# Grandes écoles: France’s elite-making machines

Pros of Grandes Ecoles:

1. Very high standard Engineering / Business / Public Administration / Science & Math Colleges.
2. Two years of Preparatory Class drilled in advanced Math / Physics / Chemistry.

Cons of Grandes Ecoles:

1. “Social Reproduction” of French elites within upper-class families for generations.
2. Elitist – all think in the same mould.

This is similar criticism of the 1300-year-old Ancient Chinese Imperial Exams (科举 pronounced in China Fujian province’s Min ‘闽’ dialect as \Kor-coo, sounds like Grande Écoles Entrance Exams “Concours” \Kong-coo) from which Napoleon Bonaparte, who was strongly recommended by the French Jesuits living in China Fujian as a meritocatic Mandarin selection system, copied it for the first French Grande Ecole (GE) : Ecole Polytechnique (X), and subsequently all other GE in the past 200 years till today.

# How you pronounce German Mathematician’s Names ( and Physicists )

Germany produced many Mathematicians and Physicists who succeeded the 18 CE Newtonian England, and the 19CE Napoleonic France before WW2, after which the Americans (mostly the Jewish German immigrants) take over till now.

German names are difficult to pronounce for foreigners.

Libniz,

Euler,

Einstein,

Noether,

Gauss,

Dedekind,

Riemann,

Cantor,

etc.

For due respect, please learn to pronounce their German name correctly.

# Chinese Primary School Math

As shown in the picture below, find the height of the table?

(No Algebraic equation please for Primary School Math).

Try yourself before scrolling down.

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The 2 sleeping cats and 2 sitting cats cancel out, left 260 (= 110+150) for the 2x Table Heights.

1 Table Height = 260/2 = 130 cm.

# Math Scores of High School Grads Hit 20-Year Low | high school | ACT students

Math is taught wrongly for generations all over the world.

It should not be the boring and scary formula/procedure/compute/drill approach in current pedagogy.

Math should be fun like learning Science, Music, Art : explore the nature, discover the relationship, infer, apply… Underlying these obscure numbers: pi, e, golden ratio,… hide the natural patterns like geometrical symmetry (Group Theory), number relationship (infinity, limit, prime numbers, fibonacci,… ), generalized by operational properties into some bigger structures (Ring for Integers, Polynomial, Matrix, Field for Rational Q, Real R, Complex numbers C, Categories), while transforming from one structure to another structure through functions which also give a next level of patterns among functions as morphism (homo-, iso-, endo-, auto-) with associativity, identity, and / or inversibility, …

# Maths is a potential life changer — from wages to dating

https://www.ft.com/content/f039c3ca-d762-11e8-aa22-36538487e3d0

When you are stuck with too many choices in life, whether buying houses recommended by agents, finding schools for children, hiring staff among the hundreds of CVs…apply ‘e’ the number from nature (logarithm) to make smart and efficient decision under the constraints of time and resources.

Theory of Optimal Stopping” = 1/e ~ 37%

where

e = 2.7 18281828 45 90 45…

If you do a house search with 20 properties, then by the Theory of Optimal Stopping, pick the first property which is better than the first 7 properties you see (7. 4 = 20 x 37%).

[Note] Ponder over the hidden Philosophy behind – “Brilliant Limit” :

$\displaystyle \boxed{ \lim_{n \to \infty}\left({\frac{n!}{n^n}}\right)^{\frac{1} {n}} = \frac{1} {e}}$