First Post

-Chris Dragga
-I'm a senior
-I'm majoring in computer science (possibly math as well if I can integrate math somehow into my honors project) and minoring in English
-I've taken multivariable calculus, discrete math, linear algebra, theory of computation, introduction to statistical modeling, differential equations, and algebraic structures.
-Probably probability and statistics.
-Most likely calculus.
-I'm taking the course because, as a computer scientist, I will likely find it useful, and it fulfills the requirement for a 400 math course for the math major. In addition, I'm also hoping it will give me some background to integrate mathematical modeling into my honors project.
-Other than what I've written above, there's nothing specific I'd like to get out of the class.
-As mentioned earlier, I'm an English minor and computer science major. I listen to a good amount of black and death metal, and enjoy playing games, both computer and otherwise. I play the flute and am an avid walker.
-The worst math teacher I ever had essentially acted as a study-hall monitor for the class. Students would demonstrate correct answers to the previous day's homework at the beginning of class, and the latter part of class would be dedicated to doing homework. Every once in a great while, the teacher would actually explain something, but she only did so for the more difficult topics and generally was fairly dull. (Note that this was a high school teacher, not a college professor, and she was a year from retirement)
-The best math teacher I have had took time to explain the material and did so in an engaging, fairly entertaining way. (I realize this is a rather generic answer)

Overall, I found the most difficult part of the reading to be the part involving the derivation of the recursive formula for the Fibonacci series. The standard formula derivation was fairly straightforward, though I should probably briefly refresh my differential equations knowledge. The most interesting part of the reading dealt with the various properties of the Golden Ratio (section 1.2)