the alchemist
it's been some time since i read a fictional novel. well, mika said it was nice and i should read it. yeah. so i read it. quite nice... so i put some excerpts here.
*****************************************************
"What's the world's greatest lie?".....
"It's this: that a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie."
**************************************************
(Basically, the main character is a boy, who became a shepherd. Here he met an old man in a town.)
"Why do you tend to a flock of sheep?"
"Because I like to travel."
The old man pointed to a baker standing in his shop window at one corner of the plaza. "When he was a child, that man wanted to travel, too. But he decided first to buy his bakery and put some money aside. When he's an old man, he's going to spend a month in Africa. He never realised that people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of."
"He should have decided to become a shepherd, " the boy said.
"Well, he thought about that," the old man said. "But bakers are more important people than shepherds. Bakers have homes, while shepherds sleep out in the open. Parents would rather see their children marry bakers than shepherds.
...
"In the long run, what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more important for them than their own Personal Legends."
************************************************
Hmmm. As you might guess, the book goes onto describe the boy's adventure to fulfill his Personal Legend. Like what mika pointed out, the book expounds that when one tries hard to realise his/her dream, the "whole universe conspires" to help him/her. There'll be numerous signs/omens along the way.
When I was reading it, I was wondering, "Is this book an omen?"
2 years 21 days.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Sunday, December 02, 2007
run your own race
42.195km is really no joke. i tot after being able to complete 21km in an ok fashion, 42km shouldnt be too unsurmountable. wah... it was really tough. and many others were like struggling to complete. i think for the last 10km, almost everyone around me were walking/strolling. even when the volunteers were cheering us on, we were all super bochup. haha.
anyway some lessons learnt:
1. must at least run 30 km before the marathon... 21km is really not enuff
2. must put petroleum jelly or something to prevent abrasion. this time, my nipples kenna quite a bit. and some point of time, i was like pulling the singlet away from my chest and running.
3. must drink lotsa lotsa water... hmmm. had some gruesome encounter which i will not describe
anyway, i still manage to complete the race!! thanks to my wonderful, adorable, lovely, inspirational, sweet, awesome, exceptional girlfriend who came down to support with this beautiful placard!! really helped a lot in motivating me to get to the marina cove, kallang stadium (though i missed her) and the finishing point. hee. mika's the best!
Saturday, December 01, 2007
innumeracy
yesterday, i was helping my boss do some analysis with some data (have to be vague here). anyway, i realise some disturbing (but not-so-surprising) misconceptions.
1. ppl who get good scores in a-level maths or engineering maths do not necessarily know wat they studied. i'm not saying ALL who get good scores do not know wat's happening. but rather a majority of them are able to solve exam questions using standard methods without any idea why the methods work. so when they go to work in the real world, they try these standard methods, hoping (and sometimes succeeding) to impress other ppl (who also dunno wat's happening). i wonder how many people really know wat all the t-tests, z-tests mean...
2. ppl think math majors study engineering maths/a-level maths and statistics. the logic is simple. for those who are not engineers only come to contact with maths via statistics. so maths = statistics + a-level maths. for those who are engineers come to contact with maths via engineering maths + stats. so maths = engineering maths (which is advanced a-level maths) + stats. somehow, this logic applies only to math and does not seem to extend to other discipline... anyway, i did only one module on statistics, and it was not even close to statistics. it was on probability theory. so i'm one of those who dunno wat t-tests, z-tests, really mean...
3. ppl think that math majors can solve any problem which has numbers in them. this is like the most irritating thing. ppl like to ask me if i can help to analyse a set of data. huh??? i think a social science major who did two courses on statistical methods can do a better job (assuming that he/she knew wat he/she was reading). then when i say 'i didnt learn this in uni,' they'll respond 'then wat do you learn?' sometimes, i just feel like saying 'things that u'll never comprehend in this lifetime...'
haha. but at the end of the day, somehow, and with some help from google and microsoft, i can do some decent work on the problems... haha. this brings to mind a somewhat arrogant quote from euler (when he solved the 'bridges of konigsberg' problem):
'i do not know why even questions which bear so little relationship to mathematics are solved more quickly by mathematicians than by others.'
heh
yesterday, i was helping my boss do some analysis with some data (have to be vague here). anyway, i realise some disturbing (but not-so-surprising) misconceptions.
1. ppl who get good scores in a-level maths or engineering maths do not necessarily know wat they studied. i'm not saying ALL who get good scores do not know wat's happening. but rather a majority of them are able to solve exam questions using standard methods without any idea why the methods work. so when they go to work in the real world, they try these standard methods, hoping (and sometimes succeeding) to impress other ppl (who also dunno wat's happening). i wonder how many people really know wat all the t-tests, z-tests mean...
2. ppl think math majors study engineering maths/a-level maths and statistics. the logic is simple. for those who are not engineers only come to contact with maths via statistics. so maths = statistics + a-level maths. for those who are engineers come to contact with maths via engineering maths + stats. so maths = engineering maths (which is advanced a-level maths) + stats. somehow, this logic applies only to math and does not seem to extend to other discipline... anyway, i did only one module on statistics, and it was not even close to statistics. it was on probability theory. so i'm one of those who dunno wat t-tests, z-tests, really mean...
3. ppl think that math majors can solve any problem which has numbers in them. this is like the most irritating thing. ppl like to ask me if i can help to analyse a set of data. huh??? i think a social science major who did two courses on statistical methods can do a better job (assuming that he/she knew wat he/she was reading). then when i say 'i didnt learn this in uni,' they'll respond 'then wat do you learn?' sometimes, i just feel like saying 'things that u'll never comprehend in this lifetime...'
haha. but at the end of the day, somehow, and with some help from google and microsoft, i can do some decent work on the problems... haha. this brings to mind a somewhat arrogant quote from euler (when he solved the 'bridges of konigsberg' problem):
'i do not know why even questions which bear so little relationship to mathematics are solved more quickly by mathematicians than by others.'
heh
Thursday, November 08, 2007
super cruncher
ooops. just realised the last time i posted something on this blog was more than one month ago. had a good month slacking as my boss was away on some duties and some course. was so slack that i pretty did nothing much...
but i did read a book called super crunchers: why thinking by numbers is the new way to be smart. it's not about maths, but more about using statistical analysis to approach to problems / issues nowadays. the author, ian ayres, no mathematician, but a lawyer with a wonderful understanding of statistics (what's the probability??), and coincidentally, a friend of steven levitt, the co-author of freakonomics (a book where the authors "uncovers" interesting facts thru some smart statistical analysis).
anyway, the book's about why pple should rely on statistical analysis to make predictions / give advice / blah blah than to rely on "expert opinion" or intuition. yah. like most modern authors, he support with numerous anecdotes and reports.
one area he discussed on was the medical field, where he noted that most doctors are adverse not only to numbers, but also to doing research on the problems of their patients. ie. many choose to rely on their experience to do the diagnosis, rather than "looking up studies" to "confirm" their diagnosis. and he picked the example of ignaz semmelweis. apparently, in the 19th century, hand washing is not a common practice for operations. semmelweis observed that handwashing reduced mortalities due to childbed fever and did a statistical study to verify his observation. but despite his studies, the medical community then rejected the practice of handwashing. cos the studies lack a "theory" and handwashing was troublesome. hmmmmm... lucky for us, the medical community is a bit smarter now.
but really, doctors do make stupid mistakes occasionally. i went to a gp once as my hand developed some allergic reaction. basically, during the diagnosis, the gp said something weird. he claimed that our human skin is naturally acidic and had a pH level of 3.5 and recommended a soap which has a pH level of 3.5. when he said that, i was kinda shocked and he asked "why u looked so shocked?" ok... so my chemistry is only at o-level. maybe i'm wrong... so let's not argue with him. after the consulation, i looked at the soap he prescribed. it wrote pH 5.5. i checked the internet. he's right, our skin is naturally acidic but the pH is 5.5. pH 3.5 corresponds to orange juice...hmmmm.
ooops. just realised the last time i posted something on this blog was more than one month ago. had a good month slacking as my boss was away on some duties and some course. was so slack that i pretty did nothing much...
but i did read a book called super crunchers: why thinking by numbers is the new way to be smart. it's not about maths, but more about using statistical analysis to approach to problems / issues nowadays. the author, ian ayres, no mathematician, but a lawyer with a wonderful understanding of statistics (what's the probability??), and coincidentally, a friend of steven levitt, the co-author of freakonomics (a book where the authors "uncovers" interesting facts thru some smart statistical analysis).
anyway, the book's about why pple should rely on statistical analysis to make predictions / give advice / blah blah than to rely on "expert opinion" or intuition. yah. like most modern authors, he support with numerous anecdotes and reports.
one area he discussed on was the medical field, where he noted that most doctors are adverse not only to numbers, but also to doing research on the problems of their patients. ie. many choose to rely on their experience to do the diagnosis, rather than "looking up studies" to "confirm" their diagnosis. and he picked the example of ignaz semmelweis. apparently, in the 19th century, hand washing is not a common practice for operations. semmelweis observed that handwashing reduced mortalities due to childbed fever and did a statistical study to verify his observation. but despite his studies, the medical community then rejected the practice of handwashing. cos the studies lack a "theory" and handwashing was troublesome. hmmmmm... lucky for us, the medical community is a bit smarter now.
but really, doctors do make stupid mistakes occasionally. i went to a gp once as my hand developed some allergic reaction. basically, during the diagnosis, the gp said something weird. he claimed that our human skin is naturally acidic and had a pH level of 3.5 and recommended a soap which has a pH level of 3.5. when he said that, i was kinda shocked and he asked "why u looked so shocked?" ok... so my chemistry is only at o-level. maybe i'm wrong... so let's not argue with him. after the consulation, i looked at the soap he prescribed. it wrote pH 5.5. i checked the internet. he's right, our skin is naturally acidic but the pH is 5.5. pH 3.5 corresponds to orange juice...hmmmm.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sunday, September 02, 2007
a weekend to slack
1. army half marathon
completed my second ahm last sun. this time round, i took 2hr 14 min. approx 10 min faster than my first attempt. hopefully, next year will be faster.
this year the running route was much better. more lanes were open and there were less traffic lights. but the organisation at the ending point was a fiasco. the choice of using the "area beneath the steps at the floating platform" was horrible. the area was so cramped and stuffy. plus all the heat sweat and smell from the runners. the worst part was the collection of bags... the queue was so long and the organisation was so horrible that it took me 2 hours to collect my bag. yeah, 2 hours! i can almost run another half marathon in that time!
hope next year the end point is back at padang.
2. prison break season 2
couldnt resist the temptation to buy the vcd, although i've watched almost half of the episodes. there's no need for me to add that the series is exciting clever blah blah blah.
some interesting trivia for those who watch the series:
in some scenes, depicting president reynolds re-election campaigns, the placards/posters/banners show a website reynolds-again.com fox actually created the website...
another one is the famous europeangoldfinch.net which michael told sucre about, so that they can communicate with each other. the site was used in the show indeed and if u go to the website now, you can see the messages that they posted to each other.
1. army half marathon
completed my second ahm last sun. this time round, i took 2hr 14 min. approx 10 min faster than my first attempt. hopefully, next year will be faster.
this year the running route was much better. more lanes were open and there were less traffic lights. but the organisation at the ending point was a fiasco. the choice of using the "area beneath the steps at the floating platform" was horrible. the area was so cramped and stuffy. plus all the heat sweat and smell from the runners. the worst part was the collection of bags... the queue was so long and the organisation was so horrible that it took me 2 hours to collect my bag. yeah, 2 hours! i can almost run another half marathon in that time!
hope next year the end point is back at padang.
2. prison break season 2
couldnt resist the temptation to buy the vcd, although i've watched almost half of the episodes. there's no need for me to add that the series is exciting clever blah blah blah.
some interesting trivia for those who watch the series:
in some scenes, depicting president reynolds re-election campaigns, the placards/posters/banners show a website reynolds-again.com fox actually created the website...
another one is the famous europeangoldfinch.net which michael told sucre about, so that they can communicate with each other. the site was used in the show indeed and if u go to the website now, you can see the messages that they posted to each other.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
numb3rs
it's been a long time since i last blogged. been busy at work, preparing for a big exercise. also, has been watching a series called numb3rs online. it's those csi type, crime series. but the highlight of the show is that one of the fbi agent's brother is a mathematician. and the math brother uses math to help the fbi brother solves crime.
the math in the show is real math and not some magical math that makes math look almighty and awesome. and coincidentally, today (18 aug) in the science section of straits times, they wrote an article about applying math to the real world.
the focus of the article is this guy called stanley osher, who coinvented the level set method for image processing. basically, the method is quite hot in the movie industry and more recently in the bioscience industry.
wat link is there between numb3rs and stanley osher? well, the latter also helped to solve a crime in LA. basically, there was a riot then in 1993 and lots of beatings. there was a video clip of a guy throwing a brick at a truck driver. the clip showed a speck on the arm of the guy. stanley osher with his methods enhanced the video image and the speck turned out to be a rose tattoo and this led to the eventual arrest of the brick-thrower.
yeah. we all use math everyday.
it's been a long time since i last blogged. been busy at work, preparing for a big exercise. also, has been watching a series called numb3rs online. it's those csi type, crime series. but the highlight of the show is that one of the fbi agent's brother is a mathematician. and the math brother uses math to help the fbi brother solves crime.
the math in the show is real math and not some magical math that makes math look almighty and awesome. and coincidentally, today (18 aug) in the science section of straits times, they wrote an article about applying math to the real world.
the focus of the article is this guy called stanley osher, who coinvented the level set method for image processing. basically, the method is quite hot in the movie industry and more recently in the bioscience industry.
wat link is there between numb3rs and stanley osher? well, the latter also helped to solve a crime in LA. basically, there was a riot then in 1993 and lots of beatings. there was a video clip of a guy throwing a brick at a truck driver. the clip showed a speck on the arm of the guy. stanley osher with his methods enhanced the video image and the speck turned out to be a rose tattoo and this led to the eventual arrest of the brick-thrower.
yeah. we all use math everyday.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
google saves the day
had a scare last tue. v bad scare. my laptop at work for some reason lost its administrator account. that is, i could no longer log in as the administrator and worse, i lost all access to the files which i was working on. total nightmare. i was super super distraught..
my friends.. those computer gurus tried helping me. do sys restore lah. accessing sys progs which i nv knew of... but alas to no avail.
hopelessly, i went home and googled "lost administrator account", "administrator account disappeared" and "administrator account deleted". and lo and behold... the solution appeared! and not just dat, i also found out the cause of the disappearance... all in some computer forum.
the power of google.
and guess who are the brains behind google? (haha. if this question comes from me, there are only a few possibilities.) mathematicians. k lah... maybe some computer scientists with a strong mathematical ability. more specifically, they are called search engine optimizers.
they are the ppl who make sure crap dun turn up when u do a search on google. k... crap do turn up... but they are not horrible crap or "contrived crap". examples of "contrived crap": sites which include many popular (but irrelavant) keywords, or sites which are "made popular" (i've heard of naive pple starting a company to employ ppl to click on certain websites to make them popular). so, when u search for things on google, the companies that do turn up are usually credible and are really THE companies you are looking for.
dun ask me wat's the secret formula google has. cos no one outside google knows. but google does have an interesting way of recruiting these search engine optimizers. google labs have an unconventional aptitude test called the GLAT. and here's one of my favourite question (with a bit of modification).
Fill in the gap in the sequence: 10, 9, 60, __,70, 66,...
Hint: Google is a play on what word? highlight for the answer: 10100... ten is the biggest number/word with 3 letters. nine is the biggest number/word with 4 letters and so on and so forth. GOOGOL is quite a big number/word with 6 letters.
In additional to recruiting creative ppl, the company has a simple mantra: DUN BE EVIL.
Haha. So next time, dun ask me, besides lecturing, wat can a math PHD do..
had a scare last tue. v bad scare. my laptop at work for some reason lost its administrator account. that is, i could no longer log in as the administrator and worse, i lost all access to the files which i was working on. total nightmare. i was super super distraught..
my friends.. those computer gurus tried helping me. do sys restore lah. accessing sys progs which i nv knew of... but alas to no avail.
hopelessly, i went home and googled "lost administrator account", "administrator account disappeared" and "administrator account deleted". and lo and behold... the solution appeared! and not just dat, i also found out the cause of the disappearance... all in some computer forum.
the power of google.
and guess who are the brains behind google? (haha. if this question comes from me, there are only a few possibilities.) mathematicians. k lah... maybe some computer scientists with a strong mathematical ability. more specifically, they are called search engine optimizers.
they are the ppl who make sure crap dun turn up when u do a search on google. k... crap do turn up... but they are not horrible crap or "contrived crap". examples of "contrived crap": sites which include many popular (but irrelavant) keywords, or sites which are "made popular" (i've heard of naive pple starting a company to employ ppl to click on certain websites to make them popular). so, when u search for things on google, the companies that do turn up are usually credible and are really THE companies you are looking for.
dun ask me wat's the secret formula google has. cos no one outside google knows. but google does have an interesting way of recruiting these search engine optimizers. google labs have an unconventional aptitude test called the GLAT. and here's one of my favourite question (with a bit of modification).
Fill in the gap in the sequence: 10, 9, 60, __,70, 66,...
Hint: Google is a play on what word? highlight for the answer: 10100... ten is the biggest number/word with 3 letters. nine is the biggest number/word with 4 letters and so on and so forth. GOOGOL is quite a big number/word with 6 letters.
In additional to recruiting creative ppl, the company has a simple mantra: DUN BE EVIL.
Haha. So next time, dun ask me, besides lecturing, wat can a math PHD do..
Monday, July 16, 2007
ebay order #76640450001
recently bought a book over ebay. actually second time i bought an item. the first time was this maths text from china. (nope..not in chinese. e text is the same as the original. basically, it's like some china uni co-op thing that somehow went onto ebay)
anyway, this time the item is from america. and it was reasonable 16 usd / 26 sgd... quite cheap for a hardcover book in singapore... somemore deliver to doorstep somemore... anyway...
to my surprise, when the package came and i opened it, the book looks like it's from a library. refer to the typical label (with the watever reference code) at the bottom of the spine of the book. then i notice the sticker above... it writes "New York Public Library". Haha. Then i found the following note:
recently bought a book over ebay. actually second time i bought an item. the first time was this maths text from china. (nope..not in chinese. e text is the same as the original. basically, it's like some china uni co-op thing that somehow went onto ebay)
anyway, this time the item is from america. and it was reasonable 16 usd / 26 sgd... quite cheap for a hardcover book in singapore... somemore deliver to doorstep somemore... anyway...
to my surprise, when the package came and i opened it, the book looks like it's from a library. refer to the typical label (with the watever reference code) at the bottom of the spine of the book. then i notice the sticker above... it writes "New York Public Library". Haha. Then i found the following note:
oh. so, there are ppl actually sell books from libraries online. the world is getting v it-savy indeed.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
dim sum dollies: history of singapore
just came back from the show and tot it was not bad. very hilarious (but v singaporean jokes) and refreshing. unlike most musicals which have a simple plot, the show has no plot at all. it's just local jokes intertwined with history.
in fact, it's v local and twds the end, quite ndp-ish... n (no offence to anyone) the show makes one feel more singaporean than ndp itself. perhaps one should learn to be more open and laugh at oneself, so that one can learn to be open to others.
anyway, i think the show's worth catching.
seriousLY.
just came back from the show and tot it was not bad. very hilarious (but v singaporean jokes) and refreshing. unlike most musicals which have a simple plot, the show has no plot at all. it's just local jokes intertwined with history.
in fact, it's v local and twds the end, quite ndp-ish... n (no offence to anyone) the show makes one feel more singaporean than ndp itself. perhaps one should learn to be more open and laugh at oneself, so that one can learn to be open to others.
anyway, i think the show's worth catching.
seriousLY.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
egoistic post
haha. was looking at vjc maths dept website for some other purposes... and to my pleasant surprise. i found a paper that was written by yours truly seven years ago...
it's about non-transitive dice. basically, it's about a set of dice, call them A, B and C, with numbers which are not the usual ones. we have A being more likely to win B, B more likely to win C and (here's the weird thing) C more likely to win A. through some stroke of luck, i managed to find a way to create a set of non-transitive dice, of any size and each dice having any number of faces (strictly speaking, a dice should have 6 faces). with some fanciful presentation, the team managed to get some gold award in some science festival. haha.
oh... i also remembered getting pm lee's (then dpm lee) autograph on a report for e project. e amazing thing was that he knew about our topic by just looking at the title. (not many maths pple know wat are non-transitive dice) i knew he knew cos he asked, "so how many triplets did u come up with?" when the title of the project did not give any hint of the set being a triplet. n u can guess my answer...
haha. this post is so bhb...
haha. was looking at vjc maths dept website for some other purposes... and to my pleasant surprise. i found a paper that was written by yours truly seven years ago...
it's about non-transitive dice. basically, it's about a set of dice, call them A, B and C, with numbers which are not the usual ones. we have A being more likely to win B, B more likely to win C and (here's the weird thing) C more likely to win A. through some stroke of luck, i managed to find a way to create a set of non-transitive dice, of any size and each dice having any number of faces (strictly speaking, a dice should have 6 faces). with some fanciful presentation, the team managed to get some gold award in some science festival. haha.
oh... i also remembered getting pm lee's (then dpm lee) autograph on a report for e project. e amazing thing was that he knew about our topic by just looking at the title. (not many maths pple know wat are non-transitive dice) i knew he knew cos he asked, "so how many triplets did u come up with?" when the title of the project did not give any hint of the set being a triplet. n u can guess my answer...
haha. this post is so bhb...
Thursday, June 21, 2007
guide to solving bohliao puzzles
stayed onboard on monday and my boss was feeling boh liao and got all the officers together for supper. now is uni vacation, so got a lot of young officers who are attached to ship to entertain my boss. somehow, they started asking each other stupid puzzles which seem to make my boss relive his younger days. dunno if it's "i'm a maths guy" or it's "i got a super memory for puzzles". i seem to have heard most of the puzzles and recall the solutions readily.
anyway, while it seems the puzzle require some great ingenuity or wat pple call "think out of the box", it's not difficult if one attempt to use some method. (maybe different pple got different sizes of boxes to think out of) here's a simple tip to solving most maths-related problems.
reduce to a simpler/smaller case.
===================================================
example 1. there are 10 boxes, each containing 10 marbles. in 9 boxes, the marble each weighed 1 gram and in one box, the marble each weighed 1.1 gram. we have an electronic weighing machine which can give the exact weight.
aim: in one weighing, find the box with the heavier marbles.
some analysis: obviously weighing everything together will not help and ppl get stuck here. Let's reduce to 2 boxes with 2 marbles each. One has marbles weighing 1 gram each and one has marbles weighing 1.1 grams each.
how many marbles from each box should i choose to weigh? if i take 2 marbles from each box, i'll definitely get the reading 4.2 gram. similarly, if i take 1 marble from each box, the reading will always be 2.1 gram. ie. no conclusion.
now, let's name the boxes B1 and B2. if i take 1 marble from B1 and 2 marble from B2.
if B1 contains the heavier marbles, the reading will be 3.1 gram. if B2 contains the heavier marbles, the reading will be 3.2 gram. there's a different reading for each possibility. that is, we are able to conclude from the reading which box contains the heavier marbles.
hmmm... not v difficult to guess the solution for 10 boxes and 10 marbles right?
==============================================
example 2. there are 8 marbles with 1 lighter than the rest. there's a balancing weigh (ie those see-saw type which can tell which marble is heavier).
aim: in two weighing, find the lighter marble.
let's reduce the problem. in one weighing, how can i find a lighter marble?
let's call the scales, left and right. in one weighing, how many possible outcomes can there be? three. (A) the left being heavier, (B) the right being heavier, (C) both just as heavy. hmmmm. so, if i got three marbles with one lighter, i just weigh any one against another. (A) would imply that the right is lighter. (B) imply the left is lighter. (C) would imply the one not weighed is lighter.
it's also clear with only 3 possible outcomes, there's no possible way to find a ligher marble from a pile of 4 marbles with just one weighing.
so, returning to the question, let's say we completed the first weighing. we must conclude that the lighter marble is one in a pile of 3 marbles. So, that means, in our first weighing, we must weigh a pile of 3 against another pile of 3. the rest of the details can be worked out easily.
as a maths guy, i like to generalise the problem. so, in N weighings, it's possible to find a lighter marble from a pile of at most 3N marbles. So, if some guy ask you to find the lighter marble from a pile of 30 with just 3 weighings, you can tell him, mighty mao say impossible.
=========================================================
hmmm. so where's the box to think out from?
stayed onboard on monday and my boss was feeling boh liao and got all the officers together for supper. now is uni vacation, so got a lot of young officers who are attached to ship to entertain my boss. somehow, they started asking each other stupid puzzles which seem to make my boss relive his younger days. dunno if it's "i'm a maths guy" or it's "i got a super memory for puzzles". i seem to have heard most of the puzzles and recall the solutions readily.
anyway, while it seems the puzzle require some great ingenuity or wat pple call "think out of the box", it's not difficult if one attempt to use some method. (maybe different pple got different sizes of boxes to think out of) here's a simple tip to solving most maths-related problems.
reduce to a simpler/smaller case.
===================================================
example 1. there are 10 boxes, each containing 10 marbles. in 9 boxes, the marble each weighed 1 gram and in one box, the marble each weighed 1.1 gram. we have an electronic weighing machine which can give the exact weight.
aim: in one weighing, find the box with the heavier marbles.
some analysis: obviously weighing everything together will not help and ppl get stuck here. Let's reduce to 2 boxes with 2 marbles each. One has marbles weighing 1 gram each and one has marbles weighing 1.1 grams each.
how many marbles from each box should i choose to weigh? if i take 2 marbles from each box, i'll definitely get the reading 4.2 gram. similarly, if i take 1 marble from each box, the reading will always be 2.1 gram. ie. no conclusion.
now, let's name the boxes B1 and B2. if i take 1 marble from B1 and 2 marble from B2.
if B1 contains the heavier marbles, the reading will be 3.1 gram. if B2 contains the heavier marbles, the reading will be 3.2 gram. there's a different reading for each possibility. that is, we are able to conclude from the reading which box contains the heavier marbles.
hmmm... not v difficult to guess the solution for 10 boxes and 10 marbles right?
==============================================
example 2. there are 8 marbles with 1 lighter than the rest. there's a balancing weigh (ie those see-saw type which can tell which marble is heavier).
aim: in two weighing, find the lighter marble.
let's reduce the problem. in one weighing, how can i find a lighter marble?
let's call the scales, left and right. in one weighing, how many possible outcomes can there be? three. (A) the left being heavier, (B) the right being heavier, (C) both just as heavy. hmmmm. so, if i got three marbles with one lighter, i just weigh any one against another. (A) would imply that the right is lighter. (B) imply the left is lighter. (C) would imply the one not weighed is lighter.
it's also clear with only 3 possible outcomes, there's no possible way to find a ligher marble from a pile of 4 marbles with just one weighing.
so, returning to the question, let's say we completed the first weighing. we must conclude that the lighter marble is one in a pile of 3 marbles. So, that means, in our first weighing, we must weigh a pile of 3 against another pile of 3. the rest of the details can be worked out easily.
as a maths guy, i like to generalise the problem. so, in N weighings, it's possible to find a lighter marble from a pile of at most 3N marbles. So, if some guy ask you to find the lighter marble from a pile of 30 with just 3 weighings, you can tell him, mighty mao say impossible.
=========================================================
hmmm. so where's the box to think out from?
Saturday, June 09, 2007
super boh liao post
any guesses to where's this picture taken? Yes... it's sentosa. more specifically, it's a small island off palawan beach.
and it's claimed that this is the southern most point of continental asia. ie.. if you wanna head south some more. u must jump into the waters and get wet.
then... at work, when i was looking at charts (the naval term for maps), i realised something... then i decided to verify with google earth... and to my astonishment..
the so-called "southern most point of continental asia" is NOT the southern most point!!!!
running
realised that i'm getting fatter... my appetite getting bigger. yesterday was eating and eating at the steamboat with the roosters while mika was talking about her adventure at macritchie..
anyway, been running q a bit lately. running prob the best way to keep fit for a psychomotor-impaired guy like me..
joining the milk run with mika and soka this july. hoping to find pple to go for the mizuno wave run at bedok reservoir in late july.
today found this website, called mapmyrun, which plots down a running and calculate the distance q efficiently. the streaming is much faster than the streetdirectory.com, so actually one can use it to navigate in singapore much faster. not sure how often it's updated though...
below is the regular route which i run usually. 5.68km.
target for the end of the year: 42km standard charter marathon.
realised that i'm getting fatter... my appetite getting bigger. yesterday was eating and eating at the steamboat with the roosters while mika was talking about her adventure at macritchie..
anyway, been running q a bit lately. running prob the best way to keep fit for a psychomotor-impaired guy like me..
joining the milk run with mika and soka this july. hoping to find pple to go for the mizuno wave run at bedok reservoir in late july.
today found this website, called mapmyrun, which plots down a running and calculate the distance q efficiently. the streaming is much faster than the streetdirectory.com, so actually one can use it to navigate in singapore much faster. not sure how often it's updated though...
below is the regular route which i run usually. 5.68km.
target for the end of the year: 42km standard charter marathon.
Monday, June 04, 2007
genting trip
While mika goes to tioman with her family, me decides to go out with my jc friends to genting. it was a long time since we went overseas together (the last time was to hk after a levels)... anyway.. q difficult to describe and imagine wat we did and how we actually can derive fun from it... basically, was just gambling, eating and chilling out. and 'occasionally' bitching about the 'efficiency' of the place...
moreover, it's q disturbing to realise that genting (e company) in a few years' time will be running the sentosa's integrated resort.
things i hope they'll learn:
1. to have a much more parking slots with a properly managed carpark. and not to allow cars parking out of proper parking lots.
2. to have a nicer reception lobby which does not remind one of a refuge camp (with hundreds of ppl waiting with luggages) or an A&E ward (with queue numbers LED display).
3. to have Kenny Rogers' Chicken to be served with the side dishes and not serve a plate with sides dishes only.
4. to manage a HUGE crowd during public hols.
5. to have an eloquent service, which is able to describe food on the menu (even though the food is not what they can eat).
6. to have a friendlier service. (kaimin wanted to upgrade his genting card to some genting 'green' card. the lady at the counter told him to do so in the casino and sacarstically told him that he has to wear polo t-shirt into the casino... huh? we entered the casino without any shirt/polo t for two days...)
7. to have fastfood served fast. (as pointed out, the elderly at mac's or the handicapped at kfc serve much faster)
hmmmm... but all in all, still enjoyed e trip and it was an excellent break from work.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Soka Kindergarten Camp at Sentosa
Helped mika out in this camp for kindergarten kids at sentosa last fri.
First station was at mount imbiah. They put up some kiddy stuff at the place. Below is a house with a giant head inside. The teacher told them there was a rabbit which went missing. So i bluffed them that it was inside the house, behind the head. Then i went in the house to look for the rabbit. It's q dirty and dark behind the head, so no kid followed me. Note to the right of the picture, there's a door. The kids there started banging the door and hence, created the sounds "in the house". The kids in front of the head cannot see the kids behind the door, so i bluffed them that it was the rabbit trying to come out. And some kids actually believed and some were frightened... Haha.. Sorta got a bad reputation...
In the afternoon, there were some free play at the palawan playground. And i decided to take a nap. and some kids (both big and small) refused to leave me alone..
a final shot at sentosa.
Helped mika out in this camp for kindergarten kids at sentosa last fri.
First station was at mount imbiah. They put up some kiddy stuff at the place. Below is a house with a giant head inside. The teacher told them there was a rabbit which went missing. So i bluffed them that it was inside the house, behind the head. Then i went in the house to look for the rabbit. It's q dirty and dark behind the head, so no kid followed me. Note to the right of the picture, there's a door. The kids there started banging the door and hence, created the sounds "in the house". The kids in front of the head cannot see the kids behind the door, so i bluffed them that it was the rabbit trying to come out. And some kids actually believed and some were frightened... Haha.. Sorta got a bad reputation...
Yeah... So some kids started picking fights with me... Grrr...
In the afternoon, there were some free play at the palawan playground. And i decided to take a nap. and some kids (both big and small) refused to leave me alone..
a final shot at sentosa.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Navy 40th Anniversary Book
SGD 10.00
Title Page
Back Page
Introduction
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3 - XXX??
An appropriate book to commerate 40 years of singapore naval history.
To witness this showcase of 40 years of singapore naval history, you can come down to changi naval base on 26 or 27 may 2007 for the navy open house. roosters are invited to come down on 26 may morning!
Title Page
Back Page
Introduction
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3 - XXX??
An appropriate book to commerate 40 years of singapore naval history.
To witness this showcase of 40 years of singapore naval history, you can come down to changi naval base on 26 or 27 may 2007 for the navy open house. roosters are invited to come down on 26 may morning!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
nagging
when u spend seven days out at sea, you read books that you never though you would. my fren received a book titled "why men lie and women cry" from his wive for rather obvious reasons. i was so bored and decided to read a bit from it. the first chapter was on nagging and it was the only chapter i read. :P
but was quite interesting. wanted to find the excerpts of the chapter online. but to no avail. but this was the best i can find from this site.
Allan and Barbara Pease agree. They say that from the male point of view, nagging is seen as an indirect, constant and negative reminder of the things he hasn't done, or about his shortcomings. For a woman, nagging can be a cry for recognition and a sign that she wants more: more recognition from her family and more opportunities to move on to something better.
They have this advice for naggers: "If you have to nag, you're obviously not getting through to your partner. Stop it. Instead, say what you feel, and say it clearly. Don't accuse, but state calmly and clearly what you want. Negotiation gets you everywhere. Nagging gets you nowhere."
when u spend seven days out at sea, you read books that you never though you would. my fren received a book titled "why men lie and women cry" from his wive for rather obvious reasons. i was so bored and decided to read a bit from it. the first chapter was on nagging and it was the only chapter i read. :P
but was quite interesting. wanted to find the excerpts of the chapter online. but to no avail. but this was the best i can find from this site.
Allan and Barbara Pease agree. They say that from the male point of view, nagging is seen as an indirect, constant and negative reminder of the things he hasn't done, or about his shortcomings. For a woman, nagging can be a cry for recognition and a sign that she wants more: more recognition from her family and more opportunities to move on to something better.
They have this advice for naggers: "If you have to nag, you're obviously not getting through to your partner. Stop it. Instead, say what you feel, and say it clearly. Don't accuse, but state calmly and clearly what you want. Negotiation gets you everywhere. Nagging gets you nowhere."
Saturday, April 21, 2007
just last post last week, i complained about ppl misspelling my surname, writing KIAN instead of KIAH. today, yet again this girl at sistics committed this grave sin. WORSE. She was copying my name out from my 11B (ie NRIC). It was in print KIAH, and she must write out KIAN in the form for me. wat the ???!!!
it's KIAH with a silent H.
about my surname. i probably can be considered a second generation singaporean citizen. cos my grandpa brought my father here to singapore when my pa was around four to six years old. they came from hainan island in some junk boat. by right, the hainanese dialect surname for xie (thank you in chinese) is chia. but somehow, when my grandpa registered his surname with the customs then, it was spelled kiah. this was not the only error. my father's birthday which is in feb was registered as 1 oct (which coincides with the PRC national day). so these errors were carried forward and my surname remains as KIAH.
as you can also see, my grandpa had problems communicating to others. and if you find me unintelligible at times, it is hereditary.
watever the case, it's KIAH with a silent H.
it's KIAH with a silent H.
about my surname. i probably can be considered a second generation singaporean citizen. cos my grandpa brought my father here to singapore when my pa was around four to six years old. they came from hainan island in some junk boat. by right, the hainanese dialect surname for xie (thank you in chinese) is chia. but somehow, when my grandpa registered his surname with the customs then, it was spelled kiah. this was not the only error. my father's birthday which is in feb was registered as 1 oct (which coincides with the PRC national day). so these errors were carried forward and my surname remains as KIAH.
as you can also see, my grandpa had problems communicating to others. and if you find me unintelligible at times, it is hereditary.
watever the case, it's KIAH with a silent H.
Friday, April 13, 2007
1. tried food at some new places for the past two days.
a. ba ku teh at this restaurant next to new orchid hotel at balestier. not bad not bad. business v good... got long queue by 1930. but q ex tho.. $22 for two ppl...
b. PREGO at raffles the plaze. officers' gathering. horrible experience. their garlic soup is horrendously concentrated. my tummy became super irritated and i puked most of the soup out. the food is super expensive (but expected lah) and tasted normal (prob cos i lost my appetite). but the tiramisu was not bad tho.
2. was visiting nus csc website (i dunno why i did it). realised that my surname (under 2nd mc) is spelled wrongly yet again. my surname is KIAH! not kian. ends with a H, not n. this error is so common that it can get quite irritating at times. no. it's nothing to do with my handwriting. ppl just like to help me correct KIAH to kian.
so, i repeat again. my surname is KIAH. pronounced same as KIA (as in KIA motors) or KIA (as in noKIA).
KIAH is not unique! there are other occurrences of KIAH in the world today.
For example, Kiah-Exquisitive Diamond Jewellery is a world created just so that every cherrished moment becomes an occasion.
Kiah Consulting primarily works with clients in establishing new iniatives and re-invigorating previous plans and projects.
kiah.net is ... kiah.net
kiah.org is ... KIAH dot ORG
Kiah Park consists of 315 beautiful acres and is situated 20km east of Gympie and is 160km north of brisbane.
Kiah Ridge Conference Centre is the gateway to the south highlands.
a. ba ku teh at this restaurant next to new orchid hotel at balestier. not bad not bad. business v good... got long queue by 1930. but q ex tho.. $22 for two ppl...
b. PREGO at raffles the plaze. officers' gathering. horrible experience. their garlic soup is horrendously concentrated. my tummy became super irritated and i puked most of the soup out. the food is super expensive (but expected lah) and tasted normal (prob cos i lost my appetite). but the tiramisu was not bad tho.
2. was visiting nus csc website (i dunno why i did it). realised that my surname (under 2nd mc) is spelled wrongly yet again. my surname is KIAH! not kian. ends with a H, not n. this error is so common that it can get quite irritating at times. no. it's nothing to do with my handwriting. ppl just like to help me correct KIAH to kian.
so, i repeat again. my surname is KIAH. pronounced same as KIA (as in KIA motors) or KIA (as in noKIA).
KIAH is not unique! there are other occurrences of KIAH in the world today.
For example, Kiah-Exquisitive Diamond Jewellery is a world created just so that every cherrished moment becomes an occasion.
Kiah Consulting primarily works with clients in establishing new iniatives and re-invigorating previous plans and projects.
kiah.net is ... kiah.net
kiah.org is ... KIAH dot ORG
Kiah Park consists of 315 beautiful acres and is situated 20km east of Gympie and is 160km north of brisbane.
Kiah Ridge Conference Centre is the gateway to the south highlands.
kiah is also a malaysian photographer.
kiah is also a shiloh. (hmmm...)
tim kiah plays on the bass.
kiah mcgregor works at the australian institute of crimonology.
yes... so it's KIAH with a silent H.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
gossip from the maths world
months ago, i posted something on the seven millennium problems, whose solutions will get be credited one million usd from clay institute. less than one decade into the new millennium, some progress has been made. i’m not posting any solutions or insights. but the following articles that “shed a different light” on the academia. yes. zero maths inside them.
the poincare conjecture: this one is almost confirmed solved by a “reclusive” russian, called perelman. Interesting thing is that he was awarded the fields medal (equivalent of nobel in maths) but he refused it on “moral grounds”. the following article details the so-called tussles over who solved it, but sheds a “bad light” over the politics in the academia. one of the authors of the article also wrote the book “the beautiful mind” and she tends to write only things (and perhaps skew them) in support of her view. to be fair to prof yau (and i feel that there’s sensationalisation on the part of the journalists), here is his defence.
the navier-stokes equation: prof penny smith on last sept posted her solution to this problem on the web. within two weeks, a major flaw was discovered and the paper was withdrawn. the interesting thing is that the error was not discovered through convention means. that is, a journal engages a referee to review the paper and hence point out mistakes. instead it was discovered through a forum discussion on a blog. and i remind you, it took less than two weeks of discussion to discover it. here’s another article entitled the proof is in the blogging.
last, the most famous of them all, the riemann hypothesis. the solution was posted online only on 19 mar 2007. no one has discovered any flaw yet. the interesting thing is that the solution was given by a 77 year old prof called Tribikram Pati from Allahabad University. it’s pretty extraordinary as most results are produced by young mathematicians. not being racist or nationalist or watever, the description here of prof pati makes him sound v unconventional and funny. in particular, i quote, “He is such a modest person that he gives credit for all his achievements to the divine revelations.”
months ago, i posted something on the seven millennium problems, whose solutions will get be credited one million usd from clay institute. less than one decade into the new millennium, some progress has been made. i’m not posting any solutions or insights. but the following articles that “shed a different light” on the academia. yes. zero maths inside them.
the poincare conjecture: this one is almost confirmed solved by a “reclusive” russian, called perelman. Interesting thing is that he was awarded the fields medal (equivalent of nobel in maths) but he refused it on “moral grounds”. the following article details the so-called tussles over who solved it, but sheds a “bad light” over the politics in the academia. one of the authors of the article also wrote the book “the beautiful mind” and she tends to write only things (and perhaps skew them) in support of her view. to be fair to prof yau (and i feel that there’s sensationalisation on the part of the journalists), here is his defence.
the navier-stokes equation: prof penny smith on last sept posted her solution to this problem on the web. within two weeks, a major flaw was discovered and the paper was withdrawn. the interesting thing is that the error was not discovered through convention means. that is, a journal engages a referee to review the paper and hence point out mistakes. instead it was discovered through a forum discussion on a blog. and i remind you, it took less than two weeks of discussion to discover it. here’s another article entitled the proof is in the blogging.
last, the most famous of them all, the riemann hypothesis. the solution was posted online only on 19 mar 2007. no one has discovered any flaw yet. the interesting thing is that the solution was given by a 77 year old prof called Tribikram Pati from Allahabad University. it’s pretty extraordinary as most results are produced by young mathematicians. not being racist or nationalist or watever, the description here of prof pati makes him sound v unconventional and funny. in particular, i quote, “He is such a modest person that he gives credit for all his achievements to the divine revelations.”
Sunday, March 25, 2007
hmmm... like that another weekend has passed, and a simple count puts it now to 2 years 9 months and 7 days = 36 months = 144 weeks = 1007 days...
1. last week went for this navy sprint challenge at east coast park. basically a very shortened version of a biathalon. 500m swim + 3 km run (actual bi = 1.5km swim + 10 km run). so not that siong lah... (heh... not implying that i'm fit or wat) but the "challenging" part is the swim. more like a big fight in the sea. nudge here kick there. when i was talking to my frens, they say that it's like that for the biathalons... some "veterans" intentionally pull pple to get forward in the real biathalon (can try imagine combining the pulling motion with the front crawl stroke... it's quite smooth actually). like ????!!! dunno true or not lah.
here's one photo of the huge mayhem. taken by my fren derek. can look at his other photos of the race (unfortunately... no hunks...)
1. last week went for this navy sprint challenge at east coast park. basically a very shortened version of a biathalon. 500m swim + 3 km run (actual bi = 1.5km swim + 10 km run). so not that siong lah... (heh... not implying that i'm fit or wat) but the "challenging" part is the swim. more like a big fight in the sea. nudge here kick there. when i was talking to my frens, they say that it's like that for the biathalons... some "veterans" intentionally pull pple to get forward in the real biathalon (can try imagine combining the pulling motion with the front crawl stroke... it's quite smooth actually). like ????!!! dunno true or not lah.
here's one photo of the huge mayhem. taken by my fren derek. can look at his other photos of the race (unfortunately... no hunks...)
2. yesterday went for first lesson for pilates with mika. it's at the civil service club at bukit batok. pulled mika along cos my fren told me that it's good for the core muscles... ie. abs. a bit disappointed with the instructor tho (perhaps cos she's a replacement) it just felt like slow abs + legs exercise in an aircon room with music. the instructor just said do this and this... inhale exhale... a bit rush and dun really know wat's happening.
mika complained that her tummy is aching... mine is still ok. i think bigger tummy needs more exercise. haha.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
sian. life in the navy is so unpredictable. yesterday evening was so busy crafting and drafting a "opening address" for today's event (which the speaker capriciously chose not to use) and today am so boh liao to do the following calculations...
the numbers game - on channel 8, tues, 8pm.
in the final round (i only saw the final round, hee), there were nine cards labelled 1 to 9. the card '5' was picked out while the rest were covered and mixed up. the contestant was then to pick out one card and the aim was to guess correctly if the chosen card is bigger or smaller than ‘5’. if the guess is right, his winnings will be doubled. if not, the winnings will go to zero.
the numbers game - on channel 8, tues, 8pm.
in the final round (i only saw the final round, hee), there were nine cards labelled 1 to 9. the card '5' was picked out while the rest were covered and mixed up. the contestant was then to pick out one card and the aim was to guess correctly if the chosen card is bigger or smaller than ‘5’. if the guess is right, his winnings will be doubled. if not, the winnings will go to zero.
of cos, it was just that. then it'll be boring. so, there’s this guru who’ll thru some magical calculations and offer the contestant to open one of the other eight uncovered and unchosen cards for a certain amount of the contestant winnings.
example: for today, zhenrong chose a card (which of he didnt know before hand) and guessed that it was higher than ‘5’. then, the guru offered him $300 to open one of the eight unchosen cards. he took the offer and opened a ‘3’, which seem to imply that the card is more likely to be higher than ‘5’. Then the guru offered $350 for another card and he opened a ‘6’. Oops. Now it’s equally likely and he through some instinct decided to guess smaller than ‘5. Next, the guru offered $200 for another card and zhenrong decided to not open anymore. and fortunately the chosen card was ‘1’.
anyway... was boh liao and decided to do some calculations and figure out some strategy. made the following assumptions.
1. the contestant is not some gambler god who can memorise the positions of the cards. so the opening and choosing of the cards is totally random.
2. this one is debatable. i assumed the guru will make an offer such that the expected winnings without opening a card is the same as the expected winnings after opening a card. sounds complicated. for simple reasons, if the offer is too good, it’ll be to the disadvantage for the guru/banker. if the offer is too lousy, the contestant will not take the bait.
for example, if there are only two uncovered cards ‘1’ and ‘9’ left (one of which is the chosen one) and the contestant has only $100 left. then without opening, the expected winnings is (1/2)($200)+(1/2)($0)=$100. if the contestant opens the unchosen card, he’ll know the chosen one. so, my assumption is that the guru will offer $50. and the contestant will take back 2($100-$50)=$100.
as i said, this assumption is debatable. during the game, the guru never followed this offering system. and this assumption also needs a prerequisite that the contestants will do the necessary calculations. haha.
my conclusion.
case 1: the number of uncovered cards bigger than 5 = the number of uncovered cards smaller than 5. then open another card only if the offer the guru makes is less than (your winnings/number of uncovered cards). by right, the guru should make the offer = (your winnings/number of uncovered cards), following assumption 2.
case 2: the number of uncovered cards bigger than 5 and the number of uncovered cards smaller than 5 are not equal. this conclusion is quite surprising. do not take any offer as any positive offer will only lower the expected winnings. (of cos, if offer free, then take lor...)
disclaimer.
the expected winnings is defined in the statistics sense. that is, the strategy should be work in many many games. but, in the game, i saw, zhenrong nv followed the strategy, but he still won. just like any lottery thing lah. everyone is expected to lose, but there will always be the exception or outlier (which everyone hopes to be).
i also assumed the offer is to open one card. perhaps for two or more cards, the strategy may differ. and most likely, channel 8 will alter the "offer" contents to keep the audience interested.
my calculations may be totally wrong.... haha
example: for today, zhenrong chose a card (which of he didnt know before hand) and guessed that it was higher than ‘5’. then, the guru offered him $300 to open one of the eight unchosen cards. he took the offer and opened a ‘3’, which seem to imply that the card is more likely to be higher than ‘5’. Then the guru offered $350 for another card and he opened a ‘6’. Oops. Now it’s equally likely and he through some instinct decided to guess smaller than ‘5. Next, the guru offered $200 for another card and zhenrong decided to not open anymore. and fortunately the chosen card was ‘1’.
anyway... was boh liao and decided to do some calculations and figure out some strategy. made the following assumptions.
1. the contestant is not some gambler god who can memorise the positions of the cards. so the opening and choosing of the cards is totally random.
2. this one is debatable. i assumed the guru will make an offer such that the expected winnings without opening a card is the same as the expected winnings after opening a card. sounds complicated. for simple reasons, if the offer is too good, it’ll be to the disadvantage for the guru/banker. if the offer is too lousy, the contestant will not take the bait.
for example, if there are only two uncovered cards ‘1’ and ‘9’ left (one of which is the chosen one) and the contestant has only $100 left. then without opening, the expected winnings is (1/2)($200)+(1/2)($0)=$100. if the contestant opens the unchosen card, he’ll know the chosen one. so, my assumption is that the guru will offer $50. and the contestant will take back 2($100-$50)=$100.
as i said, this assumption is debatable. during the game, the guru never followed this offering system. and this assumption also needs a prerequisite that the contestants will do the necessary calculations. haha.
my conclusion.
case 1: the number of uncovered cards bigger than 5 = the number of uncovered cards smaller than 5. then open another card only if the offer the guru makes is less than (your winnings/number of uncovered cards). by right, the guru should make the offer = (your winnings/number of uncovered cards), following assumption 2.
case 2: the number of uncovered cards bigger than 5 and the number of uncovered cards smaller than 5 are not equal. this conclusion is quite surprising. do not take any offer as any positive offer will only lower the expected winnings. (of cos, if offer free, then take lor...)
disclaimer.
the expected winnings is defined in the statistics sense. that is, the strategy should be work in many many games. but, in the game, i saw, zhenrong nv followed the strategy, but he still won. just like any lottery thing lah. everyone is expected to lose, but there will always be the exception or outlier (which everyone hopes to be).
i also assumed the offer is to open one card. perhaps for two or more cards, the strategy may differ. and most likely, channel 8 will alter the "offer" contents to keep the audience interested.
my calculations may be totally wrong.... haha
Sunday, March 04, 2007
I've recently assumed my first shipboard appointment as a navigating officer. in theory, i'm in charge of navigation, but in practice, it's much more than that. was on the train when i met an old fren from ri. when talking he asked, "so you're not doing office work." my answer was, "not supposed, but..." he gave the "i understand" nod. geez. if you think there's a job which is not desk bound, then think again.
but it's not a bad thing lah. i'm more conscious of my spelling, grammar, etc.. er... maybe not when i'm blogging.
more fascinating... i realised some powerful features of microsoft office. k... maybe not that power...
1. you actually can create your own animation schemes for your slides. i wanted to a sort of test for my friends, whereby you show a picture of a thing without the name and after u guess and then u click, the name appears. a bit leh cheh to do for like 100 plus slides. then there's no standard animation scheme in ppt that does this. but the good thing is that u can create it.
refer to http://skp.mvps.org/animxp.htm for more explanation.
2. the next one is more complicated and need some programming background. there are many functions in microsoft excel, like sum, product and stats functions. but there are also others which are not there. today i ran a search and found that one can actually create their own functions. advantages: 1. can cater to individual needs, 2. hide the formula and prevent others from accidentally editting the formula.
refer to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA011117011033.aspx for more explanation.
haha. this is such a geeky entry. never expected to become such a geek in the navy.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
was taking a break from work when i visited this site: http://nemation.sg/view_vote_07.html
remember last year national day rally when pm lee showed two video clips about NE. got one is a sand art:
then got another one is clay art, which i cannot find on youtube.
anyway, this year got new entries. so go and vote lah. tot the beans united one v cute.
remember last year national day rally when pm lee showed two video clips about NE. got one is a sand art:
then got another one is clay art, which i cannot find on youtube.
anyway, this year got new entries. so go and vote lah. tot the beans united one v cute.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
shipyard in tuas and kolkata
today (sun) went back to ship to settle some work. my ship has gone to yard to undergo some sort of planned maintainence. sort of like servicing in a workshop lah. the yard is like "the peak" "zui gao dian (the highest point)" place lah. but it's extremely dirty and dusty.
not that i'm being mean. but the place sort of resemble the conditions in kolkata. this is not meant to be racist or demeaning. but the place has a lot of indian foreign workers.
and these ppl lead a v tough life. from wat i hear, the workers work v long hours to earn a pittance. not sure how much they earn though. but they definitely work a lot of ot. typically, they work until ten on weekdays and sometimes overnight to two am. when i was in base on sun, these ppl still worked until four.
their breaks are minimal. twelve to twelve forty five for lunch and is signalled by a horn throughout the yard. during which they squeeze in their naps by sleeping on the floor at a sheltered corridor near the canteen/toilet/office. on top of these, they have to endure the heat of working onboard ships with poor ventilation (our aircons are off for maintainence) and work in a dusty and potentially hazardous environment. plus those disgustingly dirty toilets.
basically, the working conditions in the shipyard is not much better than those in kolkata. only good thing is that the pay (though little) is much better. i doubt that these guys live in any better conditions. (saw a photo exhibition at the national library last year depicting the living quarters of these workers. )
so can we only provide these workers a seemingly higher pay? but not better and cleaner working and living conditions? is giving them a more decent treatment so costly that it will erode our competitive edge? or are we afraid of lowering their immune system or creating an environment so that they can better adapt?
today (sun) went back to ship to settle some work. my ship has gone to yard to undergo some sort of planned maintainence. sort of like servicing in a workshop lah. the yard is like "the peak" "zui gao dian (the highest point)" place lah. but it's extremely dirty and dusty.
not that i'm being mean. but the place sort of resemble the conditions in kolkata. this is not meant to be racist or demeaning. but the place has a lot of indian foreign workers.
and these ppl lead a v tough life. from wat i hear, the workers work v long hours to earn a pittance. not sure how much they earn though. but they definitely work a lot of ot. typically, they work until ten on weekdays and sometimes overnight to two am. when i was in base on sun, these ppl still worked until four.
their breaks are minimal. twelve to twelve forty five for lunch and is signalled by a horn throughout the yard. during which they squeeze in their naps by sleeping on the floor at a sheltered corridor near the canteen/toilet/office. on top of these, they have to endure the heat of working onboard ships with poor ventilation (our aircons are off for maintainence) and work in a dusty and potentially hazardous environment. plus those disgustingly dirty toilets.
basically, the working conditions in the shipyard is not much better than those in kolkata. only good thing is that the pay (though little) is much better. i doubt that these guys live in any better conditions. (saw a photo exhibition at the national library last year depicting the living quarters of these workers. )
so can we only provide these workers a seemingly higher pay? but not better and cleaner working and living conditions? is giving them a more decent treatment so costly that it will erode our competitive edge? or are we afraid of lowering their immune system or creating an environment so that they can better adapt?
Monday, January 29, 2007
singapore vs malaysia @ kallang stadium
went to kallang stadium to watch the semi-finals between singapore and malaysia on sat with mika. the atmosphere was great and the crowd was extremely boisterous. but cannot help to note that singaporean soccer fans are v unsportmanly. haha. there was really more jeering of msia team than cheering for the singapore team.
v apparent in the penalty shootout. everytime the lions successfully converted their kicks, the cheers will be loud, but for a while only. cos the msia guy who stepped up will receive an even louder and super long BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! with many thumbs down and the occasional MISS MISS MISS MISS chants.
here got some evidence of the jeers. clips not taken by me.
thought this was quite mean... the goodbye song was sang after msia loss to the msian fans. hmmm. when we were walking out, i think we walked past the msia camp. the singaporeans were singing this song v v LOUDLY.
the famous butoh! ok. you only hear the butoh! here. actually, there's supposed with the 11 claps/horns thinggy. in the past, it was 11 horns + SINGAPORE! now it's 11 horns + BUTOH!! it became so catchy that when we were walking back to Kallang MRT, some cars will do the 11 horns and the crowd which is walking will shout BUTOH!!! ok. for those who are clueless on wat butoh means, here's a link to (you guess wat?) wikipedia. Not a v nice meaning though.... meaning of butoh
ok. here's a better video clip of the butoh thing. haha.
went to kallang stadium to watch the semi-finals between singapore and malaysia on sat with mika. the atmosphere was great and the crowd was extremely boisterous. but cannot help to note that singaporean soccer fans are v unsportmanly. haha. there was really more jeering of msia team than cheering for the singapore team.
v apparent in the penalty shootout. everytime the lions successfully converted their kicks, the cheers will be loud, but for a while only. cos the msia guy who stepped up will receive an even louder and super long BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! with many thumbs down and the occasional MISS MISS MISS MISS chants.
here got some evidence of the jeers. clips not taken by me.
thought this was quite mean... the goodbye song was sang after msia loss to the msian fans. hmmm. when we were walking out, i think we walked past the msia camp. the singaporeans were singing this song v v LOUDLY.
the famous butoh! ok. you only hear the butoh! here. actually, there's supposed with the 11 claps/horns thinggy. in the past, it was 11 horns + SINGAPORE! now it's 11 horns + BUTOH!! it became so catchy that when we were walking back to Kallang MRT, some cars will do the 11 horns and the crowd which is walking will shout BUTOH!!! ok. for those who are clueless on wat butoh means, here's a link to (you guess wat?) wikipedia. Not a v nice meaning though.... meaning of butoh
ok. here's a better video clip of the butoh thing. haha.
regardless, JIAYOU SINGAPORE!!!
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Broadband Finally
Haha. Finally decided to upgrade to broadband with starhub. Signed up a one year contract under the Starhub corporate plan with 10% discount. well, quite pleased with the speed which i can surf now. but wanna complain about the poor (though not dysmal) service standards of the sales personnel. here are some excerpts of the correspondence between the two of us, and my displeasure with this mr raj.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Mr Mao
I have received all your documents via fax. I have arranged for an installation on the 16th of Jan 2007 between 1830--2030. Please let me know if it is a convenient time. There will be an installation charge of $52.50 and subsequently the monthly subscription will be $52.92 inclusive of a 10% discount. Please contact me if you have any further enquiries.
Thank You
Raj
I have received all your documents via fax. I have arranged for an installation on the 16th of Jan 2007 between 1830--2030. Please let me know if it is a convenient time. There will be an installation charge of $52.50 and subsequently the monthly subscription will be $52.92 inclusive of a 10% discount. Please contact me if you have any further enquiries.
Thank You
Raj
StarHub Ltd CIS
Telesales
Consumer Sales & Customer Experience
~~ Our People, Our Passion, Our StarHub ~~
DID: (65) 6725 2211
Fax: (65) 6725 9796
Email: cis-corpsales18@starhub.com
------------------------------------------------------------
Ok. This is not the first time someone got my surname wrong. so i dropped a hint to him.
------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry. But the time is not convenient. Would a weekend be possible?
What do I need to prepare?
Regards,
Kiah HanMao
What do I need to prepare?
Regards,
Kiah HanMao
-----------------------------------------------------------
But he replies:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Mr Mao
I will reschdule the appointment to 20 Jan 2007 between 0900--1100 if that is convenient . You do not need to prepare anything, however it will be good to be there when my tech guys come over, if you do have any enquiries, they will be able to assist you with it. We will be billing you the installation and subscription charges which you can subsequently pay vis credit card.
Thank You
raj
I will reschdule the appointment to 20 Jan 2007 between 0900--1100 if that is convenient . You do not need to prepare anything, however it will be good to be there when my tech guys come over, if you do have any enquiries, they will be able to assist you with it. We will be billing you the installation and subscription charges which you can subsequently pay vis credit card.
Thank You
raj
----------------------------------------------------------
hint not strong enough.
---------------------------------------------------------
How about Sun 21 Jan 0900--1100?
Thanks.
Kiah Han Mao
Thanks.
Kiah Han Mao
--------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Mr Mao
We do not do installation on Sunday.
raj
We do not do installation on Sunday.
raj
--------------------------------------------------------
????????!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok. My hints are not good enough. Maybe i should be blatant.
--------------------------------------------------------
Ok. For Sat, when is the installation up to?
By the way, my surname is Kiah. I hope the form i submitted indicates it clearly.
By the way, my surname is Kiah. I hope the form i submitted indicates it clearly.
--------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Mr Kiah
Can I get the tech guys to come between 11am to 1pm. I will get them to call you before coming.
Thank You.
Can I get the tech guys to come between 11am to 1pm. I will get them to call you before coming.
Thank You.
--------------------------------------------------------
Finally he gets it right. Maybe i'm too sensitive. but isnt it customary for ppl to apologise after making a mistake in addressing ppl? Anyway, i wasnt too uptight about it. What really pissed me off was the next incident, as i describe in the next email.
--------------------------------------------------------
I think there's some big communication problem in your company.
I received an SMS telling me your tech guys are coming down on Tue. I called up your Customer Service Hotline and talked to this Stephanie and arranged with her for the guys to come down today on Thu between 1830 and 2030 because Saturday I'm not free in the morning. Today I rushed down from work to just to be home by 1830 and now at 2115, there are no signs of your staff. Don't you guys have the courtesy to inform me earlier?
Now, I'm only available after 1200 on Sat 20 Jan 07. Your guys better call me at 94312567 before coming. If your guys do not arrive by 1300 on Sat, then forget it.
I received an SMS telling me your tech guys are coming down on Tue. I called up your Customer Service Hotline and talked to this Stephanie and arranged with her for the guys to come down today on Thu between 1830 and 2030 because Saturday I'm not free in the morning. Today I rushed down from work to just to be home by 1830 and now at 2115, there are no signs of your staff. Don't you guys have the courtesy to inform me earlier?
Now, I'm only available after 1200 on Sat 20 Jan 07. Your guys better call me at 94312567 before coming. If your guys do not arrive by 1300 on Sat, then forget it.
---------------------------------------------------------
Ok. maybe i'm v harsh. but hey! i'm the one who rushed down for nothing. Well, what was irritating was the next email from mr raj.
--------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Mr Kiah
I was not informed of your conversation with the Customer Service Officer, Stephanie, however, like I mentioned the appointment I made is between 1100 to 1pm. I understand you are only free between 1200 to 1pm. I will get the guys to come between that time and call you before that.
Thank you
raj
I was not informed of your conversation with the Customer Service Officer, Stephanie, however, like I mentioned the appointment I made is between 1100 to 1pm. I understand you are only free between 1200 to 1pm. I will get the guys to come between that time and call you before that.
Thank you
raj
-------------------------------------------------------
This really put me off. Not a single word of apology. Is it now my fault for not informing him of my conversation with his other staff? Geez. Has the word "Sorry" been erased from his vocabulary? Sigh. This is not even about service standards. It's about basic courtesy.
Think this is quite common in many service industries. First, they are polite in enticing you into a plan. Once you signed up, they become utterly bochup. they risk offending you on the assumption that you wont waste your efforts by cancelling your plans. Geez. Mr raj was q right on this point. in the end, the guy still came today to do the installation. but he was wrong on another point.
i didnt forget about his indifference.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
freakonomics: a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything, by steven levitt and stephen dubner (followed by a short folklore)
the former is a full economics prof (and under forty) at university of chicago and the latter is a journalist with new york times and new yorker. as described in its title and like malcom gladwell (and other modern writers), the book attempts to provoke the modern mind and explain modern day phenomena and debunk conventional wisdom. but interestingly, the book is based on papers written by levitt, an economist, and most of the book’s ideas are backed by data. a massive amount of them.
like john allen paulos, in innumeracy, the authors analyse data, crunch numbers and present their findings to show how much one can glean from facts and numbers, and how wrong some “experts” can get by simply theorizing and arguing. thankfully, the tools levitt and dubner used are more advanced than those in paulos’ book, probably signifying a progress in the numeracy of ppl (and also, probably this book is not about the inability of pple to read numbers, but about the tendency of ppl to not rely on data to back their ideas).
there are many ideas which may occur as novel or refreshing. but i will blog about them another time. wat struck me though was the pluck (and some tact too) the authors had to put up seemingly unpopular and “politically incorrect” propositions based on data (of course, there’s also a great financial incentive in boosting book sales). the openness in revealing facts based on numbers are certainly missing in some societies as the next FICTIONAL tale (i heard last year) reveals:
Once upon a time, there was a village, which relied on rearing catfish for survival. The feed for the catfish is controlled by a village council. Decades ago, the village had a problem of overpopulating catfishes of the local breed. The Council then therefore restricted the rearing of catfishes and since then the problem of overpopulation came under control. Now, the Council faced the reverse of the problem – dwindling population of catfishes. To cut the long story short, the Council then decided to bring other breeds of catfishes to rear in the village.
Initially, there were the Red catfishes which ate plenty and were thought to fetch good prices too. Recently, a new breed known as Breed C was brought in. They ate little, but they are available in huge quantities. Now, the problem: all the catfishes, local and imported alike, were fed by the feed provided by the Council. Of course, there were protests amongst the locals. Local feed should be for the Local breed. The Council then assured: Local breed will always come first.
So much for the background info. The saga starts here. One statistics teacher at South School (interestingly, the school was located in the west of the village) looked at the available data. Like Levitt, he analysed it and came to a surprising conclusion: “of the new feed introduced by the Council, a disproportionately bigger share of the feed goes to the non-local breeds.” (Note: disproportionately bigger should not be read as grotesquely larger, but read as the non-local breeds taking more in proportion than it should. For example, suppose the non-local breed is 5% of the whole catfish population. The non-local breeds are taking more than 5% of the feed. Note again, these are FICTIONAL figures.)
And somehow, the conclusion was published in the village papers, and the Council was not very happy. They called up the Teacher and told him to withdraw his conclusion. The Teacher refused as the facts were there and the conclusion correct. Big (but contained) hoo haa followed. The School Headmaster was called to the Council to mediate the situation. Well, the Council was cognisant of the facts and was trying to amend the situation. However, they did not want the locals to know. The Teacher stood by his findings and refused to admit to mistakes that he did not make.
In the end, the Council prevailed. The papers in the following weeks published a statement from the Council, pointing out a gap in the Teacher’s arguments. The Teacher had forgotten to take into account of some factor and if the factor was considered, the conclusion would not follow. Well well. There are many stands to take for this episode. See Benevolence See Wisdom. A local Constable upon hearing the inside story exclaimed, “The Teacher’s statement could have started a riot!” Hmm.
I have to emphasize again. the story is FICTIONAL, MADE UP, and ANY RESEMBLANCE TO REAL CHARACTERS AND EVENTS IS TOTALLY COINCIDENTAL. where do i stand on this issue? i have no idea, but my tendency leans towards the Teacher. in fact, when i heard this tale, i said that the stand one takes reflects the level of maturity one perceives of the locals of the village. That is, the Teacher perceives the Locals to be mature, while the Constable does not. Just like a parent who reveals more to his child only when the former deems the child is of the age to know more.
does this mean that americans are more mature? i dunno. but in light of levitt, to find out, we just have to find a way to measure the correlation of “maturity level” to “exposure to controversial statements”.
the former is a full economics prof (and under forty) at university of chicago and the latter is a journalist with new york times and new yorker. as described in its title and like malcom gladwell (and other modern writers), the book attempts to provoke the modern mind and explain modern day phenomena and debunk conventional wisdom. but interestingly, the book is based on papers written by levitt, an economist, and most of the book’s ideas are backed by data. a massive amount of them.
like john allen paulos, in innumeracy, the authors analyse data, crunch numbers and present their findings to show how much one can glean from facts and numbers, and how wrong some “experts” can get by simply theorizing and arguing. thankfully, the tools levitt and dubner used are more advanced than those in paulos’ book, probably signifying a progress in the numeracy of ppl (and also, probably this book is not about the inability of pple to read numbers, but about the tendency of ppl to not rely on data to back their ideas).
there are many ideas which may occur as novel or refreshing. but i will blog about them another time. wat struck me though was the pluck (and some tact too) the authors had to put up seemingly unpopular and “politically incorrect” propositions based on data (of course, there’s also a great financial incentive in boosting book sales). the openness in revealing facts based on numbers are certainly missing in some societies as the next FICTIONAL tale (i heard last year) reveals:
Once upon a time, there was a village, which relied on rearing catfish for survival. The feed for the catfish is controlled by a village council. Decades ago, the village had a problem of overpopulating catfishes of the local breed. The Council then therefore restricted the rearing of catfishes and since then the problem of overpopulation came under control. Now, the Council faced the reverse of the problem – dwindling population of catfishes. To cut the long story short, the Council then decided to bring other breeds of catfishes to rear in the village.
Initially, there were the Red catfishes which ate plenty and were thought to fetch good prices too. Recently, a new breed known as Breed C was brought in. They ate little, but they are available in huge quantities. Now, the problem: all the catfishes, local and imported alike, were fed by the feed provided by the Council. Of course, there were protests amongst the locals. Local feed should be for the Local breed. The Council then assured: Local breed will always come first.
So much for the background info. The saga starts here. One statistics teacher at South School (interestingly, the school was located in the west of the village) looked at the available data. Like Levitt, he analysed it and came to a surprising conclusion: “of the new feed introduced by the Council, a disproportionately bigger share of the feed goes to the non-local breeds.” (Note: disproportionately bigger should not be read as grotesquely larger, but read as the non-local breeds taking more in proportion than it should. For example, suppose the non-local breed is 5% of the whole catfish population. The non-local breeds are taking more than 5% of the feed. Note again, these are FICTIONAL figures.)
And somehow, the conclusion was published in the village papers, and the Council was not very happy. They called up the Teacher and told him to withdraw his conclusion. The Teacher refused as the facts were there and the conclusion correct. Big (but contained) hoo haa followed. The School Headmaster was called to the Council to mediate the situation. Well, the Council was cognisant of the facts and was trying to amend the situation. However, they did not want the locals to know. The Teacher stood by his findings and refused to admit to mistakes that he did not make.
In the end, the Council prevailed. The papers in the following weeks published a statement from the Council, pointing out a gap in the Teacher’s arguments. The Teacher had forgotten to take into account of some factor and if the factor was considered, the conclusion would not follow. Well well. There are many stands to take for this episode. See Benevolence See Wisdom. A local Constable upon hearing the inside story exclaimed, “The Teacher’s statement could have started a riot!” Hmm.
I have to emphasize again. the story is FICTIONAL, MADE UP, and ANY RESEMBLANCE TO REAL CHARACTERS AND EVENTS IS TOTALLY COINCIDENTAL. where do i stand on this issue? i have no idea, but my tendency leans towards the Teacher. in fact, when i heard this tale, i said that the stand one takes reflects the level of maturity one perceives of the locals of the village. That is, the Teacher perceives the Locals to be mature, while the Constable does not. Just like a parent who reveals more to his child only when the former deems the child is of the age to know more.
does this mean that americans are more mature? i dunno. but in light of levitt, to find out, we just have to find a way to measure the correlation of “maturity level” to “exposure to controversial statements”.
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