What I did on Christmas Eve

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

On Christmas Eve, I went to my dad's friend's house for the whole night. Brian, a friend of mine, and I were on the computer the whole night because there wasn't much else to do. I played Runescape for a while and I took this screen shot and saved it to my computer. It's basically me killing a goblin and I have a whole load of rubbish I picked up and I now that I look at it carefully, there's someone just standing there right next to the goblin that I'm killing. That's pretty much it.

Note: Click on the image for an enlarged view.

Make the POTWs

POTWs can get annoying after a while for me because I have to write all of them and think about good questions and stuff. Here's an opportunity to help out! Write your own POTWs and email them to me at twang7888@yahoo.com. Please include a suggested difficulty level. If I like your POTW, then I will make it one of the official ones and source you. If it does get accepted and posted on my blog, then the writer will get the maximum score possible for that post. However, the first solver will also get the maximum score, so as not to mess up the point system. Any questions, comments, or suggestions, email me at twang7888@yahoo.com.

I know that I haven't updated in a while, but keep in mind, IT'S VACATION AND THERE ARE HOLIDAYS!

My Half Birthday

Today is my half birthday! I just realized during first blog when I was writing the date down on the homework. That's great because that means that in exactly half a year, I'm going to be fourteen! A lot of great things happened today too, so I guess I had a happy half birthday!

In case you haven't figured out yet, my birthday is on June 19.

POTW #6

Which of the following has a greater volume?

1. A cylinder with a radius of 4 and a height of 6
2. A cylinder with a circumference of 25 and a height of 5.

If they have the same volume, say so.
If it is impossible to find out, say so.

Difficulty Level: 1

Source: 100% original


This is the first POTW for the second POTW competition.

Create your Blog!

Blogs are in the house! Ever since I got one, so many people have followed suit and gotten their own. For example, David, Mike, Daniel, Linnea (thought she deleted hers yesterday) and some other people. Act now and create your own blog. Just click on the link in the toolbar at the very top that says "Create Blog." It's totally free and is really easy to update. No HTML is necessary unless you don't get the beta version, which I strongly suggest.

When I first got this blog in August 2006, I did it against my dad's will. My mom was okay about it. My dad said that it would be a waste of time, even thought I have all the time in my life...wait, did that make sense? Anyway, I updated my blog secretly without him knowing. Soon when the school year started, my dad found out that I was still updating my blog, but he didn't really care. Now, which is December, my dad even wants to create his own blog for his job purposes so he and other scientists will know about meetings and stuff. He's getting it sometime around December break.

Of course, there are always those overprotective parents who don't trust their kid and think that they will put private issues on the web (hem, hem... you know who you are). One example is Linnea (sorry Linnea if this is embarrassing you). She had made her blog secretly like me and deleted it because she almost got in trouble. (Note to self: I have to remove that from the links list sometime...)

So, if, after reading this post, you are going to create your own blog, then please be sure that you get your parent's permission, because I'm not taking any blames for forcing any of you to do so.

Term 1 Math Grade Drops Dramatically

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! My term one grade for math dropped dramatically all because of that last test that we had that was worth 150 points! I got a 91 on that quiz! That dropped my grade down 8%, so I now have a 106%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least I still did a lot of extra credit. I got 22 points worth of it. Without it, I would have exactly 100%. So either way, I would have gotten an A+.

Just so you know, you have to get 100 or above to get an A+ in Mr. Rosenthal's class. 97, 98, or 99 are still A's. Richard got all mad at that because he got a 97% for his average and he got an A, so now he's really upset. Just telling you so you won't land in the same situation as him....

(Note: some of the o's in the Nooooo were deleted due to problems with wrapping text. Please note that there should be about four times more o's)

The Winner-Mike L.

Mike L. is the winner for the first POTW competition with 62 points! In second place was Tyler Epstein, who was only three points behind Mike.
The next POTW competition starts next Tuesday. Be ready to get a good start!

Comments

The most surprising thing of the day- there are 49 comments (as of now) on the previous posts about POTW #4 Answer and Explanation! I couldn't believe it! I look at what people wrote, and then I see that GuessWhoIAm and Tyler have like had a conversation about who GuessWhoIAm is. No wonder there are so many comments...

POTW #4 Answer and Explanation

This problem was possible, so any of you that said it was impossible was incorrect. As you can see from the picture to the right, the answer is l=16 and m=9.There is a very interesting way to get the answer. You could have done it algebraically or just use your geometry logic. The easiest way is to use your geometry logic.

You know (or hopefully you knew, because it said right in the problem) that this is a right triangle. In that case use pythagorean theorum and you get that the square root of 15^2 + 20^2 = the hypotenuse, which is 25. Now you know that l + m = 25. So then you get the area of the triangle to find the length of line BD. The base can be 15 and the height can be 20. (Note: to see this, you can picture out and rotate it, or you can simply turn your head or create a picture your brain.) You do 20*15*(1/2) and you get 150 for the triangle's area. Now, you use the other base, the hypotenuse and the height so that they equal 150. So 25*x*(1/2) = 150

Guide to Getting Good Grades

Setting "Preliminary Deadlines" is the key to stress-free, timely, and high-quality assignments.


A. Papers-- Set a preliminary due date for all papers 4 DAYS before they are due, and enter this in your assignment notebook. Once you have finished the first copy of your paper, bring it to your English teacher and ask is he or she has any comments to help you improve your writing. Even if you have good English grades, this is the real way to improve your writing skills.

B. Projects/Posters-- Depending upon the project, aim to have it done almost a week in advance. Write this prelininary deadline in your assignment notebook. This way, you'll have time to relax and be able to correct small errors and for posters, you have more time to make things look more appealing to the eye by changing colors and deciding on placement of text and images.

C. Quizzes-- Study for 2 DAYS (not one day) before a quiz. Enter "Study for quiz" for two days in a row into your assignment notebook. That way, you won't be rushed to do it all in one night.

D. Tests-- Study for 4 DAYS leading up to a test. Enter this for four days in a row into your assignment notebook. Tests require more and longer study time because their grades count more to your overall grade than quizzes do.

E. Mid-Term Tests-- Study for 1 WEEK leading up to a mid-term test. It is easier to study for a little bit every day because your brain memorizes things easily that way. Enter this into your assignment notebook for one week straight.

F. Finals-- Study for 2 WEEKS leading up to a final. You should study just a bit every night. That way, there is not as much stress and you have time to ask teachers or other students questions. Enter this into your assignment notebook for two weeks straight.

Musical Balls v3.0

This is the video that we watched in science class. I found it on YouTube and decided to post it to my blog. It's an even newer version than before. There is an extra part added at the end of the show. It's really cool!
Just in case you don't know, it is made from animation and it is not real!

Poll #1

Cool Gadgets for My Blog

Blogs were originally made just to share your daily life. However, as you see, I'm going beyond the horizon. I have POTWs, which no one has ever thought of putting on a blog. I also support accounts, which I apologize, haven't been updated for a while. If you haven't noticed, I like doing things beyond the ordinary. I'm still doing some things to have even more cool stuff. Soon, I'm going to have a vote form, so that I can give surveys and people can answer them and then find out which was the most popular answer. I'm not sure not to do HTML for that, so I might just steal someone else's.

Please tell me any cool web gadgets that you think I should include on my blog. If I like the idea, I might source you. Please email me all your ideas at twang7888@yahoo.com.

POTW #5

A water tub that holds 1000 gallons is empty. The owner wants to fill the tub, so he turns on the water to fill the tub. Water is filling the tub at five gallons per minute. Five minutes later the tub starting filling with water, a mischivious child turns on the drain, which drains water away at two gallons per minute. How much more time did it take for the tub to fill with the drain on than without it. (In other words, take the time that it took to fill the tub witht the drain on and stract it from the time it would have taken if the drain was never turned on.) Give your answer in hours and minutes.

Hint: Use ALGEBRA! Make an equation.

Difficulty level: 5


Source: Original, but the idea came from last year's math class at Chinese School.


This is the very last POTW for this competition. The winner gets a prize. (Don't expect anything that's worth more than a dollar.) Even if you are very behind, this is your chance to catch up. First place is worth 25 points!

About the POTWs

Note: What you are about to read is a discussion between two people: Me and myself, if that counts as two people.



I have a question--a question for myself.

Why are there suddenly only three people that have answered the POTW when before, there have been well over ten?

Ok, Tony, settle down. Breathe deeply. It's just another math question. No, it's not. I have to think...

One reason is that many people got it wrong--to be precise, four.

Another reason is that it is getting less popular. Everything has a spark when it has just started. Perhaps I need to tell more people about this.

Hmmmmm... come on Tony, think more. It's just like a math problem.

Everyone know that...-- no, that's not it.

Well, I guess I have to think more about this and do--oh, oh, I got it!!!!!


People aren't doing it because it's not getting them anywhere. There is no reward (well, there actually is, but it really isn't anything)! Yeah, that's it. People these days don't do math for fun--well, there is an exception. But "average" people.
Okay, I guess that's true, but I can't do anything about that.

Rats! I guess I'll just have to live with the fact that only a couple people do the POTW.

No More Math Homework

Before you start reading the real post, just know that the title is misleading. There is still math homework!


My life has been going on well. But, oh yeah, did I forget to tell you that I won't be posting any more math homework? Yeah, I was going to put this post a really long time ago, but I kept forgetting, so I'm telling you now. It's just a little late. There are many reasons why I am not going to post math homework any more.

1. It takes too much time and effort to type up all the homework when I can just easily do it by hand
2. We are not doing work in the book as much, which makes it hard to do homework beforehand when I have time.
3. I believe Mr. Rosenthal knows a little about it. I don't know how though. (If you do, please tell me.)

I know that it's not that bad anyway. I know that a few of you did copy the answers at some point, but most of you just used it to check your answers. Either way, I'm sorry for all the change it has caused you in your life. Please forgive me.

Once again, please be sure that you are not confused. There is still math homework! I'm just not posting it on my blog anymore.

The Mentoes and Diet Coke Experiment II

Field Trip #1

Today we had our first field trip out of the three that we are having in December. Since I am in group 2, we went to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. It was a lot more fun than I had thought. My favorite part was probably when we did the Economical Playground. It was a game where you had to make money by buying stock or increasing your company's efficiency. After three rounds, I got $902,000. The winner was a college person from Harvard, who got $1,055,000. To my information, Tomer got the most money, with $1,033,000. The rest was a little boring. There was a video about banking that we watching afterward. It was totally boring and no one could understand it. Even the college people! I guess that's all. Out next trip is to the Museum.

Last Day of November

Today is the last day of November. A lot of things are good because of this. First of all, I'd like to mention that since today is November 30 and there is no 31st of November, it means that tomorrow is December 1, the first day of December and the day of Green Team's field trip. My group, Group 2, is going to the Federal Reserve, which is a bank. It may sound a little tedious, but I think it's going to be an okay trip. There are many reasons for me to say so.

1. There is math involved.
2. Mr. Yellen has said that it is supposed to be fun, I don't know.
3. Mrs. Batchelder said that there were going to be gifts.
4. It skips most of school (we're still having C Block).
5. There is even more math involved.
6. Ditto the first reason.

This month, I have posted 32 posts, including this one. That means that I have posted more posts than the number of days, 30. I must have done a lot of work! I can't believe that I managed to do that and do all my school work and do all the chinese school homework and practice the piano every night and do math team and winter running and do orchestra and do band and study latin! That's just like impossible! But it is, I've done it...

Skipping Math

Yay! I just missed (not skipped like it says in the title) a math class. Well, I also missed Spanish, but that's not the real point of importance here. There was a test in math class. Since I was going to miss it, I took it in the morning before school started. I only had about 15 minutes, but that's basically how long it took me to take the test. It was a loooooooot easier than I thought. I just have to finish checking the test later.

I had to swear that I wouldn't tell anyone what was on the test or how hard it was. But somehow, everyone seems to know that I took the test early. I'm still wondering how they found out. Please tell me if you know! So many people came up to me and asked if the test was hard, and I either said, "I'm not allowed to tell" or "I don't know, you find out yourself when you take it." (This message is especially for you Tyler, Linnea, Alex (maybe, I forgot), Seong-Tae, David (a.k.a. Jimmie), and a countless number of other people that I didn't mention.

Math is a lot easier subject than most people think it is. It only has one answer for every question. (Well, there are some exceptions, for example, quadratic equations usually have two answers, but that's beyond the point and you'll probably learn that in ninth or tenth grade.) I'll bet you anything that if I tutored any of you in my class for two weeks, you could be as good as me! I'm serious!



By the way, it's not too late to answer the POTW question. Only two people have gotten it correct. About three other people all did it wrong. I was very surprised.

Create Account

There is now the ability to have your own private account on my blog. There is a login screen in the toolbar that you can log in to. If you are new and would like to create an account, just follow the instructions beneath the Login screen. This is a very complicated software that uses Javascript and HTML. Note that capitalization does not matter. Also, please give credit to Google Docs and Spreasheets for offering the seperate web pages. It is a very simple precess and only takes five minutes of your time. This a a very new thing, so please excuse any errors in the program.

POTW #4

The entire figure at the above is a right triangle. Angles ABC and BDA are right angles. Lines BA is 15 units and line BC is 20 units. Find, if possible, the lengths of l and m. If you think it is impossible, then explain why it is so.

Email all answer to twang7888@yahoo.com.

Difficulty level: 3

Source: Totally original, so forget about finding the answer on the web, but there's always the possibility that someone else has coincidencially posted it on the web.

About POTW Scoring

A various number of people have asked me about how the POTW points are scored. It is very simple, but seems complex. Here is the starting list:

First place: 5
Second place: 4
Third place: 3
Fourth place: 2
Fifth place: 1

Then, you take that number and you multiply by the difficulty level. So if a POTW question has a difficulty level of 4, then first place would be worth 20, second place, 16, third, 12, etc. FYI, the difficulty level is at the end of every POTW.


NOTE: THIS SCORE GUIDE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND YOU WILL BE INFORMED WHEN IT IS DONE SO. AFTER THIS PARTICULAR POTW ROUND IS OVER, (every POTW round is five questions) THE POINT VALUE WILL CHANGE BECAUSE I HAVE NOTICED THAT THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO DON'T GET POINTS BECAUSE THERE AREN'T ENOUGH PLACES FOR THEM.

Announcement Banner

There is a new Announcement Banner in the toolbar. It is the very first thing. It says all the current announcements. I thought of this because people keep asking me when the next POTW is coming out. Just to inform you, POTWs come out on Tuesdays, exceptions may be made and it will say so on the new Announcements Banner. One thing that I really like about it is that it scrolls over, so it attracts attention. That is important! I noticed that even after it has been posted, people have left comments saying "When is the next POTW coming?" Well, now you know. Check the announcements!

Miniclip Games

Below is the Twangsite Miniclip Game Room. It's really cool, and I found out how to post it onto my blog. This Game Room will be updated weekly. After a while, this post will be pushed downward on my blog because I will have many new posts that will be above it. I have taken this into consideration and put this on the toolbar to the right of this post. You can also put this onto your blog by clicking here. However, it will appear too big for your blog because the window isn't large enough (there might be an exception as Blogger now allows templates that are stretched). I have solved this problem myself very easily. However, you may have a more difficult time shrinking the image because chances are that you don't know HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). You can email me and I will email you the the revised HTML text and then you can post it onto your blog as well. My email is twang7888@yahoo.com. Anyway, here is the Twangsite Miniclip Game Room: