Hey everyone! Welcome back to school/dance class! As much as everyone seems to dread coming back from the break and going back to school, I’m actually looking forward to a change in environment.
Not that I miss the break; I really enjoyed myself and had a great time, catching up with friends and all. The difference is, I just came back from coop, which means I haven’t been in school since April. Working on a regular schedule isn’t my preferred style—I like working on my own time, when I feel like it. It usually is much more productive than forcing yourself to work. For example, as I was writing this I had another task to do, which I neglected because I wanted to do this more (just means I need to find inspiration to do work).
But, since it’s the new year, let’s talk about a concept I think we see often in real life: INTEGRALS!! (#imnerdingoutrightnow)
Allow me to explain:
For those who are uninitiated, the concept of integrals is basically to take the area under a curve. This may seem very boring, but it’s pretty cool!
The idea is somewhat like this:
[blockquote style=”quote” align=””]”For a given curve f(x), when we take the integral, we add all of the little infinitely small “rectangles” at each point x, and we get a number.” – Arnold[/blockquote]
Smaller, and smaller, and smaller… Source: wikipedia.org user LucasVB
Each rectangle by itself, is really worthless. But, somehow, it adds up to SOMETHING and you know what?
YOU CAN SEE IT.
So, what’s so interesting about this, you ask? I’ll give a simple example: Let’s say I have a bunch of bottles that I need to recycle. In the grand scheme of things, whether or not I recycle that one bottle, seems to have no effect on the overall amount of recycled material in the world, right? This document (I was looking at page 19) seems to state that Canada recycled 84,744 tonnes of material in 2004. What’s one measly bottle to that huge figure? You know what? It’s that little decision each person makes between deciding to recycle that bottle or not, that makes that number grow to such a HUGE number!
While I’m not using this as a reason to convince you guys to vote or something, it does have applications in many aspects of our lives. However, while we’re on the topic of voting, as much as our individual vote counts for a very small number overall (even less in the US), it adds up!
Let’s bring this back in the realm of study and dance. As you start the new year, realise that every moment does have its value, no matter how small it is. While we don’t need to be a workaholic every single waking moment of our lives, don’t underestimate the value of the five minutes or so of time that you have between classes.
As they say: “Carpe diem” (seize the day)
I can come up with a bunch of other ways to talk about it (“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”/”The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one’s feet.” – Chapter 64, Dao De Jing), but integrals are awesome, and even if you can’t do it, you should at least appreciate its awesomeness.
Or, you know. Keep going! Even if it looks like you’re going nowhere. Source: imgur
If it’s hard to take your books out, just… you know… dance. 😛
Adding the words to make an essay,
Arnold
-IT Manager
