Math Enrichment Activities (from Thursday to Friday)

Today's post, after about one month of blog inactivity, is about my math activities held at ACS on Thursday and Friday. It was perhaps the most stress relieving and the most fun activity I have entered since the start of this year and I am so sorry for all of those people who did not register for it (even when it was free). Anyway, let me get to the point.

On the day of (it was a Thursday) the thingy, I arrived at the auditorium and found that many of my primary school friends had gone, which was a pleasant surprise, so I went to them and chatted for a while then went to a side and started reading a book pertaining to my project(in other words, emoing). You were supposed to register when you got there but since I was such a loyal friend to Alvin and Ming En and many other people, I decided to wait for their arrival. later, I found that it was a very bad choice as we were supposed to register for our lectures later on in that day and he next day ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS. By luck, Timothy Toh switched so I took his slot and went to a lecture which proved very fun later. Ming En and the others who arrived later (because they gathered at school and were apparently waiting for us who had arrived at ACS by our own) were forced to go Map Colouring (which incidentally was a part of Graph colouring which I went) and Math and origami (sounds familiar because it is a sabbab organised by ms gwee) on the second day. So we registered and entered the hall and was split into many groups of four and five, then did some icebreaker games. it was quite fun, the whacko and double whacko but before recess I had my middle finger bleeding because Bernard accidentally stepped on it (haha). So I took tissue paper and rubber bands and tied my middle finger tightly then when I released the rubber band the finger was like all purple and dark, with blood stains caked under my fingrnails (reminds me of Boo Radley). Thus the most obvious thing to do wa to go around and show everybody this pride and joy by flpping themm off and screaming, "Behold the power of my bloody middle finger!!!" Unfortunately, nobody ( I am glad that the only the Wonder girls did laugh. LOL) was amused. I washed the blood off afterwards.

After the ice breakers were some other games which our group owned at because there was a very simple strategy to win which I found (applause please) because we were given ten random numbers and were supposed to use the four operators to form a sum or product or end result '100'. So easily, we found a sum/product/sub-result '0', then found another sum/product/sub result '100' and just use the remaining numbers to multiply by the '0' and we are done. By this ingenious method, we came in first every time until the organiser found our methood unfair and banned it. Even so, due to our lightning calculations (mostly mine), we found the solution but got fourth and had no points.

The next round was fun too, if you want me to explain I can, so I wil do so now. Firstly, each of us were given a sum of 50 dollars and each group were supposed to bid for an item. So we started by trying of gauge how many dollars the opposing team will bid and we bidded 1 dollar. But due to my math instincts, I persuaded them to change it to 2 dollars (actually I forcfully took the marker and changed the bid myself). We won that round because the opposing team bidded one dollar. HAha. Anyway, it is obvious you can never win when bidding one dollar because minimum bid is 1 dollar. And right I forgot to tell about the catch:even when you lose the bid, you still have to pay the money you bidded. So some analysis: The best you can win is 4 is to one because if you bid higher than the other player for four turns the opponent can use up all his money and get the fifth turn because he spent less money than you. This is assuming he does not bid 1 dollar each turn.

Anyway, the second turn, we beat them 7 dollars to 5 dollars due to my timely intervention which changed our previous bid from five to seven dollars. The third round was much more exciting. At first, we reasoned that we should just put all our resources into this round (39 dollars) and win this 3rd item to win them (3 out of five). At the last minute, my group member said to change it to one dollar. Lo and behold, the other group perhaps heard our strategy and bidded 41 dollars. They got the 3rd item, but they were left with one dollar for the fourth and fifth item. Obviously, we bidded twenty dollars each so we won both rounds.

Happily, we got first prize for the most points ( the organiser grudgingly described us as a group who fared exceptionally well at the 100 game ) so we each got a small cube whihch was virtually unable to be dismantled. I tried during the lecture but failed. As you most likely would no want to know about the lecture of graph colouring, I will skip it until the time I was going home. With nothing to do, I started bouncing the cube on my hand and dropped it accidentally. Thn a dent was noticed in one side of the cube so I pushed and in a few seconds the first step of dismantling the cube had been done so the rest could be done easily. At home, I easily dismantled it.

This is the end of the first day. Watch out for the next post.

Ng Yi Pin.
Forever mathematical.

Me as a naturalist commenting on Mockingbirds

Here is the research I have done.

This is my naturalist task.

Habitat of Mockingbird

Year-round the Northern Mockingbird is found in areas with open ground and with shrubby vegetation like hedges, fruiting bushes, and thickets. When foraging on the ground, it prefers grassy areas, rather than bare spots. Common places to find Northern Mockingbirds include parkland, cultivated land, suburban areas and in second growth habitat at low elevations. They originate from Galapagos Islands.

Mockingbirds have a strong preference for certain trees such as maple, sweet gum, and sycamore. They generally avoid pine trees after the other trees have grown their leaves. Also, they have a particular preference for high places, such as the topmost branches of trees. Mockingbirds are often found in urban and suburban areas, where they perch on telephone poles, streetlights, or high points on buildings.

Besides, Northern Mockingbirds nest in shrubs and trees, typically 3-10 feet off the ground but sometimes as high as 60 feet. The male probably chooses the nest site and begins building several nests before the female chooses one to finish and lay eggs in. Females may start laying eggs in a second nest while the male is still caring for fledglings from the previous one. Northern Mockingbirds rarely ever reuse their nests.

Flora and Fauna in Maycomb County

From these descriptions of the habitat of mockingbirds, we can assume that the natural environment of the mockingbirds in Maycomb is the same. Based on the information given, there are thorny shrubs and grassy areas in Maycomb County, which can be justified by the presence of Johnson grass and rabbit tobacco in Boo Radley’s place (pg 14, 15). Besides, “a solitary mocker” also perched in the Radley’s yard, showing how the Radley’s untended for garden was a perfect habitat for the quick adapting, urban bird.

As Maycomb County was a county which based their economy on farming, most of the citizens/villagers there planted many trees and crops and formed a natural habitat for a variety of birds including the mockingbird. This country was based at the Countryside and was largely Natural habitat and not very urban as Maycomb was quite backward in both thinking and technology. These farms were also full of crops, seeds and fruits, thus attracting the mockingbirds which liked to feed on crops and sometimes prove a nuisance as they frequently ate seeds for a meal.

The mockingbirds also live in Maycomb County perhaps because of the advice given to all that mockingbirds are not to be shot. This may have caused the mockingbirds to realise that they were the safest in Maycomb County and taking advantage of that, settled in Maycomb.

Therefore some of the trees in Maycomb could be maple, sweet gum, and sycamore trees. Mostly, they would be trees who bear nuts such as pecans. These would attract mockingbirds to land in Maycomb and build their family there.

My next task: Intrapersonal

-Who would you want to be friends with in the novel? Explain.

For me, I would like to make friends with Miss Maudie. This decision was made due to a few reasons, which I will explain in the next few paragraphs. Firstly, I would make friends with Ms Maudie because she as we all know, is the voice of reason, and I would benefit greatly from her being my friend. Besides being a good influence for me and my moral values, she would always be there to guide me onto the right path and the right moral decision for my future. With her experience, she would make a great mentor and teacher.

Next, Ms Maudie has a soft spot for children, so I might be able to make friends with her more quickly and easily than say, Boo Radley who would although make a kind, loyal friend but would take much time to interact as he would always be cooped up in his house and not receiving any visitors. It can be seen that it took Scout almost two to three years to make friends with him while Ms Maudie and Scout acquainted over a meeting. Therefore i believe I stand a good chance of befriending with Ms Maudie.

Another very obvious benefit (and here Chun Jie might be tempted to join me in getting into Ms Maudie's good books) is that she bakes great cakes, and thus I would never be hungry when visiting her. Besides, these treats come very often and i would not be just eating her cakes for a few times, but perhaps more than ten times a month (of course depending on my frequency of visiting ms maudie (again i believe CJ would visit her every hour due to this tasty incentive.)

Finally, I would be happy to be her friend because she is always kind and benevolent, and even unpredictable at times (remember when she suddenly whooped and chuckled for eternity [if you count eternity as about half a day] after Scout said that she would rake the damn Morphodite up in a jiffy). It would be really interesting to befriend her and receive a surprise about the next move she would make.

Thus I believe that Ms Maudie would make a good friend for me and vice versa. A role model from all perspectives, every parent would be glad to have her as their neighbour (and so does every glutton ;).

Yi Pin.

Ps:CJ no offense directed.

PPs: Just kidding.

PPPs: Just kidding meant that there was offense directed and not a repetition of my first Ps.

PPPPs: Ps is the symbol for photoshop.

PPPPPs: I am really sidetracking here. Bye!