Merry Christmas everybody! It's not Christmas here in Russia (they have it on the 7th of January, and it's not a very big deal. New Years' is a much much bigger deal), but I'm taking the day off work tomorrow anyway because it seems wrong to work on Christmas.
So I ended up going to the microchip factory after all. It turns out that my student is the deputy CEO, so I was able to get past security. Anyway, the microchip factory was really really neat, and I don't think I came across as too incompetent. It was interesting, even if they didn't give me free microchips or make me the heir to the company after the other people on my tour died as a result of their own greed or laziness. You can't have everything.
I discovered a nerd game the other day. What you do is, you take a number and assume that the highest digit indicates the base of that number. For example, if your number is 352, the highest digit is 5, so you assume that you're working in base-6. The number 1101 would be binary because the highest digit is 1. Then you see how quickly you can convert the number to base-10. Once you know the rule, it's just a matter of multiplying really big numbers in your head, but it passes the time on long bus rides. If you're better at math than me, you don't have to convert it to base-10. You could also use bigger numbers. I use license plates and addresses, so I'm never working with more than four digits here.
When I tried to teach this game to another teacher, I got caught up explaining that there are bases other than 10. It turns out that that is not common knowledge. On the other hand, when I taught my boyfriend this game, I learned that he has all the powers of two up to the 20th memorized. I occupy some sort of wacky middle ground between not knowing about numbers and being a hopeless nerd about them, which I suppose is fitting if you teach English in the "Silicon Valley of Russia."
If I weren't who's to say
15 years ago
5 comments:
Wow. Decades ago, learning about non-base-10 number systems, I just knew that someday they would prove useful. Unfortunately for me, just reading the rules to the nerd game was making my brain hurt. Thanks for helping me realize how inadequate I am! I feel like Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life. I hope you enjoy your wings.
Enjoy your secret Christmas as well.
Merry Christmas to you, too. I missed you terribly. This is first time in 25 years that we haven't been together at some time during this holiday.
I forgot to bring a book with me on BART the other day when I went to San Francisco for Christmas Eve Chinese food with Patrick. So, I played your new nerd game. It is a great way to pass time, and I figured out some patterns that I'd never thought of before. But I definitely cannot play without pencil and paper. And, the fact that I understood the rules and played does not negate the fact that I will recoil from you in horror for coming up with the game.
Well, I'm used to that. The thing that I caught onto immediately is that the pattern that works for binary works for everything. Then I wondered how I had gone for...17 years without figuring that out.
But this whole thing reminds me of Marge Simpson talking about how she's been unable to do all the calculus she comes across in her daily life.
Right now I am celebrating New Years' with Dmitry and the duck I burned. I'm actually taking pictures, which might, someday, make it onto this blog.
I look forward to those pictures and I wish you and Dmitry a very Happy New Year.
hi
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