Ste Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 What was your Most disliked concept or lession in school? (College or HS, or whatever) It can be anything, give the example and state why you never liked it or thought it was "Dumb" . I really hate this. -9^(1/2) == -3 But Square root of -9 == 3i (I don't have the symbol on keyboard) Apparently they decided long ago that when you do -9^(1/2) you leave out the negative until after the Square root part so 9^(1/2) == 3 3(-1) == -3 But when you use the Square root symbol: Square root of -9 == 3i I just thought it was stupid that they weren't equal: I thought it would have been: -9^(1/2) == 3i Square root of -9 == 3i But it only is when you do (-9)^(1/2) bah I want to know why they deciced this. Again it can be about anything. Tell us your schooling pains! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verran Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 It's order of operations. (-9)^(1/2) is seen as (-1)(9)^(1/2), and the power comes before the *(-1) part. Written with the proper parenthetical layout, the answer is the same. My beef (on the math topic) was that teachers always said you couldn't do stuff but then they did. They say you can't take the square root of a negative number, but then they just make an "imaginary number" and do it. If "i" doesn't really exist, then how can you use it in your freakin' answer? And dividing by zero. They always say you can't, but then just just use "limits", which is really just a way of saying "we can't, but we're gonna." Plus, I think triangles are stupid. I never liked them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 coloring between the lines count? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
romeo55 Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 (edited) What was your Most disliked concept or lession in school? (College or HS, or whatever) It can be anything, give the example and state why you never liked it or thought it was "Dumb" . I really hate this. -9^(1/2) == -3 But Square root of -9 == 3i (I don't have the symbol on keyboard) Apparently they decided long ago that when you do -9^(1/2) you leave out the negative until after the Square root part so 9^(1/2) == 3 3(-1) == -3 But when you use the Square root symbol: Square root of -9 == 3i I just thought it was stupid that they weren't equal: I thought it would have been: -9^(1/2) == 3i Square root of -9 == 3i But it only is when you do (-9)^(1/2) bah I want to know why they deciced this. Again it can be about anything. Tell us your schooling pains! i almost failed a quarter of ALG II doing that hehe, don't even get me started on third order multiple augmented matrices :angry2: those are the death of ya Edited November 2, 2006 by The Unforgivin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ste Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 It's order of operations. (-9)^(1/2) is seen as (-1)(9)^(1/2), and the power comes before the *(-1) part. Written with the proper parenthetical layout, the answer is the same. My beef (on the math topic) was that teachers always said you couldn't do stuff but then they did. They say you can't take the square root of a negative number, but then they just make an "imaginary number" and do it. If "i" doesn't really exist, then how can you use it in your freakin' answer? And dividing by zero. They always say you can't, but then just just use "limits", which is really just a way of saying "we can't, but we're gonna." Plus, I think triangles are stupid. I never liked them. I do the problems right en all, but I just don't like it. Someone once said that teaching is a process in which you lie a little less each time. So yea, they should say we can't do it yet. Not tell us that you can't. coloring between the lines count? Um, Sure... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotdamojo06 Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 Shadows in Algebra...that was hard! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMeeD Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 Ive always had a few pet peeves on how I was taught to write essays. 1. In fifth grade we were taught one inch margins on written papers were god. If we didnt have one inch margins on each side the paper wasnt accepted, end of story. After that Ive never had a teacher that has even mentioned margins. 2. If/then essays. 3. What I mean is essays. "I think OCC is a very informative website because (insert example here). What I mean is...." Thats how I was taught to start paragraphs of persuasive essays. I wouldnt ever think about writing an essay in that manner ever again. I dont have any deeply hated specific item but whenever Im not getting along with a math problem I cant stop myself from asking "When am I really going to use this in the real world?" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
94Camaro Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 They say you can't take the square root of a negative number, but then they just make an "imaginary number" and do it. If "i" doesn't really exist, then how can you use it in your freakin' answer? The square root of a negative number does not exist on a real number line. So they are "correct" to say that you can't complete said operation. An answer does exist on an "imaginary" number line, but you aren't told that right off since it complicates matters. Besides, imaginary is a bit of a misnomer. The imaginery number line is perpendicular to the real number line, so it's sort of in "another dimension" that we aren't physically aware of. Imaginary numbers are particulary useful in dealing with AC electrical circuits as they can be used to describe capacitance, inductance, phases and all sorts of other great stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iKillSteal Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 I'm in physics(HS) right now and I hate vectors in 3 dimensions...We're given, for example, the angle and magnitude of one of the vectors and we have to solve for the other two. Sounds simple but it gets to be a pain when the 2 other vectors aren't on the x/y axis(axes?). But no, it doesn't end there. My teacher makes us find friction(or air resistance if it is falling) but before that we've got to solve for the coefficient of friction and find the maximum amount of static friction and the kinetic friction of the object in non-constant motion and then we can move on and actually solve for the other vectors...I hate my physics teacher... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celcius Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 I just hated all the homework (hours everyday)! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardnrg Posted November 2, 2006 Posted November 2, 2006 (edited) American Government... i dislike politics enough... but another country's history of government? man that book was better than a horse tranquiliser... 30 pages per night reading and i was usually out on the 5th page lol *snore* Edited November 2, 2006 by hardnrg Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamikaze_Badger Posted November 3, 2006 Posted November 3, 2006 Algebra... it's evil. Always loved English though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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