thinkstraight27

My nephew is currently writing his O-level exams in 9 subjects, and has already achieved an A* in A level Mathematics, which he wrote last November while studying for his O-levels .

From September, my nephew wants to study A levels in Physics, Further Mathematics, Chemistry and Global Perspectives and Research, along with AS levels in English Literature and Computer Science. He wants to double major in physics and EITHER electrical engineering OR chemical engineering, and knows that this course of study not only features those subjects he deems most interesting, but also meets the entry requirements for any Russell Group university in the UK.

However, my brother-in-law is forcing him to take the IB Diploma instead. My nephew's demonstrably discontented, but is focusing on his current exams. I asked my nephew why he didn't like the IB, and he said, "If I do IB, I'll have to take a foreign language instead of computer science, as well as an additional social science subject. Furthermore, I usually start homework at 6:30 after my extracurriculars and dinner, finish around 9:00, take a break and then review until I'm sleepy. But my friends say that IB gives excessive homework, and if it cuts into my study time, I don't think I can cope. Plus, dad won't listen to me."

I don't know how I'm going to approach my brother-in-law because he gets aggressive when someone tells him about how to raise his kids. Yet, I can't acquiesce after seeing how upset my nephew is. What can I do?

Let's say an internet supplier charges me, the consumer, 100 dollars a month for internet access.

Now, the bill from the supplier for January comes, and it has a due amount of 100 dollars as expected. I decide not to pay this bill because I have no money.

So, the bill for February comes, and it has a due amount of 200 dollars, which comprises the 100 for January which I did not pay, and the 100 dollars for February.

Finally, we come to the crux of my question. If I look at my bill for February, I can call the 200 dollars the CURRENT BALANCE, and I can call the 100 dollars for January the PREVIOUS or OUTSTANDING BALANCE. But what do I call the 100 dollars for February?

Here it is in equation form:

Amount due for February = Amount due for January + Amount due for February.

CURRENT BALANCE = PREVIOUS BALANCE + ?????

I am a non-mathematical person, and have just read a beginner's guide to quantum mechanics, which has only used words to describe the topic. It states that any quantum particle, such as an electron, can move through space according to all the many possibilities it has to choose from, and thus, it is able to exist in more than one place at once, and not even at all!.

But what about the electron in a hydrogen atom. It is attracted to the protons by electromagnetism. Does this attraction cause the electron to lose its ability to exist in more than one place at the same time?

And if it doesn't lose this ability, how can the hydrogen atom still exist if the electron maintains the ability to pop in and out of existence?

Jean enters a room where the room temperature is a constant 30 degrees Celsius.

Jean heats a beaker to 50 degrees Celsius and leaves it in the room. The beaker cools to 30 degrees Celsius, and then cools no further. Explain why the beaker does not become cooler than 30 degrees Celsius.

I understand why the beaker cooled (heat transfer from high to low), but I don't understand why it didn't cool further. Why does it stay at 30 degrees Celsius.

The teacher is asking us about inventions of the Renaissance, and they are too hard.

I mean, did the astrolabe have degrees or just directions? What is that suppose to mean!

What maps were invented? How can a map be invented, don't they just change over years.

Now, he wants us to describe changes in ship design, and the difference between lateen and square sails.

I tried to research, but everything is too hard. What does moving against the ebb, mean? What does sailing into the wind, mean? My dad wanted to send a letter to the teacher, because the project is too hard. The only kid who seems to be figuring things out is the one who has a dad that builds boat. I try to do my homework and projects really good, but I'm only in the fifth grade and I've decided to give up! It's too much!!!

I know that you can say: 'Hace calor', and this means that the weather is hot.

However, I know that you can say: 'Esta ventoso' OR 'Hace viento' to mean the weather is windy.

Here, Esta goes with an adjective and Hace goes with the noun.

So, I was wondering, since the adjective for hot is calido, can you say: Esta calido, to mean that the weather is hot, or will this be a wrong idiom?

While I'm at it, can I say: Esta caluroso to mean the weather is warm as well?

Trust me, the Spanish teacher is NO HELP!!!

Am I writing these English sentences correctly in Spanish:

1. Her eyes are big like her mouth.

Sus lose ojos son grandes como la boca.

2. My mouth and ears are small.

Mi la boca y los orejas son pequenos

3. Her nose is normal-sized, but her mouth is too small.

Su la nariz es normal, pero su la boca es my pequena.

The noun for wind in Spanish is el viento. To say it is windy in Spanish is: Hace viento.

The noun for fog is niebla. I thought to say 'It is foggy' in Spanish would be: Hace niebla.

However, the teacher says this is wrong. To say 'It is foggy' we have to say: Esta brumoso or Hay niebla. I don't understand!

Also, 'to drizzle' is: lloviznar and to say 'It is drizzling' in Spanish is: Esta lloviznando.

However, 'to clear up' is: despejarse and I thought to say 'It is clearing up' would be: Esta se despejando.

However, the teacher says this is wrong. I don't understand again!

I would trust the teacher, but she's proven her incompetence many times. She's always late to class, never corrects homework, pronounces words incorrectly and mixes up her vocabulary (for example, she thought us that beard was: el bigote, when in fact, that is the Spanish word for mustache!)

I just do not know what to do!!!

I left behind Windows Vista for the same problem. No one, including technical support, was able to resolve the 'no audio output device installed' problem on my laptop. I thought that with Windows 7 I had gotten away from this problem. Windows 7 felt like the true successor to Windows XP, unlike the sluggish Vista which has to be the worst OS IN THE WORLD!!!

However, I just turned on my laptop, and now Windows 7 shows the same no audio output device installed problem. I should have just stayed with XP. I'm so disappointed and angry. If I were rich, I WOULD SUE MICROSOFT over this problem, I really really would.

I think that 460=4.6*10^2 in scientific notation.

Well, what is 460.0; isn't that the same as 460 and shouldn't the answer be the same as above? My friend says its not and explained something about significant figures, which I DO NOT understand.

Furthermore, I saw the number fifty written as 50. (that is, the number fifty followed by a period). Shouldn't there be a zero after the period to show that there are no tenths in fifty.

This is all so damn confusing!

I saw this sentence: 'We must needs go,' on the Internet. I assumed it was a misuse of grammar, but one of the English Language text books in the library states that this sentence is valid, and that needs is being used as an adverb.

Well, I don't understand! I mean, can we use this in our everyday language. I heard that it's now acceptable to end sentences in prepositions as long as the preposition serves some purpose in the sentence, and that it is now considered pedantic and even unacceptable to say something like, "With whom are you speaking?" It's now better to say, "Whom are you speaking with?" even if the former is more grammatically correct than the latter.

So, can someone explain how is 'needs' an adverb here, and will it be okay to use it in my essays.

The number is 100 without a decimal point at the end; in other words, it IS NOT THIS: 100.

Now, one person told me that 100 only has one significant figure, the 1, and he says that the zeros in 100 are not significant because they do not have the decimal point at the end.

However, another person told me the question is tricky. She said that 100 can have either one, two or three significant figures depending on how the number is written in scientific notation.

For example, 100 can be written as:

1 x 10^2. Here, it has one significant figure.

OR

1.0 x 10^2. Here, it has two significant figures.

OR

1.00 x 10^2. Here, it has three significant figures.

What the hell is this? Math isn't suppose to be subjective. So, which is the right answer? I HATE MATH!!!

This is exceedingly annoying!

If I say I don't find women who are over six feet tall or under five feet tall attractive, no one is bothered by it. If I say I don't find women who are too muscular or too skinny attractive, no one is bothered by it. However, if I say I don't find women who are too dark or too light attractive, many people are bothered by it!

I'm sorry. I don't find women who are very, very dark and with palms that almost have an orange hue to them attractive. Also, I don't like extremely light skinned women, especially those with flaming red hair. I'm not racist. Racist means that you view one race inferior to the other. I don't think that way. Sure, I don't find those women attractive, but they can do everything just as good as anyone else. It's just a preference. The same way some people like HP and others like Del. It's the same way some people like country music and others hate it.

Someone said that the media has brainwashed me to think lighter skin is better than darker skin. WRONG! I reiterated to this person: I like dark skin, just not very dark skin. I like light skin, just not very light skin. So, he was talking a lot of rubbish by inferring I was brainwashed by the media. It's a preference, and neither will anyone tell me what I can or cannot like, nor will I allow them to call me racist because I like what I like.

Who else has faced such a problem?

First of all, I'm using my bro's account because he says he doesn't use yahoo answers anymore and he literally doesn't care if I take the whole account from him. In fact, everyone uses it to ask tons of questions. Anyway, if I'm going to do a degree, I want three things:

1. A degree where I'm employable upon graduation; which is why I'm choosing engineering vs something like sociology.

2. A degree I can manage; which is why I'm not doing something like math or physics, because I'm just not that smart to deal with all those abstract concepts. I think if I study hard enough I can make do with engineering.

3. A degree whose knowledge will help me in everyday life. This is why I want to do energy systems engineering. Knowing how to convert energy into a usable form is very important to survival. I could figure out ways to reduce my electric bill or build my own generators in an apocalyptic situation. Heck, I may even learn how to build my home in a way that will waste the least amount of energy stored.

What I'm worried about is if energy systems engineering isn't too specialized enough. Many say to major in either mechanical, chemical or electrical and to then do a master's in energy systems. But that's just it! A bachelor's in energy systems draws from all of these fields, whereas a master's will just want you to learn about energy from one of the fields. It's the interdisciplinary nature of the undergrad that I like the most. However, when employer's see a non-traditional/non-pure engineering major, they just don't know what to think of it and don't hire the person.

The last thing on earth I want is to not have a job!!! What should I do?

First off, let me say, I despise grammar because of its rules. If language is used to get your point across, then there are way too many unnecessary rules in grammar which impede this process, and the language defeats its purpose as a result.

Anyways, my 11 year old learned how to change the simple past tense in active voice to simple past tense in passive voice. This is done by changing the verb to its past participle form + placing the past tense of the auxiliary verb 'to be' before it.

For example-

Active Voice: He ate the cookie.

Passive Voice: The cookie was eaten by him.

The verb ate is changed to eaten and was is placed before it.

However, look at this sentence-

Active Voice: The emboldened police officer fought the unscrupulous robbers.

If you follow the rules, this sentence in passive voice should be: The unscrupulous robbers were fought by the emboldened police officer. This does not sound right. It is better to say: The unscrupulous robbers fought with the emboldened police officer. However, this answer does not agree with the rules from changing the active voice to passive voice since there is no auxiliary verb before fought.

So, what is the correct answer? Once again, see how the stupid rules screw everything up.

I was taught in biology that melanin is nature's sun block. African people usually have darker skin (more melanin) because they live in hot and arid conditions which get a lot of sun whereas European people have lighter skin (less melanin) because their locations receive less sunlight, so the lighter skin will allows more sunlight to penetrate for vitamin D production.

Yet, I was watching Discovery Channel and saw the San people (pejoratively knows as Bushmen) and was shocked that there were many of them who were tan. These people receive a lot of sunlight since they live in desert-type areas. They should have the darkest skin, but instead, they're tan. This doesn't make sense! So, what is the benefit of tan vs dark skin in a climate where dark skin is purpotedly the better adaptation?

Also, a lot of the people had epicanthic folds in their eyes giving them a slightly Oriental look and many had huge butts:) Yes, Africans have bigger butts. I'm mixed with African and have a big butt. Usually, a big butt person has huge thighs along with their butt. Instead, these San had butts much bigger than you'd think their thighs could 'support'. I think evolutionists and anthropologists have to review their theories.

I saw on History Channel's 'The Universe' that there is something called spacetime and that Einstein believes that gravity is the result of a massive object, such as a planet, curving this spacetime. However, whilst I believe in space, I don't believe in time.

I'm not sure if i can describe exactly what I mean, but I'll give it a go; I don't believe time is some physical entity that we can measure. The only reason we feel that it is, stems from our use of clocks which gives the illusion that we are measuring it.

In fact, I think time is something that comes from making a comparison between what we experience at one moment to a moment in the past. For example, you will think an interval in time has passed between the moment you have read this question and posted an answer, when you were just really comparing one moment to the other.

I think our brains have evolved this sensation of 'time passing' because we see life as a definite sequence of events that moves forward. This is why in movies when they play the film backwards and you see something like milk moving from a cup of coffee back into the milk carton, you get the sensation that time is moving backwards. But I don't agree that we are moving through some linear passage of time; since time is just a perception.

So, whilst I think gravity may very well be the curving of space, I don't agree that it's a curving of spacetime, since time isn't something tangible and real. Now, I'm not a physicist, and I've always sucked at math - no matter how hard I tried I could only pull off C's - so maybe I just don't have the mathematical knowledge to really understand time, but I still have my common sense and this is what I believe.

Does anyone else agree with me? And if you don't, can you please explain why you don't in a way that doesn't involve too much math, which I'm very bad at? I have no problem being proven wrong. That's how you learn.

Look at this supposedly simple question:

Workers are installing telephone poles in a straight line. Each pair of telephone poles must be 2 metres apart. How many metres will be between the first and last telephone pole if 15 poles are installled and the metres of the telephone poles themselves are neglected?

Well, I couldn't come up with a quick concept. Then, I realized that 2 telephone poles will have 2 metres, 3 will have 4 metres, 4 will have six metres, etc. So, after much strained thinking, I formed a formula:

n=(d/2)+1 ,where n is the no. of poles and d is the distance between them.

I rearranged the formula for d to get d=(n-1)*2.

After plugging in the value of n = 15, I got d=(15-1)*2

=14*2

=28.

Therefore, the 15 poles will take up 28 metres, I think.

What I don't understand is why it took so much effort to come up with the formula? I'm sure there's another concept that can be used to find the answer quickly, but I have no idea how to do it. This question took me a whole half hour and I'm actually mentally exhausted; and if I didn't understand some algebra, I would not have been able to do it at all. Why don't concepts of math come naturally?

I mean, there are other questions with inequalities and even the latitude of the earth that I simply cannot do unless someone shows me. If math is supposedly natural to us, why is it so damn hard. God, I HATE MATH! Why! Why! Why!

Windows Vista was the worst OS I've had the displeasure of using. The taskbar would freeze constantly, the notification icons would not load, the screen remained black when in sleep mode and you had to restart the computer just to get out of it, there was always an unnecessary and constant need to update everything and the final straw came with the dreaded NO AUDIO OUTPUT DEVICE INSTALLED; which stopped my sound from working. Oh yeah, and tech support couldn't do sh!t about any of these problems.

I went back to Windows XP and am very comfortable with it. However, I hear people saying that Windows 7 is the real upgrade to XP, but I'm scared! I don't want to buy Win7 and have a Vista experience. However, technology is constantly upgrading and I don't want to be left behind. What do you guys think I should do?

Her favorite subject is chemistry and no matter what, she is going to major in it. However, she's more comfortable with applied vs theoretical stuff and this is why she wants to major in some form of engineering as well. Unfortunately, she finds the traditional engineering fields too specialized. She says, ' I want to work in either nanotechnology, green energy, biomimetics and biomechanics, pharmacology or experimental physical chemistry; but the traditional engineering fields want you to specialize in one too soon.' She thinks engineering science is great because it gives a glimpse into thoeretical physics and mathematics whilst still being strong in the experimental and practical side of engineering, and is so broad it doesn't pigeonhole her.

For example, if she majored in electrical engineering, she would such at a masters in biomechanics, but an engineering science undergrad with a biomechanics master is a great route. She has an IQ of 140-145, so we know she's capable. Is this a good choice.