Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Majors and Colleges!!



1-The major category in which I'm interested is Biological and Biomedical Sciences - Physiology, Pathology and related sciences.
From that category I have these four areas of interest:

1.) Pathology: It's the study of disease with its causes and effects by examining damaged organs and tissue. It also studies how these diseases deteriorate the human body. There is Anatomical Pathology and Clinical Pathology. I'm interested in pursuing Anatomical Pathology, for I'm going to be able to perform autopsies and examine different tissues. Clinical Pathology is mainly working with body fluids at a laboratory while Anatomical Pathology deals with the gross examination of the organs.

2.) Cell Physiology: It's the study of the physiological processes of cells such as their respiration and digestion and how they keep us alive.

3.) Molecular Physiology: This is the study of the organs of the body and how they communicate between cells and other organs.

Biological and Biomedical Sciences - Animal Physiology.

4.) Animal Physiology: It's the study of the processes and systems that keep animals alive such as the digestive system and respiratory system.



2.-Colleges: I couldn't find any college here in CA but here are some of the colleges that offer the majors that I'm interested in.



The colleges that offer a major in Pathology are

1.) University of Maine:
This is a public university where the majority of first year students (38%) have a GPA ranging from
3.00 - 3.24. It is located in a rural setting at a large town (10,000 - 49,999)
They accept 77% of freshman applicants. However, the tuition for out-of-state students which is $23,876 doubles the one for in-state students. The university offers Bachelor's Master's and Doctoral degrees.


2.) University of Connecticut:
This University also offers a major in Animal Physiology.
This is a public four-year university that offers an Associate, Bachelor's, Master's, Doctoral and First Professional degrees.
A 42% of undergraduates are awarded with scholarships or grants.
They have ESL (English as a Second Language) programs as special study options.
The university seems to accept only those with SAT scores above 540.
The most popular major for an associate degree is agriculture with a 100% of preference for this degree.

- University that offers a major in Animal Physiology:
3.) Texas State University -San Marcos
:
It is located in a suburban setting in a large town (10,000 - 49,999).This is a four-year public university that offers Bachelor's, Master's, Doctoral and First Professional degrees.
It has only 1% of out-of-state students.
The minimum for the ACT is 26 and SAT is 1180 (exclusive of writing) and an admission essay is required.
It guarantees on-campus housing for first-year students :)
They have nearly 300 social, service, religious, political, and professional organizations.


Friday, November 20, 2009

TIP$ AND HINT$

1.- Regarding transformations I try to do them by remembering the parent function. After that I see which part of the function has been "transformed" either the input or the output.
To know if the input is the one altered, I look for any number inside the parenthesis where x is like (2x) or (x+2) . Then the changes for input I know they can only be horizontally or from left to right or right to left because we are playing with the input, which is x, the x-axis.
Sometimes, there might not be a parenthesis and there'll be something like this: f(x)= x+1 so in that case I know that the output is the one being changed because it's not inside a parenthesis.

To know if the output is the one changed I look for numbers around the parenthesis, meaning outside of it
for example: -f(x)=(x), y= 3sin(3x) or y= 2sin(x)+3
The changes for the output I know they'll be vertically because we are playing with the output which is y, the y-axis.
However, there'll be times where there is no ( ) and just something like this : y= 4sin, and still the output is the altered one because it's not inside a ( ) with the x.


2.- Regarding trigonometry, I remember it because I memorized the unit circle. I kind of get confused with the points of π/6 and π/3 but I tried to remember them just by memorizing cosine of one of them, so I'll know that, for example the cosine of π/3 , which is 1/2 will be the sine of π/6 because they switch. Hope I didn't confuse some of you..but that's how I get to remember it,, :).
Also for tanx and cotx, at first I had trouble remembering which was on top so I just said that tanx is the original one so it obeys the rise/run for the slope , therefore tanx will sine/cosine (y/x) and since cotx is the "fake one" (for me) , it'll be the opposite cosine/sine (x/y).

3.- One thing that I still have a hard time doing is the graphing of the trigonometric functions and it gets worst when they have all of the vertical and horizontal transformations because I just get stuck and I don't know where to start. Also, when they have all this transformations I have to have certain points on the x-axis in order to graph them and I don't know which are the right ones to put. I need a tip for this in order to make it easier. I would like to know how to start graphing this and which points I should put on the x-axis :

y= -3tan(3x+π)+2 Help please!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

InVeRsEs :) and logarithms :(

OK I'm being honest here I understood more to the inverses topic than logs because logs have been a pain everytime I take math :-s.

INVERSES.-

1-To find the inverse f^-1(x) of a function f(x) we simply change the x and y of the function and the input will now become the output and the output will become the input.



FOR EXAMPLE:

f(x)= 3x-9

y=3x-9--------switching------------x=3y-9


- Likewise, graphically, the domain of f(x) will become the range of f^-1(x) and the range of f(x) will become the domain of f^-1(x).


-The points of both graphs switch with one another because the graph of f(x) and its inverse f^-1(x) are equally divided by the y=x line, meaning that they are both symmetrical about the y=x line.



FOR EXAMPLE:
f(x)= x^3 + 2


In this graph the point (0,2) lies on f(x), so its inverse f^-1(x) (here its represented by g(x))
will have the point (2,0). Notice the x switches with the y.











2.- To know if a function has an existing inverse (meaning that the inverse is also a function) we use the horizontal line test to verify. If a function does have an existing inverse then we say the function is one to one.

FOR EXAMPLE:






By using the Vertical Line Test we can prove that f(x)=x^2 is a function because it touches the graph just once!








HOWEVER
If we use the Horizontal Line Test on

f(x)=x^2 again, we can see that it doesn't have an existing inverse because it touches the graph more than once!






The inverse of f(x)=x^2 looks like this :

is the x=y^2
Notice that if we do the Vertical Line Test on the inverse function it'll touch it twice so it's not a function!
SO, AS MISS HWANG SAID, THE HORIZONTAL LINE TEST IS DONE IN THE ORIGINAL FUNCTION, THIS CASE
F(X)=X^2 SO WE ARE ABLE TO KNOW IF IT'S GOING TO HAVE AN EXISTING INVERSE BEFORE WE ACTUALY GRAPH THE INVERSE.
In this way , F(X)=X^2 is not a ONE TO ONE function.
LOGARITHMS.- :-(
OK logs are hard for me to quickly understand! But this is what I understand so far:
3.- The inverse of an exponential function f(x)= 2^x , is the logarithmic function of x, f^-1(x)=log2x because if we recall in order to find the inverse of a function we change the y with the x in the function like this:
f(x)=2^x
y=2^x
x=2^y------------------------ When we exchange the x and y , it looks like this being
the inverse!
So, if the inverse of it is f^-1(x)= log2x, it has to look like that also.
f^-1(x)= log2x
y=log2x Remember y is the exponent, 2 is the
base and x is the answer.
2^y=x------------ Yeah it does look like the one before!!!!!
THEREFORE, log2x is the
inverse of f(x) =2^x
4.- From the topic of logarithms I also know that there is this number "e" which is equals to 2.718281....and that its inverse is the natural logarithm ln.
HOWEVER::::::
I don't really understand how ln can be its inverse. First of all ...what is ln besides being the "natural logarithm". Where did it come from???...HOw Can It Be the inverse of 2.718281??
Can someone give me an example on how to solve a problem with ln AND e ?
YEAH EVERYTIME THERE IS ln AND THE THE NUMBER e INVOLVED IN A PROBLEM I GET FRUSTRATED!! :(

Saturday, November 7, 2009

EvEn anD oDD FuNcTiONs

Let's talk about functions. To start off, a function which can be
represented by f(x) is said to be a function because for every input x (DOMAIN) that we put in a function there is always just one single output which is y (RANGE). So, the domain of a function represents all the possible inputs for the x value and the range represents the outputs of the function, which is the value of y or f(x).



There are two types of functions even and odd. An even function is a function that is symmetrical about the y-axis meaning that one side of the function reflects across the y-axis. This type of function is represented by f(-x)=f(x). This means that if you plug -x for every x in the function you end up having the same function that you started with.

For example:
f(x)= -3x^2 + 4
f(-x)= -3(-x)^2 + 4
= -3(x^2) + 4
= -3x^2 + 4 -------you end up with the same
function you started with :)


The graph of that even function is the one below



- We can see that the right side of the function on quadrant 1 reflects on the other, quadrant 2. A characteristic of even functions is that a point (x,y) is on the graph only if the point
(-x, y) it's on it too. In this case we can see that the points (1,1) and (-1,1) are on the graph.








An odd function is a function that is symmetrical about the origin meaning that the function reflects across the y-axis and across the x-axis at the third quadrant. This type of function is represented by f(-x)= -1f(x). This means that if you plug -x for every x in the function the function will end up looking with all its signs opposite to what they were in the original function due to the -1.


For example:

f(x)= 2x^3 - 4x
f(-x)= 2(-x)^3 - 4(-x)
= 2(-x^3) + 4x
= -2x^3 + 4x ------------------- we end up having the opposite signs. It's
like putting a -1 in front ( -1f(x)) and
multiply everything by it.


The graph of the function above is this one





- For odd functions it's kind of hard to tell the reflection across the y- axis and at the third quadrant but it's there. In this kind of functions a point (x, y) is on the graph only if the point (-x, -y), which corresponds to the third quadrant, is there too. In this case the point (2, 8) and (-2, -8) are on the graph.





The odd function below shows the reflections across the y-axis and at the third quadrant.


If you would like to prove these reflections you can do it by tracing the graph of the function on butter paper.

You fold the paper in half at the y-axis of the graph and you can see that the function reflects across the y-axis having a mirror image and the reflection across the x-axis at the third quadrant.

This is f(x)=sinx


















NOTE: A function can also be neither even nor odd. This happens when you plug in -X for every X in the function and at the end you end up neither with the same function you started with nor a function with all the signs opposite to the original.