A lot has happened in the past few weeks. Three lectures,
two tutorials, an assignment, and a midterm. I managed to survive it all and
came out (I hope) relatively unscathed. Week three was a good lecture,
conjunction, disjunction, a couple of Venn Diagrams, negations, truth tables,
and laws. There was one area of confusion during the lecture that I had an
opportunity to ask Professor Zhang about. It was that the conjunction x>20
and x<10 is represented by AUB (A being the first term, and B being the
other) but it could not be used to represent a disjunction since the
intersection could not exist. I was thinking about the conjunction as a Venn
Diagram where both circles were shaded in except for the middle, when I asked
it was cleared up that it cannot be represented by a Venn Diagram since there
is absolutely no possibility of intersection in that statement. The rest I was
confident about as it was discussed. There is, however, quite a big difference
between seeing someone doing something and understanding it, then having to do
it yourself. I can easily say that I struggled with the tutorial that week,
only solving about 3 problems from question 1, then being confused as to how
people had any idea how to solve the rest. I didn't leave any more informed on
how to solve a problem than when I came in. Seems like a good time to start
working on the assignment, right? Wrong, very wrong, I don’t think I have ever
really experienced that level of confusion before. I poured countless hours
into trying to figure it out the weekend after lecture 3, I wish I had just
waited for lecture 4, as a lot of it was explained then.
Starting off a lecture with informing the class that the
midterm was next week probably wasn’t the best way to go about things. I knew
it was soon, but hadn't realized it was so soon, and seeing as I was in a state
of mass confusion from the assignment, it was terrifying. Although the proofs
were not of too much help, the bit on the bi-implications, transitivity, and
mixed quantifiers were. This lecture, along with going to the help center
(which really wasn't of too much help), and pouring more countless hours into
the assignment allowed me to finish it with some confidence about the answers,
and only one question left blank. In the end, question 1, 2, and 5 were good,
3, and 4 were where I was unsure of myself, 4b was the question I left blank. I
had no idea why the Venn Diagrams would be different between 4a and 4b (universal
versus existential Venn Diagram). My next area of focus was the approaching
midterm. I took to the internet and found a bunch of past tests that I
attempted to do, as well as the sample test provided on the course website. I
knew I wanted to see Professor Zhang in person regarding what I struggled with
on the assignment and past tests, so I made quite an effort (changing work
schedule, putting off my weekly cooking) to come in and clear the confusion up.
I am so glad I did because now I actually feel I understand the course. The
midterm went very well I feel. The questions were extremely similar to the
sample midterm, I would even venture to say they were easier version of them,
and one similar to 4 on the assignment, which I cleared up during the office
hour. Then there was lecture, and a whole lot of proofs. I believe I will need
practice with those, but it looks like the general formula is work both ways (from
the top, and from the bottom), try proving the contrapositive if it’s easier,
and seeing if its contradiction makes sense. I’ll just have to do some myself
to see if I would be able to without help, that’s what the tutorial is for.
