Maths unit

This is me back in my comfort zone. Mostly algebra so far. I need to improve my accuracy because I keep losing minus signs. Maybe I should just be neater.

One sixth there

I have finished 'Questions in Science' - the introductory 'bit of everything' science course. We have not had the results yet but I think I already have enough marks for a pass. I have learned lots about chemistry and biology and remembered things about maths and physics. For five years 1967 - 1972, I lived and breathed maths and since then I haven't used it at all. 46 years!! But I am becoming more confident and working a bit quicker.

Is it a bar? Or a histogram?

Muscle strain much better. And I got good assignment scores - 89% for the tutor marked one and 100% for the computer marked algebra/arithmetic. So maybe I am back in the groove. But I am struggling with the difference between a bar chart and a histogram. Everything I read makes me more confused than ever.

The volcano and earthquake section of the course was very interesting - especially since it concentrated on an area at the north end of the Pacific Ocean, where I will be cruising later in the year. Over all that frenetic earth activity.

Next section is chemistry again.

Sitting quietly at home

I have managed to pull a muscle somewhere near my hip. It has been very painful all day and I have done very little to advance my degree in astrophysics. I am actually feeling like an old lady, which is very rare for me. I have been sometimes sitting and sometimes trying to move around. I have not done any of it quietly. Fortunately it was not my turn to make dinner.

Getting there

The second assignment went better and I have reasonable hopes for the third and fourth. My main concern now is that I am so slow. Maths techniques I used to live and breathe now have to be grappled with. No idea if I am improving but I feel a bit sharper in my mind so maybe I am achieving something.

First marked assignment

78%. I am pleased with this, but dismayed that all the people on FB who are saying what they got have (apparently) scored well over 80% and in one case 99%. So I am bottom of the class. But what about all the people who haven't said?

I lost most of the marks on reading and describing the cell specimens I could see through the virtual microscope. I found this part of the course fairly incomprehensible, not to say uninteresting. I hope I never have to do anything like that again. If it turns out that I do have to, I might have to do some extra study. On something that bores me to tears?

Improvement

I did my first ever on-line computer marked assessment. Only 5 questions on fairly basic maths. I have a good O level (GCSE) and a good A level and an honours degree in maths. But it was so long ago that I was petrified about getting them wrong. And under pressure not to disgrace the bright young person I used to be. But I got them all right first time. It felt like a huge achievement even though that bright young person would be scathing about how long it took. Pathetic!!