How important is Vectors?

[Helldemon80]

Hey guys,

I'm currently doing the MCV4U (Calculus & Vectors) course in my school right now. My problem is that now that were 3 units into vectors, I'm finding that it's a bit more complicated for me then Calculus was.

I had an 85 going into vectors, now my mark is an 80. I find that it's harder to understand vectors. So my question was, if I do Computer Science at say Waterloo or UFT. Am i going to come by vectors a lot. Or will i come by Calculus more? Or is it just equal?

Also, would you say my mark currently is too low for Computer Science at UFT or Waterloo?

Thanks

[Ultrahex]

Marks are probably fine (at least I do not see a problem, however I have no idea of current admission averages - which depend on demand).

Vectors are relatively important and they will come up everywhere pretty much. It is very important to know and overall is a very simple concept (due to arrays etc...).

In CS @ uwaterloo, you are required to take Calculus I, Calculus II, Classical Algebra I, Linear Algebra I in your first year.

Following CS courses will also use these concepts such as CS 240 (data structures and algorithms), CS 370/371 (numerical computation), CS 341 (algorithms) though their use will be relatively simple.

Maybe more practical question for you would be, what part of vectors do you not understand?

[Helldemon80]

I get the basis of vectors, if you give me a regular problem I'll probably be able to solve it (if I've learned it yet ). In the Knowledge and Application parts of the test, I usually do well (80's to 90's) The problem is that our school does this thing called Tips (Thinking Questions, I don't know if they do this in all schools in Ontario). It's just two really hard problems that have to do with the unit. In Calculus, I could 50% of the time get the tips questions or at least do alright on it. But with Vectors, I find that the tips questions are super abstract to me. Sometimes there's no algebra which really confuses me.

We just had a test yesterday actually, I missed one of the tips questions because of a dumb math error, and then I'm not really sure if i got this first one (It's a possiblity ).

The problem I find is that Tips(Thinking) is worth 20% of our test grade, so if you get a bad mark on that, it pretty much kills your test. That's where i pretty much lost my 5%.

Anyways, Thanks.

[Ultrahex]

I have actually went to a school that did TIPS (or whatever the school wants to call it).

Yes, these are sometimes painful and frustrating cause often not enough time is given due to the complexity of the problem when handling new material.

I would recommend talking to your teacher if you are that concerned.

[Helldemon80]

Yeah, a lot of students have complained about TIPS even before taking Calculus and Vectors in our school. But in previous courses, TIPS was worth less, although It still was too much, It wasn't 20% of our test mark.

Although i hate TIPS, In my opinion I'm glad it's there. If there was no "Thinking" questions. Then there would be no point of all this. It would just be memorizing the solutions and putting them down, kinda like what Knowledge and Application is in my opinion (Although there is some thinking required). I find that TIPS really separates the people with good problem solving skills and the ones who just memorize everything. It promotes good problem solving skills.

I think in these schools, TIPS should be brought down in terms of the amount It's worth on a test, but it should still be there.

[RandomLetters]

The only problem with TIPS is that there is not enough time to do them. If your first approach fails, often, that's the end of the test.

[Insectoid]

I generally liked TIPS. It was a refreshing break from the mindless repetition I had to do otherwise. Especially in CS, where problem solving is so important, TIPS performance is potentially a great indicator of your current programming potential.

This is, of course, based on my own thoughts that I thought of just now, and holds no real value. It's possible that you suck at TIPS but are brilliant at coding.

In uni physics, vectors are rather a big deal, and in my experience, almost every physics test question is a TIPS question (though it isn't labeled as such- it's the standard).

[Brightguy]

It's relatively common to work in (for example) R^n, so you should at least have a intuitive understanding of vectors.

On the other hand, for linear algebra you will definitely need a good understanding of vectors: the most important concept in linear algebra is that of linear independence between vectors.

[Helldemon80]

RandomLetters @ Wed 15 Dec, 2010 8:14 pm wrote:

The only problem with TIPS is that there is not enough time to do them. If your first approach fails, often, that's the end of the test.

Agreed, I find that I can never get enough time to try attempts for not only one but two TIPS problems. I find that usually if there's just one TIPS question (which has happened to me quite a number of times) I do really well, cause I can get many attempts in

[hallowon]

University mathematics is different from high school math. You go more indepth at a faster pace. With that said, you shouldn't be too worried about your Vector portion. If it helps I got a 83 in MCV4U when I was in Grade 12. I still got in with the president's scholarship and QEII. Try to understand the material, I know I did not do so well in vectors either, but its a new form of mathematics in which you are not accustomed too.

[Helldemon80]

hallowon @ Sat 18 Dec, 2010 9:51 pm wrote:

University mathematics is different from high school math. You go more indepth at a faster pace. With that said, you shouldn't be too worried about your Vector portion. If it helps I got a 83 in MCV4U when I was in Grade 12. I still got in with the president's scholarship and QEII. Try to understand the material, I know I did not do so well in vectors either, but its a new form of mathematics in which you are not accustomed too.

Thanks, that made me feel a little better. Some people were saying Vectors is easy and I'm glad there's someone there was someone in my position.. haha

[unoho]

i was similar to your position in grade 12..found it quite difficult to understand vectors... on the first week of uni class, our prof beasted through the all 3 units of grade 12 vectors in 2 days and it made soo much sense.. after that it all went downhill..
i know it's hard but get a good grasp of plane, lines, their intersection etc. it will save you a lot of time in university