[175-182] I also took programing class, dynamic systems and stability, and Signals and Systems 2. I quite liked that class. The professor taught exclusively through writing things on the board, but he would always prove it. And you could tell in the way that he talked about the math that he really thought it was beautiful. And when a professor is enthusiastic about their subject, it just makes it so much easier to be enthusiastic about.
[183-193] And him not requiring you to turn in the homework was a definite bonus. And I was taking another class. What class was I taking? Let me check, because I do not remember. Okay. I was taking probability for engineers. That was one of the classes that suffered the most from me not wanting to do work because it had a constant weekly cycle of big homework sets due. And he graded it very rigorously and required attendance. All things that would help me learn the material if I didn’t have a backup of my friends who had taken the course last term and who helped me with the homework and things. So instead of paying attention in class, I just banked on Francis knowing how to solve probability density functions and things. I basically did the minimum amount of work in that class that I could, and my grade reflects that. It was tough
[210-218] So, I love math. Because if you have the basis to understand it, it turns into almost like a story. It builds off of itself and becomes really, really useful. And my teacher did a great job of leading us from one subject into the next, and proving it to us. The intermediate steps where he was like, “Well you know the Fourier transform that you’ve been doing this whole time, it’s actually much easier if you do a Laplace transform.” And here’s how we get from there to here. And the transitions from subjects and the way he really cared how they interacted, that was super helpful. Because other teachers will just jump from topic to topic and not explain how they’re related or show you the story.
[55-58] But things started getting a little bit better, started being able to handle it. And part of that was I made a new friend whose name is Oliver, and we got along really well and were able to talk about our problems. And that definitely helped.