Today's soundtrack is Marc Papeghin: When Dream and Horn Unite, a horn-based cover album of many different Dream Theater songs and motifs. It's a really cool little album (under 15 minutes in length); it neither underplays nor embellishes the original works: I think that they've done very well with the arrangements. This evening, I'll be … Continue reading 05.08.2018: One Chapter of Math

Today's soundtrack is Suffocation: ...Of the Dark Light. Today's activity was supposed to be "30 Minutes of Game Development," but my son has just discovered the joy of playing racing games with my steering wheel on my desktop computer, so I'm relegated to the other side of the desk today. Thus, I'm continuing on to … Continue reading 05.05.2018: One Chapter of Math

Today's soundtrack is Stryper: God Damn Evil. I'm on chapter 18 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra, "Solving Geometry and Measurement Word Problems." There are two important kind of word problems: "measurement problems and geometry problems" (p. 247). In the former, we convert from one unit to another; in the latter, we use formulas and/or pictures … Continue reading 05.03.2018: One Chapter of Math

Today's soundtrack is Gem Club: Breakers. This evening's chapter is the seventeenth of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, "Seeing is Believing: Graphing as a Visual Tool." Graphing lets us present and evaluate information about numbers in a visual way. There are four common kinds of graphs: "The bar graph is best for representing numbers … Continue reading 05.01.2018: One Chapter of Math

Today's soundtrack is Rhye: Blood. This morning, I'm working on chapter 16 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra for Dummies, "Picture This: Basic Geometry." Geometry, "one of the most useful areas of math" (p. 217), is "the mathematics of figures such as squares, circles, triangles, and lines" (p. 217). I remember from my other readings that … Continue reading 04.29.2018: One Chapter of Math

Today's soundtrack is Holy Soldier: Last Train. I'm now on chapter 15 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra for Dummies, "How Much Have You Got? Weights and Measures". This chapter title bothers me; shouldn't it be "How Much Do You Have"? The chapter begins by introducing the concept of units of measurement, which allow us "to … Continue reading 04.27.2018: One Chapter of Math

Today's soundtrack is Wolf Alice: Visions of a Life. This afternoon, I'm on Chapter 13 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, "Word Problems With Fractions, Decimals, and Percents." The chapter begins by discussing word problems that involve adding and subtracting fractions, decimals, or percents. The first step, of course, is to break the problem … Continue reading 03.26.2018: One Chapter of Math

Today's soundtrack is Monotheist: Scourge. I'm now on Chapter 12 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, "Playing With Percents." "Percent" means, in practice, "out of 100" (p. 171). The symbol "%" means "percent." Percentage, fractions, and decimals are all ways of talking about parts of a whole. Any percentage under 100 is less than … Continue reading 03.22.2018: One Chapter of Math

Today's soundtrack is Uriah Heep: Demons and Wizards. I'm on to chapter 11 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra for Dummies, "Dallying with Decimals," which will go over converting fractions to decimals and vice versa, as well as covering the basics of working with decimals in the big four operations. Fractions and decimals both serve to … Continue reading 03.11.2018: One Chapter of Math

Today's soundtrack is Myrkur: Mareridt. I'm now on chapter 10 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, "Parting Ways: Fractions and the Big Four Operations," which deals with how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions. To multiply fractions, just multiply the numerators by each other, and the denominators by each other, and hey presto! … Continue reading 02.28.2018: One Chapter of Math

Today's soundtrack is Solas: All These Years, an album that makes me instantly feel happy. I've made it to the third section of Basic Math and Pre-Algebra for Dummies, "Parts of the Whole: Fractions, Decimals, and Percents." The first chapter that I'll be working on in this section is chapter 9, "Fooling with Fractions." There … Continue reading 02.27.2018: One Chapter of Math