Below are all of the essential questions from the first semester (Chapters 1 through 4). Look back over them. Think about the ones you responded to. For this chapters’ essential question you are to write about which question has been the most challenging, thought provoking, intriguing, made you think about your faith, God, what you are learning, etc. Which has been your favorite (or least favorite) and why? Looking over your past responses, how have you grown or changed this semester. As usual these should be 10 sentences in length.
My favorite question that made me think about my faith was: Respond, Refute, Agree,
ReplyDeleteDiscuss, etc. the following statement: Jesus came to Earth to be an inverse. I liked this question because it seriously made me think about why Jesus came to Earth. It also made me realize that in truth he was an inverse of what the Jewish people thought a Messiah would be. The question that I found the most difficult to answer was: Respond, Refute, Agree, Discuss, etc. the following statement: Transforming trigonometric expressions is an act of worship. I found this question difficult because I was hard pressed to try and figure out if transforming trigonometric expressions really was an act of worship or not. I finally decided that it was because God created these expressions, and when you transform them you are doing what God intended, therefore worshiping him. I believe that the EQ have helped me grow spiritually. I now see how math and God are related and better understand Gods creation through math. I used to believe that mathematics and religion were opposites and didn’t really go together. Now thanks to the EQs I can see Gods hand in mathematics.
For EQ’s this semester I think the chapter that was my favorite was chapter 4. The question that I answered for chapter 4 was “How can parametric equations help us understand the dynamics of Christian marriage?” This was my favorite question as well as the question that really made me think about some things. It was my favorite because it was the easiest one to write for me. It also made me think though; it made me think about the Christian couples I know in my life and the examples they are to me. It also made me think of a lot of couples I have known that haven’t been able to keep a marriage together, and the choices they had made in their lives. It really made me think about the examples I have seen in my life of marriages and what really makes a truly fulfilling marriage work. The conclusion I came to is that God is the only way to make a marriage work. Without God in a person’s life nothing is worthwhile, including marriage. That EQ helped me to really realize just how important God is in people’s lifes, not just in marriage but in everything. I hope to hold on to that always and to continuously trust in God in my life and always look to, count on, and trust in Him.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the first EQ I wrote this year took the most thought and depth. The fact that life is all about ups and down, and those ups and downs have differing reasons. I personally have always loved philosophical, not theological, thinking towards how life works. My first response gave me the most openness and possibility for philosophy and applying it. Not only was it the most “intriguing”, but my personal favorite as well for the reasons mentioned before. It was indeed the truth behind no right or wrong, but totally opinionated responses. So far, I haven’t changed that much if at all this semester. New events might have taken place, but I myself have not changed. In fact, I think we don’t change at all deep, deep down, but our habits and interests change, and that’s how we classify it.
ReplyDeleteThe most thought provoking question wuld have to be: Respond, Refute, Agree, Discuss, etc, the following statement: Transforming trigonometric expressions is an act of worship. It made me think deeply about how trigonometric expressions could may be an act of worship. It wasn't wasy to explain how I thought it was an act of worship and how to expound on that thought. This EQ was probably the hardest for me as well. My favorite EQ was: How can parametric equations help us understand the dynamics of Christian marriage? It was simpler and easier for me to realte a parametric equation to a Christian marriage. The EQ was also one that made me thought how God puts even the smallest things like math in our lives to show himself; as if he proves to us more how He is apart of our lives.
ReplyDeleteEQ's have changed the way I thought about God; I saw that it was easier to see God thru everyday things. They also made me think more about my faith in God; how much more my faith has grown since the beginning of the semester.
At first to me all of the essential questions were difficult to answer. It was something I actually dreaded because I didn’t know how to phrase what I was thinking. I had to go back and fourth between the options provided multiple times until I picked one I liked. I usually did not know which one to pick, then when I did decide I was lost for words. Most of them made me think “deep” before writing a reply. My favorite essential question would be from Chapter 3- Where has God been periodic in his creation. I chose this essential question as my favorite one because it was simple to answer. God has shown how he is periodic through creation by many different examples. I used through nature, and explained his consistency. I see that he also remains constant in our everyday lives as well. Not only in nature is he active but in our daily lives as well. I have grown a lot since we first started the E Q’s because at first I focused on just getting it done and out of the way. But after reading the questions and taking time to understand it, it didn’t seem like such a chore anymore.
ReplyDeleteI never gave much thought about how God and math tied together. But these EQ’s helped me understand how they are connected. God is in everything we do, when we build a house he’s in our minds giving us the knowledge and wisdom we need in order to build the house. God made our brains so we can learn new things and discover new things. Math was discovered and then more things about math were discovered, which help us build new things like hospitals, houses, schools, etc. God gave use math so we would be able to construct bridges and find how far we are from a fire. God let us discover that we need right triangles in buildings or else every building would be lopsided. He also gave us parametric equations to show that a marriage should be equal on both sides. God gives us what we need to learn math and use our skills to build things. Math is one place where we get to see God at work.
ReplyDeleteTaking this course this year has been a challenge and still a work in progress. What I liked the most this semester was working with law of sines and cosines. It has developed me to understand how math fits in everyday life and how we can compare this to our walk with God. Things we learned in previous chapters could compare to our Christian walk. We have been able to experience different ways of tying math and God together. It has been interesting to see how they are the same and how they could be used in our everyday lives. Most of all I like how we could compare math to what God has created and most of all just have fun learning math.
ReplyDeleteI think that the most challenging EQ was the tramsforming trigonometric equations is an act of worship. This EQ was challenging because it allowed me to think of worship and the ways i worship. It also allowed me to overlook how i worship and how to improve. I was a little stumped but i soon put thought into the question and came with an answer. Most of these EQ make me think and help me learn but this EQ in particular made me think alot and helped improve my worship skills.
ReplyDeleteLet me just say that this first semester of my senior year has went by so fast. Scary, my last year is half way done. So to end my first semester i would have to say that Chapter 4 EQ quetions were the most challanging. The main one that struck me the most was "how can parametric equations help us understand the dynamics of christian marriage?" You see as a christian woman I am to look for a spouse that will not only encourage me in my faith but will also excel in his. It is not going to be easy looking for someone such as this but i have to give my life to God and trust in him that he will take care of me in whatever i do and who ever i will be with. There are many problems that can develope in a relationship, similar to figuring out a parametric equation. but once we evaluate the problem, figure out which tools to use and approach it with a clear mind, we can solve it. Things of this world are not easy, but with help from the lord we can do anything. I say that it is all about having faith and knowing that god will take care of us. Therefore, this question has opened my eyes to where I understand that at times we will need help in many things and all we need to do is turn to god. I just hope and pray that each day i will have a better understanding on how amazing our god is.
ReplyDeleteWell for starters, I’ll have to do mine a bit differently because of my lazy habits. As look back on all of the past EQ's I would say that the Chapter 2 EQ choice #1 would have been the most difficult for me to answer. When I’m asked about human nature or in this case, “The Nature of God”, I’m never quite sure how to answer because I don’t believe what I think as an individual can be trusted very much just because we as humans are wrong all the time. So being asked about the Nature of The Creator is just over my head. This EQ however, made me think the most. I started out just trying to find a connection in “30-60- 90” and God. That though, made me think about our sinful nature and what it means for us to be forgiven and loved the way we are by God. To be honest, I started out the year much more motivated to get all my work done. As of late though, I’ve realized that I can’t just “dog it” anymore and I need good grades to get good scholarships.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard we had to answer philosophical questions I was excited. Then when I looked at the first EQ I noticed that this was not what I expected. I admit I was disappointed. I was hoping for questions that didn’t really involve math. It was difficult to connect math to everyday life. I know that sound weird but it was. Life is a hard thing to define especially to compare and relate to something more solid. It is a good exercise but challenging. It was a new way to think. It was different from my usual way to thinking and discussing philosophical questions.
ReplyDeleteAs I go back and read my EQ’s I noticed I answered most on one basic subject. I would automatically choose the question relating to life, our lives. How we as human are created and how God should be in our lives. I think I prefer to answer questions like that. Also most of the EQ questions were on relating God or life, something abstract, to math, something concrete. I wish I tried other EQ questions but I also wish we had different EQ questions.
My EQ answers were vague in my opinion when I read them but they make more sense in my mind. It is harder to write your thoughts than to think of the question. Getting the answer out has been the hardest thing. I am not even sure I got my answer out correctly to where people can understand it. But what I can say that I learned is how much God is in control of our lives. How he is everything. All my answers seem to reflect this. I don’t have a favorite or least favorite. Some were challenging more than others. I do like how they make us think about life and give us a chance to voice our opinion.
The EQ’s have made me grown. Not really to fight for something more but to find more answers and my thoughts on things. Yes it supports my faith and beliefs but it mainly helped me find answers to other things. It also showed me how much I knew. On some questions I knew much and what to say even if I didn’t express it. Others helped me find where I stand on that matter. It helped us grow I think. It is also interesting to find how others view the same thing and some have you start thinking in that manner.
For this semester, my favorite EQ was from chapter 1. It was about how the function of X is life, what is the domain and range of x? This was the most thought provoking and attitude changing EQ because it made you think about how good life is. At first I thought it was about wealth and poverty, but I came to realize that It was about spiritual wealth. It made me think about my sine wave and what part it was in right now. High or in the negative? It turned out I was a little low. I looked for ways to get it back again and it seemed to have worked. That EQ made me think the most and I enjoyed writing it. It was a well structured EQ.
ReplyDeleteThe essential question that was most thought provoking to me was by far chapter 3 choice 2, and that was to write a short story entitled, "life on a cosine wave". I wrote more of a meaning to the statement "life on a cosine wave". I explained that life on a cosine wave meant that life is always on a up and down cycle. The maximum and minimum y-values go between 0 and 1, and the quality of life is determined by 1 as great, and 0 as not so great. The essential points on a cosine wave, are the points in which we have an oppurtunity to change our lives and the lives of others, but don't get me wrong their are more than four opportunities a year to change the quality of life. And also that the total X-values are the entirity of one's life. This question really did make me think a lot about my life, I thought to myself that when life is reduced to it's basic elements that even the most difficult problems can be turned into a problem that seems quite trivial. By reducing life down to a simple cosine wave it is easy to see that life will always have it's ups and downs but that if treated properly it will always end up on top near God! I really did and still do like this question because it helped me see that life is not actually so complicated after all, but quite simple when one sees the whole picture simplified. In a way I like to see life as mathematic formula or principle to see that life's problems are easily solved.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite EQ question was “describe life as a cosine wave.” I like this question because I got to use my imagination to make up a story. I enjoyed writing this short story because I like to make up different scenarios or short stories. The most difficult EQ was “transforming trigonometric expressions is an act of worship” because it was hard for me to think about doing trigonometric expressions and worship. Trying to compare trigonometric expressions and the act of worship was the most challenging thing for me to explain. The easiest EQ for me was probably “How can trigonometric functions and right triangles improve living conditions for society?” I think that this was the easiest EQ for me because there are a lot of things that depend on right triangles in order to work. The question that brought me closer to God would have to be “Jesus came here to be an inverse.” This question made me think that we are the opposite of Jesus and that we need to be an inverse just like Jesus in order to follow him. Overall I liked answering the EQ questions because you don’t know what to expect on what you would ask us, either we get to write a story or compare math to the works of God.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite essential question of this semester has been from Chapter 2. Respond, Refute, Agree, Discuss, etc. the following statement: Humans are coterminal. Why? When I am bored and have nothing else to do I think about what happens to us after we die. Is there really a Heaven or Hell? There are hundreds of different religions and various other faiths that proclaim they are right and everyone else is wrong. In the end, however, it just boils down to personal choice and faith. My belief is that we’ll never know what happens after death until we get there, we can only make speculations and have faith in our religion of choice. This question sparked my interest about life after death and I really had fun answering that question. Before taking Pre-Calculus this semester I never had to think about questions proposed in EQs. Now that the 1st semester is coming to an end I am starting to see a connection between God and mathematics and how God really is apart of our lives.
ReplyDeleteI think the most challenging, thought provoking and intriguing essential question was the question about the 30-60-90 and 45-45-90 triangles. It asked how can the laws of these triangles help us learn more about the Nature of God. I thought this question was challenging because it made me find a way to relate math to God. I never really thought that math could be used to relate and (maybe) make easier to understand the nature of God. This question was really interesting to me, like even thou the question just asked how these two triangles show us God’s nature, I was able to put these two different types of triangles in my life. I want to say how(I saw these triangles in my life). Well first of all, these two angles are different. They were created for two different things, and they will always be the same. No matter what happens, these two triangles will always be different and one might be used more that the other. So in my life, I see people. They are all different types of people. I see that we are all different, we do different things and are better at different things. No matter what happens, we will always be different and someone will always be better at something than the other(just like I feel in my life, no matter how much I try something, how much I try to get better at it, there always will be someone better than me) so these two triangles were created for a purpose, to do what they were meant to do in life. If the 30-60-90 triangle tries to do the 45-45-90 triangles job, no matter how much the 30-60-90 triangles tries, it will find itself in failure. So just like these triangles, God made us all with a purpose and He knows what were are meant to do in this life. Some way, some how God will lead us to where he wants us but until that time, we are going to be trying things out and do things that God knows are not what is meant for us(He knows us more than we know ourselves). So while we try those things, we will find ourselves in failure, till we see God’s hand in our lives(and let Him work in our lives) He will lead us the way that was meant for us. So this is my favorite question, just because its perfect for me. It taught me(or reminded me) that this life is hard and I have to patiently wait for God to lead me and work in my life instead of going off and doing my own thing. I didn’t really have a least favorite, after this one, the other three are tied together. So this year I have grown spiritually smarter, I seriously feel that these questions helped me understand God more. Like Jesus used metaphors to help the people understand what He was trying to tell them, these questions were used for me to understand God easier.
ReplyDeletemy most difficult question to answer was probably How can parametric equations help us understand the dynamics of Christian marriage? It makes you think about ahead of your life way up by like 10 or 5 years ahead. It makes you think of what kinda of marriage you are going to have or what kind of husband or wife you are going to be. My most favorite one was probably the Respond, Refute, Agree, Discuss, etc. the following statement: Jesus came to Earth to be an inverse. It makes you think and wonder why did jesus come to earth? why did he die for me? but it made me think and wonder but then i got the answers to my question and i think that it made my faith stronger and more active with God.
ReplyDeleteTo me all the eq questions were meaningful and made me think in depth about it. But the chapter 2 eq was interesting to me. It asked how can trigonometry functions and right angles improve todays society? As I thought it dawned on me that its in our everyday lives and we don't even realize. It does also improve our society but wat facinated me was how its in our everyday lives. My favorite eq question is the marriage one. That too also made me think about we need god in our lives like x and y need t in the equation.we depend on him so much and I don't think we thank him enough for it. Like x and y just use t to find a way to get to the truth or in this case(answer).
ReplyDeleteI personally thought the essential questions were a big waste of time. I always forgot to do the assignments or I was just too lazy. My other thoughts were that it was pointless because I did not see how math can be related to God anyways. After reading each question, I wanted to scream and kick the computer but I knew I couldn’t do it. The most challenging question was about how trigonometric equations were an act of worship because like I said before I had no idea how to relate both. After thinking about the question, I finally came to my conclusion that math is God and God is math. I also came to the conclusion that God gave us the most awesome things in the world besides Twinkies is MATH!! Sometime after what seemed like ten million questions later, I finally knew that I needed reflect on my faith as well as my math skills. I now feel that being a student in this class, I am also deepening my faith.
ReplyDeleteThe most thought provoking, intriguing, challenging EQ I wrote about this semester would be from Chapter 1. The question was How do functions help us understand the attributes. The only reason that I answered this question was because I thought it would be easy, however, I look back and it was that hardest for ne to write. Relating functions and God’s characteristics was a very hard task to. I had to really think about all the attributes of God and get them into words. This made me think about what I think about my relationship with God. So I had to figure out and think real hard about what God attributes meant to me. My favorite EQ to write about was Chapter 4’s, Respond, Refute, Agree, Discuss, etc. the following statement: Transforming trigonometric expressions is an act of worship, I enjoyed thinking about this, the more I wrote, the more I started to change my mind and think up new different ideas. This EQ actually left me thinking about worship every time I worshiped, such as at church, home or chapel. I don’t know if I have essentially grown, but I do know that I have changed. I don’t look at math the same, and I have a new appreciation of ALL the creation of God. Over time, and throughout the next semester, I hope that I will grow and change even more.
ReplyDeleteThe first chapter EQ was the one that I thought about and challenged myself on the most. That question, “If f(x)=life, what is the domain and range of f(x)?” made me integrate life terms with math terms. It made me think about life being a function and relating it to math. The thought, at first, was having no idea how to respond, to just get it over with, and send it in. Then, after I started to think about how life is just like a function, I knew it exactly what to write. That was my favorite EQ because it changed my outlook on how my math can be related to math. My least favorite of the EQ’s would be Chapter 4, “How can parametric equations help us understand the dynamics of Christian marriage?” It made sense how a marriage has dependent roles, just like a parametric equation. However, it was boring writing about marriage and math. Chapter 2 (How can trigonometric functions and right triangles improve living conditions for society?) and 3 (“Life on a cosine wave” – Write a 10 sentence or more short story titled this.) were fun to write about though. These EQ’s have made me think deeper into seemingly simple topics. I’ve learned that God does have relations to math and what we’re learning. The EQ’s helped me comprehend math problems by just knowing what the equations are too.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone asks me my opinion on something, and if I actually do have an opinion, it’s usually pretty easy for me to write it down, and turn it in. I do all my deep intellectual thinking at night when I can’t sleep. Most of the EQs were like that. I was very lucky to already have an opinion or a thought to run on when I looked over the questions. When Chapter 1 came around, the EQ about the domain and range popped out to me like no other. I started thinking and writing and I was writing as fast as ideas sprang into my head. It was the same with Chapter 3 and 4. I wrote the third EQ after having an evolution conversation with someone who I can’t recall. Chapter 4’s was right after a chapel we did. Worship was my main idea instead of trigonometric functions. The most difficult EQ was the 2nd. It took a while for me to get started. In fact, I had planned to do another, but it closed. So frantically I started thinking about the triangles and God. Then the idea dawned on me that neither change. And I was off. If I can get started, it’s easy to write and I enjoy it very much…
ReplyDeleteThe EQ that challenged me the most this semester was the one that asked “How can the laws of 45-45-90 and 30-60-90 triangles help us learn more about the nature of God?” This challenged me and took a long time for me to think about it. I finally figured out that the only way to explain it is that God is just an awesome creator. He had everything planned out before hand so that it would all make sense. Although my favorite EQ I did this year was the one that asked “Where has God been periodic in his Creation”. This one was my favorite because it was very easy. All you have to do is look at the world around you and find things that repeat. Answering all these questions this semester has made me really think about why we do crazy things like pre-calculus. After doing these questions a realize that we study math to glorify God and his creation. We learn about how awesome he is and how he made everything work just right. I never thought that God had so much to do with math when he made the world.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that the most thought provoking essential question I’ve answered this year was “How can parametric equations help us understand the dynamics of a Christian marriage?” This question really challenged me in that I have seen numerous so called “Christian” marriages fall apart for various reasons. In fact, I have probably seen more Christian marriages fail than last. Even though I didn’t have very much material to work with on this EQ as far as examples of strong Christian marriages, I still felt drawn to this question. It challenged me to consider what I would want in my marriage. What I would value and build my marriage upon. To build your marriage on anything other than God and Christianity would be like building your home on unsteady, compromised ground. It made me consider the relationships I’ve had in my life. Were they built upon Christian morals? I think not. As I further analyzed this, it began to convict me. I felt guilty for what I’ve done. This essential question struck a cord within me and made me think.
ReplyDeleteMy most favorite EQ was the "How can the “laws” of 45-45-90 and 30-60-90 triangles helps us learn more about the Nature of God?". It really got me thinking about how God lets us choose for ourselves. Though we choose the way of the world or the way of God, He controls everything. It amazes me how He would would let us choose for ourselves but he knows what we are gonna choose. Some people seem to stray away from faith about God. The thought of how there is somewhat of a cycle, between choice and God already knows blows my mind. The most challenging ones to me were those about parametric equations. I really did not know how to explain them. Pretty much all the EQ's that i answered expanded my thinking capacity. They all helped me grow as a person and spiritually as well.
ReplyDeleteI like this EQ it’s a question that’s answerable and semi simple to answer a matter of opinion but I really also liked EQ chapter 3 choices #2. “How is life like a cosine wave? Write a short story” I liked this EQ for the fact it let me write it was fun to make up a story cause I like writing especially stories and I also like the topic due to that life is up and down and we need find the steady line and having a topic and the free range to write what we want in a story was fun for me. This also for the first time put that relation together with math and such I always knew life was full of up and downs but never would of thought to connect it to cosines and life it was cool for me to see that, that math can be and art or seen in a different way. Well that was my favorite EQ that we did this semester.
ReplyDeleteThe EQ’s are very interesting because I never thought that math and God could go together. The EQ that made me think and learn was the response to “Humans are coterminal.” This was also my favorite EQ because I actually thought about it and responded. I guess the major lesson we can learn is humans repeat their mistake. We do not learn from our mistakes. When we do not learn we ask why? We do know why but do not change our ways. I think about this and hope I can learn from my mistakes. Throughout my life, I have seen many examples of what not to do. I want to be who I want to be and not what others want. My main goal is to be successful and not make the same mistakes. I know I will make mistakes but I do not want to make the same mistakes that I have seen. I would rather make a hundred of my own mistakes than to make one mistake that I have seen before. My least favorite question was transforming expressions to salt and light because I did not know how to answer it. I thought about it but did not have a good answer. I did not challenge myself hard enough. The EQ’s are interesting and help my think outside the classroom.
ReplyDelete“Life on a cosine wave” was my favorite. It made me think of all of the things in life that could ultimately destroy you or to bring you closer to God. I remember talking about a young man that was very wealthy. Who had trouble along the road but grows stronger through God. It made me think about my life and how it was like I was writing about myself only using someone else to bring it through. It challenged me into thinking that math can be shown in everyday life. It made me think about how everyone has ups and downs like a big cosine wave. We are always changing. I thought long and hard on this because I wanted to show that everyone goes through ups and downs in life and through God we can make it through them. I have learned that God, and math are very much the same. We can learn through him, just as we learn through math to solve everyday situations.
ReplyDeleteAll these EQ’s have had something to do with God in some way or another. Which indeed made me think about God and his creation and how all the mathematic world was created. It only made me think a whole lot more about the universal language of mathematics and made me want to know why things work the way they do. All the questions that I have responded to during this first semester were the questions that seemed more interesting to me and got me thinking all over again. One of the questions that took me was the first question in the third chapter “Where had God been Periodic in His creation?” I didn’t really know how to respond to this, then really thinking about God and His creation I came to some thoughts and ideas. All these EQ’s, I can say that its I really do see God’s creation now and this universe of math, and how God can do marvelous things; just have to take the time to notice it.
ReplyDelete