Lesson 6 Homework A Story Of Units Name Date 1: Fill & Download for Free

I have received similar questions in many messages, comments and answer requests. A lot of guys asked to share my story of life. Alright, today, I will share a few incidents with you.I usually, write a paragraph or 2 in my answers but today, please excuse me, the answer is a bit lengthy. I’ll explain the incidents and then the lessons derived from them.What was the turning point of your life that changed you completely?There’ve been stages where life was destroyed totally and had to rebuilt it.Incident 1:I was born in a poor family. Below average. I was a topper in my class. Always secured 1st position. Always got medals and always was the prominent one in school.But I was beaten up badly almost everyday by my family members mainly because my thoughts were different from them. My actions were not exactly the same, they were expecting.My Father holds the top rank in beating me.Second award goes to my older brother.Third to uncle and sometimes Mother also used to contribute to this religious deed. (She’s no more among us. May her soul rest in peace)I was beaten up very harshly when I got 9/10 marks and not 10/10.I was beaten up if I played with school mates for 10–15 minutes and came home late.I was beaten up if I wore my brother’s T-shirt.I was beaten up if I used 2/3 of my pencil during writing homework and almost got killed if I lost my pencil in school.I was beaten up if somehow my only 2 years old jacket’s zip broke out.Even got my bones screwed up because I don’t like to eat cauliflower. Sometimes, I was sent very close to death.I was beaten up harshly, leaving black and blue spots over the back and legs and wherever possible for a week or two. Sometimes, I was hanged down from the ceiling with my legs tied upwards and head hanging downwards.The day, I wasn’t beaten up, I felt strange.Consequences:I started stealing pencils of my classmates in school, because I knew, if I’ll return home with a small pencil or without it, I will be laid down again. Sometimes, money as well, if I could, so that, I could buy things when there’s a danger of getting beaten up.I started telling lies to father and family just to save my ass from getting beaten.I started thinking all possible (fake) ways , just not to get beaten up.Dear Father!“please believe me it’s really very painful, when a 40 years old man hits 6–7 years old child with his full force”.I started underperforming in studies and received more severe punishments. I lost my confidence and started living a lonely life.One day, I got nervous break-down and lost consciousness for a few days. Then another nervous attack and I was on bed for 2+ years. I got severe ill and discontinued my studies.I tried suicide twice. Both times life won the game and death failed.But my life was never the same.I was fed-up of above mentioned life. Took my 10 class certificate and left the home at the age of 16. I went to Kyrgyzstan.Incident 2:I started doing whatever I could to live my life. Studied the “Kyrgyz” language. Got admission in college. Used to live in a hostel, where I washed clothes of my fellows and got paid a little bit. Cooked food for them, cleaned their rooms.I was homeless and then sometimes I managed to pay my hostel and then again homeless and then again found some place and this continued.After college, I got casual admission in Osh Technological University (evening classes - only on weekends). The financial situation was never good, but I never bothered to ask my family for help.Worked my ass off, gave tuitions, cleaned rooms and did whatever I could.I was working some 16 hours a day.I saved some money. Bought 3 used computers and opened my first business (Internet Cafe) on July 15, 2008. In 2008–9, it was a demanded business there.It went successful. I bought another computer and printers on October 22, 2008 and started selling discs and installed windows and drivers.I was getting damn rich. Started wearing new good clothes. Started living alone in a nice rented apartment. I paid my academic dues. I ate to my full. I never had such a sexy life-style. I started sending some money back to my parents as well.I forgot my past and was enjoying life to maximum.Turning point:All of a sudden, a civil war broke out between Kyrgyz and Uzbek people on June 6, 2010. A lot of bloodshed, a lot of killing, a lot of shops were burnt and robbed.It was June 9, 2010 and I was standing in my window on 4th floor and was looking how people stole my computers and printers and furniture and then burnt the remaining, what they couldn’t take away.The war stopped after a few days. The city was burnt to ashes. Local people left the city and I was again left with no money, no food and no signs of hope from anywhere.The life almost stopped.Incident 3:After the war, a lot of refugee organisations such as Danish Council, UNHCR, ACTED entered the city.After a lot of rejections and disappointments, I finally started working as (English-Kyrgyz) translator at ACTED. I started earning money again. Damn! I had money. I could eat to my full again. And you won’t believe, I again started to rent an apartment.I got promoted from translator to project coordinator. I had to wait 2.5 more years to get my diploma. The life was again becoming interesting and I started to forget my losses in war.I again started to save up some money. After a year, I decided to start something of my own again.Those days, a lot of guys were involved in importing automobiles from Japan to Central Asia.I decided to try my luck as well.On May 20, 2011, I ordered 1 car in a container of 4 cars with friends. It arrived in 40 days. I sold it and earned 300USD profit. I ordered again and earned 500 USD more. After 5–6 months, I had handsome money.I decided to order my own container. It arrived, I sold all of the cars. and ordered again.I rented a place to make it a showroom for cars. Below are the pictures of my then auto-salon:I was damn rich in my 22. I sent money to parents, helped my friends. I was enjoying my life to its full.Turning point:My business rose to its peak in a period of 1.5 years. And it was getting bigger and bigger. My competitors didn’t like it at all. They started threatening me.They decided to snatch away everything. Some guys had friends in Police. They prepared fake documents and made a trap for me. They used fake signatures.Local guys can do anything there. Police is the biggest mafia. They showed in a week that all those cars are stolen. The total business is fake and illegal.The police took a few cars from the salon without any authority. They documented them with their names. and demanded 20000 USD just as a gift, which obviously, I couldn’t give them. The next day, all my cars were removed from there. The doors and windows of salon were broken down. The documents were stolen.I was nobody again. No business, no job. I was really broken down.Incident 4:I had some money left in my account. I migrated from my University to Moscow. I decided to leave Kyrgyzstan. I moved to Moscow. Started learning Russian. Started looking for jobs but nothing helped. I had some friends from Kyrgyzstan who also moved here because of war. They helped in low paying odd jobs.I finished my university.I like Russia very much. I speak Russian fluently. I had spent some happiest days of life there.I started working for European Commission, “TEMPUS”. It was doing research in GIS. I performed well. I was invited to Salzburg, Austria for a conference.The scientists and researchers from Canada, EU, Russia and Central Asia attended the conference. I really performed well there.Dr. Josef Strobl - Director of GIS Centre Salzburg and European Commission Coordinator for Central Asian Projects. (This great man taught me a lot of professional things. Tons of Respect for him).I was appointed as a Project Contact person of TEMPUS_GEM project for OshTU (at the same university in Kyrgyzstan, where I once used to study and clean classrooms in evening as a part-time job).It was a big project with a total budget of 100K+ Euros. I performed as expected.I received my first European visa and a few thousand euros as travel & daily allowance.I liked the Salzburg and its people. Everything organised. Beautiful, clean.I started applying for further studies everywhere. but was not selected in Austria.Josef Strobl helped me in getting admission in my PhD at the University of Salzburg. But unfortunately, I couldn’t provide the proof financial funds to carry out my research there and hence, my application was turned down. (still a lot of respect for Josef).Then, I moved to Germany. Started learning German Language. Applied to almost every university. Unfortunately, didn’t qualify. But learnt German well.Actually, these universities demanded a financial support proof, which I obviously didn’t have.Then, I moved to Italia. Did whatever, I could. But no success at all.Tried to find jobs. No success.No money.Disappointed. Broken. Absolutely no idea, what to do next.Wanted to study, but no money. wanted to work, but no proper documents.Go back to Russia? No future. Go Back Home - ? No way!I, then, moved to Poland. Applied for admission.Damn! I got selected. Got selected after almost 100+ rejections.(I lived in Europe on a maximum budget of 2 Euros/Day)I met my Russian friend, Pawel Fedotov, in Warsaw. He has almost the same story of life. We were best friends in Russia.We decided to do something in Warsaw. He had some savings. We decided to register our import/export company. We were importing automobile spare parts from Japan to Warsaw and Russia. And exporting some stuff from Warsaw to Moscow at a very small scale.Once, Pawel met with some serious guys in Moscow. They made serious orders. We did our best to provide everything. Yes, we did it. After all, I had experience. This deal gave us good profit.Those clients introduced us to other serious people in Russia. These people are billionaires. They asked us to find yachts for them in Gdańsk, Poland. We found. Yachts were veeery expensive and we got 5% from the deal. We never had such a lot of money.I started sending money back to my father. And paid my dues here in Warsaw. Bought Mercedes S320.I was doing well at academia as well. Got publications. Did some quality research. I was invited to United States for research. I performed very well there.Americans are awesome people. Very intelligent. Cooperative. Hardworking.They have built their country in an outstanding manner. May they all stay blessed!Prof. Dr. Andrzej Osiadacz is my PhD supervisor. He’s my best friend as well. He helped me in everything. The studies were going very very well. So was our business.I started learning Microeconomics and Management at Warsaw School of Economics in evening classes to promote our business more professionally.Turning Point:Pawel and I, made very serious money. We made a grand business plan. We flew to South Africa. Met with some serious Russian Businessmen there. They were interested in doing business with us.They had a leather business in Cape town. They wanted to open a tannery in Russia. So, we (Pawel & Me) decided to build a Tannery in Krasnoyarsk (the city, where Pawel was born).Pawel opened his bank account in Sberbank. We transferred all of our money to Russia to his account. (because, I needed a lot more documentation, so decided to go through a single account).After 2 days, we transferred everything to Russia. Pawel, had a car accident near Smolensk. He got killed on the spot.I lost my best friend. He was more like a brother to me. But he got killed on February 16, 2016. I lost everything again.(This is Pawel- May his soul rest in peace)I tried a lot to receive money from bank. Nobody gave a single penny, because everything was documented on Pawel’s name.I sold my Mercedes and spent everything in multiple visits to Moscow trying to receive money. Nothing worked.Standard of life started falling down. It went further down and more down.When nothing worked, I started looking for jobs. But in-vain.One day, Police came to my apartment in Warsaw. They locked me up for 3 days. Then, I came to know that my name was included in the list of foreigners whose stay on Schengen territory was prohibited.But what for?? They didn’t tell me anything and cancelled my residence permit and gave a paper stating that I’ve to leave Poland within 40 days otherwise Border Security Police will deport me.I had to hire a lawyer, who, after a few weeks, discovered that it was a mistake made by the Polish Intelligence. My name was confused with someone else’s name and after a court trial of 7–8 weeks, it was removed from the list.Thanks to Mr. Dariusz Kostyra (my lawyer). He really did a great job!I lost money in this case. Nothing left to live with.I was constantly receiving calls from bank, because my account went to -200 PLN and interest was increasing by every month.I received a letter from Fitness centre, according to the agreement, I had to pay subscription even if I was not visiting the centre. The surcharge was increasing gradually.I had to walk 6 km to attend lectures at university and back 6. I couldn’t afford a 0,75USD ticket.I finally got a warning notice from the university stating that my academic dues need to be paid within 2 weeks, otherwise, I won’t be allowed to defend my thesis.The same day, owner of my apartment asked me to move out, because I had not paid the rent last month.Again homeless!I moved my stuff to the garage, which, once, I used to rent for Mercedes.I used to carry a few pieces of bread in my rucksack, ate them, drank water and again started working in the lab.I lost my fit and jacked body.(looked like this before crises)The girl, I was dating with, dumped, saying, her father was a successful man in his 26 years. He had everything, but I’ve nothing. I’m a loser. She actually felt ashamed in front of her friends when they came to know of my stay in garage.My supervisor helped in paying my academic dues. I was allowed to defend my doctorate. I did well. I passed all stages. On November 15, 2017, I was invited to receive my PhD Diploma. but I had nothing to wear according to the ceremony.I had no money to visit a barber shop to get my haircut. So, I used my trimmer to cut my hair at home. It turned out to be very horrible and people passed comments over my cutting style, the next day.I had to walk 7 km to attend the convocation and back 7. I received my Diploma, listened some beautiful words about me. But didn’t know, should I cry or laugh?Prof. Andrzej realised this awkward moment and invited me to lunch. (Hats off).(Prof. Andrzej Osiadacz - an outstanding researcher & nice human being.He can make the best version of everyone).I have started some stuff as a freelancer consultant. Coaching and recruiting staff for some companies to keep the things running.I started making some money. Repaid my interests and surcharges for bank and elsewhere. I joined fitness centre again. Getting back my boxing skills.I am attending interviews now at different companies. Hopefully, will land a good position.I’ve a business plan (in my mind yet) to launch a new start-up (a petroleum company), may be, I will go for this, the next year.First I need to fully regain my confidence and a small capital for kick-up.Lessons learnt:Life will not always be same;Never lose heart, sooner or later you will win;Life is never fair and it’s never easy;Problem never comes alone;Yes, homeless people can also do well and believe me they can also be successful;Never believe, when people say that you are a loser;If you lost everything, still keep your hopes high - after all you are still alive;Keep trying, even when you know there’s less than 1% chance, still keep trying, you never know;Trust only 1 person in life - that one person is you and only you;Those, who feel broken today, My friends! don’t give up! You are really very close to success;People will start missing you, when they see that you are happy without them;People will never remember, what wrong they have done to you and will always find a reason to say that you don’t care enough for them;Those who always hated you, opposed you and regarded you as a garbage, will start repeating thousand times a day that you are awesome. They always believed in you. They only wish to see you once again and they can’t live without you.Abusive Families! Believe me, you are not always right. In the end, you will lose your children and will have to beg them to return home. Alas! it will be very late then.While, I’m writing this. It’s raining outside. The noise of rain is very charming. I’m sitting in the window, enjoying the weather, smiling.Believe me, life is very beautiful. Never commit suicide!Sorry for wasting 15-20 minutes of your time.Cheers!

Superfluous, huh? Military spending is one of those topics which is governed primarily on perception rather than reality. Facts are facts, but if you don't look at enough then you don't understand the whole story. No I am not saying that US doesn't spend a whole lot, but that most don't understand why. The fact in and of itself is more than enough to justify some judgment of guilt from those who don't know better. For example, most of the narrative is based upon only a few key graphs based on only a fraction of the information available.In fact, the narrative is so overwhelming that to assume anything other than the popular point of view is tantamount to blasphemy. Consider, if you will, how a question, a thing which itself is an open admittance of ignorance, as all questions are, would be delivered with such righteous indignation as is the current wording of this question. Oh well. I can't say that everything is as it should be or even what is and isn't right or what anyone should do. What I can do is offer some ways of thinking about military spending that you probably haven't thought about before. I feel that everyone is entitled to a change in the narrative. As a United States Marine Corps Sergeant who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2007, I'd like you to give me a few minutes of your time; not so much for my sake, my war is over after all, but for those who will be fighting them in the future.An Incorrect AssumptionBefore moving on, and to answer the question "why has the US military demanded and gotten funds..." briefly, the United States military doesn't really get to "demand" very much. It does have some political power, but its budget is set and determined by Congress. They determine how superfluous the military gets to be and as I have said before elsewhere, they are your fault in the case that you don't like their decisions, at least in the case that you are American voter. As it is said, democracy is a beautiful thing because the people always get exactly the government they deserve.Second, there is the assumption that their enormous strength is superfluous, or even adequate. The rest of this write-up will focus on this assumption and some other facts that should be considered along with it. That said, by the end of it, I am pretty sure the assumption won't stand so strongly that, according to the question that stands today, one might consider the American military to be "unnecessary, especially through being more than enough."It's not like we are the only ones doing it:The first graph most people ever look at is the one that shows how the US spends more than anyone else in the world on their military budget. It's a pie graph with a big red chunk making the very clear (and oh so scary) point that the US spends more money than anyone else in the world by far. It asks the question of why do they need that much, but you know what? That isn't the question to ask. That particular question is too short term.Consider this. When you show that graph for 2009, and then 2011 and then 2012, did you notice a pattern? If you say, "The US spends more than the rest of them!" you'd only be half right. The truth is that there is more going on. You probably didn't take a look at the changes in the rest of the nations. These sorts of things are hard to do when you only read pie graphs, but here is an interesting one.The USA led the rise [in military spending], but it was not alone. Of those countries for which data was available, 65% increased their military spending in real terms in 2009. The increase was particularly pronounced among larger economies, both developing and developed: 16 of the 19 states in the G20 saw real-terms increases in military spending in 2009.— Sam Perlo-Freeman, Olawale Ismail and Carina Solmirano, Military Expenditure Chapter 5, SPIRI Yearbook, June 2010, p.1This graph shows the % change in military spending over the last decade. On the right you can see how these amounts measure against one another, but the bars to the side are what are most important. They show long term pattern of growth and answer the question, "Which nations are most dedicated to growing their military?"Many nations, such as China and India, are staying even with the %GDP spending and the growth in military spending shows a somewhat even with the economy. Others, however, such as Russia and Saudi Arabia show significant spikes even as the world at large, including the US, is showing a pattern of reduced military spending. The US? Why yes, check the bottom graph and several more throughout this post. Military spending in the United States has gone down significantly over the past few years even during a time when we were and are still involved in two different wars. What is interesting is, despite the narrative, though the US is leading the others in military reduction, it doesn't seem to be determining how much they spend since the reduction in its spending is not matched by a proportional reduction in military spending overall worldwide.Note the blue line, that's the US. Since 2010 it has steadily been reducing its military spending in relation to GDP. Meanwhile many other nations have not. I used Russia and Saudi Arabia as two important examples because of how much their priorities seem to be changing and also given their precarious political situations presently. What is also shown is the World average (and the UK which is miraculously even with it) which shows that the rest of the world, while spending less overall than the US, is declining its spending on military nearly as quickly as is the United States. Given that so many sources are in agreement that the US makes up such an enormous amount of worldwide military spending, this would be surprising. For the graph to be true (see sources at bottom of the image) others would have to be filling the gap in spending left by the US military's budget reduction. That is the case throughout much of the world. The world isn't becoming a more peaceful place as the US declines in influence. It's gearing up for something, to be more precise, many small somethings. Many nations, many nations that many other nations don't trust are still growing even as the US military is cut down by social pressures to do so. While I will agree that the spending of the United States military seems exorbitant, current spending doesn't matter nearly as much as growth in spending. Size today is static, but growth is measured exponentially when time is a factor.Igor Markov's answer to Why does the US government spend so much on military?Jon Davis's answer to Given that China is fine without blue-water navy, why does the US need one?Being even is the Deadliest form of WarfareA lot of people might think that all this military spending is wasteful and overkill. Non-military minds believe that one simply shouldn't need that much power to overcome an adversary. I'll admit that this way of thinking makes sense in most regards, but when you consider the way of thinking in which men and women's lives are at stake, that kind of thinking starts to falter.Let's look at it another way. In the men's 100 meter dash, the difference between the fastest man on Earth, Usain Bolt and the second fastest man, Tyson Gay, is just over 1/10th of a second. It doesn't matter how much faster Bolt is, so long as he is just a little bit faster than Gay. That's all he needs to win. Being 10 times faster isn't necessary secure victory. People understand that. People also understand politics. Under normal or ideal conditions when a person gets more votes he is the winner. There isn't really a debate after that. He or she doesn't need a landslide. One vote should be fine. People understand that. These, realistically are the only forms of competition that non-military minded people ever consider. The two competitors compete, under perfectly equal grounds, one is declared a winner and the loser is not really worse off than if he had done nothing at all. It's straightforward, it's fair, and in some circles, such "sportsmanship" would be considered a holy practice. But not in warfare. Warfare is something completely different. Warfare is an unholy thing and those who think that "playing fair" and to try to make a necessary evil into something more moral in practice by leveling the playing field are, in fact, advocating for atrocities on a scale impossible to imagine.Consider this; in the 1990's Saddam Hussein commanded the 4th most powerful military in the world. 4th. Of the hundreds of nations in the world he was among the top four. That means that he was an insanely powerful individual by measurements of those days. Even given all his strength, however, in less than a month his army was utterly defeated. To top that, his regime was defeated so bad that coalition forces only lost 190 servicemen to enemy action while the Iraqi lost somewhere between 20,000-35,000. That's not even including wounded. The simple fact is that in warfare, the loser almost never loses by a close margin. They are almost always utterly decimated presuming that they don't have the sense to surrender early. I've studied this from a historical perspective before. In how has mortality rate per battle changed throughout history? I described how the presence of overwhelming force, among other things, is actually the factor that saves lives as it quickly ends conflicts.In the opposite case, conflicts in which competing forces are mostly even, or where overwhelming force is absent are horrific cases indeed. These are known as a Pyrrhic victory, a victory with such a devastating cost that it is tantamount to defeat. I'd like to talk about events in American history where even forces led to disastrous ends. One example being much of the American Civil War. Battles like Antietam and Gettysburg are remembered for being the bloodiest days in American history. One thing is for certain, they would have never had happened had either side not believed they had a chance of winning. Another example, one I regret to speak about would be Iraq not long after 2003, my war. While overwhelming force there did secure the single greatest military upsets in history, the occupying force was far too small to prevent the insurgency which followed, growing larger and angrier in the power vacuum that consumed Iraq. This, of course, led ultimately to the events of today.But a better example exists elsewhere.Let's consider next the conflict between Russia and Germany during WWII. By some accounts, in three separate battles, the dead numbered more have been killed in the entire history of American warfare. What most don't understand, is that this is the ultimate result of when militaries try to be too efficient, and send in just enough men to get the job done, without predicting the inevitable failures in planning that are an unavoidable part of war. According to estimates and official records for the Battle of Stalingrad, Axis powers had over 850,000 total casualties (killed, injured, or captured) with the Russians suffering 1,129,619 total casualties. The main reason for this is simple; there wasn't a single force with the strength of overwhelming force early enough in the campaign to secure a victory, and thereby likely prevent the deaths of over one million people. This is, of course, an oversimplified view of one of the most important series of battles in history, but it also goes to show just how dangerous a "fair fight" is to those who fight it. I don't want to get into the argument of whether you would have wanted Stalin or Hitler to win, or play a hypothetical debate on where the world would be if either of them hadn't done so poorly. The point of this lecture is to show that overwhelming force saves lives, in spite of how much of a counter-intuitive contradiction it sounds. I would very much suggest anyone who would like to understand this more read my answer to how has mortality rate per battle changed throughout history?Given the new consideration that overwhelming force prevents otherwise horrendous casualties How much stronger is the United States military as compared with the next strongest power? asks an interesting question. One graph worth noting from that question is this one:Here you see a short glimpse of some very important figures that indicate basic strength measurements between the two most powerful nations on Earth. First we see is the cost basis in which the US is essentially 10 times as large and its % of GDP is also twice that of China. Besides that, this doesn't actually tell you as much as you think, but it is a good indicator of the massive advantage that exists between #1 and #2.Of course there are some important things to know. Namely is that China's military really doesn't seem to be as focused with protecting, or even expanding China's interests outside of the county, but rather as a balance against a nation of 1.4 billion people getting sick of being holistically governed by less than 7% of its population, i.e. the Chinese Communist Party. So the military there exists for different reasons, at least for now.Now, I am not saying the China and the US are on any sort of military collision course, but the original title of this section was called, "It doesn't do anyone any good to be second place in warfare." Therefore, the question has to be asked, "who would win?" One would obviously suggest that the Americans would easily defeat the Chinese military. There, the spending surpasses the Chinese by more than 10x. In the next section, however, I will make a very clear point: that very expensive strategies can be undone by very cheap ways of thinking. Consider, for example, the large amount of submarines owned by the Chinese. I love our aircraft carriers, but they are massive cities floating out on the water. They are massive money pits, even if they are a very important part of a very large global strategy. What's even more? They aren't even one ship. They are literally always surrounded by others.What's my fear? A single nuke taking all this out. What's even worse? China already has that exact weapon! And at least sixty more of them. (DF-21 Dong-Feng 21) I fear that the days of the aircraft carrier being numbered and China's large number of subs, really their best asset I see on that graph, are exactly why. Even worse than that is that the US has build almost its entire integrated naval strategy around its aircraft carriers. It has eleven of them, which doesn't sound like that much, but that is still 11 times more than all the other guys (except you UK.)So why the side rant on how inefficient, or at least dated it seems that we have built a massive war beast? Well, consider again, twenty years ago when Saddam was sitting high and proud on his chair in Baghdad. Then he lost, and now where is he? Where is his country for that matter? Would you like to be fourth place in a world that didn't like you?To summarize, John Steinbeck put it best by saying that, "If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.”Increased costs of military Technology:There is rule of thumb in understanding the costs of military technology. It's called Augustine's laws. Augustine's laws were a series of tongue in cheek aphorisms put forth by Norman Ralph Augustine, an American aerospace businessman who served as Under Secretary of the Army from 1975 to 1977. In 1984 he published his laws. The book and several of the laws were the topic of an article in Sound and Vibration magazine in March 2012. His most cited law is number 16, which shows that defense budgets grow linearly but the unit cost of a new military aircraft grows exponentially:"In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one tactical aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy 3½ days each per week except for leap year, when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day."There's a chance you didn't read that correctly. Take a look again at that y-axis and if you need to, refresh yourself on reading log scale. So that we are clear, the F-22 isn't 20% more expensive than the F-15. It's actually about 25 times more expensive to build and develop. And to screw with your mind a bit more, the F-15 isn't twice as expensive as the WWII P-51 Mustang; it's actually more than 220 times more expensive.The reason for this pattern is that weapons technologies are needed to always stay ahead of the other combat systems constantly being put out to defeat them. This is a thing one really doesn't understand until you've full experienced it is that incredibly smart systems can be defeated by really cheap ones. Take for example the Humvee. That's a really great vehicle. Trust me, I've driven one. It was also a pretty expensive improvement from the old Jeep and other combat vehicles in warfare of the late 20th century.But did you know this beautiful machine could be leveled by the usage of a simple unspent twenty year old artillery shell wired to a makeshift detonator with a cell phone as a trigger?I promise you it could, I've seen it happen.So to overcome this, we went through a very costly process where, more or less, every Humvee in theatre was given a very costly "uparmoring" process. These involved massive plates being installed all over the vehicle.This was a very costly change to be made, and sadly, it didn't really help that much. It was a massive cost, but didn't increase survivability of the soldiers or Marines inside much if a bomb went off underneath them. That blown vehicle I showed you before, was partially uparmored, by the way. What the plating was good at, however, was destroying transmissions. The vehicle was never meant to carry the weight of all that plating along with its normal load. Something else had to happen.So we made the MRAPs. MRAP stands for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected and actually I think the South Africans developed it first. Either way, it solved our problem of jury rigged bombs bringing down the most powerful military machine on the planet. This vehicle looks like it just took massive blow to face, but it will keep on going and so will the Marines or soldiers inside. There's a catch though... you guessed it. It is very expensive; far, far, far more expensive than this old thing.Now to understand truly how important Augustine's laws are we have to consider what the phrase "defense budgets grow linearly but the unit cost of a new military aircraft grows exponentially." Really means. It means that we have cooler stuff, but those technologies and weapons systems are set to do much, much more. A single Marine now is outnumbered by far more people than he would have been in 1943. The days where a storm of Sherman tanks can overtake and overwhelm enemy locations and where hundreds of thousands of Jeeps can be produced to do every job imaginable are over. Now, we live in a world where a single F-22 must do the old job of 100 P-51 Mustangs and one MRAP is provided for the hundreds of Jeeps no longer on the road. This means that where the technology is they rule, but where they aren't, where they can't be, there is vacuum.Piracy:I really love the piracy example because it is just a beautiful way of reminding people that, oh yeah, if not for a globally integrated military leading an international effort to protect our frail and valuable trade lanes, I wouldn't have this beautiful wifi enabled iPad to voice my disapproval of said military to the world.The United States has, for reasons you may or may not agree with, taken a leadership role in combating international piracy as it is a threat to not only the peace and stability of various regions around the world, but also, more obviously, our own trade lanes and economic stability, as well. This can be seen through a thorough reading of Rear Admiral Joseph Kuzmick's testimony to Congress on counter-piracy operations (April 2013):Page on www.navy.milIn it you'll see three different piracy hot spots where the US is either leading coalition efforts to combat piracy, namely in the fighting of Somali Pirates, the Gulf of Guinea, and in the seas of Southeast Asia.The United States Seventh Fleet has led the effort to enhance area nations’ ability to combat piracy and maritime crime. Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SECAT) is an annual multinational exercise held at Changi Naval Base, Singapore. The exercise highlights the value of information-sharing and multilateral cooperation in maritime interdiction scenarios, including counter-piracy. Participating nations in 2012 included Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. Additionally, Commander, Seventh Fleet conducts annual bilateral Cooperation Afloat – Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercises with various ASEAN nations. In 2012, the United States conducted CARAT exercises with Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The at-sea phases of CARAT focused on maritime intercept (MIO) operations, counter-piracy, anti-smuggling and, maritime law enforcement.What's important to remember about this operation is that it is one of several. Many nations are involved in some of these operations, but only the United States military is present, in fact providing the backbone, in all of them. In the case of Southeast Asia, being that nearly one quarter of the world’s commerce and half its oil pass through the Strait of Malacca and South China Sea, I find it odd that no other major military powers around the South China Sea were present in the effort to safeguard what is essentially one of the most important trade routes in the world. My oversimplified point of view on the matter is that they don't have to. As I've written before in an answer to What would happen if the USA stopped trying to "police the world" someone else will do it.In fact, piracy is only one of the many functions the United States military has been beholden to do, for better or worse. It would do you well to check out what a world where the US did not expend so much of its budget into international operations by checking that link again.Have you really done your homework?One thing that I hate is when the current narrative feeds the future narrative. What's happening now is that the narrative reads, "US spends more than any other country in military spending." I've shown reasons why that might be explained, and as some might believe, even be necessary, but few will listen. I'm sure that some will only cite a quote of a quote of a quote depicted from a graph. But those third hand analysts probably haven't noticed that the one graph they referenced is changing every year, even though the main fact still remains constant. They probably haven't noticed that the spending of the US military has decreased every year when compared to GDP. What they also probably didn't know was that this decrease in spending by the US is also leading a total world decrease in defense spending, in spite of many other nations increasing their military budgets, but not quite by enough.Secondly, the narrative denies the fact that the spending level experienced today is only slightly more than the norm since WWII, this is in spite of the fact that for over a decade we have been entangled in not one, but two major foreign wars with little foreign assistance.As one can see, even though we are still involved with one of these wars, United States military spending has been reduced significantly, regardless of whether the conflict was actually over or not. In the last three years there have already been a reduction of more than one hundred billion dollars. As I've said before, this doesn't communicate well when you only read static pie graphs. Going back even further tells another story altogether.What's important to see here is what it looked like in 1912 and 1940. The US military had almost no budget relative to today. And what happened next? World Wars I and II. An interesting bit of trivia is that at the time that WWI began the United States military had a smaller force than did Romania. What happened next was a very costly armament and training period in which a military with virtually no experience and no understanding of modern warfare was thrust into battle.Everyone knows how marvelously the US led invasion of Europe after Normandy went. It's all we talk about. What isn't talked about as much was the campaign for North Africa, ending in the occupation of Italy. That entire campaign was marked with costly mistakes and ill equipped men fighting against the elite German military machine. The only saving grace was the presence of superior manpower, a few experienced and unappreciated allies and a German line spread too thin from battles going on on across Europe and the Mediterranean, particularly along the Eastern front, which I've already mentioned. What you also might not know was that the War in the Pacific wasn't so easy either. In fact, one of the early battles nearly lost us the war. Perhaps a few did. Off the coast of the tiny island of Guadalcanal, the American Navy was defeated in one of its most humiliating losses of its history. The campaign would have been lost if not for the superior fighting strength of the stranded Marine fighting force on the island pushing back wave after wave of Japanese reinforcements until the Navy could return to secure the waters around the island. Frankly, this is what happens when an unprepared isolationist nation suddenly is plunged into a global war. A few history lessons would do much for those who wish for America to downsize its military force further.Now you might say that all this is, as the question states, superfluous. Maybe, but I don't think so. You might think that spending what we do is overkill, so to speak, but hopefully I've made you at least see it bit differently. Hopefully, you've at least seen another narrative, one which knows that a nation unprepared for war is hopelessly endangering not only its warfighters, but also its sovereignty.Quite frankly, we value self-determination. We value it a lot. We don't want others making decisions for us. We spend a lot to ensure that there isn't even a possibility that someone might be able to take away our freedom of will. And as I have shown, we are going to have to spend more in the future to be able to maintain the same level of security, not only for ourselves, but for our allies and markets as well. Really, the costs aren't financial. The costs are much of our conveniencies, some extra comforts or an easier life for all Americans. We are going to have to work harder for our luxuries than will so many who live peacefully under the veil of security we shelter them within. That is, until we don't. Then I don't know really what will become of them. The risks, however, are unfathomably high, so much so, that questions like this seem justified. You might not agree, in fact, I am sure that many won't, but the simple fact is that Congress does.So to answer your question, the military rates a large budget because:We aren't the only force out there investing in our military.Historically speaking, it sucks to be in second place.A fair fight isn't, particularly if you're there.Military equipment is often easily overcome by cheap countermeasures which necessitates an exponential cost increase in production and development of new weapons and defensive systems.Pirates are real, and they're everywhere. To fight something that is everywhere, you have to be everywhere.Stop regurgitating graphs if you don't know how to read them.Why I am writing this:As I have mentioned before, I was a member of the United States Marine Corps who served in Iraq. That war was and still is a wake up call to all of us, but I fear that the American public in particular are taking the wrong lessons from it.But that was then. Today I am a writer and a teacher. My wife teaches third grade and this last year, I worked with high school and sixth graders. I think about these kids in ways you wouldn't. I don't just see them as children, but know that once I sat in their very same seats. Once I walked in the same halls of their school and that once I was exactly like them. I eventually went to war. That is how I see them, each one of them. They, just like I was, are all potentially warriors in some conflict I pray every day never comes.These are some my wife's student. I speak to her classes every year for Veteran's Day to tell them what it was like. That's me in the picture, the tall one. Demographically, I know that poor kids like this are the ones who will one day enlist in far greater numbers than their wealthier peers regardless of what grades they made growing up. I also know that her third graders this year will be 18 in 2025, just about the right time for something nasty to kick up again. Like me, they may want to get an opportunity to get out and see the world. Like me they want a means to go to college, since large universities recruiters never visit small towns like ours. Like me, they may feel an obligation to serve that is somehow less potent in the more blessed socioeconomic sectors, a fact which has always escaped my understanding. And like me, they will be joining the military when they graduate.The boy in black shorts and a yellow shirt in the front row wants to join the army because his big brother did. In 2025 he will be trained up and in front line of whatever future engagement he is a part of, if he is unlucky enough to be involved in such an ordeal. The problem is that he will likely be one person per every 80 miles of territory for which his unit is responsible. He will probably be one person per 80,000 people in the country he is deployed too. That's a heavy load. I remember not long ago I helped my wife sort his homework. That day he learned about metamorphosis in frogs.The point of all this is to remind readers that the talks about military budgets today in no way affects any of us. Those of us in malls today aren't really affected by the redistribution of 1% of our annual GDP either way in a meaningful way, not even people like me, the former warfighters. I've long ago retired my boots to souvenir status at the back of the closet as have so many others like me. No, the people who are affected by conversations on budgets today are those who tomorrow will need to make up the difference for our short sighted understanding of the modern military and how it fits into a globally integrated network. Some of these people are going to die if we make poor choices. Even more will die if we make selfish ones. These people today are learning about metamorphosis in frogs, basic algebra and getting their first kisses. It's jarring to consider, I know, but reckless not to.Follow on Reading and Cited Pages:Jon Davis's answer to U.S. Military Operations: Is the February 2014 budget proposal by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel a good idea from a defense and budget consideration?Jon Davis's answer to What would happen if the USA stopped trying to "police the world"? What effects would this have, economically and militarily, on the USA and other countries?Jon Davis's answer to What are some mind-blowing facts about the U.S. military?World Military SpendingUS Drives Down Global Defense SpendingGlobal Defense Budget Seen Climbing In 2014; First Total Increase Since 2009 As Russia Surpasses Britain And Saudi Arabia Continues Its Security Spending SpreeArms and the manMilitary expenditure (% of GDP)Defence spending in a time of austerityThanks for reading!For more answers like this check out On War, Global Outlook and The American, and also follow my blog War Elephant for more new content. Everything I write is completely independent research and is supported by fan and follower pledges. Please consider showing your support directly by visiting my Patreon support page here: Help Jon Davis in writing Military Novels, Articles, and Essays.

How To Study PhysicsAlthough the main objective of education is to train people to think clearly about problems in life, apparently most college students do not give adequate thought to the question of finding the best methods for carrying on their chief activity—studying. It is obvious that musicians, athletes, or even good bridge players develop techniques appropriate to their activities; and, just as obviously, a proper procedure is necessary for effective study. The purpose of this book is to call to the attention of beginning physics students methods for effectively studying physics.A proper mental attitude toward the material to be studied is the primary requirement. You must earnestly want to learn. Unless you are finally convinced that you want to do a good job in your physics work, this manual will do little good. Unfortunately, resolutions alone do not help. Learning physics takes work. This guide points out how you may work effectively but it cannot tell you of short cuts because there are none. Every suggestion included here has been of use to somebody—a fact verified by student comment on an earlier version of this book. A few of the ideas are mutually inconsistent since not all students study most effectively in the same way. Try out the various schemes and then develop a system or study that is suited to you.A student who read a rough draft of this material said that anyone who followed all the suggestions in it would be sure to get an A in physics but would fail every other course from having spent all of his time on physics! Certainly it is up to you to decide what part of your time you should devote to physics. It is a fact that you can learn to use that time efficiently.There are several full-size books on how to study, but most of them tend to be rather general. [1] In this guide an attempt has been made to give numerous specific examples, and a summary of the main ideas has also been included...CHAPTER I: WHY GO TO COLLEGE?Experience has shown that people whose training has developed their ability to think clearly and whose studies in several different fields, including physical or biological sciences, humanities, and social sciences, have also given them a liberal, tolerant, and understanding attitude toward life, are more able to make a significant contribution to human welfare than those without that training. If you prefer less sophisticated language, you may say that people with the qualifications just mentioned make the best citizens. Furthermore, because of the breadth of their background, such people are able to lead full and rich lives and to enjoy many kinds of things. ln a materialistic sense, such people are likely to be capable and hence they deserve to hold responsible (and well-paid) positions.The professions require not only specific technical training but also tolerance and the ability to think clearly. A college or university is an ideal place to obtain such training...Good character is made up of many worthy qualities, including self-discipline, reliability, honesty, tolerance, and the ability to get along with other people. It should be a prime objective of the college student to develop these characteristics. There are many opportunities to do so: for example, studying even when there is no immediate prospect of an exam, doing a clean, thorough job in the lab without, for instance, reading the scale in such a way as to favor a result in agreement with the ‘true' or handbook value; and learning to get along with fellow students in a pleasant, friendly, cooperative way.As a check on his aptitude, a serious-minded student will take courses in several different departments to find out in what field he can do the best work. This is quite distinct from finding out where he can get the best grades...CHAPTER 2: WHY STUDY PHYSICS?Physics is the basic physical science. It deals with such things as mechanics (force, energy, motion), sound, heat, light, electricity, and atomic structure In college physics we are concerned not so much with what is so but rather with why it is so. In fact, physics has been described as the science of “why things work.” It is studied mainly by three groups: (1) premedical students: (2) students of engineering, physics and other sciences; and (3) those who study it for its cultural value....All professional students, however, should be impressed with the fact that their technical knowledge rapidly goes out of date, not because it is wrong but because new and better methods and techniques are developed... Over a working life of perhaps for years, you must learn a great deal more after you leave college than before. Therefore, as an undergraduate, be sure to learn how to learn by yourself....As it is evident that anyone can find all the facts of physics merely by going to the public library, a [student] is hardly equipped if he knows only facts. If he knowsprinciples he is somewhat better off but not likely to be worth much to an employer, who can learn the principles himself by a little study. The methods and techniques are about equally important and can be acquired only by practice on typical problems...Consequently, it is clear that the real purpose of taking first-year physics is not to ‘get' facts and principles, although these are essential, but to train one's thinking through practice on simple problems so that later on more difficult problems and situations can be approached effectively. For this reason discussion questions, homework problems, and practice on similar problems are very important aspects of first-year physics for the professional man. The student who goes beyond first-year physics is likely to stay on the right track if he constantly asks himself the following questions about every new fact or theory:What is the fact precisely? (Don't be vague.)Why is it so? (Very important.)How does it tie in with other ideas in physics?What is a typical problem concerning it?Do I merely understand it, or do I know what to do with it? (Better find out by trying.)What was its importance when it was discovered and how did its discovery affect the development of physics?In relation to what is it important now? Why?Having asked these questions, the student should formulate precise answers. Probably it will be more difficult than was anticipated but it is a very valuable phase of professional training...Granting, then, that there are reasons for studying physics, we may return to our problem of how to study it effectively. In physics, perhaps more than in any other subject, it is necessary to develop an ability to analyze problems, to reason logically, and to discriminate between important and irrelevant material. Consequently, efforts to memorize physics are practically worthless. For most students physics involves many new concepts. To master the material takes work, and that takes time. Although you must decide how much time you can devote to physics, we hope you will learn enough from this discussion to develop a good system of studying. You must realize that a university cannot educate you. You must do that for yourself, although a college or university is the place where it is likely that you can study most efficiently.Probably you have heard many of these ideas before. Some of them apply to any course, some are specifically related to physics. Although not all the ideas will appeal to a given individual, any suggestions appearing here have been of value to some student. Try them out. They may help you.CHAPTER 3: GENERAL STUDY SUGGESTIONSAs mentioned in the preface (which you should read), the most important requirement for effective study is the proper mental attitude and a driving desire to learn. Picture to yourself as vividly as possible the consequences of your failure to learn—flunking out, opinions of family and friends, lowered income throughout life because of incompetence. Then think of what may happen if you do particularly well—respect from family and friends, possible scholarships, offers of jobs leading to important and responsible positions.Get interested in the subject by learning something about it, tying it in with other courses, talking it over with fellow students. Be assured that if the course is required as part of a curriculum of professional training, the course is necessary. Try to discover why.Go to class; be alert. Make a serious effort to stay right with the lecture Adopt a cooperative and receptive mental attitude rather than a belligerent one. Perhaps you will develop more enthusiasm for the course if you sit in one of the front rows, where you will be forced to pay attention.Find yourself a quiet place to study, with plenty of light and desk space that is free from distractions, including radios and pictures of girl friends or boy friends. (The desk is for work; put the pictures on the bureau.) Study conscientiously, keep at it; sit with your back to the door and reject interruptions. The time you save will enable you to enjoy occasional bull sessions without worrying because you aren't studying.Budget your time. Make out a study schedule and stick to it for at least two weeks. Get adequate sleep, regular moderate exercise, and some recreation, but leave two full honest hours weekly per unit for study. [2]There are 168 hours a week. Of these 168 hours you will be asleep for about 60, dressing and eating for about 20. If you take Saturday afternoon off for a hike, consider Sunday morning and afternoon as time off from studying, and have two four-hour dates a week, you have about 68 hours a week for work. If you are in class and laboratory for 20 hours, you still have 48 hours for study. It seems like a tremendous amount of time, doesn't it?—especially considering that you've taken off half of Saturday and most of Sunday. Just where does all the time go? A great deal of it is lost in ten-and twenty-minute idle discussions, time wasted during the twenty minutes while you wait before a class after you've needlessly spent another twenty minutes walking to the post office and back for a stamp you could have picked up just as easily on your way back from lunch, and so on. It is up to you whether you want to make good use of these numerous ten; twenty, or thirty-minute intervals. I'm not urging that you never take a minute off to enjoy life, but there is certainly little danger that you will use your time too efficiently.You learn more physics by studying it for an hour a day than by studying it for ten hours on a week end, and it takes less time. Furthermore, you will get more from the middle-of-the-week classes Don't get behind. Keep up with your work. It's much easier to learn your lessons from day to day than it is to half-learn them all at once on the day before the exam. If the prospect of an assignment is forbidding, begin on it; you may get more done than you expected.Plan to study physics as soon after class as possible, while you still remember things that probably will be forgotten twenty-four hours later. You may find it a good idea to study physics when your mind is fresh, before you work on subjects requiring less concentration. During a study session of several consecutive hours, an occasional relaxation period of five minutes often is a help. Sometimes it is better to study one subject for an hour and then shift to another subject for an hour, rather than to study one course continuously. Sometimes it is not better. Experiment to find out which method suits you.When you study, really study. Much of your time may be lost in slipshod thinking, daydreaming, following blind alleys of thought, and just plain loafing. Probably you have experienced times when your process of learning was very easy and rapid. Try to figure out how this happened and then try to duplicate the occurrence. (Sometimes the prospect of an examination provides a good incentive; can you provide yourself with an artificial incentive?) While you are studying, keep personal worries off your mind. If you have a personal problem, get some good advice, think it over, then make your decision and stick to it.You understand a lecture better if you have some notion ahead of time as to its subject matter. For this reason, spending the five or ten minutes between classes reading the main paragraph headings gives you a better return for the time spent in the lecture than if you spend the time before class reading the daily paper. (By all means, read the newspaper later.) Experiment to find out what part of your study time for a given assignment should be spent before lecture and what part after lecture, in order to give you the best return. Probably you will spend from ten to forty percent of your time studying before lecture.Perspective is one of the chief aims of education. To see the parts in relation to the whole is much more important than to know all the details. [3] Perspective provides a scaffolding into which the details may be fitted readily. When you study an assignment, first go over it rapidly, taking in only the high spots, to find out what it is about. Then go over it more carefully. Study to understand the material, not just to read an assignment. Go slowly Physics can't be read like a novel or even like a history lesson. (A physics assignment is often only a half-dozen pages rather than a half-dozen chapters.) Try to think of applications of the material as you read it and of problems to which the formulas apply. Try to correlate the material with your previous knowledge and with other courses. Material in the text is not necessarily 100 percent correct. Textbook authors are human and sometimes are misinformed, just as other people are. All books have some typographical errors, although usually not very many. Be critical. Do not believe what you read unless it makes sense to you. [4]When you finish a paragraph, think out its main idea. Say it out loud or write it down. When you finish the page, ask yourself what was on the page. It may have seemed simple when the author wrote it, but can you put it in your own words? You may have to do so in an exam.When you finish the assignment, plan what question you would ask if you were making up an examination. Close the book and deliver yourself a three-minute formal lecture on the lesson or, if you feel silly talking to yourself, write out a fifteen-minute essay on the subject. Probably you will discover that you didn't know the material as well as you thought you did—better to find it out while studying than during an exam. The importance of frequent self-recitation cannot be overemphasized. Review the day's work in the evening, the week's work on Friday, and the whole course once a month.Psychologists say that if you overlearn material (i.e., study it somewhat longer than is necessary just to understand it), you will remember it later with comparative ease. Furthermore, overlearning and review show you where you are weak and give you a chance to clear up the weak points.Physics can be learned by seeing, hearing, reading, writing, and talking. Do not overlook the chance of talking things over with your friends. An excellent study procedure is for two students to study a week's material together and then give each other an oral exam on it. (Let A ask B a question. If B answers, it is a point for B; if B cannot answer but A can, then it is a point for A. The one with the most points can call the tune but perhaps the loser will want to study a little more.) Trying to explain something to a critical friend will show if you really know it. Don't delude yourself by saying, “I know it but I can't explain it,” for if you do understand it, you can explain it. As a matter of fact, a good test of your understanding is furnished by the ease with which you can explain something. When you understand it well enough, you can explain it easily.As you are outlining the course, revising your lecture-notes, reading the text, or doing problems, occasionally you will come upon things you simply cannot understand. Don't say: “I can't get it at all.” Rather, try to analyze your difficulty so that you can state specifically what you don't understand. Make a list of these difficult topics and ask the instructor about them at the next class. Don't hesitate to ask, either. Probably there are others who will be glad to know the answers too. Contrary to popular student impression, the instructor probably will be pleased that you ask about the course.If you are having real difficulty with a course, spend an hour writing an essay on what you think the course is about, what its significance is, how it should be studied, why you are taking the course (or if it is a required course, why you think it is required), why you think you are having difficulty, etc. Then show your instructor the essay but ask him to count ten before he says anything. Very likely your essay will be of value to him in diagnosing your difficulty and prescribing a remedy. Writing the essay certainly will help you to profit from your instructor's diagnosis and remarks.If the course seems to be too deep for you, try going to the main library or to the physics library, where there are some books simpler and easier to understand than your text. The instructor will be able to suggest several books of this type, But don't neglect your own book. It has an index and probably several appendices. They may help. Useyour own book; don't just read it. Underline important points, put your own comments in the margin, etc. (If it costs $500 to $1000 for you to take a physics course, it is hardly worth while to worry about the resale value of a $5 text.)Sometimes a student can learn more in an hour from a good tutor than he could in a whole evening by himself. Your instructor will know of some good tutors. Or the material may not be so difficult as you think. Don't expect too much. A thing may have a terrifying name (such as a prolate spheroid) but may actually represent something simple (a football). The sentence following an obscure one may clear up the trouble.If your physics suffers because it takes you too long to read your history lesson, speak to your adviser, who will be able to suggest corrective procedures. Most people can greatly increase their reading speed and degree of understanding if they go about it in the proper way. [5]Pay special attention to definitions. Often a common word has a special technical meaning; be sure you understand it. Although in common parlance such terms as force, energy, work, and power often are used synonymously, all of them have distinct, different meanings in physics. Learn these meanings. For nontechnical words about which you are in doubt, use a dictionary. All students should own and use a good dictionary. Definitions are important not because they may be asked for in an examination but because a clear and concise formulation of the meaning of a defined quantity is essential to an understanding of it. Incidentally, do not merely mimic the words in the text but study for a grasp of the subject so that you can give the definition in your own words too.Take an active part in recitation work. Ask questions. Try to anticipate what will come next. Such an alert mental attitude will help to make the material sink in.In technical courses, undoubtedly you will have numerical problems to work from time to time. In addition to quantitative problems, however, discussion questions are very useful learning aids. If your text has questions of this type, be sure to go over them. If, after thinking hard, you cannot get the answers, ask your instructor for some hints. If your book does not have this type of question, you should either get a book that does or else ask enough questions in your recitation section so that you get the benefit of this kind of mental exercise.CHAPTER 4: HOW TO MAKE NOTESYou do not go to class to get a good set of notes. It is hardly worth spending several hours a week for a whole term to get information that can be bought for a few dollars in the form of a good reference book. The prime reason for your going to class is to learn something. In taking notes, keep this thought in mind. Do not overemphasize the notes to the extent that you neither see nor hear the lecture.Taking good notes in a physics lecture is quite different from taking good notes in, say, a history class. One of the main differences is that most history lectures are largely the presentation of factual historical material, whereas most physics lectures are primarily the explanation of a comparatively small number of principles. These usually are illustrated by examples and by demonstrations. Outline form is good in history because it may be impossible to write down all the facts as rapidly as they are given to you, but if you use outline form in physics, at the end of a lecture you have only a portion of a page of notes, and probably they are not very illuminating. Outline form is unsuited to physics because in an outline you will not get down enough of the explanation to help you much afterwards. For explanation put down complete sentences (subject, predicate, object, etc.) but abbreviate long words. If you expect to be able to ‘decode' your notes later, do not omit important words whether they be verbs or prepositions, In physics it makes a lot of difference whether a force is exerted by one object on another, or vice versa. To illustrate, on the subject of the ballistic pendulum the professor explains: “The kinetic energy of the bob at the bottom of its swing is equal to its potential energy at the top of its swing. Therefore from the height to which the bob swings, one can calculate what its velocity was at the bottom of the swing, in the following way....” The good note-taker writes: “KE of bob at bottom of swing = PE at top. ∴ from height bob swings can calc vel at bottom thus...” [6]Diagrams or formulas are put on the board. Actually they are the least important things to put in your notes, since they can be found afterwards in the text. The main thing to record is the explanation that accompanies them. (You will understand the explanations better if you spend some of your time studying before class.) If a diagram is labeled on the board, be sure to put down all of the labels. Three arrows coming from a point may mean nothing in your notes but, if they are accompanied by several sentences of explanation and by appropriate labels on the diagram, they may show the complete story of the forces acting on some point of a complicated structure such as a cantilever bridge, or they may show something simpler, thus:The professor says (and draws the diagrams):“A picture frame hangs from a hook in the ceiling C by two strings A and B, each making an angle of 30° with the horizontal. There are three forces acting on the hook, the upward pull FCexerted by the ceiling, and the two downward forces FAand FBdue to tensions in the strings A and B. Since the hook is at rest, it must be in equilibrium, and we may apply the force-polygon method to determine the relationships among the various forces...”You copy the diagrams and write:“Picture hangs from hook. Forces acting on hook are upward pull FCexerted by ceiling and downward pulls FAand FBexerted by strings. At rest ∴ equilibrium ∴ polygon method....”Probably the professor will show how FA, FBand FCare related and then go on to discuss the forces acting on the ceiling or the forces acting on the picture frame, none of which has been mentioned yet.One of the most deflating experiences a professor can have is to examine the notes taken by students in his classes. In the example above, the professor probably puts nothing on the board except the diagrams (writing many sentences on a blackboard makes a dull lecture) and some students' notes consist of nothing but the diagrams. The important ideas, however, are in the application of the principles to the specific problem represented by the diagrams. In other words, the explanation that accompanies the diagram is the most important part of the discussion and the student—if he takes any notes at all—should put the explanation in his notes. If the instructor goes too fast, ask him a question to slow him down; for example, “Would you state that conclusion again, please?”For most students, two to four pages of notes is a reasonable amount for one physics lecture, Do not ignore the demonstrations. Draw a diagram of the experimental setup and tell what principles are illustrated. If you don't know what the demonstration is supposed to demonstrate, ask the instructor.If the lecturer follows a text rather closely, study the book before class, take it to class, keep it open, and make notes in the margin or on a separate sheet of paper.Some students find it better to take no notes at all during lecture (or to take very sketchy ones) and to spend the full time concentrating on what is being said without being distracted by frantically trying to write everything down. Immediately after lecture, they write out a complete set of notes (with detailed explanations), using the text (and their sketchy notes, if any) to aid them in remembering what was discussed.Sometimes students pair off, one of them concentrating on getting good notes (making a carbon copy) and the other concentrating on digesting the explanation. After class they discuss the lesson together. While this procedure has something to recommend it (especially in advanced courses), it puts too much emphasis on the importance of notes.Psychologists say that the physical operation of writing a set of notes contributes something to the learning process, in addition to the fact that the material being written almost of necessity has to have made some mental impression. Therefore you must have at least one set of notes in your own handwriting. This set ought to serve the double purpose of being a learning aid physically, as well as helping in review. Consequently, whether or not you take notes in lecture, when the lecture is over your note work has only begun. While the material is still fresh in your mind (preferably within a few hours after lecture), go over your notes and smooth them out. Add to the explanations. Compare the lecture with the text and fill in the parts you missed. If the material still seems obscure, consult another text in the library. Pick out the important statements in the notes and the important formulas; then underline them with red pencil to facilitate your review for exams. It is likely that in a whole term's work there will be fewer than twenty important formulas you must know. But remember it is the method of applying them that really counts.CHAPTER 5: HOW TO WORK PROBLEMSOne of the very effective methods of studying physics is to work problems. Qualitative knowledge (e.g., if a force is applied to a steel cable, it will stretch a little) is but slightly useful: you really haven't learned much until you know quantitatively that if a force of 1000 pounds is applied to a steel cable one-eighth of an inch in diameter and 100 feet long, it will stretch 3.26 inches You may have in mind merely a general idea of some point and hence delude yourself into thinking you understand it. Only when you can do a quantitative problem without hesitation, however, and work directly to that correct solution, is it certain that you understand the subject. Because problems illustrate basic ideas, it is probable that you will have a set of half a dozen problems weekly. This is the absolute minimum number of problems you can do and still get by. Working two or three times this number will help greatly. If your text does not have enough problems, get another text or one of the many books of physics problems. [7][8]If you start your weekly problem set early, you may have opportunity to ask questions in class about parts you do not understand.In working problems, it is very important to do the work in an orderly fashion:Read the problem carefully twice.Reduce the problem to its essentials.Draw and label a suitable diagram.List the given quantities and the required quantities.Put down some relevant principles (usually in mathematical form).Analyze the problem, think about it, correlate the various factors, grind out some useful ideas. [9]Solve algebraically as much of the problem as possible (very important, especially in complex problems).Complete the numerical solution. (Do not do lengthy arithmetic ‘longhand'; use a slide rule.)Check the problem.Check the units.Look critically at the answer. Does it seem like a reasonable answer? Develop your technical judgment by making a decision. [10]Look up the answer in the answer book.If your answer is correct, review the problem; otherwise correct the problem and then review it. In either case, be sure to review it.Perhaps not every step is needed in every problem, but most of the steps are useful in the majority of the problems you will have to work. An illustrative example is given at the end of this chapter.There is a definite (although not complete) correlation between orderly work and orderly thinking. Do your problems as neatly as you can the first time, preferably in ink. Being neat has a tendency to stimulate clear thinking. The same idea applies to lecture notes.After reaching the answer to a problem, you should go over the problem, work it backward (i.e., with the answer as a known quantity and one of the given quantities as the unknown), make modifications in the problem, and do it again. For instance, the problem may be: “A stone falls from rest from a tower 144 feet high; neglecting air friction, calculate the time for the stone to reach the bottom.” The answer is 3 seconds. Working the problem backward involves solving this problem: “Calculate the height to which a baseball goes if it takes three seconds to drop to the ground from the highest point in its flight.” A variation of the problem is: “A first-aid kit dropped to a stranded mountaineer from a helicopter 144 feet above the ground is falling with what speed just before it strikes the earth?”Under no circumstances can you regard your problem study as being sufficient if you merely get the right answer and then stop. The instructors and the readers [11] already know the right answer anyway. Doing the problem is worthwhile only insofar as it gives you training in thinking. You get a poor return for the time spent if you stop when you have explored only a single route to the answer. In typical cases, by spending twenty or thirty percent more time, you can study a few variations of the problem and for this slight extra time can learn two or three times as much. If your time is very short, instead of doing all the problems and then stopping, do three out of four, but review the three. During the review, light may dawn so that you can do the fourth problem in not much extra time. If you doubt that this extra study pays big dividends, just try it. I know it takes extra time in the short run, but there is no question about its paying off in the long run.After two or three students have worked a set of problems independently, it is entirely in order, and quite worth while, for them to have a review session with each other concerning the problems. [12]If you really understand the principles involved in problems, you will find that there are perhaps only half a dozen fundamental ideas presented in a whole week's stint. Each principle may have a dozen variations. It is much wiser to go after the main idea than to try to memorize all the variations without correlating them to the main principle. For this reason, when you start working a problem don't merely hunt in the text for some formula that may seem to have the right kinds of symbols in it. Your procedure should be to analyze the problem to see what physical principles are involved and then to work on that basis. The formulas are merely shorthand representations for the principles. Analyzing from principles rather than hunting for formulas may take a bit longer (especially the first time you try it) but you will learn more.For example, the general problem of calculating potential energy, work, kinetic energy, etc., and of correlating these quantities with the distances the bodies move and with their velocities, etc., has so many variations that no student can hope to memorize them all. Yet dozens of variations of this general problem can be handled with the aid of a few physical principles which can be expressed mathematically in one or two square inches of notes. For this case these simple relations are:and a statement of the principle of conservation of energy.Be sure you know what the symbols stand for. because formulas without definitions mean nothing. (The student who hasn't reached this point in his physics course may wonder what the symbols mean, but he will find out in due time.) For a whole week's work you may need to memorize no more than the set of formulas just mentioned but the rest of the week's work is to learn to apply them properly. Actually you may easily apply the right formula in the wrong way if you do not understand the fundamentals. Rely on your memory only for the few essential formulas and for the rest learn to reason from the fundamental principles.As an example of proper procedure in working problems, consider the following question: If in the take-off of an airplane, a 192-pound man is uniformly accelerated for 16 seconds over a distance of 1280 feet, what force is exerted on him (by the seat)?Step 1. Read the problem carefully.Step 2. Reduce the problem to: A 192-pound object is accelerated from rest for 16 seconds over a distance of 1280 feet by what force?Step 3. Since all the motion is in a straight line, a diagram is unnecessary.Step 4.Given:weight of man W = 192 poundstime t = 16 secondsdistance s = 1280 feetRequired:force F = ? poundsStep 5. Relevant principles for uniformly accelerated motion starting from rest and for problems involving force and motion:equation (1)v = atequation (2)s = <v>tequation (3)s = ½at2equation (4)v2= 2asequation (5)F = maequation (6)W = mgPerhaps in your course, equations (5) and (6) will be combined to giveequation (7)F = (W/g)a.In these equations, v = final velocity, a = acceleration, <v> = average velocity, m = mass, and g = the acceleration of gravity of 32 ft/sec2.Step 6. To solve for the force from either equation (5) or (7), we must find the acceleration. The acceleration appears in equations (1), (3), and (4). Which one shall we choose? Since we do not know the final velocity v in equations (I) and (4), we must obtain the acceleration a from equation (3) in which we know both the distance s and the time t.Step 7. From equation (3) we haveequation (8)a = 2s/t2Now when the expression for a in equation (8) is substituted into equation (7) we getequation (9) W 2s  F = — ——  2  g t Step 8. Putting in the numbers, we have 192 pounds 2×1280 ft 192 pounds 2×1280 ft  F = —————————— ————————— = —————————— —————————  2 2 2 2 2 2  32 ft/sec 16 sec 32 ft/sec 16 sec F = 60 pounds (answer).Step 9. Check the problem.Step 10. Check the units. The units may be canceled as if they were fractional quantities, as shown. Every unit cancels except ‘pounds,' which is a perfectly proper unit for force.Step 11. Considering the way one sinks back in his seat on the take-off of a modern airliner, or even in an automobile starting in low gear, 60 pounds appears to be a reasonable accelerating force for a 192-pound man.Step 12. The answer book gives 60 pounds for the answer.Step 13. This is the all-important step—review the problem.Working the problem backward involves solving: What time is required for a 60-pound force to accelerate a 192-pound object uniformly over a distance of 1280 feet? Or: What distance is required for a 60-pound force to accelerate a 192-pound object for 16 seconds? (You had better work out both problems just to make sure you are following along.) Variations of the problem include finding the average acceleration (for instance, from equation (8)—the answer is 10 ft/sec2), and the final take-off velocity (the answer is 160 ft/sec or about 109 miles/hour). Then you can work backward from the last two variations. If you keep this up, of course, it will take time, but as a studying system, this actually works. Some amount of time can be saved by omitting the numerical part of the review...CHAPTER 6: MATHEMATICS IN PHYSICSMany students imagine that they are having trouble with physics when actually the difficulty may be with their mathematical background which perhaps is too rusty to be useful. Suppose you are given T = 1.92, L = 3.0. where T = 2 π (L/g)1/2and you are asked to solve for g. If this causes you the slightest worry or concern, then you need to brush up on your math. (In this illustration we are overlooking the units.) It is astonishing how few students actually can do arithmetic properly, i.e., accurately with moderate speed. You should be able to multiply 8,642 × 9,753 and get 84,285,426; without making a mistake; and you should be able to do it within two minutes. You are not good at arithmetic unless you can do it in one minute. (Some modern electronic calculating machines can do it in less than a thousandth of a second!) For most students, three to six honest hours of mathematical review represents an adequate brush-up; some students may need a dozen or more hours of practice, especially in arithmetic, high school algebra, geometry, and perhaps trigonometry. It is a delusion to blame physics for being difficult when you don't know your math. Obtain a good inexpensive book of review exercises in elementary math. [13] If you find any of the exercises difficult, then you need to review that topic. It is well to go over the math the first week, rather than to put it off until the physics begins to become involved.Many students, plagued by derivations, wonder why they must be studied. The chief reason is that many formulas are of limited validity because in the derivation some simplifying assumption is made that limits the generality. Thus if acceleration is assumed to be constant, one may use the formula that the distance a body moves from rest is given by (1/2)at2. When the acceleration is not constant, however, this formula does not give the correct answer. For instance, in the case of simple periodic motion, where the acceleration is proportional to the displacement from the midpoint, another approach is needed. Frequently it is just as necessary to know the range of usefulness of a formula as it is to know the formula itself.Another reason for studying derivations is that they often illustrate fundamental principles. Ten years ago students studying the diffraction pattern produced by an illuminated slit did not know that the same method of procedure would enable them to calculate the directional characteristics of an underwater sound signaling apparatus. Some of the students who had studied the principles, however, were able during the war to make useful contributions to the problem of locating enemy submarines. Students who had merely tried to memorize formulas could see no connection between the two kinds of phenomena, both of which involve wave motion (light waves and sound waves). Similar considerations apply to the directional characteristics of radar.Another reason for studying derivations is that if you can derive a formula, you are not lost if you forget it during an exam, nor are you likely to use it in the wrong way.Still another reason for studying a derivation springs from the fact that most of the technological information you have when you leave college gradually will become obsolete. If all you have learned in college is the end result, you, too, will become obsolete. If, however, you understand the intermediate steps, then as extensions are developed you will be able to fit them in with what you know.A good way to discover why you don't understand a derivation is to go back to the very beginning and go through it again carefully. One step missed somewhere can throw you completely off, and a review of the steps helps you to remember them as well as to understand them better. Do not expect that every mathematical relationship is an important formula. In the same way that many words are needed to build up to a concluding key sentence in a paragraph, often many mathematical equations are necessary to deduce some new principle from the initial assumptions. A whole page of math may be forbidding in its entirety but if you take it step by step, it may turn out to be fairly simple.Probably you will need to memorize one or two dozen key formulas during your course. A convenient way to do this is to put the symbols of a given formula on one side of a 3×5 inch card, and on the other side to put the complete formula, the meaning of the symbols, the application of the formula to a typical problem, and suitable units. If on looking at the first side of the card you can't give the information on the other side, you place the card back in your pile of formula cards near the top. If you know the material well, you place the card on the bottom. Whenever you have a few minutes you run through a part of or all of your pile of cards. (The same method with smaller cards, works well in learning a vocabulary in a foreign language.)Just because you have used a formula correctly in part of a problem is no reason why the same formula may not be properly used again in another part of the same problem. For instance, Ohm's law, potential difference = current × resistance, may be applied successively to several parts of a problem on electrical networks.If you do not want to waste a lot of time doing arithmetic, learn to use a slide rule. Get a simple, inexpensive one at first (for about one dollar). After you have used it for a while, you can tell which of the more complicated slide rules with fancy scales will be useful to you. [14]There are some parts of physics that are almost impossible to explain without using calculus. Usually most of these parts are omitted from all but the most substantial first-year courses. If they are not left out of your course and you have not had calculus, you need not necessarily be in despair. It may be quite possible to understand the physical ideas, even if you can't do the mathematical manipulation. Probably you can understand the principle involved in finding the side of a cubical box having a volume of 120 cubic inches, although unless you are a very rare student you cannot take cube roots directly to find that the cube root of 120 is 4.932. (The answer seems reasonable, though, because you know the cube root of 125 is 5.)Mathematics is one of the most important tools of the engineer-scientist. The more math you know and can use, the better off you are. Do not, however, use mathematics to sidestep the effort of clear thinking or writing; do not use mathematics to the extent that simple ideas are obscured by it. Do not get bogged down in the mathematics of a discussion. At all costs keep in mind the physical ideas.CHAPTER 7: THE LABORATORYThe laboratory work in physics can be an exciting part of the course or it can be drudgery, depending upon your attitude toward it. If you regard it merely as an impediment to your getting through the course, probably you will not enjoy it and, furthermore, you will derive very little benefit from it. On the other hand, if you approach laboratory work with the thought that it is an opportunity to learn and with a desire to make the most out of it, then it is almost certain you will find the time you spend on it both profitable and interesting. [15]An experiment is a controlled quantitative investigation—controlled in the sense that the various quantities entering into the experiment are under the control [16] of the experimenter and quantitative in the sense that numerical data are obtained. There is nothing mysterious about an experiment: the investigator ordinarily proceeds according to the scientific method.There are several ways in which you may expect to benefit from the laboratory work. It helps you to understand and remember the physics you have studied; it gives you practice in the application of physical laws and logic to real cases, and in that way aids you to think clearly: and it gives you some skill in the use of scientific instruments and techniques.A whole year's course adds up to less than two full weeks of actual laboratory time (the Ph.D. candidate ordinarily spends about two years of full-time laboratory work on a single problem) so that you cannot expect to get any very thorough mastery of specialized laboratory techniques; however, you can learn much about less specialized techniques. You can try to get the most reliable data possible from first-year equipment that is often oversimplified and therefore not capable of high precision. In this way you will become familiar with averaging and estimating procedures as well as with experimental techniques for improving the accuracy of measurements in difficult situations where ideal measuring equipment has not yet been developed. Should you think of objecting to making several runs with the free-fall apparatus to improve the accuracy of your average value for the acceleration of gravity, remember that it may have taken many months to determine accurately a single figure for some quantity that appears in a handbook. It is true that you are not likely to be the discoverer of anything new in physics during your first-year course, for most (but not all) of the material in first-year physics has been known for decades. It is also true that you have not known the material for decades and you may, therefore, be able to experience the thrill in the laboratory of discovering for yourself some of the principles of physics. Most of the principles of physics were discovered by men using equipment no better than yours. Most of it, in fact, was not as good. At times, unfortunately, you will know beforehand what the results of your experiment are supposed to be, since mature investigators have done the experiment many times over. Even so, you can imagine yourself rediscovering the principles of physics while you are in the laboratory. With the equipment in front of you, you have the chance to try out your own ideas, to reason about the results, and to draw conclusions from them. In brief, you should regard the laboratory as a place for intellectual exploration.Before you come to the laboratory, study the laboratory manual so that you will know what you are going to do and so that you can plan in advance how to use your time efficiently. As you do the experiment, make an effort to correlate the behavior of the apparatus with the principles discussed in lecture. To get an idea of the reliability of your measurements, after you have determined what you think is the best reading, gradually put the apparatus out of balance (or whatever is appropriate) to see how great an unbalance you can secure before the effect becomes noticeable. Make some record in your data of this observation. Pay special attention to the derivations and the equations used; eventually, when you substitute values into the equations, you will know why you use them.Keep your mind open and alert to the possibilities of the experiment: try out things not specifically asked for in the instructions. True, your first original ideas may not seem particularly brilliant to you if the instructor points out their obvious fallacies but you must begin thinking for yourself sometime (rather than merely learning from a book) and the laboratory is a good place to start. The equipment is handy and the results of trying your own ideas are apparent immediately.Constantly ask yourself such questions as: Why do we do it this way? What would happen if we did it another way? What does this measurement show or prove? The purpose of the laboratory manual is to direct your thinking along those channels most likely to be fruitful. Let us hope the manual is clear enough so that you need not waste time puzzling over simple matters. The manual, however, cannot possibly deal with all the points that can be uncovered by a wide awake student. A few examples may be cited.In the mechanics experiment on vectors using the force table the theory is straightforward and were it not for friction in the pulleys, the weight of the strings, and the weight of the ring, ‘perfect' results could be anticipated. Discrepancies of a few percent are obtained ordinarily. The student who ‘takes' physics will pass off the discrepancy vaguely as being due to some unspecified kind of friction, hurry through the experiment, and leaves the laboratory as soon as he can. The student who wants to make use of the opportunities to learn from the laboratory will devise procedures to diminish the errors or, if that is not possible, to correct for them. For instance, he may weigh the ring and the strings to estimate a limit for the error they introduce.In the electricity experiment on divided circuits, the student can measure the current in some resistor both with and without the voltmeter being connected across it, thereby providing an estimate of the inaccuracy in the current reading introduced by the voltmeter (which takes some current). Likewise, he may measure the voltage with and without the ammeter in the circuit.In the optics experiment on diverging lenses, the student may wish to apply the concave-mirror procedure to determine by reflection the radii of curvature of the lens, from which he can calculate the focal length if a value of the index of refraction of the glass is assumed. This focal length may be compared with the experimental value to serve as a check on the accuracy of the assumed index of refraction. Such measurements may not be suggested in the laboratory manual but alert students have thought of them and unquestionably did profit by making them.A student must realize that the laboratory work has applications outside the laboratory. The centrifugal force experiment may suggest to the student that he calculate the force due to an unbalanced tire on an automobile traveling at high speed (e.g., assume two ounces unbalanced weight at the rim). The magnetometer experiment may suggest ideas in connection with the magnetic prospecting for minerals. The experiment on diffraction may help to explain why better directivity is obtained from the higher frequency radars. The experiment on optical instruments may suggest an approach to the projection of television pictures. There are, of course, innumerable other examples.Writing laboratory reports is a significant part of your professional training. Speaking and writing are the most important tools of the engineer-scientist. Learn to handle them well. It takes work to transfer thoughts from your mind to somebody else's. Your report should convey information to the reader rather than puzzle him. Anyone who has ever suspected that the author of a vague, verbose, confusing technical book seems to be trying to prevent overcrowding at the top by making it difficult for the uninformed, should recognize the importance of lucid expression. Your report should be well-organized, accurate, clear, concise, and easy to read. Since you will have to write reports anyway, while you're doing them try to improve your command of the English language. Do not try to impress the reader with your own learning but write as if you were trying to explain the matter to an intelligent personal friend. Ability to express oneself clearly is extremely important for the professional man, even if a few people may tell you otherwise. Careful habits in handling things and in making accurate quantitative statements should encourage the professional man to an equal nicety in the use of words and to an observance of rules regarding their arrangement.A few horrible examples will illustrate rome of the differences between bad and good English.In answer to the question: “In the rifle-bullet ballistic-pendulum experiment, what principle determines the height to which the block will swing after it is struck by the bullet?” one student wrote: “The principal [sic] is that in the transfer of energy from one body to another, the total amount of the original body goes into the other body and the force which it has (the old body) will be related to the moment of inertia [sic] of the new body and the torque applied by the force of the old body. Therefore the block uses the distance which the force of the bullet can make the block go with the blocks [sic] inertia and mass as it is.” A better answer is: “The potential energy of the block (weight × height) at the top of the swing is equal to the kinetic energy of the block at the bottom of the swing just after impact.” [17]An engineering report which read. “The optimum method of accomplishment of the purpose of the investigation...” was changed by an editor to “The best way of doing the experiment....”In one of the professional journals, a ‘scholar' wrote “Available evidence tends to indicate that it is not unreasonable to suppose that....” What he meant was, “Probably....”Study these examples, laugh, and then take your work in English seriously. Be precise and concise; brevity is a virtue.CHAPTER 8: STUDYING FOR EXAMINATIONSIf you have done your work carefully from day to day, reviewing for exams can actually be a pleasant experience. In any case, begin your systematic review for the final exam two weeks before exam week. For the midterm exams, complete all your original learning at least two days before the exam. This gives your subconscious mind a chance to digest the material and also it is insurance against visitors or an illness the day before the exam. Plan your work so that the day before the exam you will need to do no more than review the previously learned and understood material. In that case a couple of hours' work the day before the exam will be all that is necessary. Since physics is a subject where clear thinking is especially important, remember the importance of a good night's sleep.There is no particular objection to cramming except that most of it is a waste of time. Cramming a set of formulas into your head an hour before the exam may raise your score, and in that sense may be justified, or it may merely confuse you. Certainly you will not be able to learn any significant amount of new material by cramming. Do not make the blunder of trying to memorize the tough spots, for unless you understand the basic ideas, your half-memorized effort will do you no good either on the exam or later. Probably the exam will concern the part of your half-learned material that you didn't understand. If you do not have time to study all the material, then discard what you think is least important and forget about it. Learn the rest of the subject well. You may or may not be able to bluff your way through an essay question in economics but definitely you cannot do it in a physics problem. Either you can reason how to do the problem or you can't. Hence, if time is too short for you to learn all the course, learn part of it cold not just ‘sort of'.You may infer possible types of questions from previously given exams or quizzes or from the kinds of problems in the problem sets. Referring to your own exams will help for the final exam.During your study, try to anticipate exam questions and plan what your answers should be. If you have a sufficiently good grasp of the material to be able to make up possible questions and then solve them without your notes, you are practically assured of an A. It puts you on the ‘other side' of learning when you try to make up questions, This is a very effective kind of study, for in order to devise good questions you must have studied hr the fundamental ideas.CHAPTER 9: TAKING EXAMINATIONSIf you have studied carefully and really know well what you have studied, then you are not likely to get rattled on an exam. Treat it like a game; be concerned about it ahead of time but do not worry about it, You'll worry less if you consciously act not worried. The morning of the exam get up early enough so that you can take an extra long shower (as though, you hadn't a care in the world; after breakfast walk slowly to the exam (as though you were sure it would be simple); and if you arrive early, read the funny paper. When the door is opened, get the exam and walk calmly to your seat. Read the directions carefully (you may be of offered a choice of questions, in which case there would be no point in doing them all). Some students recommend reading the entire exam first so that your subconscious mind may start to work on all the problems or so that you may start with the ones you know best. Others prefer to start at once with the first question. (Even if you do not do the questions in order, it is wise to put them in the proper sequence in your bluebook, since often the first three questions will be read by one reader, the second three by another, etc.) In any case, attack each question with an air of confidence (not cockiness). Do your best; keep the rest of the exam and everything else out of your conscious mind and concentrate on the problem on which you are working.Read the questions carefully: you don't get credit for getting the right answer to a wrongly read problem or for a part you didn't do because you overlooked it in the rush. Take it easy and don't start using your pencil until you have thought out just how to begin. A common practice of physics professors is to gauge the time to allot to a problem by giving the students five times as long as it takes another professor to get the right answer. This means that it is mechanically possible for a student to make a perfect score by spending forty minutes thinking what to write and only ten minutes writing during a fifty-minute exam.Don't rush; haste is likely to induce slipshod thinking. Work at a convenient pace but without wasting time.Don't try to read a complicated or unnatural meaning into a simple question. If it is really vague, then ask the instructor what was intended (be diplomatic). In essay questions or derivations, write legibly. The readers give credit only for what they can read and they do not spend much time trying to decipher chicken tracks or the faint marks made with very hard pencils. Do not cramp your thinking by cramping your writing. Use plenty of space (paper is cheap) and write clearly, preferably in ink if you are used to writing with a pen.Think about the questions; don't worry about how you are doing. As one student says, “Heaven and Earth won't come down if you miss a problem.” Don't spend too long on any one question. Don't hurry to do a lot of arithmetic until you are sure it is necessary (frequently things will cancel out if you give them a chance). Don't work on scratch paper (you are certain not to get points for it). Do everything in an orderly fashion in your bluebook. Don't take time to erase anything but rather cross it out neatly if it is wrong. Perhaps it is right after all, and you will get partial credit if you leave it in. (Decide which to do.) You are likely to get more partial credit for an incomplete answer if the arrangement of the material you do have is neat and orderly. Underline or box your final answers and remember to put down the units,Ten minutes before the examination is over, take about one minute to check your work to make sure you have made no major blunder (such as leaving out an easy question) and to plan how you can use the remaining few minutes to the best advantage.After the exam papers have been returned to you, be sure to clear up the points you missed: there is no need to lose credit on the final exam for the same mistakes. Furthermore, if you clear up weak points, it improves the solidarity of your foundation so that later material is learned more easily.[18]SUMMARYProper procedure in studying is necessary for effective study.The proper mental attitude—an earnest desire to learn—is the most important requirement for effective study.Develop a system of study that is suited to you.Since a college education represents a big investment in time and money, it is worth while to examine the reasons for going to college.The aims of education are to train people to think clearly, to give them a liberal, tolerant, and understanding attitude toward life.Qualities that make for success are character, aptitude, attitude toward work, knowledge, ability to get along with others, ability to use the English language effectively, integrity, and perseverance.Put special emphasis on learning how to attack problems and on how to apply what you know.Physics, the basic physical science, is fundamental in medicine, science, engineering, and many present-day social problems.It is better to study four subjects thoroughly than six superficially.Since technical knowledge soon becomes obsolete, be sure to learn how to learn by yourself.Ask yourself questions about the material while you study it.For most students, physics involves new concepts, about which logical reasoning is necessary. Hence, efforts to memorize physics are worthless.Adopt a receptive and cooperative attitude toward your instructors.Study in a place free from distractions.Get adequate sleep, exercise, and recreation, but leave enough time for study.Study regularly, preferably soon after class.In addition to getting details, be sure to get an overall view of the subject.Study to understand the material.Don't believe everything you read; see if it makes sense to you.Review material frequently, both in self-recitation and in discussions with fellow students.Overlearn.Seek help from the library, or from a tutor if necessary.If you are a slow reader, see your adviser, who can suggest corrective procedures.Pay close attention to definitions.Be alert. Take an active part in recitation classes.Go to class not just to take notes but to learn.In taking notes be sure to include explanations.Soon after class, smooth out and fill in your notes.Have an orderly, well-organized procedure for working problems.Do more problems for practice than the assignment calls for.Review your problems by working them forward and backward and by doing variations.Memorize, for convenience only, a few of the most important fundamental formulas and for the other material learn to reason from the fundamental ideas.Don't be rusty in high school math. Practice up if necessary.Study a derivation to learn the origin of and the range of usefulness of the formula, so that you can fit into the picture technological extensions that develop after you leave college.Keep in mind the physical ideas.The laboratory is a place for intellectual exploration, where you can rediscover many of the principles of physics.Study the experiment before you come to the laboratory.Try to correlate the behavior of laboratory equipment with what you learn in lecture.Try out your ideas in the laboratory; keep your mind open and alert.Write your laboratory reports in a well-organized, accurate, clear, concise style.Prepare for exams by reviewing material previously learned and digested.Anything worth learning is worth learning! Half-learned material is of little use.Attempt to make up suitable exam questions and then answer them. This is an excellent method of study, for it focuses your attention on the fundamental ideas.Take it easy during exams.Think first; don't begin to write until your ideas are clearly in mind.After exams are returned, always review to see where you were weak, and then clear up the deficiency.Keep in mind your obligations to society as a professional engineer-scientist.Be educated, not just trained.Learn to talk in terms other people can understand.Carefully choose your nontechnical courses so as to obtain a broad background.Science can benefit humanity or destroy it; assume your share of responsibility in determining which way science is used.Check through this book every month or two to be sure you are using the suggestions that can help you.A university is not a place where education is forced upon you but rather a place where the faculty have tried to make your learning process as efficient as possible It is their obligation to provide you with a good return for the effort you exert but you yourself must make that effort and keep your mind open and alert.Now you may say, “Yes, I agree with your ideas on how to study,” and then you may proceed to forget all about them. In that case, neither of us is better off than if you had never read this book. A good plan is to put this guide where you may review it occasionally. You will be interested to see how your own ideas change as you get further along. Ten years from now you will wish you had done things differently while you were in collage Probably most of the thoughts in here on what you should do in college would have come to you sooner or later anyway but it is my hope that from studying this manual you will get these thoughts soon enough for them to be helpful to you.How many ideas in the Summary on the previous page can you give right now? Perhaps reading it again will be worth while, but before you reread it, see how much of it you can remember now.