NW Dates

Click the Link to See Cool NW Dates Through Out History.

11

I don’t know how many times in my life I have been asked to “guess a number, any number?”  You probably have been asked hundreds of times too.  Most of us have a favorite number that we will respond with 9 times out of 10.  For me that number 11.  Not only is it my favorite number, it is also our “family’s favorite number,” let me explain why. 

The house my parents first bought was on 711 Torrance Circle, after living their for a couple of years they moved into 611 West 3^rd, and for the last 17 years 1311 North Dewey has been the address I refer to as home.  Phil and Cindy Kenkel were married on August 11^th while my younger brother Tyler was born on July 11^th.  Whenever given the opportunity to choose a number for a sporting team my brother and I would both instantly choose 11, there are handfuls of jerseys in our closets marked “Kenkel 11.”  Throughout the years both Northwest and professional players who wear the number have jumped out at us as favorite players.  When I was younger I would always tell myself it wasn’t because of the number I idolized them so much but because of their pure ability to play the sport—but now I am starting to reconsider why I thought they were so great.

While there have been tons of other instances I remember my mom pointing out an 11, whether it be a hotel room number on a family vacation, a seat number on a plane ticket, how much a bill rang up to at a gas station, or a certain event on the 11^th of the month.  This number probably doesn’t pop up around my family any more than others but ever since I was young it has been fun to notice it and call it “my family’s number.”

We Are Family

I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to grow up with such a big loving family.  I am extremely blessed enough to cherish memories of several great grandparents, who have passed in recent years.  And for most of my life I was able to brag to my friends of having not only two sets of grandparents still alive and kickin' but three!  Several of my classmates throughout the years were never even able to say they remember, let alone met their grandparents.  Family gatherings on both my mom's and dad's side were quite large.  All together I had 12 uncles, 11 aunts, and 28 first cousins!  As far as ages go I fell right in the middle on both sides, my oldest cousin is in his lower 30's and my youngest is around the age of 6.  There was also a pretty equal boy to girl ratio, so there was always someone to converse or play with.

Having a large family has taught me many things throughout my 19 years of life.  It has made me thankful to only have one sibling I have to share my parent’s attention with, but I am glad that I am able to have so many extended family members to love and be loved by.  It is neat to see how my parents interact with their siblings at this stage in their lives.  Another thing I find really neat is how much they care about each other’s kids.  Still being a kid myself it is hard to imagine my younger brother with a child but I know it will occur sooner than I think!

Gas Prices

As the prices of gas rise across the country many teen agers, college students, and adults a like are beginning to become stressed out.  Most people's idea to save money would be to not drive as much or car pool.  However the majority of drivers I know complain about the gas prices but don't do much to alter their daily forms of transportation.  I guess I my acquaintances and I are very lucky, we whine about the prices but aren't personally having to make any sacrifices.  I am still able to drive to the store or to a movie without having to think about how much gas money I am spending.
There are some simple ideas that we can follow though to make sure we are more money and environmentally friendly.

• car pool with friends, family, or co-workers
• run all your errands while you are out
• drive the speed limit
• be sure your tires are properly inflated
• don't carry extra weight around in your backseat or trunk
• use manufacture recommend oil
• have your engine checked regularly
• make sure to notice gas prices at different stations--here is a link to help you know where to fill up on cross country trips Gas Price Heat Map

Interview with a Mathematician

As I discuss in my blog I enjoy numbers, thus I selected this topic thinking it would be something fairly and interesting easy to blog about.  However when I was assigned to interview someone in the field of my topic, I became slightly stressed while my mind raced.  I tossed around possibilities of whom I could interview while still sitting in the classroom.  Visiting my high school math teachers here in town or wandering the halls of the math factuality here at Northwest were both ideas that crossed my mind but as soon as class let out though I knew whom I was going to call.

Ron Platt, my grandfather graduated with a PhD in mathematics from the University of Iowa in 1971.  Today at the age of 68 he is still extremely sharp when it comes to mental math and configuring a variety of mathematical equations with help of a calculator.  Grandpa enjoys giving all four of his grandkids educational presents; a few months ago I received a DVD, which he hoped I would use to further develop my math skills.

I began our informal interview by asking my grandfather “How do you talk to people in that field?”  He told me he did not have the best answer but he would try to give me an insight into the mathematical field.  “When collogues and I would talk to on another we would use lots of Greek symbols and arithmagrams when discussing certain processes.”  I asked him to throw out a few more terms off the top of his head that I could include in my paper.  Acute, obtuse, and right triangle, parabola, perpendicular, parallel, axis of symmetry, proofs, mean, median, mode, range, and average were just a few of the mathematical vocabulary words he was more than pleased to tell me about.

Next I asked, “Was there any lingo you guys would use that would frequently use that would not be understood by the common public?”  “Sure there were some slang terms but when we were outside the work place those words did not creep into our vocabulary very often.  Mostly when we discussed our work with each other we would make sure to explain our selves in ways that were careful, logical, and precise.  When we described and instructional process to a fellow collogue we always tried our best to make sure one step led smoothly into the next.”

“Do you talk to others not in the field differently or in other words do you dumb it down for them?” was the final question I asked my grandfather.  He answered with “Of course, that is definitely a special skill one must posses.”  Grandpa went on to make clear to me that it was sometimes complicated to explain a mathematical process to someone who is less sophisticated the field.  He always felt it was an accomplishment to take a complicated process and put it in plain words so someone in the general public would fully grasp the concept.

Unfortunately there are some assumptions that the general public make about mathematicians.  One common stereotype that is given is that all people in the math field are extremely elegant and do not know how to engage in a daily, or regular conversation.  Sometimes it can be hard to snap out of “work mode” and use vocabulary that us common folk utilize from day to day.  My grandfather assured me though that contrary to popular belief being a mathematician does not define every aspect of your social life.

Number Tricks

WHO HAS TIME TO THINK OF THESE THINGS???...Click Here to see the Tricks

Age is Just a Number

We have all heard the saying.  But do we all really believe it?  I think it depends on what you are talking about.
When talking about relationships there are a couple different ways to look at things.  A healthy 56 year old man who is married to a 44 year old women (12 years difference) doesn't seem too weird or unusual to me.  However when I think of a 31 year old women dating a 19 year old college student (still 12 years difference) I instantly furrow my eye brows in disgust.  Why is this?  Is it because the gender roles were reversed and now the older woman is chasing after the younger boy?  Or is it because the younger person in the relationship is not even of drinking age yet?
Recently I posted a Facebook status that read "life is still one party when you're still young", it's lyrics from the a song sung by Shaggy.  Within a couple of minutes of posting three adults had commented on my status.  One man, who is in his upper 50's wrote "at what age does the party stop."  This dad of one of my friends is a total kid at heart.  He water skis, snow boards, rides motorcycles, jams rock music at the high school football games, and knows how to throw back a few beers on the weekends.  When other adults commented after him saying they agreed with him it made me smile.  There are a lot of things I am not looking forward to when it comes to getting older.  But these adults definitely still know how to have a good time, which makes me hopeful.  All I need to do is remember, age is just a number after all.

23

This movie is all about an obsession with the 23 enigma, an esoteric belief that all incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23, some permutation of the number 23, or a number related to 23.  The movie is pretty creepy and gets you thinking...

Numb3rs

There has even been a TV show created that obviously has something to do with numbers, I mean the title of the show is Numb3rs.  The show's main characters are either members of the FBI or mathematicians at the fictitious California Institute of Science CalSci.  Charlie's (one of the characters) mathematics were always in some way crucial to solving the crimes in the show.  Numb3rs showed on CBS from January 23, 2005 until it was cancelled after it's sixth season on March 12, 2010.

What's Special About This Number?

I have no idea what half of this stuff means but, Go Ahead, Check This Out.

Text Messaging

How many text messages to do you send a month?  My guess is WAY too many to count.  Am I correct?  How long do you spend calling your friends/family members, or chatting with them on Facebook?  It's all about staying connected these days and always knowing what is going on in your friends' lives.  The link below will bring you to an interesting article that breaks down how teenagers communicate.

Click Here To View the Outrageous Article Full of Statics

"Deuces"

This song performed by Chris Brown featuring Tyga and Kevin McCall has given a whole new meaning to the number two and the way someone signals it.  Putting two fingers up in the air (your pointer and middle) is also used to reference peace.  But now people are flashing their "deuces" when they leave or exit an area or event.  In the song Chris Brown uses the phrase "chuckin' up them deuces" (two in Spanish) to signal he is leaving his girlfriend, like "Peace.  I'm outta here."  I now see this trend of throwing up two fingers and saying "deuce" or "I'm deucin'" more and more around campus, in the dorms, or at parties.  Who knows how long a trend like this will last among our generation but I wouldn't be surprised if ten years from now, after the trend has died down, "deuces" made it's comeback with a younger generation.

Facebook Statistics

These stats will amaze you!  Facebook helps keep millions of people connected all around the world.  But it also controls the lives and sucks up the time of millions.  What did college kids waste their time on before social networking sites came about??

People on Facebook

• More than 500 million active users
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user has 130 friends
• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook

Activity on Facebook

• There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)
• Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
• Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month
• More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.

Global Reach

• More than 70 translations available on the site
• About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
• Over 300,000 users helped translate the site through the translations application

Platform

• Entrepreneurs and developers from more than 190 countries build with Facebook Platform
• People on Facebook install 20 million applications every day
• Every month, more than 250 million people engage with Facebook on external websites
• Since social plugins launched in April 2010, an average of 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day
• More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook, including over 80 of comScore's U.S. Top 100 websites and over half of comScore's Global Top 100 websites

Mobile

• There are more than 200 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
• People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
• There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products

#1 Falls to an Unranked

As I cried myself to sleep last night after a Jayhawk slaughter I was able to think of a positive that could come out of the loss.  I decided I would examine the stats and then blog about them for my Comp 112 class!  The two numbers everyone will remember from last nights game are 84 and 68, the final score.  There is a bar graph on this website that shows the Four Factors to Winning as they related to the in state match up last night. 

Here are some of the Jayhawks most impressive stats from the 2010-2011 season:

POINTS PER GAME - 83.3 - 7th OVERALL

REBOUNDS PER GAME - 8.43 - 4th OVERALL

ASSISTS PER GAME - 18.3 - 2nd OVERALL

FIELD GOAL PCT - .521 - 1st OVERALL <---now THAT is an impressive statistic!

And as of right now they are still ranked first in the nation!  That ranking will most likely drop but none of that matters by the time March rolls around.  "ROCKKKKK CHALKKKKK JAYHAWKKKKK KKKKKKK UUUUUUUU!"

$

Whether it's how much you make or how much you're paying, money plays an important role everyday in our lives.  The most recent run in with money I have had first hand experience with is choosing a destination to travel to for Spring Break 2011.  We have decided on Panama City Beach, FL.  Here is a break down of what we are estimating for total costs:

• Gas: $80
• Hotel: $140
• REFUNDABLE Hotel Deposit: $50
• Nightclub Pass: $40
• Food: $50
• Shopping: $40

So that right there adds up to be $400 for a 6 day fun-filled (two days driving), 2,000 mile plus round trip from the northwest corner of Missouri to the panhandle of Flordia.  Money is THE main thing keeping some of my friends from being able to go.  But oh well, maybe next year they can start saving their money in advance so they are insured a spot on a Spring Break Trip in 2012!

Too bad it doesn't grow on trees, right?

111

"Hey, what's your name?"
"My name's Mackie, what's yours?"
"I'm Hailey.  Where are you from?"
"Kearney, Nebraska.  And what about you?"
"I'm a townie, I'm from Maryville.  How many people did you graduate with?"
"Four hundred."
"Oh wow!  That's how many people were in my whole school!"
"Yeah the kid I sat by I had never met in my whole life."
"Wow that's crazy.  I have know most of the kids I graduated with my whole life!"

I received my diploma with one hundred and ten other kids from Maryville R-II High School.  How many people someone receives their diploma with reveals a lot about a person, or does it?  What are we really gaining from knowing how many people someone graduated with?  A graduating class size is an indicator of how big the town is where that person graduated.  It will also help you gain some insight on how big of a change college and moving to a town the size of Maryville is for that person.  Another big factor I think about when I hear someone's class size is sports.  Was there an greater opportunity for this person to be a "star" on a team basketball team with only 10 people on it, or did they cheer on their team from the sideline after not making it through tryouts?

Blizzardddddddddd!

Happy Blizzard Day!  As I sit in my room celebrating another day off from school the TV resembles a broken record.  "A winter storm warning is in affect for over half of the country, more than 30 states," "Some places are seeing as much as 2 feet of snow, others an inch of ice," "We are in the midst of one of the biggest blizzards in history."

As I listen to the weather forecast for the next hour, 24 hours, 36 hours, and even 48 hours I can't help but notice all the numbers the weather men and women are using.  Over time we have learned to recognize what these numbers mean to us individually.  I know that if it is 33 degrees outside I need a jacket.  If there is a 80% chance of rain, it would be wise to grab an umbrella before heading across campus to our classes.  So much of weather is forecasted with the use of numbers, here are some examples:

• temperature (in degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit)
• wind gusts
• visibility
• wind chill
• dew point
• humidity
• chance of rain or snow percentages
• averages
• hour by hour forecasts

Mathematics?

While writing my interview paper I ran across this video and thought it went right along with what we are currently discussing in class.  The actors and actresses are fighting over numbers and percentages.  The whole video is spent arguing back and forth while using mathematical terms.

Number's History

Below I have added a link to a website that contains lots of cool information regarding the history of numbers in many different countries and among several different religions.  It shows many different symbols and even pictures of faces that have been used in the past when referring to numbers.  Be sure to click onto 'Page 2' and the 'More' tabs on the top of the first page when you have finished looking at it.  The 'More' page has lots of interesting facts about numbers.

Number's History Website <---click on this link

1992

For this blog entry I am going to take you back to the year I was born, 1992. 
The year started on a Wednesday and happened to be a leap year.  On January 26th the Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills 37-24 to win Super Bowl XXVI.  The next big happening in '92 occurred on February 8th when the Winter Olympics began in Albertville, France.  This was the first year professional basketball players were allowed to compete which proved to be quite the deal for the United States as the "dream team" took home a gold medal.  On March 12th I made my entrance into the world and it would forever be drastically changed.  ;)  My first full day alive tragedy struck in Eastern Turkey when a 6.8 earthquake hit.  Euro Disney opened in Paris on April 12th and the day after that the Chicago River broke causing 250 million gallons of water to flood into basements of downtown buildings.  On June 14th Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to their 2nd NBA Championship title when they overcame being down 15 points at the start of the 4th quarter and defeated the Portland Trailblazers 97-93.  Late July of this year the Summer Olympics were held in Barcelona, Spain.  Two major hurricanes hit the US during the second half of 1992, Hurricane Andrew on August 23rd and Hurricane Iniki on September 11th.  On September 12th the first African American women entered space, Dr. Mae Jemison.  Prince Charles and Princess Diana publicly announced their separation on December 9th ending the year on a sad note for some of their admirers.
As far as celebrities three major ones entered the world the same year I did.  Shawn Johnson, American Olympic gymnast, who spoke at Northwest a couple months ago, Taylor Lautner, are you on Team Edward or Team Jacob, and Miley Cyrus, the pop star sensation were all born in '92.
What was filling the ears of music lovers in 1992?  The top five songs for this year were as follows: I Will Always Love You by Whitney Huston, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, End of the Road by Boyz II Men, Rhythm is a Dancer by Snap!, and To Be With You by Mr. Big.
And finally what were the people of 1992 watching on both the big screen and in their living rooms?  Some of the top movies were Unforgiving, Malcom X, Aladdin, The Player, The Crying Game, Reservoir Dogs, Batman Returns, Basic Instinct, Dracula, and A Few Good Men.  Television shows that made their debuts were Dateline NBC, Barney and Friends, The Real World on MTV, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.  Shows that called it quits in 1992 were The Cosby Show, The Golden Girls, and the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson which premiered in 1962.
Hopefully you were able to learn something you found interesting about 1992.  I encourage you to do a little research and discover what exciting and historic events happened the year you were born, it's always fun to know some random trivia.

317

A number that will define me this year is 317, my dorm room number.  “Stop by my room later, three-seventeen!” “My address is five-twenty-five University Drive, room number three-seventeen.”  “Oh, you live in four-seventeen?  You are loud!  Can you keep it down at night?”  All of these are common phrases used at the dorm.   Remembering back to the day housing assignments came out at Northwest your room number was everything.  You called up all your friends to see where they would be calling home for the next eight months.

I live, yes live, in this room, a room, not an apartment, with another person!  The thought amazes me.  Somehow hundreds of thousands of people do it all across the United States of America, live in a dorm room that is.  It's fun to think of all the people who live in my residence hall with me.  Where else does this happen?  Hundreds of people are living under the same roof!  The only other place I can think of is a prison, and I would rather give out my dorm number than a cell number any day!

Nature by Numbers

READ BEFORE WATCHING:

This video made me burrow my eye brows the whole time.  Just as I was about to retype "numbers" into the search box I paused, trying to think outside the box.  I believe that is exactly what this video wanted me to do.  I came to the conclusion that the video's purpose was to show math makes up nature.  So when you watch remember to have an open mind and let the video mean something different to you than it meant to me.

Why I Chose This Subject

Why did I chose to blog about numbers one might ask?  There is not a huge life changing role that numbers have played in my life but I feel I have always been a bit more fascinated with them than the average Joe.  They are a HUGE part life, however most they are such a big part they aren't viewed as an overly important part.

Have you ever heard of making a wish when you notice that the clock reads 11:11, either a.m. or p.m.?  Or thought it was cool you happened to glance at the clock at 12:21 noticing the ones were on the outside and the twos on the inside?  My personal favorite is looking at the clock at 3:12, it's my birthday (March 12th)!  Are you someone who has to have the radio in your car turned to an even number on the volume control?  Or someone who only sets their alarm in the morning to wake you up at a time that is in an increment of five?  That's me.

I'm a little obsessive about my numbers, but thankfully not in a way that disturbs my everyday life.  Noticing the "wrong numbers" may take over someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder's life.  A movie has also made me interested in this subject called "The Number 23."  This movie is an example of how something as simple a number can drastically change a life.

First Post

This semester in my blog I will be taking something as simple as numbers and be putting an interesting spin on them.  Every post will be based off a different number.  Kinda hard to explain, so you'll just have to wait and see! :)