Metropol

I've spent some time this evening revising for my exams, so I thought I'd share some of it with my lovely forum friends. You can learn as I learn or, if you know otherwise, correct me or perhaps develop my own understanding. I hope it will come in handy. Feel free to add your own points or work that you have done.

Firstly, psychological statistics.

There are three key assumptions when conducting within-subjects (repeated measures) tests (both one-way and multi-factor). These are:

Normal distribution (or, if not normally distributed, then a "good size" as dictated by the Central Limit Theorem)
Homogeneity of variance: that is, the variance is the same for each of the bits - I know what I mean
Spericity: I don't need to worry about this but it's useful to remember that all the cell error things should be symmetrical

Secondly, a bit of biological psychology for you: the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is the key regulator of biological rhythm. A collection of cells that interact with both endogenous and exogeneous prompts to regulate, for instance, circadian rhythms like the wake/sleep cyle. Which is roughly 25 hours rather that 24.

I don't care if you're not interested, I had to get some if it out of me. Thank you.

The chances of you needing to know any of that in the real world are rather slim. But then that can be said of so much of the stuff you learn in school.

I can honestly say, some 14 years later, I've never had to cross swords with that bastard Pythagoras again. I mean, who the hell would ever want to work out the height of something by measuring angles and ... oh crap ... I've just realised I can't even remember what it does.

The square on the hypoteneuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. It's all Greek to me.

Uncle Bruce wrote:I can honestly say, some 14 years later, I've never had to cross swords with that bastard Pythagoras again. I mean, who the hell would ever want to work out the height of something by measuring angles and ... oh crap ... I've just realised I can't even remember what it does.

Oh yes I agree -- mind you, you can at least imagine engineers or some such using it.

Whereas simultaneous equations -- how pointless were they.

The most obscure thing I ever learnt about at uni was morphophonemics -- why bother? At least DAS's stuff might be called upon in a job at some point.

TVDragon wrote:

Uncle Bruce wrote:I can honestly say, some 14 years later, I've never had to cross swords with that bastard Pythagoras again. I mean, who the hell would ever want to work out the height of something by measuring angles and ... oh crap ... I've just realised I can't even remember what it does.

Oh yes I agree -- mind you, you can at least imagine engineers or some such using it.

No, they'd use a laser measuring thingy that you can buy for a few quid in Argos.

Along with one of those gizmos that stops you drilling into pipes in the wall ...

TVDragon wrote:

Uncle Bruce wrote:I can honestly say, some 14 years later, I've never had to cross swords with that bastard Pythagoras again. I mean, who the hell would ever want to work out the height of something by measuring angles and ... oh crap ... I've just realised I can't even remember what it does.

Oh yes I agree -- mind you, you can at least imagine engineers or some such using it.

Whereas simultaneous equations -- how pointless were they.

The most obscure thing I ever learnt about at uni was morphophonemics -- why bother? At least DAS's stuff might be called upon in a job at some point.

Probably not actually. The stuff we had to learn before Christmas will probably never come up again now that we've done the exam on it.

That's why exams in general get to me - whether at secondary school or uni, they are fundamentally flawed. Yes, the concept is to test that you've learned what you've been told. But as we all know, it's usually a process of swatting up over a few days, regurgitating (some of) it in a few hours, then forgetting it!

DAS wrote:But as we all know, it's usually a process of swatting up over a few days, regurgitating (some of) it in a few hours, then forgetting it!

That seems to describe my script learning process.

It pains me to see people already revising for exam season.

I once asked one of my tutors about exams, in an effort to convince him they were pointless. Didn't take much. He said 'yes, you're right, they are'. And that was it. He just left.

I have another month until exams, and they're luckily well-spaced, but in the mean time I have a 6000 word case study to write on the environmental science policies of the Czech Republic...

Hello? Anyone? No, it really is interesting, come back...

DAS wrote:A collection of cells that interact with both endogenous and exogeneous prompts to regulate, for instance, circadian rhythms like the wake/sleep cyle. Which is roughly 25 hours rather that 24.

I don't care if you're not interested, I had to get some if it out of me. Thank you.

Does this mean I can be awake for 24 hours, then asleep for 24 hours?

And what is a circadian rhythm?

DAS wrote: Normal distribution (or, if not normally distributed, then a "good size" as dictated by the Central Limit Theorem)

Ah yes, the central limit theorem, that upon which all statistics is based and without which, would not function. Or so my stats lecturer would keep telling the theatre. And nobody ever cared. And neither did I.

The stuff that's important to me is where the nucleophile will attack. And it usually (but not always) ends up being the saturated carbon sitting slap bang in the middle of the molecule. Figure that.