The Holy Grail Of Searching Through Academic Literature Is Coming Across A String Of Publications That

problem solving tips that actually worked for me

Hey there!

If you have a math, or science related subject (like I always do), you’ll find that you really can’t escape analysis and problem solving, especially if you’re majoring in something science or maths related. So I am here to share some tips that actually made studying technical subjects a little bit easier and manageable for me in college:

Practice solving. If you have a subject that requires you to solve, you really have to practice solving, there is no easy way out of this one. This allows you to develop your own technique in solving the problem. You can start by doing the problems you did in class, then venture out to some examples in textbooks, then further into the problems in the textbooks until you get the hang of how the concepts and theories are applied. 

Listen during class. I know, it’s boring. But you have to do this. This way, you’ll be able to understand the topic once it is presented to you. In my opinion, it’s better if you let an expert explain it because they know the important bits in the lesson. Then study it afterwards on your own to develop your own techniques.

Ask your professors. Don’t be afraid to ask questions in class. Or if you’re shy, you can ask them after the class. However, it’s important that you ask them about the lesson when you already did your part; meaning: you already studied the material/solution over and over again but there’s just something that you can’t seem to grasp. 

Study before the class. Studying the lesson in advance doesn’t hurt. Plus, it works because you already have an idea about it. However, I don’t do it usually. What I do is that prior the discussion, I study the lessons that are going to be essential to the next topic. Example: Say that our topic later will be about introduction to thermodynamics (which includes derivation of various thermodynamic formulas); what I’m going to study instead is the different integration and derivation techniques, and different basic thermodynamics concepts like laws of thermodynamics. This ensures me that I know the prerequisite lessons of the next topic in class.

Absorb the conceptual parts of the topic first. Before diving into the problems itself, try to digest the concepts or theories behind it first. This way, you can understand which information is important and easily think of a solution because you know the problem’s framework. Even when your professor gives you a problem that seems different from your other sample problems, the concepts will still be the same throughout.

Reverse engineer the solution. Reverse engineering is reading and understanding your solution from bottom to top. I do this to make connections while going through the solution. I usually ask myself “‘where did this come from?’, ‘why did this happen?’, or ‘why is the answer like this?’” It allows me to look into the parts that I missed which are usually concepts or theories that I forgot to apply in solving the problem.

Look for key terms or phrases. There are some problems that put in information that may seem unimportant, but actually is really important. Examples such as the phrases constant velocity, constant acceleration, starting from rest, accelerate uniformly, reversible isothermal, adiabatic conditions, isobaric/isochoric compression/expansion, etc., are easy to miss but actually gives you vital information especially when solving a problem.

Try to ask yourself how or why it happened in every step of the solution. You can do this to gauge your mastery of the lesson. If you can answer yourself confidently, then you’ve studied well enough. But, if you can’t or if you feel that it’s not enough, then you better get your pen, paper, and calculator to practice some more.

If you have to draw it, draw it. Some problems need the use of your imagination, and these problems are the ones that get tricky most of the time. It’s easier to draw each of the time frames that are important so you get the sense of what’s going on between these pictures. This way, you’ll know which information you’re missing and which ones are you failing to take into account.

It’s okay to be messy and slow while practicing. Not all of time you can solve in a tumblr-esque manner because, dude, tumblr notes or solutions are soooo pretty to look at, BUT, what’s more important is that you understand each step of the solution and how the answer came to be 8.0658 m/s directed 32° south of west. So it’s okay to have dashes, strikethroughs, and crosses on your scratch paper, as long as you’re learning, a messy solution on a paper you’re not going to submit to your professor is fine.

IF YOU’VE REALLY GOTTEN THE HANG OF SOLVING IT, try to solve a fresh set of problems as fast and accurately as you can. Try to solve as if you’re in an exam. This is also to gauge how well you’re prepared for it, but you need to do this accurately. I repeat, accurately. It doesn’t work if you’ve finished it in less than an hour but all of your answers are wrong.

Rest. If you know that you’ve done a good job, then take your mind off of everything first and let it wander to wherever it wants to wander. You deserve it ✨

another go at the eagle nebula

I know that you've already done it but would it be possible if you did more coffee shop prompts? Or give some prompts on entering inside the coffee shop?

Coffee Shop Prompts

Dialogue Prompts

"Do you come here often?" "I work here, so what can I get for you?"

"I will not drink whatever you just ordered for me. That would be considered torture under the Geneva Convention."

"Why would you come to a cat café if you're afraid of cats?"

"That is enough caffeine for one day, I'm cutting you off."

"You can't just connect your phone and change the music, just because you dislike my playlist."

"That is the worst way anyone has ever spelled my name."

"Yes, you can sit here, but I'm not a small talk kind of person, so don't try."

"I'm not getting paid enough for this." "You say that at the slightest inconvenience." "And I'm always right."

"So sorry I spilled your coffee, let me get you a new one."

"I've never seen so many people here." "Well, we have Wi-fi and we have air conditioning, the people love us right now."

Text Prompts

The place is always packed when they get their daily coffees, so even though they start off as strangers, they quickly decide to always share a table because they are both here every day and the first one there reserves a chair for the other one.

The morning shift starts at 5:30 and one of the workers can always be found singing and dancing around the café before opening. They say they need it to wake up properly.

The coffee shop has a very limited selection of tea and they still need ages to decide what they want.

One of the baristas has a crush on a customer, but is too shy to say anything or even serve them, so their colleague takes matters into their own hands and write little notes on each of the customer's orders, hyping their shy colleague up to them.

The baristas are bored and start planning their career as matchmakers to get some of their regulars together.

They're not really trying to listen in on their customer's conversations, but their argument is just hilarious.

It's like a game between them, the customer orders an outrageous drink and the barista writes a very bad pick-up line on their order.

The owner of the café has their own band and when they're in they exclusively play their own songs.

They really want to close the coffee shop up, but first they have to wake up the one customer who fell asleep on their table.

Their newest hire is academically way too overqualified, but they never worked in the food service industry and it definitely shows.

More: Coffee Shop AUs + How to create a coffee shop atmosphere

Introducing Scientist Maker 1.0, a mini dress-up game promoting visibility of science in visual media! You can customize your scientist’s eyes, facial expressions, hairstyles, and give them science-y accessories!

Here we have a chemist, an astrophysics student, a environmental science student, a math student, a programmer, and a microbiologist!

The website is here: https://picrew.me/image_maker/634561

Picrew

Scientist Maker

'Are you made of copper and tellurium? Because you are cute.' Smart is the new cute! Unleash your inner geek and make your scientist person

Any non-commercial uses are welcome! Please credit @alchemysciviz if you are using it!

Mucus Buster

Everyone's got lingering congestion this year, so as someone who's no stranger to phlegm, and inherited the folk wisdom of a stage actress (the show must go on!) I share with you my recipe for making things better:

2L water

the juice and rind of one lemon (just dump the juiced rinds in, don't zest them, you maniac)

a small thumb of fresh ginger, sliced in coins

about a dozen cloves, some star anise, peppercorns, and maybe whole cinnamon or allspice or whatever else you like, in a tea ball (except the cinnamon if it doesn't fit, obvs)

good dollop of honey, to taste

Bring the water to a boil then dump in all the stuff. Keep it hot but not boiling – a slow cooker is good for this. Keep this pot on a low heat all day and serve yourself a mug every so often, adding water as necessary. At some point you will need to add a new lemon and some more honey, but the spices can generally carry over two pots if you're drinking it regularly.

The acid helps clear the gunk, ginger is good for the circulation, and clove/aniseed/pepper have some sort of decongestant/soothing properties. Honey is both nice and antiseptic, and apparently is a cough suppressant as well? Anyway, I just got over another run of Covid and this was wasn't 100% effective but it worked better than phenylephrine.

100 days of productivity

starting 25th October 2023 ending 2nd February 2024

Rules

Success or failure -- just show up

No #ZeroDays -- No matter how hard it feels, do a little thing, a bare minimum. Don't let any day become a zero day

Do at least one PhD-related task everyday

Read a journal article everyday. Skim, AIC, full workout - anything

Weekends are excluded, but counted -- because rest is productive

Learn & practice mindfulness

Take two pictures everyday to represent the day (post them here)

Accountability

Daily update of task list here. Perfection is the enemy of done. So don't overthink, just post - even if it feels half-baked.

-----

I’m currently in the final quarter of my PhD. I feel quite demotivated and I find it hard to gain momentum. So I thought I'll take up an accountability challenge to help me stay motivated and eventually build a routine.

If you are already doing a 100 days of productivity challenge, or would like to take on one, please do comment/like this post. I'd love to have some company and inspiration! Please help me find similar accounts! <3

Eight Ways to Remember Anything by Alex Lickerman M.D.

Reference: Research-based strategies to boost your memory and keep it strong via psychology today

I would like to add a category to the academia aesthetics called Realistic Acedamia and it's where you show up to class everyday in jeans+hoodie with dirt cheap coffee and reduce Serious Conversations About the Nature of the Universe to memes.

Also includes messy handwriting, a collection of ugly free pens you got from library events, and complaining incessantly about your chosen area of study

The tails of Comet NEOWISE!! Comet’s usually have 2 tails that always point away from the Sun.

Here, NEOWISE’s blue ion tail on the left points directly away from the Sun and is pushed out by the flowing and charged solar wind. Structure in the ion tail comes from different rates of expelled blue-glowing ions from the comet's nucleus, as well as the always changing structure of our Sun's wind.

The other tail, the dust tail, is pushed out by sunlight, but curves towards its orbital path as heavier dust particles are better able to resist this light pressure. Comet NEOWISE's (Comet C/2020 F3) impressive dust-tail striations are not fully understood, as yet, but likely related to rotating streams of sun-reflecting grit liberated by melting ice on its 5-kilometer wide nucleus.

Image Credit & Copyright: Zixuan Lin (Beijing Normal U.)

Hey @infinitesimally-smart, have some shapes