Math Knot Theory and Celtic Knots - 943 Words

l’Ve always had an interest in Celtic culture. I love the traditional clothing and dancing, but my favorite part has always been the symbolism and beauty of Celtic Knots. I wondered where the knots originated and how they were created so symmetrically, which led me to the mathematical study of knot theory. So my question now is, â€Å"How has the knot theory in mathematics influenced and shaped the tradition of Celtic Knots?† Knots in the real world are easy to define and see, such as tying a shoelace or a rope, but knots in the mathematical world are a bit different. These knots are joined at the end, making them one continuous line, unable to be pulled apart or untied. They can be described in mathematical terms as a circle that has been embedded in 3-D dimensional Euclidean space but in a bit simpler language, a knot is created by putting a flat circle into 3-D space; therefore making it 3-D. You can not just pull the circle up; that would create a cylinder, and you can not just round it out; this would create a sphere. You must twist it until it intertwines, thus creating a knot. Knots can be described in many different ways. For example; a common method of describing a knot is called a knot diagram, which can be used to describe the many ways a knot can be drawn. A fundamental problem is presented here though, due to the fact that you must determine when a knot is represented by more than one description. A full algorithmic solution does exist to help solve the problem, butShow MoreRelatedProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 Pagesgetting closer to shore. As a result, the Navy is revamping ships for near-shore duty. The Navy will select three designs for further refinement from the responses to its RFP. In general, it is expected that the new ship will be capable of at least 55 knots, measure between 80 and 250 feet in length, and be fitted with radar absorbing panels to thwart guided missiles. 2. Statement of work (SOW) detailing the scope and major deliverables. For example, if the project involves a market research survey, the

What to Do if Youve Been Placed on a College Waitlist

Its important to understand what it means when youve been placed on a college waitlist. Like thousands of students across the country, you havent been accepted or rejected, and the resulting limbo can be frustrating. Youll make better decisions if you have a clear picture of how waitlists work and what your options are. Key Takeaways: College Waitlists Colleges use waitlists to ensure a full incoming class. Students get off the list only if a school falls short of admission targets.Chances of getting off a waitlist vary from year to year and school to school. Because of the uncertainty, you should move on with other plans.Be sure to accept a position on the waitlist and send of letter of continued interest if allowed. In the spring, college applicants begin getting those happy and sad admissions decisions. They tend to begin something like this: Congratulations! . . . or, After careful consideration, we’re sorry to inform you . . . But what about that third type of notification, the one that is neither acceptance nor rejection? Thousands upon thousands of students find themselves in college admissions limbo after having been placed on a waiting list. If this is your situation, what now?  Should you accept a position on the waitlist? Should you get angry at the school for waitlisting you and decide you didn’t want to go there anyway? Do you go ahead and put down a deposit at a school where you’ve been accepted, even if your waitlist school is your first choice? Do you simply sit around and wait? The answers to these questions, of course, vary depending upon your situation and the schools to which you applied. Below youll find advice for your next steps. Heres How Waitlists Work Waitlists have a very specific purpose in the admissions process. All colleges want a full incoming class. Their financial well-being is dependent upon full classrooms and full residence halls. So, when admissions officers send out acceptance letters, they make a conservative estimate of their yield (the percentage of admitted students who will actually enroll). In case the yield falls short of their projections, they need some students on back-up who can fill out the incoming class. These are the students on the waitlist. The widespread acceptance of the Common Application, Coalition Application, and new Cappex Application make it relatively easy for students to apply to many colleges. This may be convenient for students, but it also means that students are applying to more colleges than they typically did in decades past. As a result, colleges get more half-hearted applications and its more difficult to predict the yield on their applications. The end result is that colleges need to put more students on waitlists in order to manage the uncertainty. This is particularly true at highly selective colleges and universities. What Are Your Options When Waitlisted? Most schools send out a letter asking you if you will accept a position on the waitlist. If you refuse, that’s the end of the story. If you accept, you then wait. How long you wait depends on the school’s enrollment picture. Students have been known to receive acceptances from the waitlist a week before classes start. May and June are more typical notification times. You essentially have three options when waitlisted: Decline a position on the waitlist. If you got into a school you like more, you should decline. Its rude and inconvenient for other students and the college if you accept a place on the waitlist simply to see if youll get in. If you dont plan to attend, dont put yourself on the waitlist.Accept a position on the waitlist, sit back, and wait. If youre still considering the school, you should definitely put yourself on the waitlist.Accept a position on the waitlist, and then take action to improve your chances of getting off the waitlist. Be realistic here—your chances of getting off the waitlist probably are not great, and any actions you take may or may not help. Still, something as simple as a letter of continued interest can have a positive effect. What Are Your Chances of Getting Off a Waitlist? It’s important that you have a sense of the math, for in most cases the numbers aren’t encouraging. The examples below vary widely, from Penn State where 80% of waitlisted students were admitted, to Middlebury College where 0% were offered admission. The norm tends to be in the 10% range. This is why you should move on with other options rather than pin your hopes on the waitlist. Also, realize the numbers below will vary significantly from year to year because a colleges yield will vary from year to year. Cornell University Number waitlisted: 3,213Number who accepted a place on waitlist: 1,976Number admitted from waitlist: 279Percentage admitted from waitlist: 14% Grinnell College Number waitlisted: 740Number who accepted a place on waitlist: 279Number admitted from waitlist: 16Percentage admitted from waitlist: 6% Haverford College Number waitlisted: 732Number who accepted a place on waitlist: 305Number admitted from waitlist: 10Percentage admitted from waitlist: 3% Middlebury College Number waitlisted: 1,231Number who accepted a place on waitlist: 603Number admitted from waitlist: 0Percentage admitted from waitlist: 0% Penn State University, University Park Number waitlisted: 1,828Number who accepted a place on waitlist: 1,704Number admitted from waitlist: 1,356Percentage admitted from waitlist: 80% Skidmore College Number waitlisted: 1,584Number who accepted a place on waitlist: 522Number admitted from waitlist: 59Percentage admitted from waitlist: 11% University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Number waitlisted: 8,385Number who accepted a place on waitlist: 2,776Number admitted from waitlist: 525Percentage admitted from waitlist: 19% Yale University Number waitlisted: 728Number who accepted a place on waitlist: 204Number admitted from waitlist: 56Percentage admitted from waitlist: 27% A Final Word on Waitlists Theres no reason to sugarcoat your situation. Yes, we can say, At least you werent rejected! The reality, however, is that its frustrating and discouraging to be placed on a waitlist. If you were waitlisted from your top choice school, you should definitely accept a place on the waitlist and do all you can to get an acceptance. That said, you should also move on with plan B. Accept an offer from the best college that accepted you, put down your deposit, and move forward. If you are lucky and get off the waitlist, you will likely lose your deposit, but thats a small price to pay for attending your top choice school.

Development of the American Experience, Thomas Jefferson Free Essays

This passage is found on page 136, left column, fourth paragraph. This passage is used by Thomas Jefferson to argue on the necessity of establishing a government to replace the old structure of governance erected and maintained by the British crown. The passage establishes the basis for the dissolution of the American people’s â€Å"political bands†(Jefferson 136) and affiliation with Great Britain by stating that although changes in the government should never be taken lightly, it is unfortunate that many people are likely to prefer and even tolerate the wrongdoings and evil deeds promoted in the existing system for the sake of familiarity. We will write a custom essay sample on Development of the American Experience, Thomas Jefferson or any similar topic only for you Order Now In general, people are afraid of the disruption brought about by systemic changes because they are afraid of uncertainty. However, they have to realize that it is their right to initiate changes in terms of government when there is enough reason to do so, such as wanton abuse of power of leaders or corrupt practices or â€Å"whenever any form of government becomes destructive† or poses a hindrance to the achievement of human rights to â€Å"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.† (Jefferson 136) Jefferson observes that the prevailing conditions under the governance of the â€Å"present king of Great Britain† points to such circumstance of â€Å"injuries and usurpations† (Jefferson 137) which have severely impeded the political and social life of the American people. Clearly, Jefferson uses this line of argument to convince the people of the morality of self-governance and of declaring independence vis-a-vis the state of being enslaved and virtually dependent on the British for political, social, and economic sustenance. By acknowledging the doubts and difficulties that surround the decision to break the ties with the long time British ruler, Jefferson and his followers wanted to arouse a sense of righteous anger in the face of the historical abuses committed by the king and his government. For instance, he reminds his audience of how the British king has â€Å"plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, destroyed the lives of our people.† (138) In effect, Jefferson encourages his audience to rise up against the tyrannical form of government imposed by a foreign ruler through the systematic use of violence and violation of human rights. In bringing up the general hesitance of the populace, Jefferson mocks and prods them into recognizing the validity of separation and of establishing their own government as a last resort in the face of the continued refusal of the British king to petitions for redress.(139) It is evident from Jefferson’s â€Å"The Declaration of Independence† that the need to form an independent government is made inevitable in order to protect the inherent rights of the American people from another government which is exploitative and tyrannical. Undoubtedly, it is through this concept of tyranny in governance that societies are able to form their own distinct ideas of what a government or the state of social relations should be like. Thomas Jefferson would later expound on the meaning of tyranny through religious bigotry and intolerance when he proposes the passage of an act to establish religious freedom as a human right. (141) The necessity of enacting legislation to prevent religious tyranny, which presupposes the superiority of a single religion over others and promotes the propagation of religion through coercion and imposition of religious ideas and opinions over others, shows that the government functions as a regulatory mechanism for guaranteeing human rights, including ensuring that one’s human right does not deprive another of his or her rights. Thomas Paine argues, for instance, thatâ€Å"government, even in its best state, is a necessary evil† (133) to demonstrate that government only becomes a social necessity when the members of society have become too corrupted and too selfish so that they must be forced to acknowledge and perform their obligations toward others in order to experience peace and security, or when the people experience misery because of the intrusion of the government of another people. In many ways, both Jefferson and Paine’s conception of the role and relevance of the government as a social institution bears resemblance to the concepts explored by Rosseau in his thesis on the Social Contract, wherein he traces the historical roots of the birth of societies and governments, and describes the ideal relationship between the government and the people or the sovereign. Like Rosseau, Jefferson and Paine condemns the impulse towards tyranny that promotes the clash between the minority and majority interest, as represented by the tendency of the few to promote their selfish interests at the expense of others. This is exemplified in Jefferson and Paine’s account of the American experience under British rule, wherein both authors find the American people fully justified in announcing separation and in establishing â€Å"a government of our own† as â€Å"our natural right. † (Paine 135) Rosseau’s influence on the conception of nationalism on American thinkers such as Jefferson and Paine is also evident in the concepts of territory and the boundaries of private and social property that the authors use to justify the call to revolt against British colonization. This is clearly stipulated in the reasons that Jefferson and Paine enumerates, wherein they invoke the inherent human right to self-determination. (Ibid) Indeed, Jefferson’s argument on the right of the people to â€Å"alter or to abolish† a government based on its inability to protect the rights of the citizens and when it becomes an impediment towards the realization of full human development was made at a time when people lacked the confidence to believe that they were capable of governing themselves. However, Jefferson’s concept of the right of the people to a government that fully reflects and represents their collective interests and aspirations continues to resound to this day, when new forms of tyranny and new forms of oppression persists, oftentimes under the cloak of democracy or for the pursuit of human security. It is not a stretch of the mind to note the persistence of social problems such as intolerance and discrimination based on religion, gender, or social status, or the continued poverty experienced not only by the American people more so by the rest of the world, that effectively prevents the full realization of human rights and potentials that Jefferson and Paine have so boldly championed, and on which the democratic ideals of American society were built on. How to cite Development of the American Experience, Thomas Jefferson, Papers

Relativism in relation to TV melo dramas Essay Example For Students

Relativism in relation to TV melo dramas Essay Webster Dictionary describes relativism as a view that ethical truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them. The United States has the idea that they have the right to stick their noses into other countries business because something else is morally wrong. But cultures vary greatly regarding what is morally right and wrong. Quotes related to relativism saturate prime time dramas like Roswell, and Dawsons Creek. Roswell is a semi drama on the WB Wednesday nights. The main characters of Roswell are Max, Liz, Michael and Isabel. In this episode it says, Of coarse its got to be the right one. You know how you know this, the kiss thats how. In this quote an alien hunter, Everett Hubbell, tells Max Evans his opinion on how you know you found the right girl. This relates to relativism because Everett Hubbell pushes his opinion on Max. Also on the WB, Dawsons Creek is a highly rated television show. The main characters are Joey, Dawson, Pacey, Jen, Jack, and Andy. In this episode it says,Joey: Dawson what were you thinking?Dawson: I wasnt, for a fleeting moment I actually wasnt thinking, and it felt good. Joey: To take advantage of a girl who was drunk, vulnerable, and clearly on the rebound, I mean is it just me Dawson, or is this jaw dropingly out of Dawson: What character, Joey the little sketch in your head you have labeled Dawson, look this might not be the me your used to and I might make a complete fool of myself, but you have to start letting me make some mistakes. In this quote Joey is appalled on how Dawson acted because he acted differently than she is used to him acting. This directly relates to relativism because Joey has a preconceived notion on how Dawson should act. Bibliography: