Math - Alphasets

This week you will complete a sequence of exercises.
This page contains the second one.
The CSG was the first one.
These exercises will not require much creative thinking,
but they will familiarize you with set notation and operations.
This will prepare you for more challenging assignments next week.

A set of objects is sometimes called a UNIVERSE.
We let U represent our Universe of choice —the set under consideration—whatever it may be.
For this exercise, our universe of choice is the 26 letters of the alphabet plus the 10 digits.
We list sets with braces { } like this:

Let U = {The Universe of Letters plus Digits}
= {A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0}

EXERCISE 1:
From this universe of letters and digits, you will create 3 sets:
Set A is all the letters in your first, middle, and last names.
Set B is your birthplace city and state, or city and nation if you were born outside the states.
Set C is your birthdate: month(in letters), day, year, including the day of the week.
Click here to calculate The Day of the Week for any birthdate.

Use the applets above to create your A B C sets.
Enter your data in the left applet.
Hit the Enter key when finished.
The applet makes all your letters upper case letters.
If a set has duplicate letters, the applet removes the repetitions.
Sets do not contain duplicates.
Order of letters does not matter either.

Click in the right applet to start lettering it.
Point the mouse where you want a letter or a digit, and type it.
Letters belonging to two sets, go in their intersection.
Letters belonging to A, B, and C go in the middle.
Letters not in either A or B or C go outside the circles.
Some areas may not contain any letters when you are finished.
To delete a letter, point at it, and hit the Escape or Delete key.

Make a table showing how your letters distribute among sets A B C.



 Do not confuse letters with names of sets.






 No need to place digits in your table. Digits are either in one place or the other.

  A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A   x     x   x x             x     x x   x   x      
B x   x   x     x x         x x         x x x x      
C x     x           x   x           x x x x       x

Make a gif file of your completed applets and send me the gif file as an attachment in a message.
Also send me your table in a message. This exercise is worth 3 points: 2 for sets, 1 for table.

EXERCISE 2:
Find a famous person in history or the movies or politics that was born on your birthday in any year.
Find birthdates and birthplaces on the web using the birthday list at Who2 Birthdays.
Or you can enter the day and month of your birthday in the Search Who2 box.
Example: July 6. Click the first title that appears in the list.
This takes you to a page where you click Born on July 6.
Click on a celebrity, such as George W. Bush.
Copy his or her data at the bottom of the profile.
Then repeat the steps from Exercise 1.
Make a table as in Exercise 1, and put it in a comment on the wiki.

Notice that there are 8 regions.
One of them is outside the 3 circles.
Put all letters and digits that do not belong to A, B, or C outside the 3 circles.
One region is contained in all 3 circles.
Put all letters that belong to A, B, and C into this region.
Use the example as a guide.
Notice how the diagram corresponds to your table.
This is important in future exercises.

OK, lots of work for such little reward.
I should feel sorry for you.
But slowing you down is part of my job.
You will find that the slower you think, the more likely you will not miss anything.

After completing your masterpiece, copy it to a comment below for all to see.
If you did all this correctly, you will receive a whole 4 points: 2 for sets, 2 for table.

If, however, you did not do this correctly,
you will not receive your hard earned 3+4=7 points until you correct it.
So go slowly...

Hilite the table below, copy and paste it into your comment along with your alphasets.
Fill out the table as the example below shows.
You can also use this table to send me your private birth data:
Hilite, copy, and paste this blank table into a comment below.
Fill it out properly.
Then Hoversnap it, and send it to me as a gif file.

Type your celebrity's data into the left applet above and hit the [Enter] key.
Click your mouse in the right applet above.
Point your mouse and type the letters and digits into their corresponding circular areas.
Then, using Hoversnap, copy and insert diagram and data into a comment below.

Use this form to insert your example: files/Pix/myAlias-Alphaset.gif
No spaces!!!

Comments:

From wHolt - 1/29/06 11:38 AM [Edit] [ Delete]