Right, I have a serious problem...

Today, those of you who are active on my forum may know that I lowered my post count into the negatives for a bit of fun. You may also know that I went offline shortly afterwards in order to have a rest, and that by the time I had returned, I had forgotten what I had done.

Well, I think I know why. During my rest, I had a bath, and during my bath, I got bored. I did, however, manage to find a pencil, although, as I had no paper, I had to work on the white tiles in the bathroom. Yes, I know what you're thinking - I was supposed to be resting. However, this 'work' was purely recreational - I was trying to prove that y = xⁿ implies that dy/dx = nx^n-1. Normally, I would have tried first in my head (I've solved a BMO1 problem in my head before), but I knew that this derivation was going to require me to do a binomial expansion, so while I probably could have managed, I preferred to have it written down. On the tiles.

I eventually got so caught up with this that I had forgotten all about the negative post count - and I bet you'll be able to vouch for me. You were probably so busy wondering who would differentiate from first principles in the bath because they were bored that you had forgotten too.

Given that, I reckon you can also guess at what my "serious problem" is...

New commentator

Here's a thought: with Formula One moving over to the BBC next year, maybe Jenson Button could commentate :P ! Yes, I know it would be a bit of a waste of his talent, but this is happening anyway with Honda. We'll just have to wait and see whether they can improve (which they probably will have done by next year, especially with Ross Brawn on board).

Speaking of Honda, it would certainly help them if FIArrari didn't place red lights out of Rubens Barrichello's vision, although I suppose we should now have come to expect things like this. After all, it does give them a legitimate-sounding excuse, which enables them to salvage a point for Kimi Raikkonen, whilst simultaneously penalising:

1. Rubens Barrichello for leaving Ferrari
2. Ross Brawn for leaving Ferrari
3. Rubens Barrichello for holding up Kimi Raikkonen for longer than they would have wanted.

On another note, I'm pleased that Lewis Hamilton's made such an excellent start to the season, and I hope he continues to succeed throughout the rest of the season (although I would certainly prefer a three-way fight for the championship, as was the case last year, over a Schumi-style domination).

As for Pathfinder, I've now finished making Level 20. Now, I'll just need to sort out the high scores and make a title screen.

Anagram

I'm bored and don't have much to do, and I haven't posted here for a while, so I'll appease everyone (anyone???) reading this, and post a maths anagram, which proves that trigonometry is difficult:

MY COSEC TO THE FOURTH -> TOO MUCH STRETCH OF YE

Yay!

C4 and a Pathfinder update

First of all, I started the C4 module, which would normally be the last A-level maths module anyone does (although, seeing as I'm doing Further Maths, I'll have a few more, so that's why I'm doing C4 now). I have to say, though, that I wasn't very impressed with the first question:

1/3 + 1/4

Well...it's certainly easier than those trig identities! I suppose that was a good thing, though, as I was feeling pretty tired today (hence a silly blunder on CyberNations, which I'd rather not go into).

Anyway, by this evening, I had recovered sufficiently to do some fore work on Pathfinder. Here's what I've been doing:

• I've finished Level 19, and started work on Level 20 (the final level of Demo 2)
• I've started re-designing the graphics of the earlier tiles.
• I've changed some of the randomly-occurring events (from Level 16 onwards).

And here's what I'll still need to do:

• Finish Level 20
• Revamp the rest of the tiles.
  
• Make a title screen
• Tidy up the treatment of the high scores, e.g. by adding a lives bonus.

I hope I'll be able to release it soon!

(Oh, and by the way, the answer to that fraction sum is 7/12)

Pathfinder progress

Good news! I've been able to finish Levels 17 and 18 today, so I've only got 19 and 20 to do, and then I'll be able to release the next demo!

That is all.

-KingsIndian

Factor formulae

Yes...it was inevitable that I was going to write about maths at some point :P !

Anyway, I've just finishes my third Pure Maths module! My problem is, however, that, while I have managed to commit most of the material to memory, there are four identities called 'factor formulae' which seem to be causing me some problems. Basically, I simply cannot think of a good mamory aid for them! If you can think of one, please tell me.

Also, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, here are those factor formulae:

sin P + sin Q ≡ 2 sin[(P + Q)/2] cos[(P - Q)/2]
sin P - sin Q ≡ 2 cos[(P + Q)/2] sin[(P - Q)/2]
cos P + cos Q ≡ 2 cos[(P + Q)/2] cos[(P - Q)/2]
cos P - cos Q ≡ -2 sin[(P + Q)/2] sin[(P - Q)/2]

Any advice???

AARGH

Programming those random effect generators for Level 16 is HARD! I have, however, managed to succeed, after quite a bit of hard work. In adition, I've managed to add shadows to make them look more 3-D.

Well, at least that bit of the programminng's out of the way, and I can FINALLY make a start on the easier bits of Level 16!