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Post by pinkegokane on May 15, 2006 21:20:46 GMT 1
dunno if anyone else has been following it...
but manchester just won! woo!! we win life, methinks ;D ;D
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thom
I Can Have It All
...came and went like icebergs...
Posts: 945
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Post by thom on May 15, 2006 21:34:11 GMT 1
heh, there was an advert in the met student rag for a university challenge appearance a while ago, and i quote; "just getting on tv would be an achievement"  |
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Post by Ben on May 16, 2006 15:00:39 GMT 1
;D my mate was the ginger one! he won it for us by knowing what a saddle point was!
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Post by Tom on May 16, 2006 15:06:27 GMT 1
what!  have the university challenge maths questions always been that easy? |
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Post by Rob on May 16, 2006 15:08:12 GMT 1
I know what a saddle point is! This makes me feel clever...
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Post by Ben on May 16, 2006 15:10:34 GMT 1
yes they have, you just don't realise that they're easy until you know what they are.
Plus, the questions are asked so that they don't sound easy. They are deliberately esoteric so people desire to go to university simply to get on the quiz.
I think it's government coercion..
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Post by Tom on May 16, 2006 15:14:53 GMT 1
i guess. if you had asked me a year ago what one was, i wouldnt have known, and i would have thought it was something terribly complicated. but it really isnt.
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Post by Ben on May 16, 2006 15:18:23 GMT 1
finding out whether one is or isn't on the other hand...  sodding eigenvalue problems. |
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Post by Tom on May 16, 2006 15:21:33 GMT 1
is that an eigenvalue problem? i thought there were just conditions with the partial differentiation that tells you if it is one or not, but i cant remember those conditions. lucky its not in the exams coming up!
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Post by rocinante on May 16, 2006 16:40:04 GMT 1
So what's a saddle point, or should we take this into the Maths Board?
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Post by pinkegokane on May 16, 2006 16:41:06 GMT 1
THIS IS HEADING INTO MATHS TALK YOU HEATHENS *shakes fist*
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Post by Tom on May 16, 2006 16:57:01 GMT 1
sorry alex.
a saddle point is a point on a 3 dimensional graph that is a maximum when approached from one direction, and a minimum when approached from another. the graph takes a similar shape to a saddle, hence the name.
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elaine
When I Argue I See Shapes
Mitsy the Magnificent
Posts: 605
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Post by elaine on May 16, 2006 17:14:45 GMT 1
Its like what chris tarrant unhelpfully says: "its only easy if you know the answer"
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Post by Chris on May 16, 2006 19:36:01 GMT 1
Chris Tarrant presenting University Challenge!! ACENESS!!
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Post by Natalie on May 16, 2006 19:58:03 GMT 1
Chris Tarrant presenting University Challenge!! ACENESS!! WITH LIFELINES AND EVERYTHING ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by Ben on May 16, 2006 20:13:35 GMT 1
is that an eigenvalue problem? i thought there were just conditions with the partial differentiation that tells you if it is one or not, but i cant remember those conditions. lucky its not in the exams coming up! they appear in eigenvalue problems of the 2-d vector differential equations type since you are linearising the problem by taking the jacobian, and the jacobian is the n-d version of a derivative in Matrix form. Hence by looking at the Jacobian of a matrix you find out characteristics of the point, and indeed, the whole ODE. SORRY ABOUT THE MATHS EVERYONE |
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Post by Tom on May 16, 2006 20:16:59 GMT 1
that didnt really make much sense to me. it sounds like stuff i either havent done, or wasnt paying much attention to at the time. ill take your word for it though.
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Post by Ben on May 16, 2006 20:22:45 GMT 1
tsh, and Christophe tells me that your course is the same difficulty as mine That was my first year stuff. Early second semester. I refute all claims that you have it as hard as I did. IN.MY.DAY.US.LADS.DID.REAL.WORK. |
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Post by Tom on May 16, 2006 20:36:04 GMT 1
well that probably needs linear algebra. were doing linear algebra in the second semester, whereas you did it in the first (i think). therefore we couldnt have done that work this semester, as it wouldnt make sense.
im sure the degrees are roughly the same difficulty, just different.
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Post by Ben on May 16, 2006 20:56:14 GMT 1
what we did didn't require any linear algebra, it was very applied.
sorry, i keep slagging everybody's degree off.
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Post by Tom on May 17, 2006 0:08:38 GMT 1
ummm, eigenvalues are part of linear algebra arent they?
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Post by Arron on May 17, 2006 0:43:06 GMT 1
You maths people and the defining of parts of maths. tsk! I've done eigenvalues and eigenvectors and jacobian and all that jazz, and we never had some fancy pants name for it like 'linear algebra'. We even did a bit on saddle points in the first semester (I think) of first year!
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Post by Lisa on May 17, 2006 11:59:34 GMT 1
i hate university challenge (when i say hate i mean love), it's one of those quizzes where i'm lucky to get more than 3 questions right. i always used to tell myself it was okay, cos they're at university and therefore clever. now i'm at university i find myself clutching at excuses such as...well that team are all about 50, or that team are all 3rd years...sob...i did answer a question the other day that i wouldn't have known if it wasn't for one of my boring courses from this semester, so maybe my degree isn't a complete waste of time.
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Post by rocinante on May 17, 2006 12:34:19 GMT 1
Don't you just love watching televisual quizzes with your family? I know I do. Whenever a history/film/music question comes up everyone goes "C'mon Elliot!" and glowers at me with a face like this....  And I'm like "shit, erm, shit, shit, shit, I know this" Then the answer's revealed and I'm like "Yeah I thought so!" and everyone goes Good times. |
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Post by pinkegokane on May 17, 2006 17:09:34 GMT 1
yeah there was a question about the EU i was pretty much SURE i knew. but i felt better when the old politics dude didn't even get it.
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