestions, however.

This is my 100th daily post. Hooray!

Looking back, I have made both less and more progress than I anticipated. Almost all of the calculus review remains to do, and it’s clear that part of the project is going to be a long haul. On the other hand, my work on calculus prerequisites and logic has been fruitful, and quite a bit of geometry knowledge has returned to me without deliberate review. More importantly, my ability to think mathematically and my joy in doing so have both resurged far beyond my expectations. Overall, I think the project has been a success so far.

I plan to keep going as I have been, for the most part. I’ve decided to begin taking Sundays off from blogging, however, and relaxing my study goals for that day. I think a weekly rest will help me sustain the project long term.

So see you on Monday, faithful readers. Thank you for all your support during these first 100 days.

I did more calculus exercises today despite also sleeping quite a bit. I’m afraid I don’t have anything fun to share, however.

I am having an issue with my Internet connection today, so I’m afraid I will have to put off sharing my proof of the proposition about two inscribed angels subtended by the same arc.

I’m also having an issue with my back that is proving very draining. After doing other things that needed to be done, I only had the energy left to watch some math videos, not do more analysis exercises. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. (Said Olly, again.)

Today I watched part of an interesting video by 3blue1brown about the surface area of a sphere. I had a lot of trouble concentrating on it, though. Near the end it began to require more participation from the viewer, and I decided to save the rest for later. There’s some hope underlying that, I guess.

I wasn’t up to much today and slept for most of the day. I did read some of Infinite Powers, but I had enough trouble focusing and understanding that I will probably read the same section again next time. Nothing interesting to share today, I’m afraid.