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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (256992)	10/25/2005 3:19:55 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 1571903

"do you know what this symbol means in math: * ?" On the GRE, when you see , think "times". An 'x' looks sort of funky, and in computers, the '' was adopted. Likewise, '^', like 10^2 or 100, means to the power of. I am not sure that's right. This is the way it was presented.....and I am doing it from memory: ((a)). I've never seen something like that before. I wish I could find the actual problem but I can't. I have been going at it since Friday and at this point, I am pretty much zoned out and my head hurts badly. ;~(( You should have asked before. I taught a couple of courses for Princeton Review on the LSAT. The specifics are different, but the general approach is the same. There are a lot of things you can do to maximize your score. For example, don't get bogged down on questions you don't understand. Divide all of the problems into one of three classes, ones you know the answer to, those you think you can solve, and ones you don't have a clue. If you don't have the slightest clue, skip. Guessing is a losers game, you are most likely going to lose. If you can with confidence eliminate a few of the answers, then you improve your odds. But if you have less than a 50-50 chance, then skip it. If you know the answer, then answer it. If you aren't sure, then skip it and come back. Come back the the ones you can eliminate some of the answers to. Only after you have exhausted those, then try to work on the ones you don't have an idea on. Remember, you get penalized for questions that you answer wrong, ones you skip don't count against you. So never answer a question you aren't sure of the answer to. It can only hurt you. I don't think I have a choice. I am taking the computer generated test. When I took one of the practice tests this weekend, it said you can not omit a question. Let me ask you......they mention in the test notes some kind of "equating with other tests bla bla bla when scoring. Are they saying they adjust the scores......kind of like doing the scoring on a curve? Is that how it works? My test isn't until 10 AM PST so I will check in the AM to see if you've posted back. I will be glad when this one is over. ted

To: combjelly who wrote (256992)	10/25/2005 9:20:50 AM
From: Taro	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571903

Divide all of the problems into one of three classes, ones you know the answer to, those you think you can solve, and ones you don't have a clue. If you don't have the slightest clue, skip. ... If you can with confidence eliminate a few of the answers, then you improve your odds. But if you have less than a 50-50 chance, then skip it. If you know the answer, then answer it. If you aren't sure, then skip it and come back. Come back the the ones you can eliminate some of the answers to. Only after you have exhausted those, then try to work on the ones you don't have an idea on. At college I rapidly learned this approach the hard way. The hardest way teaching me the most about this methodology for moving ahead towards my M.Sc.EE degree was in "Electromagnetic Field Theory", where I knew I could solve 1/3, do better than 50/50 on 1/3 and score some points by qualified guessing in the final 1/3. This strategy would suffice for getting me through the courses at the bottom line. Only real nuts were fully proficient in this stuff. Our professor was hospitalized for 3 years, given up as a nut case by medics and family until one day he walked out of the hospital and went back to teaching! Above key to problem solving should be taught any student because it is so very close to how to manage real life problems in a qualified way. Nobody taught us students back then. Taro

To: combjelly who wrote (256992)	10/25/2005 9:46:54 AM
From: Taro	Respond to of 1571903

* used as a multiply sign dates back to IBM's Fortran if my memory serves me well. I first encountered it when writing and running programs on our college IBM 7090, later updated to one of Europe's most advanced computers of that time, the IBM 7094. We also used Algol for scientific programs on DASK and BESK. BESK was the very computer which put the Swedes way up front in weather simulation, when the advanced algorithms developed by a Swedish scientist way ahead of computing power available to run the calculations necessary could finally come to life on a sequential machine. A lead they have maintained until very recently. That is why the US have had a close cooperation with Sweden in this area for more than 50 years. Taro