My weblog ELECTRON BLUE, which concentrated on science and mathematics, ran from 2004-2008. It is no longer being updated. My current blog, which is more art-related, is here.
Sun, 01 Feb, 2004
Powering up the Electron
Greetings, Electronic readers!
This is the first installment of "Electron Blue," my Weblog. My own voice now joins the urban rush of virtual sound that makes up what has been called the "Blogosphere." As my logo caption explains, I am an artist who has been captivated by mathematics and physics, and who is determined to learn these things, to the best of my ability and as long as I am able to do so. I do not know how far I will go, but I do know that these endeavors have no end and that whatever I learn, there is always more. I am doing this by myself, from books and Internet, rather than taking courses in any classroom.
You can read the longer story of my adventure up to now by clicking on the links at the "Mathematics and Physics" section of my Pyracantha website. As it is, I start my Webjournal here in medias res ; I am now in my third year of studying mathematics.
In these electronic pages you will read about my studies, and struggles, with mathematics, physics, geology, and whatever other scientific matters catch my attention. I also intend to talk about my own work as an artist and as a connoisseur of classical and electronic music. I hope to bring you interesting notes about music and composers you may have never heard of.
Since I am also much involved with religion and philosophy, I will be talking about those subjects as well, hopefully in a calm and contemplative way. However, it is likely that I will also post some rants, whether about gender, language, culture, or current events. You may find these rants entertaining; but you also are welcome to skip over them.
One thing you will never find in this Weblog is politics. I vote in almost all the elections I can, and I probably have political views, but I don't want to talk about them. Too many other bloggers are only too happy to go on about politics, so why add more verbiage to that stewpot. No politics here.
More than one scientist has told me that the perspective of an artist, with its visual and nonlinear outlook, will be valuable in the study of math and science. I don't know whether this is true yet. I also don't know whether the much-mentioned connection between music and mathematics is true. So far they are just things I have heard about, without much evidence in my own experience.
In my quest for learning mathematics and physics I have encountered many professional mathematicians and scientists who have encouraged me and given me help and advice. I thank all of these "Friendly Mathematicians and Scientists" at the very beginning, and hope that I can remain their friend throughout my journey. And even more thanks go to Amanda Walker, the "Net Goddess," the Webmistress without whose patient help and generosity this entire site would not exist.
Current Math Work
I have been working my way through Trigonometry in the last quarter of 2003 and first half of 2004. Currently I am working on Trigonometric Identities, about the sines, cosines, and tangents of compound angles, sin(A+B), cos(A+B), as well as the (A - B) and tangents of those. After that I have been working with multiple angles, and solving equations involving all of the identities mentioned above. Seems like the key method here is to keep substituting one mathematical expression for its equivalent until something works. I find this section of trigonometry rather dry and formulaic, especially without context, but I know it will be very important for my later studies in calculus and physics. My motto when faced with tough math that I have to learn abstractly is, "The Application will be Revealed to me Later." A kind of mathematical eschatology.
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