A Quirky Maths Exam Question

Well, yesterday was my maths paper. During the paper, one thing that caught my attention (or rather, one 'interesting' thing. I mean, every question in the examination would have taken my attention, and I would also want that to be the case. Or else, I might end up banging my head against the table. Worse still, I end up leaving a bloody mess on the table/wall from a bleeding nose or head - which is really bad and definitely painful. Oops getting off track. Anyway, back to the topic.) was a particular question (hmmm, sounds obvious - what else could it possibly be during the paper?) being asked in the statistics part of it. The interesting thing was, it was probably the most un-mathematical question I've ever seen in a maths paper.

And somehow, it also stimulated the crappy side of my brain to generate some great (or 'great' - ie. great in inverted commas, since such an answer would be seen as great to crappers alike, or 'great' to examiners reading this) answer.

[Note: By reading on, you indicate that you agree on the terms that the author of this blog shall by no means be liable for any damages direct or indirect, physically or mentally, monetarily, civil or criminal (you'll realise why as you read on, if you decide to apply it in an exact situation in real life) or any other forms of possible damages that may arise as a result of usage of any of the information below or part thereof. You also recognise that whatever content you read here is by no means an indication of the moral values and standing of the author of this blog entry as it's at 1:55 a.m., indicating an increase of crappiness over time, denoted by dC/dt, where dC/dt > 0 at night/early morning]

Q: A study is carried out to determine whether an experimental drug developed by a team of medical researchers works better than the simple aspirin tablet in warding off heart attacks and strokes. The study involves 10000 people who have suffered heart attack, strokes, or pain from clogged arteries. Each person is randomly assigned to take either aspirin or the experimental drug for a period of 1 to 3 years. Assume that each person is equally likely to be assigned one of the two medications.

Devise a randomization plan to assign the medications to the patients to the patients (that is, how each patient is to be assigned to take aspirin or the experimental drug). Will there be an equal number of patients on each treatment group? (6 marks)

Initially, there were some questions I had on this question:

1) Based on my medical knowledge, why are only people with pain from clogged arteries in the study? Aren't people with pain in the chest and/or heart with/without pain spreading to the upper jaw and left arm in as much danger (if not, more) of a heart attack as those with pain from clogged arteries?

2) Does aspirin clear clogged arteries? As much as I know, aspirin is a anti-coagulant in blood.

3) Since it's already mentioned that people are randomly assigned to take aspirin or the experimental drug, why am I asked to devise a plan to redo all that's already been done?

4) When they ask me to assign medications, are they referring to the nursing aspect of it (ie. how do you administer a random drug to a patient - which is a serious no-no in the medical line)? Smoke the patient? Force feeding the poor soul with the medication? Or jab it in his IV-line (the water bag and tube that goes into his arm/hand)?... etc.

5) Why aren't the patients asked for/giving consent for experimental drugs being used on them, and instead, I am asked to assign them the drug? The hospital could be sued, blacklisted, people (and quite possibly the poor nurse who was arrowed to administer the drug) getting fired/charged/jailed, news hitting the headlines... etc. Worse still, I may get into trouble if my suggestion was actually taken into account because for some unknown reason, the lecturer simply loved my answer, and someone died as a result.

6) Why do they ask me if there would be an equal number of patients on each treatment group when each person is equally likely to be assigned either drug, meaning 50% would get one and 50% the other and hence there would be an equal number of patients statistically speaking? And from another aspect, isn't that (ie. the number) supposed to be dependent on what they ask me to do - to assign it?

But although I had such queries, I simply couldn't spend too much time thinking about them or asking the invigilators. So, I merely answered that there would be 5000 lots for each medication and they're randomly assigned by someone or asked to pick their lot. I can't remember what else I wrote. But shortly after the paper, my crappy mind generated the following 6 marks answer (in terms of length):

For the 10000 people, they should be split into groups of 4. Gather them in their groups and allow them to play a game of 10 rounds of heart attack (which is an appropriate title anyway). For those who lose, it is based on the least number of wins, and vice versa. If the people in second and third ranking has the same score, they will play 1 round of heart attack among themselves to determine the winner. Should people lose the game (well, losers are the more appropriate bunch to get it since, well, they lost), or get too excited and could not take the stress (and hence quit the game), they would be assigned the experimental drug since they're in a greater danger of a heart attack. In such a situation, they may die anyway, and hence they should try the new drug. Who knows, if the drug is successful, it may even save them. If the drug failed or gave adverse effects, their fate is the same as without the drug anyway.

In answer to "Will there be an equal number of patients in each treatment group" - No. People may die of heart attack after a heart stopping game of heart attack (which is very likely, especially so for those who live to win) and hence, the distribution would most likely be unequal.

Thought: Oh well, I only hope I do not get a heart attack upon seeing my result slip at the end of it all.

2 Interesting Clips That Caught My Attention

Somehow, I hope all the muggings in a*rospace engineering has no parallel to this...

And also, I hope I wouldn't be needing this information after my results come out at the end of my holidays...

Thank You, Lord =)

Yesterday, my friend came over to my hall to study/mug with me, one day before my circuits examination. After we finished our mugging till 11 p.m. or so, I walked him to the bus stop.

Anthony: "Well, I was wondering whether to study with you or Charles today, because yesterday he asked me if we want to study together or not."

GC: "Oh, OK."

Anthony: "But when I was asking the Lord [yep, he hears from the Lord just like Shannon] he told me to study with you."

GC: "What? As in, He specifically told you to study with me?"

Anthony: "Ya. He asked me to go over to your place to study when I was deciding."

GC's Thoughts: "Ooo... that's nice of the Lord. He actually cares for me [well, the Lord does love us and cares for us, but it's the realisation that touched me], especially when I was pretty lost and messed up this semester and cried [not literally] out to Him in desperation.

Conclusion: The Lord is good/caring/great/magnificent/awesome... etc., and this is an understatement.

Status Check

Well, although this is not a crappy post, this is neither a ranting one either. And although I should be blogging less often, hey, one needs to destress too! And at this point of time, I need a break from the huge multitude of equations numbering over a billion (OK, this is an exaggeration, but engineering is bad enough).

Anyway, I was thinking of my possible career path after uni and it dawned upon me that the future isn't too dim in the future even if my grades are nowhere near the usual 1st class honours in my cohort. Basically, regardless of the grades (though they can't be absolutely bad), I could/might still go into:

- A*rospace MRO (maintenence, reliability and overhaul [ie. repair work, although I wouldn't be walking around with nuts, bolts, drills and a spanner, merely overseeing] - with a consistent nightmare of a downed plane = years in prison), research (high grades required) and others (ie. engines, design, materials, structures... etc). The new a*rospace hub that Singapore is going to come up with (in fact, I've got this feeling this course came about because of the hub) is most likely under the MRO category.

- Some non-a*rospace engineering company out there since I am, technically speaking, also a mechanical engineer.

- My dad's business.

- Teaching (well, NIE isn't too far from where NTU is), but for this, I would require tonnes of inspiration from Miss Goh, Matthea, Claudie... etc. And I would want to teach physics although I hated it. Why? Simply because at this kind of level at engineering, Primary school to 'A' levels physics is nothing man. And, I could give physics tuition part time.

- And last but not least, be a classical piano teacher by taking a piano dip =) Yep, it is still suicidal to me, but the grades of this semester will be a good indicator as to whether I'll pick this up. There's no harm in opening more doors although this is seemingly harmful to my free time to better my other aspect of playing =) (Notice only smileys are used here, in this post? Well, as much as people laugh to cope with shock, or smile to cover up for uneasiness... yup, you get the idea)

Well, the above list is by no means in any order of possibility or preference. I doubt I would want to decide on preference at such a time as this. This being said... off I go, back to legal mugging.

Conclusion: I shouldn't worry too much about life since my Big Dad above mentioned that I would neither grow taller nor live longer by doing that.

Language For Thought

Well, I was on my way back from the miracle service, and while I was stoning on the bus (or rather, "while I seemed to be stoning on the bus", because my mind was thinking of random stuff), I wondered why statements like "God is white" or "God is black" were made by people. As I pondered further, I came to a possible conclusion that it could be possible (hmmm, have I mentioned 'possible' already?) that people heard an audible voice in their language from the Lord during their walk, and that gave them that conclusion (I mean, if the Lord spoke chinese to say, a white, he may conclude that the Lord is an oriental. But that would be quite freaky, unless he understands chinese. But note: that's not how the Lord communicates. So you better be worrying if you're hearing strange languages in your head)?

Anyway, as I thought further (and since it was getting late and I was tired), my crappy mind began to wonder how the Lord might have communicated to different people of different races/settings/whatever. And somehow it produced different examples of the similar message:

[Note: This is strictly an example and a guess, and based on the English language because, well, that's the main language I know. And although I am of chinese origin... trust me, you wouldn't want to do something like glyph-reading on my blog entry.]

Example 1: My son, I have heard your prayers and I will answer them. Do not worry about your circumstance.

[and possibly from those that claim the latter statement mentioned above...]

Example 2: Yo sonny, I heard you man. There ain't gonna be no worryin' from you, for I'll solve it, you hearin' me? You be restin' an' done worryin'.

[and possibly from an era, a long time ago, yet not too long ago to be lost...]

Example 3: Thy prayers hath reach mine ears. Take heart, my son, for I shalt thy prayers, answer. Worrieth not of thy circumstance.

As for the other possibilities as to why people would make those statements mentioned earlier on, I guess I'll leave it for another time, another crappy night because, hey, if I ain't be no sleepin' now, you'll ain't gonna be seein' no awake glass cookie come tommorrow's service man...

Mugger Mode Effects.avi

[Glass Cookie (GC) enters the car to meet the professor. Although there was a question in GC's mind as to whether the car belonged to the professor, such questions, as GC has evaluated in a jiffy, are best kept not asked (I mean, who on earth would go up to a professor in a car and ask, "Hi Prof, say... the car that you're in... does it belong to you?"?)]

GC (slightly uncomfortable to be in a prof's car, with a worry of doing something wrong like scratching something): Hi Prof!

Prof: Hi. Now, I have this question for you. Do you remember the shear stress equation: T = VQ/It?

GC: Hmmm, I think so.

GC's thoughts: Well, I've been mugging stuff like that for the past few days. I bet it should be a simple question although he's known to LOVE this subject and creating/asking questions of all sorts.

[Prof brings out a piece of paper with lots of equations and words]

GC's thoughts: Hmmm, not so easy after all.

Prof (pointing at a particular equation): OK, good. So what does the letter 'V' represent?

GC's thoughts: Hey, this question IS easy. I know it, I know it, I...

GC (thinking hard): Hmmm... hmmm... HMMMM... [GC look blankly at the piece of paper]

Prof (with a concerned and I-can't-believe-you-don't-know-it expression): Hey [GC's name], how could you not know? Do you know when's your MOM paper?

[note: MOM is an abbreviation that all engineering students and professors use for Mechanics of Materials. MOM has got nothing to do with my mum (which may be spelt/pronounced as 'mommy' in certain countries).]

GC's thoughts: Hmmm, that would be... tomorrow? Say, is this a rhetorical question? Is he waiting for an answer? Think it'll be safer to indicate it rather than say it.

[GC nods his head]

Prof (somewhat looking shocked): And you can't tell me what's 'V' in this equation?

GC's thoughts: Hey, I bet I know this, but... but...

Prof (trying not to be irritated): Never mind ah (yup, my prof's a Singaporean). I'll give you some time to think about it.

[Prof leaves the car and goes off somewhere, leaving GC behind to ponder over his (ie. the prof's - GC didn't ask anything) question]

GC's thoughts: This is bad. Very bad. R-e-a-l-l-y bad bad bad bad baaaaaaaaaad....

[GC continues to stone at the paper (and definitely not thinking of whether a pair of scissors is required to form the complete components of scissors-paper-stone) and wondering as to why he did not know what 'V' stood for, rather than trying to figure to what is 'V'. Then, the prof returns back into the car]

Prof (with that look which says: OK, I feel that the time I have given you is more than enough to get a satisfactory answer now): So, [GC's name], are you ready to answer my question? What is 'V'?

GC's thoughts: Oh no, this is bad. I bet I knew what 'V' was but for some reason I don't know it. And, I am not ready to answer his question.

GC (looking apologetic): Sorry, I don't know.

Prof (looking obviously irritated): What? You don't know what 'V' is? What have you been doing in this semester???!!!

GC's thoughts: Oh no. Is my paper going to me messed up at this rate? How could I not know? Arrrgh... arrrgh... ARRRRRGH!!!! (it's amazing how GC's mind/brain could contain >200 decibels of 'ARRRGH's without failing structurally with all those vibrations)

And then, I awoke (thankfully), to realise that this nightmare ended around 6:30 to 7:00 a.m. in the morning. And considering that the last time I got up to drink a little water was around 3 plus (I tried sleeping at 1 plus already), my subconscious is definitely not helping me in anyway.

Apparently, my subconscious tried to remind me that I do not know how to derive the 'Q' component well enough in that equation (I shall not describe that equation and start a lecture series when you could simply enter NTU engineering and find that out for yourselves) and somehow, mugger mode, being a beta version, caused my subconscious to assume that I didn't know 'V'. Today's paper was, well, I'm not too sure about it. It was kind of hard to me when everyone else seemed to know how to do it. I guess it's the time of the year where I would start hoping that people around would start scoring badly so that I would pass it decently. And since this paper is a pre-requisite for subjects in future semesters, failing it would definitely cause me to take up a piano dip - for sure.

Thought: Oh well, at least that paper's finally over. Looking forward to a night without physical headaches after suffering that for the past 2 days. And, I need to pray a LOT for this paper now, since it seemed messy/messed up to me.

Buggy Mugger Mode Memory

After chatting online with my piano teacher, I remembered what I wanted to blog about.

Well, this semester hasn't been too smooth a semester with me feeling slightly depressed with everything about studying, feeling burnt-out, jaded... etc. Especially with grades being of great importance to most of the a*rospace cohort (and seemingly bad grades, though acceptable to everyone else who are not in such cohorts, are a no-no-no-no [double emphasis of a 'no-no']), I couldn't help but feel that this semester may end up as a disaster by falling behind further, resulting in a snowball effect affecting my GPA/CAP/mean-point-grade and subsequently my career and all although I still have not much an idea what that would be. And as such, I have considering something that my dear piano teacher has been constantly popping to me.

If you've guessed correctly, yup, it's the suicidal piano dip that I've mentioned before as a fall-back plan. Well, I deeply respect all piano teachers out there in the world but that would seriously be the last thing that I would ever consider considering the freaky piano examinations and all. But with such a depressing semester, somehow this seemed to beckon me to my teacher's (hmmm... how to I phrase this without getting hammered over msn?)... well... proposition. Although it's suicidal, I think I might (and no, this is not a hint that I'm definitely taking it. I'm still considering from time to time) just try it. And just in case some of you are worrying for me - nope, I do not have suicidal tendencies. I called the piano dip something suicidal, not suicide. So, technically typing (refer to the double bracketed statement in the previous post), I'm not considering suicide. Well, to do something suicidal merely indicates something of great danger, not literally murdering oneself. But that's my definition, so you could feel free to disagree with it. Oh well, it's getting late (or rather, 'early' in the morning), so I think I'd better end now and go to sleep.

Thought: Should I or should I not take it up? Arrrgh, IdislikeperformingIdislikeperforming...

Mugger Mode Beta

Now, you might be wondering why I am posting this blog entry when 'blogging' is not in the exceptions list under mugger mode. Firstly (if you noticed), mugger mode is currently in its beta form since I was never a mugger (I do study, but I never believed in studying, studying and studying, and after all the studying, study some more.) and hence, this is something new I'm doing. Secondly, after a day of mugging from 345 p.m. to 11:30 with about an hour or so of a break, I felt that I should now do the things that I want to do. And currently, I feel like blogging (hmmm, that sounded [or rather, 'read'. My level of computing has yet to reach a stage where I could incorporate text and speech in a blog entry. And, if you've heard something with no one around you, you ought to feel a little worried] obvious. Well, I am blogging now).

Perhaps this sounds (or 'read', just mentioned above) weird/contradicting/ironic/nonsensical/whatever-else-I've-not-listed-but-you've-thought-of-it: Here I am blogging when I'm supposed to be mugging and my reason for blogging is due to the fact that I have been mugging. But I'm sick of studying for such a loooong period of time and as a reward to myself, I should do anything (I think I've mentioned this already. And, not literally anything because it may give a hint of lawlessness and madness) I want to reward myself for the crazy stuff I've put myself through. And after all these... well... hmmm... I've no idea what I want to blog about. Yup, this sounds anti-climax.

Oh well, since it's weird to be thinking of what to blog about when I've already blogged halfway (or rather, almost fullway/oneway/completeway/anything-else-that-resembles-half-times-two-way in this case), I think I should end now. I guess this is one of the buggy effects of mugger mode.

Mugger Mode.exe

Command-line CookieSoft Protected Mode Run-time v4.57.1008a
Copyright © CookieSoft, Inc. 1998-2006.

C:\>mugger mode.exe

Running this program would require you to restart in safe mode. Do you wish to continue? Y/N: Y

Please wait while the system is restarting...

CookieSoft Safe Mode Run-time initiated.

Loading system drivers... 100% complete
Loading database drivers... 100% complete
Loading system database... 100% complete
Loading executables... 100% complete

Running Mugger Mode.exe...

Please enter your commands:
Mugger Mode>open mugger mode menu

Warning! Activating mugger mode would cause the system to be unstable, and certain programs will not function properly. Do you wish to continue? Y/N: Y

Please enter your password: *********

Password accepted.
Welcome glass_cookie. Please select and enter your choice:

1) Enter exceptions
2) Shut down mugger mode (not available)
3) Exit without saving changes
4) Exit and initiate mugger mode

Choice number: 1

Please enter the items that you wish to protect from mugger mode and type exit to save:
- mp3s
- M&D
- transcriptions
- piano
- exit

Saving... please wait...
Entries saved.

Please select and enter your choice:

1) Enter exceptions
2) Shut down mugger mode (not available)
3) Exit without saving changes
4) Exit and initiate mugger mode

Choice number: 4

Warning! Please read the following carefully. You have chosen to exit and initiate mugger mode. By doing so, programs not included in the exception list may not function properly. Should the system be unstable, turn off mugger mode to revert the system back to normal.

Do you wish to continue? Y/N: Y

Please enter the system password to initiate mugger mode: ************

Password accepted.

Confirmation required. Are you sure you wish to continue? Y/N: Y

Initialising mugger mode...

System check... 100% completed
Processing system files... 100% completed
Processing restrictions... 100% completed
Processing mugging executables... 100% completed
Processing system database files... 100% completed
Directing resources to Lecture notes and tutorials... 100% completed

Mugger mode initialised. For the system to function properly, you would need to restart. Would you like to restart now? Y/N: Y

Please wait while the system is restarting...

CookieSoft Mugger Mode Run-time initiated.

Command-line CookieSoft Mugger Mode Run-time v1.0 beta
Copyright © CookieSoft, Inc. 1998-2006.

C:\>rome total war.exe
Executing 'rome total war.exe'...

Warning. An illegal exception at 0xFFE45233A has occurred in mugger.dll. This program will be terminated.

Press any key to continue...

Warning. The fatal exceptions in mugger.dll have occurred at the following addresses:
0xFFE45233A 0xFFA45233B 0xFFEAC562 0xFDEA35CD
0xFEE352D31 0xFAE452196 0xEFDAC12E 0xDDEA0001

The system has become unstable and may not function properly. In order to protect the system, shut down will be performed in 30 seconds. After the shut down, restart the system and try again.

30...
10...
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...

Shutting down... please wait.

Shut down complete. It is safe to turn off the power now.

=\

This is quite bad. No, quite bad is an understatement. Rather, this is terrible =\ For the first time in my uni life, I failed my a*rospace dynamics CA. Perhaps this is no big deal to many people, but the consequences of failing an a*rospace CA (getting a 33% when the average score is at 80%) is beyond imagination, especially when this module is graded (bell curve and all) only against people in my cohort. Moreover, I thought that I knew how to solve the paper. Looks like what I thought I knew isn't supposed to be what I thought it to be.

At this rate, I'm going to be crapped up. Perhaps this is too painful an experience to wake up from one's idea that things may turn out OK after all. Things are far from OK. I need to do something drastic. ARRRGH!!! I'm beyond exasperated =
Thought: I need a miracle.

Froggies Sequel/Part 2

It was another night when I did my jogging again. As usual, I saw the outline of some figure of a lump ahead of me and as I passed through it, and it wasn't surprising that it was another frog again. But if you're thinking that I'm merely reiterating the previous post, nah... I'm not that bo liao (well, I noticed it's rare that I employ another language to better describe something. I just can't think of that exact english word for now).

As I was saying (or rather, 'typing' in this case. My roomie would think that I'm mad if I were speaking to my laptop), I passed through the frog but this time, but I noticed that it was lying on its back. At the same time, it looked flattened and obviously lifeless. Hmmm, I guess my previous conclusion about frogs was accurate.

Conclusion: Although the intelligence of frogs leaves much to be desired, their cloaking abilities are definitely nothing less than outstanding (so much so that it killed the froggie).