Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Study Aid Review: The Linear Algebra Tutor - Volume 1

 


This is the first of a two-volume set on Linear Algebra that Jason has put out (in addition to his Matrix Algebra tutor, which contains the introduction to Matrix algebra that students generally get in a college algebra course). In this set, Jason does a quick review of the introductory material and then gets into the content that you will get at the beginning of an introduction to linear algebra course (sometimes called elementary linear algebra or something like that). After going through the "basics" such as n-tuples, matrix arithmetic and multiplication, the dot product, and how vectors and matrices are related, he has several sections on solving systems of equations using both row-reduction methods and using inverse matrices. The second method will be used a lot in engineering courses as multiple classes (like Statics, Dynamics, Circuits, etc.) all require solving systems of equations, which is much easier when using inverse matrices.

To be clear, this set (and even combined with volume 2) does not cover 100% of what you will see in class. They do cover the big topics, but they are meant to be a study aid, not a replacement for going to class. This is best for people who are visual learners who learn best by watching examples. Obviously, you cannot interact via DVD, just rewatch and hope the concepts sink in. But, it is much less expensive than using a live tutor. So, there is a bit of a tradeoff. If used correctly, these will absolutely help you learn the material, and if you are taking a class, will help you boost your grade.

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