Fuck this stupid fucking Statistics fucking class

[Crazy Lee 1116]

FUCK STATISTICS.
that is all.

 

No but seriously, this class is fucking hard. I literally read about 1 hour of material a night with this class and still can't fucking absorb anything about it. And it's a god damn REQUIRED class if I want an IT degree. Even though it has diddly fucking squat to do about IT or computers.

And this teacher literally has me doing two practice quizzes (10 questions), two homework assignments (30+ questions), and two exams (10-20 questions) a week (thankfully for only one chapter a week, but SERIOUSLY).

And, for the last straw, midterms are this week, and this cuck of a teacher tells me I can't use my calculator in the midterm. I have a TI-89 I bought several years ago for Calculus I (which isn't even remotely as hard as this class). The TI-89 isn't allowed for my class. I can have a TI-84 and ONLY a TI-84. A $100 calculator on Amazon.

Yea, after paying $150 fucking dollars for a book with an online code I'm not spending another $100 for a fucking calculator that I have a better version of. Fuck you. No...

FUCK YOU.

I think I've determined that College is only designed to screw you over, steal your money, fuck you in the ass, and leave you bleeding on the corner while you slowly die, and you're left with debt and a shitty underpaid job.

[WileyWarWeasel 466]

Inb4 someone says "well if you can't get a job that pays just above minimum wage and has dozens or even hundreds of desperate college graduates with $100k+ student loans applying for it too bad".

If you're interested I can provide references to historical documents relating to education, particularly in the USA (though the western world in general has followed a similar track) to give you an idea of how education ended up in this state.

[AshleyAshes 1073]

Whoever at TI came up with that calculator series deserves a fucking MEDAL.  It's brilliant.  So many educational programs have their own RIDGID requirements that only allow specific TI model calculators and it's ONLY the ones from TI too.  They ALL use the same 30+ year old Z80 or 68000 processors and a few KB of RAM but they STILL sell for $100 even when they have a FRACTION of the performance if an equally priced off brand chinese made Android phone.   That guy better have a boat made of solid GOLD.

[Zaraphayx 5372]

On 3/18/2018 at 8:29 PM, Crazy Lee said:

I think I've determined that College is only designed to screw you over, steal your money, fuck you in the ass, and leave you bleeding on the corner while you slowly die, and you're left with debt and a shitty underpaid job.

Drop out then.

[Faust 1601]

On 20/03/2018 at 2:03 AM, AshleyAshes said:

Whoever at TI came up with that calculator series deserves a fucking MEDAL.  It's brilliant.  So many educational programs have their own RIDGID requirements that only allow specific TI model calculators and it's ONLY the ones from TI too.  They ALL use the same 30+ year old Z80 or 68000 processors and a few KB of RAM but they STILL sell for $100 even when they have a FRACTION of the performance if an equally priced off brand chinese made Android phone.   That guy better have a boat made of solid GOLD.

Nah, it's just a self-fulfilling prophecy isn't it? You need a TI calculator for the course, therefore everyone on the course has to buy a TI calculator. No matter how old the design gets, and no matter how many better calculators there are, there will always be a market for TI calculators. This will continue until someone breaks the cycle by changing the course requirements, and since that probably requires action at the top of the pile, in the policy setting department, it ain't likely to happen quick. TI aren't going to stop making a model that sells.

In the UK, the specification is usually for a 'scientific calculator with a graphing function' - Texas Instruments make most of the recommended models, but you're not restricted to that model and there are lots of cheaper variations.

I fondly remember teaching mine to play noughts and crosses when I was bored waiting for the end of a mathematics exam.

- F

[Troj 994]

Course requirements are, in my estimation, a fucking racket. It's basically a-grossly overpriced game of Russian roulette. I'm sorry.

For future reference:

https://www.campusbooks.com/

https://www.cheapesttextbooks.com/

https://www.bookfinder.com/textbooks/

https://www.quora.com/What-are-good-resources-to-learn-statistics-online

Also, it seems to me like a phone app could theoretically do everything one of those clunky Texas Instruments calculators can do, so it just comes across as a waste of money intended to just keep Texas Instruments afloat as a company.

I really resented having to pay so much for SPSS.

As for the topic itself:

I recommend the "Discovering Statistics" books by Field. I mainly used the one for SPSS. Field is a clear, funny, engaging writer, and his explanation of things helped me to get through by the skin of my knuckles.

https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/resource-statitics/

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/learn-statistics-free-6-resources/

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/statistics/index.htm

 

[Faust 1601]

2 minutes ago, Troj said:

Also, it seems to me like a phone app could theoretically do everything one of those clunky Texas Instruments calculators can do, so it just comes across as a waste of money intended to just keep Texas Instruments afloat as a company.

As a professional iPhone developer, I can categorically state that yes, it definitely could, and probably to a greater degree of accuracy if necessary.

- F

[Crazy Lee 1116]

So, crisis averted. Even though my teacher was telling me I couldn't use my TI-89 in my midterm, I walked into the testing center expecting that I could just ask them if they loan out calculators, or if they had ones to borrow in the library. They took one look at mine and handed it back. I was able to use it.

Worst part was when I was eyeballing the syllabus and discovered said midterm was only 10% of my final grade....

..... My midterm was TEN PERCENT OF MY FINAL GRAOUFLSDLUG#)$SF)*SF)*)$#*@#)$SDF!!!

 

Oh, did I mention I hate this class.

13 hours ago, Zaraphayx said:

Drop out then.

Yea, see, but our society made some silly little rule that you have to have some expensive ass piece of paper from some crappy public government owned school where there's a required gen-ed class about gender studies or some shit JUST to get a white collar job that pays more than 30k a year.

 

8 hours ago, Troj said:

Also, it seems to me like a phone app could theoretically do everything one of those clunky Texas Instruments calculators can do, so it just comes across as a waste of money intended to just keep Texas Instruments afloat as a company.

It seems that they don't like you using phone apps because you could just google the answers on your phone. That at least seemed to be the reason why they banned cell phones in the testing center.

[Troj 994]

1 hour ago, Crazy Lee said:

It seems that they don't like you using phone apps because you could just google the answers on your phone. That at least seemed to be the reason why they banned cell phones in the testing center.

Ohhh, fair point.

Still, it seems stupid and potentially classist to make people pay a hundred dollars for an old, outdated device that they'll likely only use in class.

Wonder if there's some third way.

[AshleyAshes 1073]

27 minutes ago, Troj said:

Ohhh, fair point.

Still, it seems stupid and potentially classist to make people pay a hundred dollars for an old, outdated device that they'll likely only use in class.

Wonder if there's some third way.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Drop-Shipping-Graphics-Calculator-Portable-School-Students-Scientific-Graphing-Calculator-For-Graphics-Teaching/32847949706.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.14.4c022be9pO5XGD&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10152_10151_10065_10344_10130_10068_10342_10547_10343_10340_10548_10341_10696_10084_10083_10618_10139_10307_5711211_10313_10059_10534_100031_10103_10624_10623_443_10622_10621_10620,searchweb201603_6,ppcSwitch_7&algo_expid=6e57a741-999d-4593-bc1b-f1061ed68a82-2&algo_pvid=6e57a741-999d-4593-bc1b-f1061ed68a82&priceBeautifyAB=0

 

Chinese clones?  Though You'd DEF wanna do your research there.  Say what you will about the TI calculators, they are STUPID well documented, so you better hope that your no name Chinese one works and doesn't have any odd bugs in it's firmware.

[Faust 1601]

7 hours ago, Troj said:

Wonder if there's some third way.

Permit the phone app outside of the exams, distribute standardised calculators to all desks during the examination so that all participants have a level playing field.

[WileyWarWeasel 466]

51 minutes ago, Faust said:

Permit the phone app outside of the exams, distribute standardised calculators to all desks during the examination so that all participants have a level playing field.

In a school in a society built around the Matthew effect? Hahahahahaahaa

[Faust 1601]

21 hours ago, WileyWarWeasel said:

In a school in a society built around the Matthew effect? Hahahahahaahaa

Yeah you're right, Apple and Samsung don't have enough money or reputation compared to the commercial might and far-reaching insight of Texas Instruments

[WileyWarWeasel 466]

2 hours ago, Faust said:

Yeah you're right, Apple and Samsung don't have enough money or reputation compared to the commercial might and far-reaching insight of Texas Instruments

TI dominates certain markets just like Samsung and Apple dominate certain markets

EDIT: and good luck to any actual NEW companies trying to break into areas secured by TI/Apple/Samsung/etc

[Faust 1601]

2 hours ago, WileyWarWeasel said:

EDIT: and good luck to any actual NEW companies trying to break into areas secured by TI/Apple/Samsung/etc

Yeah, that's totally true, sadly

That's kinda why I love KickStarter. Won't help this situation, but it's great in others..

[WileyWarWeasel 466]

3 hours ago, Faust said:

Yeah, that's totally true, sadly

That's kinda why I love KickStarter. Won't help this situation, but it's great in others..

Forgot about KS, yep it's great for some types of projects ;3

[Wrecker 372]

i had more fun fucking around with my calculator in math class than learning math... i miss those days.

[Zaraphayx 5372]

On 3/21/2018 at 4:57 PM, Crazy Lee said:

Yea, see, but our society made some silly little rule that you have to have some expensive ass piece of paper from some crappy public government owned school where there's a required gen-ed class about gender studies or some shit JUST to get a white collar job that pays more than 30k a year.

No you just want the shortcut and are willing to pay a bunch of money you don't have for it while also acting like you're getting the raw end of the deal. College is a 4 year vacation/IQ test where you demonstrate you aren't retarded and can commit to meaningless work for extended periods of time without flaking out.

My mother didn't go to college, she worked menial labor for almost two decades from the time she was 16 until she ended up in restaurant management where she made over $70,000 a year.

My voice instructor is a felon with a GED who owns two houses and operates several recording studios in my city.

A friend of mine graduated from high school 2 years before me and went right into a carpentry apprenticeship and now runs his own construction company in New York City; I went to college, have three degrees, and he makes more than I do.

Oh yeah those aren't "white collar". Well I hate to be the one to bring you the bad news but if you want white collar work you better learn to love time-wasting bullshit that has nothing to do with your interests or even your job title. You better learn to eat, sleep, and drink pointless procedure and jump through hoops for certification to please your HR masters.

You want to work in IT? Do you know what CompTIA is? You think paying $100 for a calculator is unreasonable, wait until you have to shell out hundreds of dollars to take tests to prove you can do any of the things you're going to school for if you want a job that isn't Helpdesk Technician I for $15 an hour.

I can't believe I keep having to say this to people older than me, but welcome to adulthood jackass. No one gives a fuck about you; everyone is trying to grind you up into a big pile of money and serve themselves the biggest spoonful of it possible. I'm sorry your parents were inadequate and didn't teach you this but here I am to shed light upon your situation. The educational system does not exist to help you get a job, it offers you a marginal competitive edge in the job market as a byproduct of selling you an education. Which means you will occasionally have to suffer through learning some material you find challenging, boring, and meaningless.

Also statistics isn't hard lmao you're dumb.

[Tsuujou 4189]

10 hours ago, Zaraphayx said:

My voice instructor is a felon with a GED who owns two houses

Gee Bill, how come your mom let's you get TWO houses?

[Victor-933 1845]

16 minutes ago, Tsuujou said:

Gee Bill, how come your mom let's you get TWO houses?

[Faust 1601]

On 25/03/2018 at 9:57 AM, Zaraphayx said:

You want to work in IT? Do you know what CompTIA is? You think paying $100 for a calculator is unreasonable, wait until you have to shell out hundreds of dollars to take tests to prove you can do any of the things you're going to school for if you want a job that isn't Helpdesk Technician I for $15 an hour.

...

Also statistics isn't hard lmao you're dumb.

You Americans have some funny regulations. I don't have a university degree and I'm a full-time software engineer working with big multinational companies. What people need in this industry isn't a fancy piece of paper, it's experience. That's the golden ticket over here. I got my job based on a silly little application I built for my own amusement. That, and specialisation. Find an area of the market you want to work in that's currently understaffed and make yourself competent enough to pass muster. If there aren't enough experienced uni graduates to go around, sooner or later someone will take a chance on a talented amateur. It was mobile phone programming that did it for me. Two years after the iPhone launched, everybody wanted one but there weren't any to be found.

...and statistics can be very hard if you're doing it right. It's easy to make statistics dance to a tune you have in your head, you can make them say anything. What's difficult is finding out what they really mean, and that means not only putting aside unconscious bias but also taking into account the environment in which they exist, all the potential contributory factors, all the data that might be missing... and that's before you've even pick up a calculator.

- F

[Zaraphayx 5372]

2 hours ago, Faust said:

You Americans have some funny regulations. I don't have a university degree and I'm a full-time software engineer working with big multinational companies. What people need in this industry isn't a fancy piece of paper, it's experience. That's the golden ticket over here. I got my job based on a silly little application I built for my own amusement. That, and specialisation. Find an area of the market you want to work in that's currently understaffed and make yourself competent enough to pass muster. If there aren't enough experienced uni graduates to go around, sooner or later someone will take a chance on a talented amateur. It was mobile phone programming that did it for me. Two years after the iPhone launched, everybody wanted one but there weren't any to be found.

...and statistics can be very hard if you're doing it right. It's easy to make statistics dance to a tune you have in your head, you can make them say anything. What's difficult is finding out what they really mean, and that means not only putting aside unconscious bias but also taking into account the environment in which they exist, all the potential contributory factors, all the data that might be missing... and that's before you've even pick up a calculator.

- F

I highlighted the operative phrase here. I'll let you do the rest of the thinking since you fancy yourself good at it.

[Faust 1601]

1 hour ago, Zaraphayx said:

I highlighted the operative phrase here. I'll let you do the rest of the thinking since you fancy yourself good at it.

And I'll leave the ad hominem attacks to you, since you're so fond of them

[Faust 1601]

4 hours ago, Faust said:

Find an area of the market you want to work in that's currently understaffed and make yourself competent enough to pass muster. If there aren't enough experienced uni graduates to go around, sooner or later someone will take a chance on a talented amateur.

Incidentally, THIS is the operative phrase. Note that it implies that there are not enough people. Yes, I suppose the other phrase might be considered tautologous as a result, however I think this is allowable as stylistic.

[Zaraphayx 5372]

1 hour ago, Faust said:

And I'll leave the ad hominem attacks to you, since you're so fond of them

Why do you dumb ass nerds keep parroting that term like you understand it lmao

[Zaraphayx 5372]

1 hour ago, Faust said:

Incidentally, THIS is the operative phrase. Note that it implies that there are not enough people. Yes, I suppose the other phrase might be considered tautologous as a result, however I think this is allowable as stylistic.

That's an entirely different independent clause idiot.

I'm glad that furry nerd debaters are exactly like other artists in the fandom and seem to think that they can dismiss flaws in their presentation as "stylistic" but if you want me to take your argument seriously then word it correctly.

That aside, the implication in your statement is false. There is no shortage of people who possess the skills required to work in tech, but tech workers are not like electricians or plumbers or doctors. To be competitive in tech you need to be the best at what you do and the barrier to being the best is that you need on the job experience to compete. You can't get those jobs if you don't have certification because the market is flooded with entry level employees with no experience who think that they can work in IT on a corporate level because they're the "computer guy" of their family and used Excel once in community college, or "programmers" who learned javascript online, coded half of an iphone app, and installed linux on their laptop.

And lets take a trip back to planet earth for a second and realize that you're responding to a post I made directed towards a guy in his 30's whining about having to do math to get a degree in computer science by suggesting that he should just go stoke the fires of his entrepreneurial spirit, figure out what skills are in demand by an industry he doesn't understand, and then go and master them to the point where he looks like a lucrative hire. It worked for you because you obviously possess a passion for the subject and invested just as much if not more time learning your skill than a university student studying computer science.

I'm a systems analyst, I don't have a computer science degree. I've also been working with computers since I was 7 and have been obsessed with how technology is implemented for most of my life. Most people are not weirdos who possess the correct disposition for independent mastery of arcane technical subjects. We are posting in a thread about guy whose main gripe is that getting his cushy lower-middle class job is not easy enough.

Funny enough you embody everything I hate about programmers, the entire lot of you have no sense of the big picture and think everyone is a huge autistic weirdo like you, only dumber.


 

[Faust 1601]

The statement was a hypothetical and therefore cannot be rendered false.

[Zaraphayx 5372]

3 hours ago, Faust said:

The statement was a hypothetical and therefore cannot be rendered false.

I'm hypothesizing that you're a fucking loser lmao

[Wild Peke 0]

Wow- such mega egotistical hostility, yet inept view of real life. I guess it takes all types, huh. 

[Vae 4892]

14 hours ago, Wild Peke said:

Wow- such mega egotistical hostility, yet inept view of real life. I guess it takes all types, huh. 

Bruh, the last response in this thread was almost three years ago.

[Spot 1582]

Does it really matter? At this point this forum is such a desolate wasteland any discussion should be encouraged.  

Also I'm gay.
 

[WALFTEAM 15]

well not much school is happening right now i can tell you that

[Zaraphayx 5372]

On 11/26/2020 at 10:49 PM, Vae said:

Bruh, the last response in this thread was almost three years ago.

Shut up I'm glad he bumped this thread b/c my posting ITT was brilliant and I'm glad I got to reread it.