Today has been very bad, but I read a little of Infinite Powers.
Category: Updates
Frustrating Days
Today was frustrating. I had more to do than usual, but I was also tired and, late in the day, fairly depressed. I pushed myself to do a small amount of light math reading, and I am hoping for better conditions tomorrow.
My review project hasn’t been moving forward very quickly over the past few weeks. That, too, is frustrating. Early spring is frequently very rocky for me, though. At the moment, I’m just trying to make it through without completely losing my momentum.
Infinitesimal
Today I had a lot of things to do that were not math, and they wore me out so that I spent most of the rest of the available time sleeping. I did manage to read a section of Infinite Powers, though. It concerned Archimedes’ early use of calculus concepts to find the area of a circle. I would name my owl after him, if I had an owl.
Another Quiet Day
Today I was tired and lay low. It’s been a lot of effort to keep at least some of my plates spinning over the past several weeks. For study time, I made more electronic flashcards based on the review I have been doing. It’s useful to make the flashcards a while after I finish reviewing a topic. That way I can tell which pieces of information have taken root in my mind and which ones will need more cultivation.
Flash News
Today I spent a long time testing flash card apps and making electronic flash cards about various math information I’ve encountered during my review, such as details about conics and their significant points. I’m still not convinced I’d rather have these than physical flash cards, though they are more portable and easier to keep organized. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll make some physical flash cards as well and compare them.
(The app I eventually settled on is called Mochi.)
Easter Break
Today I read more of Infinite Powers. Intrigued by a quote contained there, I also did a little extra reading about Johannes Kepler, the mathematician and scientist who discovered the elliptical orbits of the planets. It seems that for him also, doing mathematics may have had spiritual dimension.
Despite that and what I wrote of myself yesterday, I’ve decided to take the next three days off study and blogging for religious observances. Expect me back on Monday.
Much Not Doing
I’m feeling better today, but still dragging around. I watched more math videos on YouTube, notably a 3blue1brown video about symmetry and group theory. It was very interesting, though I wouldn’t recommend it to readers who are not math enthusiasts.
I’m hoping to be up to some more active study tomorrow. For one thing, I’ve run out of intelligible permutations of the words “not”, “much”, and “doing”.
Doing Not Much
Today was quite bad on the mental health front. Spring has long been the worst season for me. I was able to make myself do something, though. I spent about an hour watching math videos, including a pleasing intro to the concept of compactness by a YouTuber called Morphocular.
Not Much Doing
Today I got a haircut, which has improved my mental outlook. Otherwise, though, I have not had it together at all, and the only study I managed was a little reading from The Mathematical Tourist. Better luck tomorrow, I hope.
Persistent Puzzlement
Today was another bad mental health day, but I did read some of The Mathematical Tourist in the evening. Something written there reminded me of the problem I shared in my post Puzzling Primes, and I ended up working on that for a while, as well. I didn’t make any progress, though.