2010
Tue
29
Jun
Miss Loi avatar
Miss Loi's Facebook profile Follow Miss Loi on Twitter!

The Importance Of Making An Appointment Before Visiting The Temple

(9)
Posted at 10:45 am by Miss Loi in E-Maths Questions

Continuing from the previous episode

They overturned every dustbin in the neighbourhood.

They harassed the MRT station staff, shopkeepers and students in the area.

They searched and scoured every corner of the district. (or so they thought)

But, despite sweeping through Novena like a Korean typhoon, Smiling 哥 and his ‘band of brothers’ were still none the wiser as to the location of the elusive Temple.

He was dead sure, though, it was in the vicinity – after he realized that his favourite Udders Ice Cream (and subsequently all shops in the area) possessed the same first three digits of that bogus postal code.

As fate would have it, a passing student was spotted holding a copy of Miss Loi’s exam papers (latest 2010 edition). And to cut the story short, a single scoop of Udders’ Rum Rum Raisin ice cream was intoxicating enough to quash what’s left of the student’s loyalty to The Maths Tutor :?

The forbidding 38 Steps to 'Salvation'

Thus before long, they arrived at the start of the 38 Steps, situated in the deepest and most ulu recess of the area, where a great sense of foreboding implored the party not to proceed further.

But there was no turning back now, and with great trepidation they took their first steps up the stairs, having no idea then of the horrors that were in store for them …

.

Ha ha ha ha ha …

A disembodied voice echoed chillingly through the stairway.

Suddenly one of the men let out shriek, before slumping to the ground muttering “log 0 … log 0 … ln 0 …”.

Mua ha ha ha ha ha …

Another one screamed hysterically, and stood frozen like a statue while crying “tan 90° … tan π/2 … tan 270° …”

Horrifying scenes reminiscent of Medusa’s Temple in Clash of the Titans ensued, as one by one his brave men fell, their weak PSLE-trained minds corrupted by sudden visions of mathematical expressions that would’ve induced “Math Error” messages in most MOE-approved calculators.

In the end, Smiling 哥 was the only man left standing before the Temple Gates, where he found himself firmly locked out.

Temple Fortification
Temple Fortification

You are not my student. You do not belong here at my Temple! Leave now before I turn you permanently into a Mathematical Constant!

Loi Loi! Let me in! I mean you no harm. My brothers need your help and salvation!

pleaded Smiling 哥 desperately.

LOI LOI IS FOR YOU TO CALL ONE MEH?!!!

thundered the voice *brief tremor*

But something about the 凄凉 way he pleaded moved her, and after a moment’s hesitation, the voice continued

The secret pin to unlock the Temple Gates is a very special four-digit number. If you subtract the five-digit number formed from adding a ‘3′ after it, from another five-digit number formed from adding a ‘3′ before it, you’ll get 3843.

Find this number and tell me why is it so special, and I *may* consider helping you.

Upon seeing his hapless look, the disembodied voice continued hauntingly

You look lost. Even my Sec One students will have no problem finding this number. Who ask you last time always skip math lessons? Huh? HUH?!

Seriously, you don’t really have much time left to tell me why is this number so special. Prepare to choose the symbol to represent yourself as a Mathematical Constant!

Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha …



2010
Tue
8
Jun
Miss Loi avatar
Miss Loi's Facebook profile Follow Miss Loi on Twitter!

The Last Massage

(15)
Posted at 10:16 pm by Miss Loi in E-Maths Questions
Klang Bak Kut Teh
Authentic Klang Bak Kut Teh
(N.B. pepper soup they are NOT)

Let’s spin a globe
Find a place to go
Travel the world
We’ll take it slow
We’ll be as one
Everywhere we go
Under the stars
Our hearts will grow
As we move on impulse~!!

Heeding the imploring appeal from a track on Ah Lian DJ Loi’s playlist, Miss Loi decided on a ‘quickie’ getaway last week, to give herself a break after five months of non-stop joss sticks sessions, before the June holidays come to hammer present her with yet more grueling joss sticks sessions till the end of the year.

The ’spin’ of the globe this time, however, brought her only as far as the neighbouring country to the north, and after stopping for a meal of bak kut teh at its spiritual home, she soon arrived at her final destination.

By The Sea
By the sea

A place by the sea …

Water's Edge
Living on the edge

A retreat for her senses …

Staring At The Sea
Staring at the sea … staring at the sand …

A place where she would find relaxation and escape from maddening students crowds …

Avillion Pool
Four’s already a crowd

And thus after dumping her luggage in her room, she wasted no time in heading straight for the spa beside her chalet to treat herself to a bit of holistic goodness and rejuvenate her body, mind and soul.

Avi Spa
The Spa

Opting for an 1-hour session of their signature massage using their top-of-the-line aromatherapy signature oil, she soon found herself lying prone on a soft, narrow bed high above the sea.

Before long, top-of-the-line signature essential oil was being applied on her bare back, gently flowing across her body in harmony with the soothing piped-in spa music, a teasing precursor of what was to come.

Water Beneath The Spa
Forgot to bring camera to spa
so this ‘blissful’ image will have to do

And then she was in spa heaven.

A chorus of gratitudes greeted her from every sore muscle in her svelte frame, as the masseur skillfully kneaded away the tight knots from back to front and head to toe.

For an hour, she was truly at one with her innermost senses. The worldly rigours of joss sticks sessions seemed so far away, and all that seemed to matter was the gentle strokes of the masseur and the sound of the waves slapping the stilts below. In fact, so tranquil was the experience that she even forgot (albeit temporarily) how to factorize quadratic equations and solve simultaneous equations with two unknowns.

Finished, Mdm.

It was over, all too soon.

Oh how she yearned for it to last just a little bit longer, to enjoy the feeling of being pampered once more – a sensation that would surely be but a distant fantasy when she returned to pamper coach her students at The Temple … and so …

Ooh your massage was heavenly! May I extend for another hour?

Thank you Mdm. Let me check with counter first. One moment please …

*dials phone*

[Translated from Bahasa Melayu]

Counter … counter … Room #123 wants to extend 1 hour. Boleh?

Nona, a Datuk is coming for massage later and our signature oil is running low.

You may extend your session but make sure you have at least 2 cm depth of oil left in your jar at the end of your session, because Datuk is XXXL size!

With that, the masseur Nona informed the eternally-grateful Miss Loi that her session had been extended, and proceeded to pour more oil on her back, carefully leaving just about 4 cm depth of oil in her conical jar ‘just to be safe’.

When Nona was finished with pouring the oil and placed the jar upright on the table, a sudden horrifying realization dawned upon her and she frantically dialed the phone again.

Counter! Counter! Your 2 cm depth of oil is measured from the tip or base of the jar?!

Alamak! Of course from the base lah! You goondu or what?!

Inverted oil jar

Diagram I

The conical jar has a diameter of 10 cm and a height of 8 cm and is currently left with a depth of 4 cm of oil when inverted, as shown in Diagram I.

    1. Find the volume of oil in the jar, in terms of π.
    2. Find the surface area of the jar that is in contact with the oil.
  1. When the jar is placed upright (see Diagram II), calculate the depth h of the oil in the jar.
Upright oil jar

Diagram II

Hence let Nona know if this is going to be her last massage at the spa.



2010
Fri
21
May
Miss Loi avatar
Miss Loi's Facebook profile Follow Miss Loi on Twitter!

A Cup Of Chocolate Sundae

(4)
Posted at 10:22 am by Miss Loi in Miss Loi the Tutor

Shielding her LASIK-ed eyes from the blinding rays of the sun, she emerged from The Temple to daylight for the first time in weeks.

Wandering through the neighbourhood, the resident flock of birds greeted her eagerly with cheery chirps, mistaking her for the old aunty who habitually fed them with grains of rice (for the record these birds are blind :? ).

She passed a Starbucks with swaths of empty seats, where some of its occupants had long adjourned to the Animal Kaiser machine nearby.

The atmosphere of the day was one of relief, of liberation, and happiness, with positive x2 quadratic curves worn on the face of every student she saw.

A Cup of Chocolate Sundae
Mmmm …

Arriving at her destination, she soon settled down with her customary cup of chocolate sundae to celebrate her own ‘liberation’, to mark the end of several long, grueling months of intense joss sticks sessions (FYI, she NEVER had sundaes in mid-season).

Relaxing to the unbridled sounds of teenage joy and laughter in this post mid-year exams period, she stared idly at the delicious mixture of vanilla cream and dark chocolate topping on the table.

So alluringly rich and creamy was the sundae, it appeared to take on a life of its own and beckoned her towards it.

She gladly obliged and leaned forward, and the dark concoction seemed to swirl before her very eyes …

… and then she saw a scene at The Temple, with storm clouds gathering in the sky above. A scene of stress and chaos, where she found herself besieged by hundreds of students with ghastly expressions of fear and terror and negative x2 quadratic curves scrawled on their faces …

Miss Loi! I don’t know how to do!!!

Isn’t this the same question from your Mid-Year Exam?

I forgot already! I’ve forgotten everything since the World Cup started!

Miss Loi! My teacher will force me to drop A-Maths if I don’t pass my end-of-year exam next week!

Miss Loi! My O-Level maths paper is in two weeks’ time! I need you to cover all topics in one week!

Miss Loi! You must help me cover five chapters in a day!

The mock exams! There’s … too many of them! I’m hit! I’m hit! ARRGHHHH!!! *crashes X-wing fighter*

Miss Loi! I dunno! Miss Loi! I can’t remember! Miss Loi! How?! How?!! HOW???!!! MISS LOI HOW???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*GASP!*

.
.
.

The startled group of students at the adjacent table glared at her for a brief moment before resuming their animated discussion on whether to watch Ip Man 2 or Iron Man 2 later.

Having recovered from the terrifying vision, she was reminded once more of her great burden, as she stood up and made her way back to The Temple, past tables of chatty students, packed arcade machines, and the same flock of birds (which she duly ignored – hmmph!).

As the Temple Gates slowly drew to a close behind her with a thundering thud that sent a thousand needles through her heart, she knew that, despite what had been said year after year, despite the fact that topics can only get harder (with less time to teach) in Semester II, there will be those who would steadfastly hold on to their pagan beliefs that there’s still ample time, that things can be picked up and mastered overnight, and that they can wait till the end of the year to rectify every topic/question that they don’t know … and the excuses will come.

For she had seen the sinister things this false dawn of sunshine hides, and saw her abandoned cup of chocolate sundae beginning to melt – to signal the start of a countdown to the O-Levels in 5 months’ time.


This is usually the time when Miss Loi announces her June Holiday Intensive Revision Jφss Sticks Sessions programme. Unfortunately for this year, as it stands, the situation at The Temple is such that all her slots from now right up to the 2010 ‘O’ Levels have been blocked for her existing students.

As such all new enquiries will have the option of being placed on Miss Loi’s waiting list, or join a session conducted by another tutor.

Those on Miss Loi’s wait list will be contacted in October/November (when her current batch of students begin their ‘O’ Level exams), to arrange for next year’s classes which should commence sometime in December.

Thank you for your patience and understanding *looks away in sadness* :(

P.S. Other sessions at The Temple may still accept new students subject to availability. Kindly contact us for details.



2010
Fri
30
Apr
Miss Loi avatar
Miss Loi's Facebook profile Follow Miss Loi on Twitter!

The Rage of the Triad Chief

(9)
Posted at 9:05 pm by Miss Loi in E-Maths Questions

Continuing from the previous episode

Months later, in a tension-filled room …

This is the information they managed to extract from the Maths Tutor’s feisty aunty, before they got chased off by her reinforcement aunties via an intense attack of umbrellas, shoes, handbags etc. …

For some superstitious reason, the Maths Tutor had chosen The Temple to be located at a postal code based on a sequence with its first five terms T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 as follows:

T1 = 1 = 1
T2 = 3 = 1 + 2
T3 = 6 = 1 + 2 + 3
T4 = 10 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4
T5 = 15 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5

The nth term in the sequence is given by

T_n = {1/2}n(n+1)

Find T350 and hence find The Temple’s postal code which is the solution of
5 + 10 + 15 + … + 1750.

Even though most of them failed their PSLE math, this should really, really be a simple one.



2010
Fri
23
Apr
Miss Loi avatar
Miss Loi's Facebook profile Follow Miss Loi on Twitter!

Water Delivery FAIL!

(1)
Posted at 2:17 pm by Miss Loi in Miss Loi's Temple

To the stubborn water delivery man, The Temple is seldom open on weekday mornings – something that Miss Loi has been reminding your company a trillion (1012) times.

Water Delivery Instructions

So which part of the instructions do you not understand? Or did you even bother to read them at all???

Water Delivery FAIL

A severe case of selective visual attention

At this rate, The Temple’s gonna be overrun by gigantic water bottles and Miss Loi’s arms are going to develop unsightly muscles from carrying them :(

Ali Baba & The 40 Thieves

Ali Baba & The 40 Thieves

*end of rant*