Re: [LIU Comp Sci] Need tutoring on Relational Calculus

On Sun, 21 Dec 2014 02:23:54 +0000 (UTC) Ruben Safir <mrbrklyn_at_panix.com> wrote:

> the book is incomprehensable by the students for whom it was assigned,
> and its intended audience. This book seemingly wants to sidestep the
> details of the mathmatical foundations for database instruction, while
> at the same time covering them since they are part of a precieved
> standard faire for a database program.

incomprehensible, "to whom", mathematical, perceived, fare, and (below) rigorous.

You do not help your case by being careless in your criticism.

> It is a failure. Like many of comp-sci books, it is just not rigerous
> enough in its explanations and doesn't really care if you understand
> the mathmatical logic anyway.

Books don't "care". An author might, and it's fair to ask: why did he write a book? We can't know, but surely, "explaining the subject matter" is a plausible reason. And, as others pointed out, we have more than the book's mere existence as evidence; we have six editions used by innumerable professors and students. Are you seriously prepared to explain your frustration with the material as the author's lack of concern and inability to elucidate?

Occam's razor says we should adopt the simplest explanation. In this case that would be, I think we agree, that the author and professor know the material, and you don't. Since learning is harder than explaining, the problem is unlikely to lie with the explaining.

I suggest that the right approach is to assume everyone involved -- author, editor, professor, even the school itself -- are curators of knowledge. Their express purpose is to convey that knowledge to you, the student. If you begin with the premise that any failure to comprehend is yours -- and that that's *OK* because "if it were easy it would be done already" -- then you will place the burden where it belongs: on yourself, to understand what is being said. That's why they call it "work".

As Ed Koch once told an interviewer, "I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you."

You are well advised not to expect anyone else to do the work for you. Thankfully, you're at a school, surrounded by people who want you to succeed. It will not always be that way.

If I were you, I think I'd likely reject my advice, because it's easier to locate the "blame" outside ourselves. Before you do, though, remember I have no axe to grind, nothing to gain, nothing to prove. I'm simply handing you a tool you can use to cut your way through the thicket, if you so choose.

--jkl Received on Sun Dec 21 2014 - 23:48:30 CET