Midterm 2/Calculating my Grade/End of the Semester

After taking the second midterm, I feel confident in that I did well. I think the finite difference part of the test gave me some doubts because I didn't know what the final equation was supposed to look like. Other than that, I think the matrices was straightforward and the only part I think I could've messed up on was the algebra and missing a negative sign. I didn't study as hard as the last exam, and if my theory is correct, I will hope to get a better grade than my last exam. It was a theory I thought of because I noticed that I did better on tests that I studied a decent amount for but not too much. The takeaway from this exam is to keep improving, I felt that I knew the material on the exam but even if I did well on it, I have to keep going. The group project and the final are coming up and they are worth a total of 40% of our grade and to slack off and think I can do them without even trying will decrease my grade. At this point, we are just a few weeks away from finals then summer break. This is technically a extra credit blog since this is the eleventh blog except I plan on doing the extra credit so that I can worry less about this final. The same with the homework, I did all of the homework and if I go any further it will only help me achieve an A in this course, which I am striving to achieve. I calculated my grade and I believe that I have a 98% in the class, this is without the midterm two, final, individual and group project grade. This means that I only completed 30% of my total grade, but if the midterm and individual project are graded, then I would have completed 60% of my total grade. Overall, I am doing pretty well but that only confirms 30% of my grade which is somewhat weird. Nearing the end of the semester and only having 30% of our grade show up but that's expected in most courses. You really can't calculate your grade until you've at least done 70-80% of it. My plan is to not slow down and to achieve that A in the class.  

Group Project Continued and Midterm 2

As we are getting closer to the deadline for the group project, I have yet to create my group let alone choose what to do. However, I have emailed other people asking if they wanted to make a group and hopefully we can get started on it. I doubt we would need more than a week to do it but I don't know what everyone's schedule is and what work they need to do. I'm not worried too much about this project since it only took me a total of 10-15 hours to do my individual project and to split that work into four people will make it even easier. Also, I doubt anyone would want to work on the project til after the test even I wouldn't want to. For the idea of the project, I didn't care too much, but I found a group that wanted to do a chemical species project. I thought it would be a good idea and that it was different to a truss. For the second midterm, I don't think it'll be too difficult. The hardest part might be the finite difference or the Gaussian Elimination. I felt that I stressed to much on the first test, and worried that I could have made a mistake because it felt like I knew everything and that the test was too easy. In fact it created more mistakes on my test and I think over studying for a test is a bad thing. It took too much of my time doing unnecessary studying. I also feel like I do better when I don't study or if I do study, studying more than 4-5 hours hurts me more. I remember taking a class and took the first test and got decent grade on it. I told myself that I would study harder and when the next test came I got a lower grade even though I studied hard for it. It could also be that the second test was harder, but then when the next test came I studied the bare minimum and got a really good grade. Overall, passed the class with a B but it felt weird with the up and down grades. Sidetracked a bit but my thoughts for this exam is to study enough not too much.

Group Project

By now everyone has turned in their projects and is waiting for a grade. We all work for a grade and I especially do so, which is why I choose to do such simple and easy grading projects. I factor in the time that it takes to do the work and then see if it is worth doing it for the grade I can get from it. To do this project a second time is what I'm thinking of it as but it's based off of a different topic. I thought the truss was already a lot of work but now I have to find a totally different topic to base my group project on. I wouldn't mind doing a mass flow system since I was pretty fine doing it on the test and homework. However, there is the chance I find a team that wants to do something extraordinary and cool. I'm down with any idea but also worried that it could be too much for our group to handle. Chances of this getting into my resume is guaranteed but maybe doing something that interests me might help in contributing in my future career. I have yet to find a job or career that I want to follow and maybe this might help. I want to start early but even that may prove difficult since I have to take three tests this week, linear next week and then I can get started on the project. That is without saying that two of my other classes that have yet to announce their midterms dates doesn't add onto the amount of studying I will have to do. Good Luck to everyone on their group projects. 

  

Spring Break and Final Project Update

I was able to finish the project early, and barely. The homework just before the break wasn't hard but the graph was difficult to do in MatLab. I had to make sure I had enough time to finish the project because it was a lot of work. My project ended being around 25 pages I think. Mainly pictures and graphs, most of the writing/typing portion was the discussion and procedure/reasoning pages which were around 4 pages in total I think. I was lucky enough to finish it early, I doubt anyone else turned it in early but there could be someone who did. If you're doing a truss, don't choose to do the entire bridge, I did half but even that was a lot. It could have been reduced a lot more, maybe to a fourth of eighth of it. That would make the work a lot less, like maybe max would be ten equations, I was dealing with a 29 equations problem. After finishing the project I was able to find that not all bridges can be determined through a single governing equation. One of my bridges ended up being statically indeterminate. Either I drew the FBD wrong or it can only be solved as an indeterminate bridge. I ended up making a design choice for the bridge, basically made another equation that would make it determinate. I said that one member is a zero force member and that would be used as a design decision so that it can be there for a safety factor. That made the bridge determinate, I thought about taking a member out and solving it that way but that made me solve the bridge all over again. I ended up doing that until I thought about the design decision. It took me a while to remember I could do that and I was already solving it without the member. I was scared my numbers and my matrix would mess up but it ended up working out. I wish I could do that bridge another time as a indeterminate so that I can properly judge its maximum load. Finishing the project made me a little lazy over the spring break, that is why I decided to do this blog. I haven't done anything related to school til today (Friday). My spring break has been somewhat relaxing, whenever I get the chance to relax my parents think I need work. They told me to do taxes, bills, and help make appointments for them, like they wanted to see an optometrist this week. The breaks almost over and I really don't want it to end but I look forward to summer break. It is longer and I always get to do what ever I want then because that's also the time when my parent's are on vacation so they choose not to do work or give me work. For now I will continue my work and hopefully finish all of the work given over the break so that when I get back I don't have too much to do.

Individual Project

As you may or may not know, my project that I decided to do was a truss. I know, very original and never done before but all jokes aside it's supposed to be simple. I highly doubt I made this project or my project in particular hard but the research and the amount of work needed to be put into this project is insane. To be able to do the bare minimum, I think takes at least 20 hours to be able to finish this. This is a number I thought about since it should take about 1 hour to think about what you want to do and then write the proposal, then 3-4 hours to research the topic, and finally 1-2 hours to obtain the research you need and place it in a table, graph, etc. Then there is the process of doing the actual work which is close to 10+ hours depending on the amount simplification of work you intend to do. Even after this you have to type, or write all of this in and turn it in which is about another 2 hours. This may seem like I'm complaining but I enjoy this project. It's very broad, in a sense that your research is up to you, the topic is up to you, and the amount of work is up to you. I did a bridge and although it may seem easy it has many components. I'd say I'm close to half way done, but that's because I didn't spend too much time at home doing the work but rather in school. The amount of time I've put into this project is about 7 hours, if I spent more time on this then this would be really enjoyable and easy. A recommended option might be not to have homework due that week or maybe make it optional/extra credit. Of course, that idea sounds bad but I think having that much work plus other work is insane. I'm keeping up with it but others might have it worse. People that have CAD, Dynamic Systems, Fluids, and other work, good luck and hope you pass. Back to the project, I have done a decent amount of work but got stuck on a joint on the bridge, I'll probably have it worked out soon enough since I plan on turning it in early. It's a two unknown with two equation problem but the two equations are the same. I want to turn the assignment in early for the extra credit and hopefully give the professor less work since I know doing the projects are hard but grading them are too. Although, I'd hate to give a professor homework over the break, but they get that option.

Thoughts for the Future

Having taken the Linear test, I feel great. I thought it was straight forward, although I messed up on a few parts but mistakes are kind of natural to me by now. It's been a while since I have even gotten a perfect score on my tests. Of course seeing the test makes me happy since it wasn't anything horrible like my other classes where the test average for the class is failing. There will be places to improve and one of those places is reading the questions thoroughly. I read one of the questions as what is the general formula for the governing equations instead of what is the general formula for a mathematical model. Maybe I'll take my time next time instead of rushing it seeing that I had at least 15min left to take the test. The individual project however, seems like it could end up being very complicated. Although it depends on each person's system and model and how they approach it. Mine being a normal truss and comparing it to bridges seems like it could be difficult but rather very easy. Since I can create my own loading for the bridge such as a car's weight. Then if I find how much a average car weighs per unit length and multiply that by the bridge's length then I can find a uniform distribution across the bridge. That would be for when the bridge has traffic and average max loading would occur across the bridge. Then for even more weight I could think of a truck or something that weighs even more than a average car and test that. I think testing the loading at certain points might help also. I'm taking away that the bridge could suffer from climate and just looking at the forces, also taking away fatigue on the bridge. Although fatigue is very important when picking the material and it's dimensions I think if I'm only focusing on the forces and how much force is needed to keep the bridge from deforming the best option is to simplify my system.

Pre-Midterm Feelings

As I head into my first Linear Systems midterm I feel prepared and that my grasp of the concepts are concrete. Although, the creating differential equations or defining systems homework had me stressed for a long while the other homework was particularly straight forward. I believe that I can obtain a good grade if I am able to complete the review homework for this week without any trouble. I have learned how to define a system, the steps that one needs to take in solving problems (physicists, mathematician, engineer), matrices, and coding in MatLab. I have learned more such as laws being not laws but don't need to state all of them. What ended up surprising me was the amount of work load I have this semester, not just from Linear Systems class but from my other classes. However the other bigger surprise was how well I have been keeping up with the work load. The challenging part is to come, since we are only half way into the semester. Finals will be something I will and won't look forward to since most finals are cumulative, but will end up being the last thing I have to do until I can go on a summer vacation. My favorite topic by far is the matrix math, although I have seen some people struggle to learn it, after a while you seem to understand what steps are needed in order to reduce a matrix, or multiply them.