Doing scientific research in small steps.
...while listening to "Kind of Blue" on a cold November morning, while our cat (perhaps) dreams of chasing electric leaves blown astray by wind. I didn't realise cats love music so much until yesterday, when she seemed mesmerised by tunes being played through the speaker. We have Christmas lights installed in the room resembling scatter plots, remind me of least squares and standard deviation, but most of all fill me with a sense of warmth. Yes, their reflection in the window is akin to stars dispersed on the night sky. One night, looking at the night sky, I noticed for the first time in my life, that stars are not arranged in a flat, dome shape, the way clouds are seen during the daytime following the curvature of Earth. Indeed, when night descends a view of deep space is revealed, space that we are part of, with great distances every which way between celestial objects.
>>> print("\n".join(["*" for i in range(4)]))
*
*
*
*How to manipulate the list comprehension to make patterns with the stars? Number sequences could be expressed with these stars.
I make a small change in the code:
File "<stdin>", line 1
print("\n".join(["*" for i + 1 in range(4)]))
^
SyntaxError: cannot assign to operatorIt is said that by making small changes and introducing errors in code we can learn. Is this the scientific process? This is in fact practicing the scientific method[^1]. I rejoice at the fact that I am now doing scientific research. Children can be mathematicians and practice mathematics meaningfully from the outset[^2].
[^1]: Downey, A. B. (Year). Think Python. Green Tea Press. Link [^2]: Boaler, J. (2016). Mathematical Mindsets: Unleashing Students' Potential through Creative Math, Inspiring Messages, and Innovative Teaching. Jossey-Bass.