New Computer and Moore’s Law!

Finally upgrade my old and lagging computer. Now I bought the old computer in 2002 Nov/Dec (cant really remember) and this new one is bought 2007 June. Hence there is a difference of 4 and a half year. Now Moore’s law states that ” the number of transistors on a chip doubles about every two years” (http://www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/index.htm) which effectively means that your computer should double in speed every 2 years. Since my is bought new computer is 4.5 years after my old one, it should be roughly slightly more than twice as fast. So it is twice as fast?

Old	New	Specifications	Remarks
Processor	Pentium 4 2.4ghz 512kb L2 cache 533 mhz FSB	Intel Core 2 Duo (2.4ghz) 4mb L2 cache 1066 mhz FSB	Processor and FSB twice as fast and L2 cache is 8 times bigger
RAM	256 DDR 333mhz (I upgraded to 768 after a year or two)	2048 DDR2 667mhz	RAM 8 times as large and twice as fast
Hard disk	40gb PATA	160gb RAID 0 (effectively 320gb) SATA 3.0gbits/s	8 times bigger, SATA is supposed to be much faster than PATA and RAID 0 a bonus on speed
Graphics card	GeForce 4 MX420 64mb	GeForce 8600GTS 256mb	4X the memory but much much better
Price	Less than SGD2000 (cant remember)	~SGD2700	There is a price difference of about 50%, so direct comparison is not very valid

This is actually an unfair competition if you consider the price difference, but then who cares about being scientific anyway (actually I do, hence I am writing this qualification here). Nevertheless, the rate of technological improvement always astouds me.

I Know the Score 06/07

I Know the Score (IKTS) is a free soccer prediction game for the English Premier League. URL: http://iknowthescore.premierleague.com/

Same complaint as last year, which is that the system takes too long to update. This is my second year playing this and was worse than my first year, which I attribute to erratic performances (or my inability to be so flexible) and a new scoring system. The results are below.

The point system works like this for this year:

+30 – exact score

+20 – (if the game is a draw) correct result (win/lose) + correct goal difference + but score not exact

+15 – (if the game is not a draw) correct result (win/lose) + correct goal difference + but score not exact

+10 – correct result (win/lose) + wrong goal difference + score not exact

0 – if wrong result + insurance

-1 – wrong result

-2 – wrong result with banker

X2 – banker

Total points: 2095

Average points scored in a week: 55.13

Highest points scored in a week: 170 (twice)

Lowest points scored in a week: -50

Number of times points scored was positive: 31 (out of 38 weeks)

Final Position (international): 3482th (down from 411st last year!)

Final Position (Singapore players): 46th (down from 6th last year!)

Note: Total number of players: 71429

Comments: Maybe you argue that I did fairly well for the first year just because of beginner’s luck, but then I dont believe in luck, so…

This is a bad year, hope that I would do better next sesson!

New NUS Admission Criteria!

This is a good news to all BMCE students against the snobbery of some people who advocate take PCME just because it previously gives students a wider range of university course options. In 5th March, NUS announced a new admission criteria (which I only got to know about yesterday…) which I think radically change the way people treat BCME.

For below comparisons, data under “New Syllabus 2005″ and “Old Syllabus” are taken from the “16 May 2005 Univ Adm Fwk under new A-level curriculum (Annex C)” while the “New Syllabus 2007″ data is taken from http://www.nus.edu.sg/oam/apply/cata/newcurriculum.htm, from the .pdf file called h1h2_prereq. The .pdf file’s “Information is correct as at 5 March 2007.”.

(Note: This is not an exhaustive list of ALL the available course, but mostly those that have undergone changes)

(Note 2: when I mention “need” below, it really means a pass is needed)

Faculty	Old Syllabus	New Syllabus 2005	New Syllabus 2007	Remarks
Bioengineering	A Level Physics + Mathematics	H2 Mathematics + Physics	H2 Mathematics + Chemistry or Physics*	I find it absurb that you need to have physics but need not have any biology background to do bioengineering…
Chemical engineering/ Environmental engineering	A Level Mathematics + Chemistry + AO Physics	H2 Mathematics + Chemistry + H1 Physics	H2 Mathematics + Chemistry + Physics**	BCME students can now take chemical and environmental engineering assuming they have taken O level physics
Computer engineering/ Civil engineering/ Common engineering/ Electrical engineering/ Industrial & Systems engineering/ Mechanical engineering/ Material Science engineering/	A Level Mathematics + Chemistry + AO Physics	H2 Mathematics + Physics (except for Industrial & Systems Engineering which needs only H1 Physics)	H2 Mathematics + Chemistry + Physics***	BCME students can now take the many other engineering courses assuming they have taken O level physics
Computing	A Level Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	This goes to show how far A level computing is a useless subject. But then I thought that they would want H2 mathematics students since quite a bit of logic and mathematics is invovled in computing.
Computing	A Level Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	This goes to show how far A level computing is a useless subject. But then I thought that they would want H2 mathematics students since quite a bit of logic and mathematics is invovled in computing.
Computing	A Level Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	This goes to show how far A level computing is a useless subject. But then I thought that they would want H2 mathematics students since quite a bit of logic and mathematics is invovled in computing.
Engineering Science	?	?	Good grades in H2 Mathematics + Physics	Pardon my ignorance but what on earth is engineering science about? Is it a new subject since the old .pdf file has nothing about it. It is also interesting to note that “good” grades (and not just a pass) is needed.

*those who dont have H2 pass in chemistry and/or biology will have to do some bridging modules
** those who dont have H1 or H2 physics need to have taken physics in O Level and some bridging modules
*** those who dont have H2 physics need to have taken physics in O Level and some bridging modules

Comment:

It is interesting that NUS considers mathematics as an arts subject. Only if A Level does the same…

Double degrees are fun, some make sense (e.g. law and life sciences gives you and edge when it comes to biomedical legal and ethical issues or mathematics/applied mathematics and computer since computing students that have a strong mathematics background tends to prosper), others are weird (e.g. engineering and economics, if you wanted to do set up your own engineering company, you probably would do engineerng and business), one is just too specialised: computing (in communications and media)**** in NUS + master of entertainment from Carnegie Mellon, this is really a pity that you get a Carnegie Mellon degree in such a specialised course.

**** please refer to http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/multidisciplinary/bcomp_met.htm for this piece of infomation

Last words:

You can take all subjects in NUS with BCME assuming you have a O Level pass in physics. However, if you take PCME instead, you cant take pharmacy which requires biology. The relaxation of requirements for the various engineering departments comes at a good time since more and more people are taking biology (at the expanse of physics) at O Levels. This is to all who worry for their future university course options because of taking BCME: dont worry, you can get access to all courses (as long as you have a O Level pass in physics)

Triple Science

In this age, with the new MOE syllubus (the one starting for people born in 1989), the triple science combination has been greatly devalued. The pride of the science stream has now been carefully eliminated from all schools. The main reason is that it is now a requirement to take a constrasting subjects: minimum 1 arts subject is needed even if you are taking the science stream OR 1 science subject minimun if you are taking the arts stream.

We should start with a brief glossary of terms:
H1 – compared to AO level , same depth as H2 but theoractically less breadth.
H2 – compared to A level
H3 – compared to S paper, but differs in the sense that it is a completely new subject. E.g. H3 biology is aout proteomics, which is not part of the standard H2 biology syllabus. Secondly, H3 can only be taken only if you have taken the H2 equilvalent of the subject, for example, you cant take H3 physics if you are not doing physics at the H2 level.

Triple science option 1: With KI

In most schools, the only way you can offer triple science at A Levels is to take it with Knowledge Inquiry (KI), a new subject which is supposedly harder than General Paper (GP) but marketed as uniquely different. One more thing to note is that KI is a H2 subject that you can take in lieu of GP, which is H1. Moreover, KI is regarded as a constrasting subject for both arts and science stream students, i.e. KI can be considered as a subject that is both arts and science.

So the KI-triple science combination looks like this:
KI + Mathematics + Biology + Chemistry + Physics + compulsory H1 subjects (Project Work + Mother Tongue )

There is a weird restriction which limits each human being to either less than or equals to 12 credits; a H1 takes up 1 credit, a H2 takes up 2 credits while a H3 takes up 1 credits. It is supposed to be humanly impossible to do more than 12 credits (too stressful etc) which is true for most people. So if you take the KI-triple science combination, and wish to do mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics at the H2 level, you have effectively filled your credit limit.

KI (2) + Mathematics (2) + Biology (2) + Chemistry (2) + Physics (2) + compulsory H1 subjects (Project Work (1) + Mother Tongue (1) ) = 12

That means that you cant take any H3 unless you drop your H2 (mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics) to a H1.

Triple science option 2: Without KI

There is a unofficial triple science subject combination. This involves taking a double science subject combination and adding one more science to it. For example if your original subject combination is (lets assume that you take your constrasting arts subject as H1):

Mathematics (2) + Biology (2) + Chemistry (2) + 1 constrasting subject at H1 level (1) + compulsory H1 subjects (Project Work (1) + Mother Tongue (1) + GP (1) (since you dont take KI)) = 10

Since 10 is below the credit limit of 12, you can take one more H2 science subject (since you already have a H1 constrasting arts subject), for example, Physics (2). Thus your subject combination is:

Mathematics (2) + Biology (2) + Chemistry (2) + Physics (2). + 1 constrasting subject at H1 level (1) + compulsory H1 subjects (Project Work (1) + Mother Tongue (1) + GP (1) (since you dont take KI)) = 12

In other words, to get a triple science, you take a double science subject combination and add an additional subject, which is another science.

Similarly, taking a triple science means that you cant take any H3 unless you drop your H2 (mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics) to a H1.

Problems

Option 1 (with KI):
1) KI is very challenging and it might be difficult to cope with a triple science (constrasting subjects are sterotyped to be slightly easier)
2) KI requires you to pass a selection test (to determine whether you are able to do KI or not)

Option 2 (without KI):
1) You effectively take more subjects than anyone else! You take 3 sciences + 1 math + 1 constrasting + GP + 2 compulsory subjects which gives you a staggering 8 subjects. The KI-triple science option only requires you to take 7 subjects ( KI + 3 sciences + 1 math + 2 compulsory subjects ), while a double science subject combination requires to take ( 2 sciences + 1 math + 1 constrasting subject + GP + 2 compulsory subjects ) which is only 7 subjects.

There are only 2 ways to do 9 subjects:
1) Drop one of your H2 subjects in the non-KI triple science combination to H1 and do a H3, giving you 9 subjects. (you can drop 2 H2s to do 2H3s as you need a minimun to 3 H2s)
2) Drop 2 of your H2 subjects in the double science combination to H1 and do 2 H3s, giving you 9 subjects.

(Please tell me if you can think of more)

So whats the real problem?

The option of taking triple science without KI is available in some schools but NOT mine! The bigger problem is that I appealed for this subject combination and it was rejected. The reasons given was 1) H3 is valued for scholarship and university applications (depth more important than breadth) 2) (and if you take H3 by dropping a science subject to H1) taking H1 for a science subject is useless as university admissions needs H2.

If I have known about this, I might have joined Temasek Junior College instead of my present school. Temasek Junior College is only a 5 minutes bus ride away from my present school and has comparable grades (fine, they are slightly lousier (no offence intended)). But then, I would never had known it, because the new syllabus only came out 2 years ago (2005), and I made the decision to join the Victorian Integrated Programme in 2004. Oh well…

Some schools offering triple science without KI (as of writing)
Temasek Junior College: http://www.tjc.edu.sg/education/subcoms.asp (under group 4, number 27)
Hwa Chong Institution: http://www.hwachong.edu.sg/newsEvents/subjectcombi2007.htm (number 42, 43)

Mathematics Puzzles

People seem to like mathematics related puzzles a whole lot. There are so many mathematics puzzles on the market, of which we all know about the craze over sudoku. There are books on sudoku, handphones with sudokus buiilt into it (e.g. Nokia N73), sudoku competitions (we had one in school last year…) and even television programmes that are sudoku based (you send in a sms indicating the number and the position where you put the number and what you do appears on national TV; score are tabulated for each user and the weekly winner apparently gets something).

Now is there going to be more? Theres is a very interesting NYTimes article telling us about 3 more puzzles.

Title: Inside Japan’s Puzzle Palace

Date: 21 March 2007

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/business/worldbusiness/21sudoku.html?th&emc=th

Dont forget to go try out the 3 new puzzles at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/business/20070321_SUDOKU_GRAPHIC.html

Kakuro: I tried it. More difficult to undertand than sudoku. A bit more challenging to begin with. (Or it might just be me). This does not look like a worthy succesor of sudoku though.

Masyu: It looks so familiar. Reminds me of those mathematics olympaid puzzles I used to do in Primary school. Difficult to gain popularity as you need to memorise the rules about turning or not (may seem complex at start but with a bit of patience, you will get the rules). This is also rather challenging at the start (since you need to memorise rules).

Nurikabe: Looks like minesweepers to you? This was my first impression. I think that this has more potential than the other 2. It is simple to begin and the rules are quite direct. Makes me wonder if there are more than 1 solution for this type of games…

Verdict: Sudoku suceeded. Crossword succeded. Reason: Simple rules. People who play such games dont do it for money, they do it for fun! A simple game can be really fun . And how do you know whether a game is simple or not? You can try teaching someone; if it is easy to teach and explain the rules, it is very likely that the game is simple enough. Of course, other factors weign in too, for example, the level of difficultly, the possibilities of repetition, etc. But simplicity in the rules is important as it decides whether people even bother to play the game or not.