NTU Y1S1, Week 2 In Review

Random Quotes Of The Week:

"In discrete Maths, you must think. But, don't think too much."
-Dr Shi (Random opening)

" To exhaust all possibilites before you exhaust yourself!"
-Dr Shi (Proving quantification)

"How do you detect error?"
"You send the same data twice."
"What's an even better method than that?"
"You send the data many many times."
- Random exchange in Computer System Lecture

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Wah... quite a busy week. 2nd week only, and I'm beginning to feel the kick liao... Here are some things I did...

1) Signed up for OCBC Securities... Plan for the future.
2) Signed up for NTU OCBC Debit. My first card woohoo.
3) Participate in the Library Quiz! (Got a Razer Wrist Pad... waiting for the grand draw!)
4) Got my Lappy! (More on this next time)
5) Got a Printer (Bundle) to replace my "Cui" Printer...

Actually wanted to sign the Singtel plan one... but too many people, in the end missed the queue cut. Decided not to join any CCA cause not staying in hostel. Too much commitment in the late afternoon.

Went to a KBox + Pool Session... cannot make it le lah. I realized I've been separated from the Chinese Pop Music for extremely long. A lot of new songs they pick... I've never even heard them before. Haven't tune in to 933 for ages.

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In The Class:
The modules I'm taking is a huge cluster of spiderwebs. Each module is linked to another, and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Ironically, Data Structures (supposedly the focus of the course) seems to be in its own little world, isolated from the rest.


Computer Systems
How to convert binary to octal, octal to decimal, decimal to hexadecimal, and conversely. LOL.

Wasted $6 to print the notes cause now they got new version. So far so good except for some stupid Mantissa thingy... why do they have to makes thing so complicated?


Data Strucutres Programming
Divorce, Married, Insider, Outsider, Stargate, Starwars...

Nothing new so far, though I did picked up a few ideas (and No. Not about Stargate). Eagerly waiting for the lab to start.


Logic Design
AND gate, OR gate, NOT gate, Colgate ... the dozen of laws to combine them. Circuit logic, active levels, puzzle bubble (alternate symbols), standard operating procedures sum of product and product of sum...

Sure is getting a bit tough, but it's still quite manageable.


Foundation Maths
Mean, Standard Deviation, Permutations, Combinations, Probabilities... Monty Hall Paradox, Birthday Paradox, Gambler Paradox...

Wah Lau... really cannot make it. Have to ask some "A Levels Pro" for guidance, but he always give me attitude.


Discrete Maths
Proposition, Inference, Arguments, Modus Ponens, Modus Tollens, Disjunctive Syllogism (Are these biological terms?)... WTF?!

Wah Lau... is not say I want to complain... but this module is driving me crazy.

It is suppose to teach you to how do "reasoning and logic", but the whole thing hardly has any logic!

Let me show you a sample question of this so called "Logic & Reasoning".

Sample Question:
- If Joseph don't love Cloud, then Ben love Cloud only if Edwin don't love Jansen.
- (Edwin love Cloud or Edwin love Jansen) AND (Edwin don't love Cloud or Ben love Cloud) is true.
- Jackie don't love Joseph.
- Edwin don't love Jansen is a necssary condition for Ben to love Cloud.
- Joseph Love Cloud is a sufficient condition for Jackie to love Joseph.

By using logical inference and equivalence rules, prove whether the conclusion "Ben love Cloud IF AND ONLY IF Edwin love Jansen" is valid.

Simi Jumbo?!

CAN YOU EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE OUT OF THIS WHOLE THING?

This is 10 times more complicated than ANY kind of triangular or rectangular or octagonal relations you can find in those Mediacorp Dramas.

WTF to INFINITY.
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A Discrete Message...

Imagine...

Just picture this.

One day, you received a SMS from one of your friend. Basically, he wants to go out, but he'll only go out when certain conditions are met.

Here is the SMS you got:

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"Hi, buddy! It will rain or it will be sunny. If I am happy, I will go swimming. If it's not sunny, then I will not play tennis. It will be sunny or I will not go swimming. It will not be sunny. Oh Sorry, if it rains and I am not happy, then I will stay home. I will watch TV or I will play tennis. Hmm... therefore, I decide to stay home and watch TV."

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So, can you conclude that what he say is correct?

...

...

Don't understand?

...

...

...

Don't need to think so much.

Whack liao.

Driven To Madness!!!

Planning Own TimeTable

Ahh... this is a "challenging" and "exciting" experience, especially for the freshies. Fortunately, my buddy introduced this to me early and I've now managed to save a few hours every week for this current semester.

So, I'll offer a little advice for the future generation (even though I'm a total new bird myself). Note that this guide is for people that don't want to "pon" any lessons. If you're looking to pon, please look at the separate guide I've provided below.

Important: This guide may not be too relevant for those staying in camp...us.

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How To Save As Much Time As Possible While Attending ALL Lessons

1) Lecture timing can't be changed (usually), so your earliest and latest lecture will be the start and end of your day. You goal is to pack all the labs and tutorials (LT) WITHIN the lectures.

2) If there are LT before or after the lectures, look for long breaks in between lessons, and stuff as much LT as you can into them.

3) Remember to save a 1hr break near midday for your lunch though... unless you think you can "tahan" 9:30 lesson to 4:30 at one shot.

For me, I like to "start early, end early", and I don't' mind waking up early - so I tried to move tutorials from late noon to the morning. This is depend on your personal preference lah... some people like to sleep till late late.

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How To Pon As Much As Possible While Still Attending Most Lessons

1) First, decide what's the minimum hours of lesson for you to "not pon".

2) Look for the days which has the least number of hours of lectures. These are the days you can pon.

3) Shift all your Labs/Tutorials (LT) to the days with the most number of lectures.

If you're successful, you have now successfuly "packed" your LTs into 3 or 4 days. You can now pon the other days without LTs.

Now, You can tell everyone you're just attending school 3/4 out of 7 days a week!

1st Week Of School!

1 week of school liao lo...

Gradually putting my past behind me and adopting to this new life. It's great to be a student again! I think it's the best "occupation" in this world. Well, at least it's much better than a certain occupation that also starts with 's'.

Met a lot of 老朋友 (Glenn, XJ, Ben) and made a few new friends. Glad to see Guan Wei again! I thought he was joking when he said he wanted to transfer from NUS Computing to NTU CompSci, but he wasn't. Haha. Really happy to see him again!

As for school work, there are some "concerned" (aka "kaypo") people who've asked me about it. Well... first week only, it's still very "honeymoon" stage lah. Everyday lessons add together is like 4 hours or less (no tutorials, no labs for first week). Everyday go there like walk in the park... next week will be the "real thing" though.

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Poly VS A Levels
I'm suffering from slight headaches already though, especially when it comes to lectures that I don't understand. The lecturers don't really stop to explain much, and some things can be really hard to grasp when you encounter them the first time I feel. And It doesn't help much that Maths is one of my weaker subjects.

Which is why it's so unfair to Poly Students. We've been away from Maths for like... what? FIVE YEARS? A Level students know the more "chim" maths and at most they were separated from it for 2 years. Personally, I think the 2 Maths module I'm taking are very difficult lor...

Don't believe? The ONLY way you get can exempted from the module is either...

1) A Diploma in "Engineering Mathematics" or
2) 3As in relevant A Level Maths Subjects

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This Week In Review

Foundation Maths - Simpson Paradox, Monty Hall Paradox, more paradoxes... Interesting. Actually, it's Probability and Statistics...

Discrete Maths - If p is true and q is true, then pq is true. p imples q means not p implies not q. If not p and not q equal not p or q then... WTF... @%#$@!#^@

Logic Design - Almost the same poo as Discrete Maths, just slightly better cause I don't have to deal with insane symbols and "implies" thingy...

Data Structures Programming - So far still nothing new... it's like seeing an old old friend... Haha.

Computer Systems - I think very lucky that got this module... cause I can use the extra time for the other modules. The only interesting lecture so far is the one where he played a video on the history of computers...