Serial Learnerers

First off, happy Fourth of July! And happy 250th anniversary to the USA! I hope you all got to see some nice fireworks. I know my loved ones and I did, plus I can see a lot on the horizon from my dorm, which is nice to fall asleep to.

Cool firework fact: you can tell which metal makes up a firework based on its color! Red- Strontium Orange- Calcium Yellow- Sodium Green- Barium Blue- Copper Purple- Strontium/Copper Silver- Magnesium White- Aluminum

Pretty cool!

As far as studying is going I do not have a whole lot of notes. Most of my math studying is just practice problems, so not very interesting. I'll likely upload them all next week for yall.

My summer class is starting soon too. Its Calc based physics II, so things like oscillations, circuits, magnetism and the like. I'm super excited to learn about the circuits to be honest.

My next topic about arithmetic and algebra though will be all about linear equations. I love graphing so this will be so fun!

Wow, week two and I'm already having technical issues. The app I usually use to scan in my notes as PDFs s acting up. I really hoped I could upload my notes for you all but I'll have to upload them all next week.

This upcoming week I have a lot going on in my internship so I will keep my goals for the week simple; introduction to variables, distributive property and factoring , and introduction to linear equations.

I'm still working off the book that I shared in my last post and I was intrigued to see the introduction of certain concepts. For example only about 25 pages into the book Lang is already introducing concepts such as even and odd numbers expressed as, 2n+1 and 2n. These are concepts I did not see until calculus II and discrete math, in proofs and sequences and series.

But I suppose it makes sense in the context of the division chapter.

Like most things, I like to start at the beginning. I have always really enjoyed math, even outside of school. I've heard it once described as "the language of the universe". Which in a way it is.

I have already taken and passed some pretty difficult math classes, calculus II and discrete algebra come to mind, but I feel the best way to approach math is at the beginning. So much of it builds off of itself that I feel as if I need a refresher on even the basics of the basics.

As such I will begin this week by starting with Arithmetic & Algebra. My goal for this week is to review number systems, integer arithmetic, fractions, decimals & percentages, exponents, ratios & proportions, and finally rates & dimensional analysis.

You all have my permission to laugh about how far back I am going but it is simply a precautionary.

The book I will be using is: Basic Math by Serge Lang. There is a copy on the Internet Archive if you are looking for it. For this topic I will not be using a calculator but you may if you are following along.