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2008 Higher School Certificate

Bazal

Post Whore
Messages
102,689
So English is vital to less than a quarter of the 6 billion on a small planet the size of a large moon, in one solar system out of hundreds of billions, in one galaxy out of thousands of billions in our universe? Maths is vital to the existence of that universe, there's no contest...
 

Bazal

Post Whore
Messages
102,689
I can. I could get by if I couldn't speak English. Plenty of people in Sydney don't speak English, for example. Without maths we wouldn't exist
 

Bazal

Post Whore
Messages
102,689
Put it this way. The general consensus is that life evolved over many thousands of millions of years. As the environment of the earth changed and evolved, chemicals became more and more complex and eventually you got basic amino acids. The sheer mathematics involved in that process is staggering on it's own, especially the mathematical probability involved. Then, once we had a number of amino acids (theory suggests four different chemicals), the violent nature of the planet's climate, in particular the sweeping electrical storms, created an environment where a protein was formed. Basically, the amino acids floating around were hit by lightning, and a basic protein sludge was formed. The process was undertaken in a lab in the fifties if you want to look it up. Anyway from that basic prokaryotes evolved. The point is the chemistry, physics, and maths involved is insane, and without that we would not exist.
 

Hallatia

Referee
Messages
26,433
okay okay

maths
lolmath.jpg

english
lolmath4.jpg

I think that may be geography
 

Red Bear

Referee
Messages
20,882
maths is gay, advanced english is prety crap and 3 unit english was good when we watched the castle, apart from that its not much fun.

Can't wait to finish school
 

Martli

Coach
Messages
11,564
Bazal said:
So English is vital to less than a quarter of the 6 billion on a small planet the size of a large moon, in one solar system out of hundreds of billions, in one galaxy out of thousands of billions in our universe? Maths is vital to the existence of that universe, there's no contest...
Language is, in a sense, universal too. All our languages represent the same basic thing, they are just present them differently. If you showed an alien 1+1=2 they wouldn't understand it, just like an english person with no knowledge of other languages wouldn't understand "Ich Bin Martli". Maths is just a human interpretation of the relationships it represents, much like a language. We use our man made symbols + - / * and 1234567890 to explain these relationships. Advanced aliens would use a different method (ie language) with different characters and symbols that we wouldn't understand. Both represent the same relationships and ideas but are just different interpretations of those relationships, just like our languages are. The only difference is that instead of many different languages for maths, we only have 1 (or 1 with different dialects) while we have several different languages for general communication.
 

Boon

Juniors
Messages
182
Yawn, school was very much last years predicament. Nearly completed a semester of uni and will soon be 18. Enjoying life a lot more since I finished. Though I wish I could do schoolies again, best fking time ever.
 

Bazal

Post Whore
Messages
102,689
Martli said:
Language is, in a sense, universal too. All our languages represent the same basic thing, they are just present them differently. If you showed an alien 1+1=2 they wouldn't understand it, just like an english person with no knowledge of other languages wouldn't understand "Ich Bin Martli". Maths is just a human interpretation of the relationships it represents, much like a language. We use our man made symbols + - / * and 1234567890 to explain these relationships. Advanced aliens would use a different method (ie language) with different characters and symbols that we wouldn't understand. Both represent the same relationships and ideas but are just different interpretations of those relationships, just like our languages are. The only difference is that instead of many different languages for maths, we only have 1 (or 1 with different dialects) while we have several different languages for general communication.

Yes, but if you demonstrated 1+1=2, anyone with a mathematical background would get it. You are right in the sense that we have created our own methods of identifying and communicating the rules and systems of mathematics. The major difference is that with language things change from place to place. Structures change, tenses change, some languages have masculine and feminine (eg in french)...but maths always stays the same. The words for the expressions may change, but the expressions themselves are always the same. If you went back to Sydney in 1800, and said to one of the convicts "G'day mate, how's it hanging?" they'd think you were either a nutcase or an idiot. If you went back and asked them what 1+1 is, they'd say 2...
 

morri (cWo)

First Grade
Messages
6,030
Mr Angry said:
Just remember the result are NOT the be all and end all.

Please tell me what do they teach in IT.

i did IT: Multimedia for the HSC and it was all about making multimedia presentations etc.
 

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