Procrastination

I have always had a really bad habit of procrastinating.

I start the semester out strong, getting far ahead of everyone else; but eventually I reach the point where I've done all the available assignments, and have nothing to do. That's when the procrastination bug begins creeping in... 

This has historically resulted in falling behind and struggling to catch back up. I'm not at the "struggle" part of the cycle yet, but it's getting pretty close. I'm turning in 5 assignments from different classes late this week. I am confident that they are done well enough that I will receive full points for them, so the late percentage reduction doesn't bother me. Yet. I know if I keep this up then it will start affecting my grades, and I'll end up on a spiral of disaster and stress from which I will never recover.

Well, maybe not so dramatic as that, but it will put me in a bad mood for the next 9 weeks.

Bittersweet Week

So I got the call this morning, and Better Candidate outshone me again because they had more experience in a classroom setting. Tell me universe - how am I supposed to get more experience when I can't get into the classroom?

I've also been dealing with the most painful ear infection I can recall. The doctor gave me steroidal ear drops but now my ear feels like it is full of water and I would punch kittens if it would make the pain and stuffy-ear-feelings stop.

On the bright side: I got a perfect score on my first math test of the semester.

I have never received a perfect score on a math test in my life, so I'm a bit excited. Part of it I'm sure has to do with reviewing the material several times in order to teach it to other students and explain it in the blog. I also have get to start making a game for an elementary level class involving statistics. We'll see how that one goes. Now if only I can do as well on my art history exam today as I did on my math test - fingers crossed!

Odds

So I'm on a math roll today, finally got my math homework done and realized that I am one math post short for the math blog - oops! So I'll be covering the last and shortest part of the probability section: Odds!

Now, odds and probability are different, and it is important to know what that difference is.

Image from Math Magic website

The numerator for both is the amount of times you obtain the desired outcome, but the difference lies in the numerator. While probability has a denominator that lists all the outcomes, when calculating odds, you have the undesirable outcomes as your denominator.
To find out what the undesirable number is, simply find the total number of outcomes and subtract from that the number of desirable outcomes. This leaves you with the undesirable outcomes, your odds denominator.

Math Magic has a great page explaining probability and how to change from probability to odds. See it here: Math Magic - Probability

Probability Game

This probability game can be adjusted for any grade level, and makes for a great online practicing resource!

Probability Game

Bill Nye Probability Episode

Bill knows what's up.
He may be the "Science Guy", but he is pretty handy when it comes to math.