The Math Mojo Monthly is Back!

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Maybe you are one of the lucky (such a subjective word!) ones who got the Math Mojo Monthly Newsletter (”Comes out Monthly, Mostly!”) today. I finally sent it out to a few hundred subscribers. I hope you like it. The lesson of the week was about a cool way to convert Celcius to Fahrenheit, and vice-versa.

The Professor is busting his head trying to learn about relational databases today. I’m trying to make sure the site runs smoother by getting my programming skills together. Hotcha!

Speaking of hotcha! - are any of you mathmojoers or mojoettes out there into sudoku? Man, is that addictive! It seems like there is a choice - either get your work done, or get good at sudoku. I’m getting to the “black belt” stage, but s-l-o-w-l-y. Here’s a tip for beginners - you might want to bite the bullet and actually read about some strategy. I know that is helping me a lot. One link for beginners is http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/sudokus/sudokustrategy.php You can find another good tutorial at http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/1/index-e.htm. That last link is a link to the company that made sudoku popular in Japan. Nikoli is famous for having all of it’s sudoku puzzles made by hand.

You may not be aware of it, but a lot of puzzle books have computer-generated sudoku puzzles. Those are usually not as well-made as those by true human experts. One way you can tell if a sudoku puzzle is poorly made is if it is not symmetrical. Some computer programs do not take this into account.
If you feel you have trouble with arithmetic, sudoku is a great way to get over that. It is not math, per se, but it is logic, and relies heavily on pattern-identification. There is no adding, subtracting, etc. If you start slow, with say “mini-sudokus” (sometime known as “sub-sudokus”) you will get the hang of them. They are cooler than video/computer games and much better than television (but so are colostomies, generally). Once you’re hooked, you probably won’t ever be intimidated by things that require that kind of thinking (like math) again.

Just one thing - If you are a parent, it is a great Idea to try to get your child hooked on sudoku. But NOT as a chore, or a challenge kind of thing. If you don’t do sudoku yourself, and try to get your child to do it, that may backfire, just like teaching your kid not to lie did. You have to lead by example.

‘nuff said!

Hotcha!

Professor Homunculus (a.k.a. Brian Foley)

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