Greetings everyone
For a change tonight there is a different aspect of PBs to report. Bryce has been beavering away trying to work out an objective measure for Mike to use to assess his fatigue. Those of you who know Bryce well will understand the importance of such measures to him. Despite heaps of scorn poured on by me, his ever-admiring wife, I have to admit that he has come up with quite a neat idea, at least for someone like Mike.
The system relates to mental arithmetic that Bryce and his class mates did at Primary School. Yes I know you have to wonder about someone who remembers anything from that long ago, let alone specific mental arithmetic, but we're talking Wilkinsons here and it was Christchurch where there'd be stuff all else to do. The system involves giving Mike a number between 1-100, then two numbers to add and subtract. (The adding number is higher than the subtracting number, just to make it easier.) Then Mike adds and subtracts the same numbers for a minute - how many can he do in a minute. Then he keeps track of how he performs during different degrees of tiredness and can track fastest performance and slowest. So tonight I arrive, I think Mike seems fatigued but he says he isn't bad. He volunteers to do THE TEST and lo, he was very tired. Lowest score so far. Interestingly, I could see half way through the minute that suddenly the fatigue kicked in and his rate dropped fast. (You will notice that there is no mention of Yours Truly subjecting herself to the test!) In essence the message from that test meant: 'Go home Mum'
Progress with the walking today. Mike got so that he can bring his leg right through the stride, rather than just bring it up to the other leg. When you think about it that advance takes nerve and, if successful, quite a lot of balance. Mike had both.
Regards and happy mental arithmetic
Lee
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9 comments:
Lee, I get a headache thinking about it.
Well done Bryce.
Gilda
Sounds like a Rodney type of technique/suggestion to me.
Great to keep up with such inspiring progress from all of you.
Love from Helen,Vancouver.
I approve totally!
Another version could be to start counting forwards in 7's - piece of cake up to 91, not quite so easy thereafter!
Former HOD Maths, Ngaruawahia High School
Hey Mike.
I haven't been able to read your news for the past few weeks as haven't had access to a computer, but it's so exciting to read your updates and hear about the amazing progress you have been making. Would love to come and see you some time. Keep up the good work bud.
Gareth Kearney
This has a certain elegance - classic ingredients, playing to key strengths, recognisable to a wider, mixed audience . . . !
See you soon, Janne
That test.....might have to give it a go!! Congratulations on taking the "full stride" Mike - that really is significant.I spent a bit of time getting a handle on "gait analysis" at college. I might struggle a bit with a spot quizz these days - but I do recall the complexity of taking a stride. Bravo!
Carolyn, Grant et al.
I bravely attempted "The Measure", Mike! Must confess it didn't do much for me!(Of course, that could be due to sheer advanced age!)In fact my brain was more tired than before. You can guess where Mum gets her lack of empathy from. Congratulations on a new achievement! Gran.
Lee
I remember (pardon me lapsing into reminiscences) a specific version of this game from our Form 1 and 2 years (1959-1960 in which Bryce and I were classmates). I recall it being called the 'put down and add' game. The teacher would say (for example) put down 7, add 6. We would write down the results (7,13,19,25,....) as fast as we could for 1 minute. This was repeated 10 times. We would add up the correct answers and the winner was the 1 with the highest score (obviously!).
It's been wonderful to be able to read the blogs over the past weeks and be able to see the excellent progress that Mike is making.
Peter G
Hi Mike Bryce & Lee - sounds like Bryce all right! Great reading about your progress Mike - hope you know there are a lot of people at First NZ thinking about you
Cheers
Don Lewthwaite
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