Graphing Calculators

[Fve Crathva]

SP

[Egbert]

I feel old.
In high school we used slide rules and were happy to have them. It was a step up from the abacus.

I had one of them new fangled calculator thingies in my final year.

"Computers" was offered as an elective. I wasn't interested in fooling around with punched cards, or the contraption.

[Hauldren Collider]

In 2005, six years after I'd taken my last math class, I audited a ridiculously low-level EE course because I was required to take three graduate courses outside of the CS/CE department and I wanted to see if EE would fit the bill. On the first exam we had to convert a lot of complex numbers from cartesian to polar coordinates, without using a calculator; I somehow converted them all backwards (so the radius was negative when it was supposed to be positive and vice-versa) and flunked the test. And if I had to take the test again today, there'd be a 50/50 chance that I'd flunk it again. Calculators

What a worthless test.

[loinburger]

I didn't realize it when I signed up for the class, but I learned later that the professor was King ******* of the EE department

[Hauldren Collider]

One of the biggest lessons I am learning so far is how divorced from reality professors can be, particularly when it comes to employable skills and valuable knowledge.

[loinburger]

My dad is still a bit annoyed that he got a B from an EE professor his last semester in college. Labs were worth 5% of the grade (95% and above was an A) but labs took four or five times longer than class time and he was taking an over-full load in order to graduate early, so he skipped all of the labs. He got perfect grades on the exams, except that the professor decided to punish him for skipping labs by deducting a point from his final exam for not including the date on the exam paper, leaving him with a 94% in the class. Some professors are fine, but others become petty tyrants.

[Hauldren Collider]

My CS grade right now appears to be from a random number generator. I got an 86 on the last midterm when the class average was a 77, and my TA has commented that I already know all the material, yet I got a C on the midsemester grade because the theory assignments have the most retarded questions and I haven't been answering them in the precise, asinine way the professor wants.

One question I got on the theory problem sets was "implement binary search on a linked list". This is but one of many nonsensical questions I've received. I got that one right though...

However, apparently I'm not the only one and there's going to be a pretty substantial curve at the end of the course.

[Jon Miller]

It's because CS theory is more like math I think.

JM

[N35t0r]

I need roughly 60-75% of an exam (depends on the subject) to be correct for a 4/10

[Hauldren Collider]

It's because CS theory is more like math I think.

JM

1. While you are correct that CS theory is mostly math, the CS theory questions we get in this class are basically coding questions that you have to answer in pencil.
2. I am pretty good at math anyway.
3. As backhanded insults go, that was pretty lame.

[Jon Miller]

It wasn't meant to be a backhanded insult.

I did very well in all my physics and applied math classes, found them easy. I did take all the advanced theory (except one of the Algebra courses), and did well, but I always fought to get good scores.

It wasn't as easy as using the math.

JM

[Egbert]

I haven't been answering them in the precise, asinine way the professor wants.

Learning to answer questions in the precise asinine way the professor wants is all part of your learning experience. When you have mastered this you will be ready for the workplace, answering queries and providing information in the precise asinine ways that your boss, your colleagues and your clients want or need.

[Hauldren Collider]

It wasn't meant to be a backhanded insult.

I did very well in all my physics and applied math classes, found them easy. I did take all the advanced theory (except one of the Algebra courses), and did well, but I always fought to get good scores.

It wasn't as easy as using the math.

JM

Sorry I misinterpreted what you said.

[Hauldren Collider]

Learning to answer questions in the precise asinine way the professor wants is all part of your learning experience. When you have mastered this you will be ready for the workplace, answering queries and providing information in the precise asinine ways that your boss, your colleagues and your clients want or need.

Yeah, that's true. Still pisses me off.

[Egbert]

Yeah, that's true. Still pisses me off.

Yeah, it pissed me off too. I'm used it now and don't even think of it as asinine anymore. Anyway, these days, it's mostly just explaining technical stuff to laymen, in laymans terms. It gets better.