I'm back

Hello everyone! It has been a while since my last entry since I have been very busy with homeworks and all the stuff. I have liked my career so far. All the subjects I'm taking are very interesting. I have learned a lot of things specially a little bit of words in Latin and nahuatl. The thing is that they are very difficult to say. However, I miss everyone, but I know they are having a great time since i have talked with most of them. Well, I gotta go since I'm really hungry. See you, take care!

Final Math Blog (Sadness is possessing me)

Hello, everyone! It has been a while since my last entry, but I had my partial exams during this week, so I didn’t have a lot of time to post an entry. I must say that I’m exhausted since I had to do not only exams, but also partial projects that certain professors left until the end. Anyways, I have just finished my Math project as I had already told you, but I would like to talk about certain issues or just give a reflection about the whole project, which I found very interesting.

Thanks to the WebQuest, I learned many things about Forensic Science. However, there is one thing I learned the most, which is that details and Math are always together. Through the Webquest I learned that in order to solve the case, I had to consider every single detail, especially, when I was using Math because if I didn’t have the correct temperature, I wouldn’t get all the operations correctly. Therefore, when you are trying to solve any mathematical problem, you need to consider the most minimum aspect that is presented to you in order to get the correct answer, and in this case, find the time of death and the guilty person.

I really liked all the things this WebQuest taught me that I would really like it to be used in other subjects. You may ask, why? Well, the thing is that through the WebQuest a student doesn’t only learn just how to apply the knowledge he or she learned during class, but also he or she learns more things about other subjects and some extra information that he or she may not know and that will allow him or her to know more about the applications of technology and/or Math in a specific topic, just like what happened with this WebQuest.

When I began the project, I thought everything was perfect and that the project didn’t need anything to be corrected, but now, I think that the only thing that was wrong in the project was the duration of the video because when I was watching the videos with my friends, I felt that the stories didn’t have many drama because they had to be very short and if a story doesn’t have too much drama, it isn’t very interesting at all. Therefore, the teacher should let the students make it of 15 minutes since 10 minutes doesn’t allow them to create a very good and entertaining story. Out of this, everything else is just perfect.

In conclusion, the project and the WebQuest were great because they allowed me to learn more things about Forensic Science and to apply Math in a real life situation. I wish the WebQuest would be used in other subjects since it turned out to be very interesting.

Well, looks like this is it for today since I’m pretty tired from the conferences and activities I had today at school and which were pretty funny and interesting. I really had a good time and learned a lot of things not only about Maseca, but also about presentation and myself. See you! Have a nice weekend!

Peace before Partial Exams

Hello, everyone! I’m back again. Another week has passed and pretty fast I dare say. This week was very calmed in comparison with others. However, what always happens is going to happen again. The teachers will leave all the partial projects for this week and my friends and I are going to be full of work, so we won’t be able to rest enough for the exams and we will be like zombies during the week. I hate when the teachers do this because they could have told us about the projects and made the rubrics since the beginning of the partial, but like always, they leave everything for the last and the ones who pay the consequences are us by having a low performance not only in classes but in the exams too.

Anyway, on Monday, I have my math test and even though I saw a few themes during the partial, the ones that I have to study require a lot of procedures in order to get the answer and the graph. I hope the teacher makes an easy test.

Today, I watched all the movies my friends made as a partial project for math class. They were amazing. I laughed a lot with all the movies even though I got a bit tired because there were 14 movies, but they were great. I must congratulate my friends for their great work.

I guess this it for today since I want to go to bed because I’m pretty tired and tomorrow, I have a lot of things to do, in which studying is included. Take care! See you!

Amazing, Tiring and Learning Week

Hello, everyone! This week was amazing, but very tiring. During the whole week, the candidates to be queen organized many activities in order to gain the votes of the students. All the activities were very funny because they were different from other years, especially how Wisy arrived to the school. She really caught everyone’s attention.

As I had mentioned, this week was very tiring. All the teachers overloaded us with homework. Some of them were simple, but others were too complicated in the sense that I had to check every single detail, especially with the story I had to write for the contest the school organized. I didn’t like this contest at all since it was imposed to my friends and me by the school. I don’t like when the school does this. It feels as though it is blackmailing us since it always finds a way to relate it with a subject, so it conditions our grade in that certain subject with our participation in the contest. I must say that I’m not the only one that is bothered with this because this always happens during all the semesters. But today, the teachers had to pay a huge price since now; they had to check all the stories made by the students. I think this was a good thing, so now they will think twice about involving participating in a contest a percentage of their subject because it was a lot of work for them. Moreover, I found this sort of funny since all the teachers were stressed out checking all the stories. I guess they felt how we feel when we have lots of homework and we have to work as fast as possible just to get their homework done. I think this was a good lesson for them.

Also, during this week, my team and I recorded certain scenes for the final project, but the thing is that we got behind schedule because of the tragedy one of our team’s member had, so this weekend we have to work as fast as we can in order to get the project done in time.

Looks like this is it for today, since I have to go to bed because I have to wake up pretty early tomorrow in order for my team and I to record the scenes that we are missing; I’ll be posting a new entry next week , so don’t miss it. Take care! See you!

What a Week!

Hello, everyone! I’m back. I had a good week. I had lots of homework to do and I also had to record certain scenes for my math partial project, but I have to say that my math project has turned out to be really funny. My teammates and I have come up with a great deal of ideas for the filming that everyone will like. However, it has been very difficult to film during the week because everyone has different activities during the week, so our schedules rarely agreed and we didn’t have the chance to film many scenes, but we have pretty good ideas for the video. We don’t know if everyone will think the same, but at least they will be entertained.

This week I have been a little sad because my mom isn’t here. She went to Guadalajara with my brother in order to help him buy certain things that he needs for the house he lives in and that my brother doesn’t have much experience buying. Anyway, somehow I have managed to have everything under control at my house by doing the chores my mom did and now, I can understand why my mom ends pretty tired at the end of each day. Now, I see that being a housewife is very difficult, but I can handle it since I have taken her role in other occasions, so I’m pretty used to it now. The good thing is that my dad and my cousin help me with the chores, but at the end I’m responsible of everyone. I hope my mom gets back soon since I’m not used to be alone at my house. Well, looks like I’ll have to continue with the actual situation, but somehow I’ll survive.

Well, looks like this is it since I have to rehearse for the scenes I’m going to film tomorrow with my team and I have to prepare supper not only for my dad and cousin and me, but also for my aunt and my other cousin that are visiting us right now. Therefore, I leave you for the moment, but I’ll come back the next week with a good entry. See you! Have a good weekend!

C E N E V A L

Hello, everyone! It has been quite a while since I haven’t written in my Blog. The reason is that I had a very busy week, full of homework and I was studying for the Ceneval exam, which I had today. I think that it is good that this exam is applied, but it was pretty tiring since it took me four hours to finish it. I’m completely tired. Also, it was harder than the guide that I used to study for it. The good thing is that I was capable of solving all the math problems that I had really fast, but the grammar part was very difficult. I don’t know why they put it so hard. One of the things that I discovered with this exam was that I like more numbers than letters. I must say that I was really nervous in the exam since there were things that I didn’t know about especially about Biology. I think the problem was that I had a lot of pressure on me since the teachers told us that they were going to count it for our final grades and that I didn’t know certain things because I had never heard of them in my entire life. I know I won’t get a perfect score since it had very difficult questions, but I hope to get a higher one, especially since I tried the I best I could when I was solving it.

Well, I think that’s it for today. I hope I get a good score. I’ll have my fingers crossed. I have to go since I have the TOEFL exam tomorrow and I need to get more than 550 points in it. In order to do this, I need to have a good sleep, so I’m going to bed right away. See you! Have a good weekend!

Vacations

Hello, everyone! After a long week of exams and partial projects, I can finally rest. I am really tired of all the work I had to do during this week. I don't know why teachers always tend to leave the partial projects during the week of exams and don't tell us about them at the beginning of each partial. Apparently, I won't be able to rest completely during my vacations since the teachers have given my friends and I homework to do during vacations. I don't like the idea at all, but I'll have to do it. Also, I have to study for Ceneval, so I'm not going to be able to rest the way I wanted. Well, looks like this is it for today since I'm tired and I want to sleep. See you! Have a nice vacations!

Week 8

Hello, everyone! Here I am again. This week was great until yesterday, that I started feeling pretty sick. Right now, I'm feeling better, but I still feel a litte bit sick. I hope I get better soon since I have to study for my Math exam and also my French one since I wasn't capable of going today to school.

Here, I'm uploading you the Gantt Diagram of my team. I'm very excited since I want to start filming the case. Well, you might wonder what a Gantt Diagram. It is a tool that helps you organize your activities, so you can get them ready in time and plan them ahead of time. I have used it before and it is very effective. Looks like, this is it for today since I'm feeling bad again. See you! Enjoy my team's diagram!

Week 7

Hello, everyone! My investigation about the murder case is going pretty well. My chief, math teacher, has asked me about certain information that is necessary for solving this case. Therefore, I'm presenting you here the following information. Of course, I haven't finished solving the case since there isn't enough information to work with, but this research my chief asked me about is going to help my team and I a lot.

1. What is the Newton’s Law of Cooling?
Newton’s Law of Cooling is the difference in temperature between the temperature of an object and the temperature of the environment.


2. What variables in your problem correspond with the variables in the Newton’s Law of Cooling?
The variables in my problem that correspond to the variables in Newton’s Law of Cooling are:

ü Temperature of the Environment
ü Temperature of the Death Body
ü The Constant K
ü Possible Time of Death.

3. According to this Law, at what time approximately the death happened?

For the moment, I cannot answer this question since the investigation hasn’t finished yet, but as soon as I have the time, I’ll let you know.

4. How does the room temperature affect the time of death?
The room temperature affects the time of death because depending on it the change in the death body’s temperature will occur. This is due to the fact that when a person dies, the blood stops circulating, so the body doesn’t produce more heat and the temperature of the body increases o decreases based on the temperature of the environment, the place where it is.


5. How does an illness (e.g. fever) affect the time of death?
An illness affects the time of death because it isn’t going to be easy to calculate it since the forensic investigators won’t know the temperature of the body before it was killed. Also, the results will vary because of this due to the fact that you won’t get the same time of death based with the temperature of a healthy person and with the one of a sick one, which can be higher or lower than the temperature of a healthy person.


6. How exact is the approximation of the Newton’s Law of Cooling for predicting the time of death?
It has been proved that it provides you with a good approximation. However, it isn’t one hundred percent exact since it won’t give you the exact hour, minutes and seconds in which everything happened. Also, there are many factors involved just to get this approximation, so if you have one wrong, the hour will be wrong, too.

Learning Goals
Since the beginning of this project, I have established some learning goals that I want to achieve during its development. These goals are:

-To know how to apply math for solving a murder case.
-To know how to obtain the time of death with the help of Newton’s Law of Cooling.
-To learn more about Forensic Science.
-To know what objects and factors must be taken into consideration to solve a murder case.
-To know what a Forensic Scientist does.

Well, looks like this is it for today since I have to keep thinking on how to solve the case and hope that I did well in my math quiz, which is related with Newton's Law of Cooling. This week passed really fast and I had lots of homework, so I'm pretty tired. I shall go to sleep in order to do all the things I have to do tomorrow because believe it or not, I'm going to have lots of teamworks, so I won't have a chance to rest. Therefore, I leave you for now, but don't worry I'm going to let you know about the progress I make with the case. See you!

Final Project

Hello, everyone! I'm already beginning my final project of Calculus, so I'm posting all the things the teacher asked us for this entry. I hope you like them. I'm getting very excited with the project. I can't wait to do all the calculations that are needed. I leave you here with all the information that my teacher asked me. I know you will find it very interesting. See you!

Team Name: 21FI

21 Forensic Investigation

Team:

Gabriel Robinson http://pequegaby.blogspot.com/ Math Expert

Alejandra Sanabria http://axela13.blogspot.com/ Media Expert

Silvia Galindo http://silvie4ever.blogspot.com/ Journalist

Alan Ríos http://www.elalan90.blogspot.com/ Media Expert

Sahara de Leon http://www.zaradeleon.blogspot.com/ Forensic Scientist

1. What is forensic science?

Forensic Science is the areas of science and math applications that allow forensic investigators to discover the cause and time of death of a murdered person and who the murderer is. Also, it is the science that is applied in a court of law to find the culprit of a murder.

2. What kind of evidence can be collected in a murder case?

The kinds of evidence that can be collected in a murder case are:

Ø Bloodstains
Ø Some kind of weapon
Ø Trace Evidence
Ø Material Evidence
-Paint
-Glass
-Fibres
-Plant Material
Ø Clues from the Environment
-Collection
-Basic Comparison
-Seeds and Pollen
-Soil and Dust

3. Why is important to determine the time of death?

It is important to determine the time of death because in this way, police officers and forensic scientists can determine who the murderer is since they can compare it with the alibies of the suspects.

4. What methods are commonly used to find the time of death?

The methods that are commonly used to find the time of death are:

Ø Based on the species of bugs that layed their eggs in the body. Example: Blowflies.
Ø Newton’s Law of Cooling
Ø Radioactive Half Life
Ø Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)

5. What factors are considered in Algor Mortis?

The factors that are considered in Algor Mortis are:

Ø Movement and humidity of the air
Ø Clothing and Coverings
Ø The “size” of the body
Ø Immersion in water

6. How does the environment affect the time of death?

The environment affects the time of death by accelerating the descomposition process. By doing this, all the evidence is destroyed, so the forensic scientists have a hard time detecting the time of death due to humidity, wind, water, changes in the weather, heat, among other factors. Also, because of the acceleration of the descomposition process, many insects and animals will detect the body, so they are more likely to eat parts of the body or vital evidence that might help detect the time of death, like an organ. Therefore, the environment affects in a great deal the time of death.


7. What can you tell about the different methods of temperature reading of the body? Do they make a difference in the results?

Not all of the different methods of temperature reading help to determine the temperature of a death body. This is due to the size of the thermometer. For example, if you try to measure the temperature of a death body via oral or axillary, you won’t get a good result since the thermometer is too small not only in size, but in range, too. So, these two methods are useless for this case. However, the other two reading methods are better, which are via an abdominal stab and per rectum. These two last methods are better; since the heat that is produced in the areas the thermometer is introduced in are hotter than the heat produced in the mouth and in the axila.

What is the goal or main objective of the final project?

The goal or main objective of the final project is to let us see the major role math plays not only in daily life, but also in forensic science to know the cause and time of death of a murdered person, which lets me understand that every thing in daily life is influenced by math even nature. Therefore, math can be applied everywhere and this project shows more applications of it.

Exams are Over!

Hello, everyone! I’m back. Finally, the exams are over. It looked like they would never end. This week was a chaos for my classmates and I since we had to study for exams, do partial projects and homeworks.

I’m really happy since I got a good grade in my Integral Calculus Exam. It wasn’t really hard, but I had to be careful with a lot of details. I think that what helped me a lot was that I understood everything since the beginning, so I just had to practice for the partial exam. It was a long test, especially for the lot of integrals that the teacher put us.

However, everything doesn’t end here. I’m already starting a new partial and I have to keep my average since I got a high grade, so I will have to practice more to keep it especially now, that the teacher is giving us more problems that require a lot of thinking, but they are easy. Anyway, I’ll have to do more exercises even though the teacher doesn’t give them to me, so I will make the other exercises that are in the Larson book and put a lot of attention in class since we are learning new formulas.

Well, I guess that’s it for this week since I have to finish getting ready because I’m going to Guadalajara to meet Tec’s facilities there. I’ll let you know later how my trip was, so don’t miss my next blog. See you and take care!

Murder, We Wrote...

I’m back! Somehow I managed to survive this week. Even though it was a short one, it was really stressful since the partial exams have started and on Monday, I have my Math Test, which is really scary, but I know I’ll be fine since I like math a lot. Moreover, I got some good news this week. There is a trip to Guadalajara, so my friends and I can meet the facilities of Campus Guadalajara. I’m very excited about this and that I will be able to see my brother who is studying there. I already told him about it and he is as excited as I am. He says he is waiting for me, so he can show me the city since I have never gone to Guadalajara before. It feels like it has been a long time since I last saw him. So, I can’t wait to see him.

Anyway, there is something I would like to talk about and that is my final project of Integral Calculus. Apparently, one of the teachers has been murdered in the library by a lethal injection, but who did it? There is only one suspect until now and that is Miss X since her fingerprints are on the syringe found along with the body. Although she has an alibi, there are two witnesses that say that they saw her at the library around 9:00 o’clock. Due to the complexity of the case, a group of experts has been gathered to find the hour of death and to determine whether Miss X is guilty or not. I am among the group of experts that has been summoned and let me tell you something, this isn’t an easy case since the evidence has been thrown out due to multilple lab errors.

Don’t worry my readers; I’m sure I’m capable of solving this case. You might not be aware of this, but this case can be solved with the help of Math and based on the Newton’s Law of Cooling. I’m really excited about this project since I can find another area where Math can be applied and I never thought about doing this kind of project at school, especially in Math class. Also, I like this project. I have always liked Forensic Science since I’m a huge fan of the program called C.S.I. Las Vegas and I would never miss a single program. What I like the most of this project is that I will be able to represent the whole scene in a movie, which will let me act as my favorite character of C.S.I., Grissom. I don’t know if I’ll be as good and as fast as him solving this kind of cases, but I’m sure of something. I will solve this case and get a 100 in my project. Of course, it will require a lot of work, but I will be able to learn more about Forensic Science. Therefore, don’t forget to check my blog once in a while just to see what happens with this case and how my research is going since I will let you know about it through my blog. Well, I have to go. See you next Friday!

I have come back!

Hello, everyone! It has been a while since I made an entry, but I was sick and so busy with homework and projects at school that I didn’t give myself any time to write in my blog, so I’m sorry.

This week was really long and full of work. Looks like, the teachers like to make us suffer since they are giving us a lot of homework, especially now that the partial exams are coming closer. I understand that they want to have everything marked before the partial exams, but they should give us a break once in a while because too much work can stress us out and decrease our concentration in class. Anyway, nothing interesting happened during the week, so there isn’t much to talk about, only that my classmates are having a hard time with integrals and they are feeling a little disappointed. On the contrary, I’m really happy since integrals represent a challenge for me and I like that since I can think a lot and apply a lot of algebra. This makes me really happy even though I get a little frustrated because sometimes it takes me too much time to solve certain exercises, but somehow I manage to solve them.

Before I finish, I would like to talk about a quote of a french mathematician named Blaise Pascal. Of course, my Calculus teacher mentioned him in one of her classes last semester, but anyway, I found one of his famous phrases, which I found very interesting and it says “We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others..." This phrase has given me a lot to think about and I can say that it is true. Sometimes when somebody tells us something we don’t agree completely with him/her unless we find it possible through a process made by us. An example of this can be when we do a math problem. Many people can tell us many answers, but we won’t believe the answer is true until we solve the problem ourselves and verify that the answer given by another person or the book is the same as ours. What Pascal means is that we can be told many ideas or theories about many things, but the one that will convince us the most is the one that we find by ourselves whether it is by accident or not. It is just like what people say “Seeing is Believing”. Just to complete what I’m saying, I would like to say that Pascal’s phrase also involves hard work because the hardest we work to find the reason of something, the more we are convinced that our results are better than the ones of others.

Quite a phrase Blaise Pascal wrote. I think I’m going to look for more of his phrases since he was a really wise man. Well, I guess that’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed this entry and wait for the next one. I think it is going to be more interesting since I’m having a long weekend and I’m going to have a lot of fun. See you and have a nice weekend!

Addiction to the Blog

Hello, everyone, again! Apparently, I like this idea of making my blog because I couldn’t wait another couple of minutes to publish a new entry. I’m getting excited by the sole fact that I can write about whatever I think about in this blog, so I’m not going to use this blog just for my teacher’s assignment, so teacher you are going to read about more topics than just yours. Of course, they will be interesting, so don’t worry. Well, maybe sometimes about a couple of crazy ideas of mine, but I think not only you, but everyone can handle them.

But for now, it is time to talk about the quote of Martin Luther King Jr., which I mentioned in my last entry. I hope my readers remember it, but if not, well, this is it. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”This quote has a lot of meaning. It talks mainly about always saying what we think about an issue, whether it is our way of thinking, dreams or feelings because if we always stay silent and we don’t say what we think especially about a situation in which we are involved, we won’t have a life because we won’t be the ones that take control of it and make our own decisions, but someone else will be doing all of this things. Therefore, our life will be boring and without a purpose because we won’t have our own freedom, which makes life special and wonderful. Also, if we don’t say anything about things that matter, it would be as if we weren’t part of this world. I think this quote is perfect for the beginning of this activity because this blog will help us to talk about our feelings, dreams, activities, experiences, among other things and not just Math. Moreover, we would be able to share them with our friends and sometimes we might get advices from them when we have a problem. In addition, to have a good keepsake, so we can remember our last semester in High School.

Well, looks like this is it for now because I have to start getting ready since I’m going out with my friends and some relatives are arriving today, but don’t worry readers, I will tell you about what I do with my friends and relatives in my next entry. I think I will publish it tonight since I’m becoming addicted to the blog. See you! Enjoy this day since it is Friday!

Beginning with the Blog Mania

Hello, everyone! This is the first time I’m using a blog. I have never used one before, so I’m new in this kind of things. Of course, I have a general idea about what it is used for. Therefore, I’m going to write about what happens to me in my life, whether it is about the school or not and about the topics, my Calculus teacher gives me. Anyway, I think the idea of creating a blog for Math Class is a very good idea because if I have a doubt about Math, I can ask it here and I’m definitely sure my teacher or one of my friends will be able to answer it, so I can understand everything about Math. Until now, I don’t have any problem, “Thanks God”, but there might be an occasion in the future that I might. So, now, I know where I can get help even if it is late at night and even read the hilarious entries my friends publish.

Before I finish, there is a quote of Martin Luther King Jr. with which the teacher is beginning this whole blog activity, which is “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” The reason why the teacher is beginning this activity with this quote is that she doesn’t want us to remain with doubts about what we are learning in her subject because she knows that Math is not an easy subject for most of her students, so she wants us to understand everything and if we remain silent and we don’t ask out all our doubts about the topics we learn, we will actually as the quote clearly says begin to end our lives and not only because we might fail the subject, but because our fathers will kill if we don’t graduate.

Well, I guess this is it for now, but there will be more entries.