Week In Review, Week 4

Hi guys! Sorry I'm late in posting this time, but it's been a bittersweet day. I went to a funeral this morning, and came back home to see my beloved Georgia Bulldogs start out great but end up sputtering and falling to Oklahoma State, 24-10. But as of this post, MY college team, Army, is currently leading Eastern Michigan by almost two touchdowns! So it might not be a total loss after all!

At any rate, let's get to the week in review! We continued our study of simple probability, compound independent events, and we began studying permutations, combinations and factorials in earnest. To review, a factorial is the product of all the numbers from a given number down to 1. For example, 6! (the exclamation point means "factorial") is 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1, which equals 720. We use factorials to solve permutations and combinations, just like a carpenter uses a hammer to drive a nail. We'll get more into these concepts next week, just like we will also... wait, that's the post for tomorrow. You'll have to come back then and see what's up for next week!

On this past Thursday, we took our first test of the year. The test was a big momentum changer for a lot of kids on the team. Some who were failing my class (can you believe that anyone would fail MY class?) were passing the class afterwards, because they passed the test! Others who WERE passing my class going into the test are now failing the class because they failed the test! Guys, you have to remember, the tests count for 40% of the grade in my class! I would recommend that even if you don't have any homework, that you still study your notes and go back over what we studied in class. Your level of preparation will impact your chances of success. As always, I will give you a chance to redeem yourself if you failed the test. Remember, if you make an 'F', don't TAKE an 'F'. I will let you know when and how you can retake the test if you failed it next week.

So that's it for now! My next update comes either tomorrow or Monday, since we have the three day weekend! Keep checking back for updates! I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll probably fire up my new grill on Monday! See you all soon!