It's a Wrap

We started class with a puzzler with geometric sums and infinite geometric sums applied to probability. We were to calculate the most optimal strategy to use in a three-way paintball duel under specific circumstances. The puzzler had so many questions that could be asked based off the given, and there were so many "what ifs" to look at. We worked on the puzzler all the way up until break, but even then, we only scratched the surface of the problem.

After break, we looked at other situations involving probability. We discussed the birthday problem, in which we examined the correlation between the number of people in a room and the probability that at least two people share a birthday. To test the birthday problem, we asked passersby at the start of lunch about their birthday until we received two of the same answers.

When we came back to class after lunch, Dawson explained the answer to the birthday problem, which involved permutations. We found ourselves in new groups, and we were to compete with each other in a modified game of jeopardy. The categories were Matrix Addition, Determinants, Combinatorics, Probabilities, and Row Operations, covering all the topics we learned this week in Special Topics in Math. The competition was quite intense, since speed mattered, while at the same time there was a penalty for an incorrect answer! Thankfully, the classroom was spirited and sportsmanlike.

We had no study hall today, because we had a schedule very different from earlier this week. We had free time from 3 to 4 PM instead of the study hall, and we did not have our arete class. From 4 to 6 PM, we had a program-wide showcase for all of the arete classes. I was in improv, so I had to act out a scene as a pilot in front of everyone else in VSA. After our arete showcase, we had dinner from 6 to 7 PM, which was rather normal, but we had to prepare for a dance from 7 to 8. From 8 to 10, we had a dance in the Wyatt rotunda, though I opted to sit in the game room and chat with people who were similarly less inclined to dance.