#do like a compsci degree???

[magentasnoodle]

please not again

[insert-game]

i hate gen AI so much i wish crab raves upon it

[himejoshibutch]

i need to vent so bad but i dont want to be a bother so i'll just rant in the tags. feel free to block me for no reason at all 👍

[ode2cheol]

WHY ARE THE ENTRY REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE SO HIGH 😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔

[autumnoakes]

man i just don't know what i'm going to do with myself after i graduate anymore

[victory-cookies]

ahaha what if I did a compsci minor

[freeluigihesbae]

𝓹𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓫𝓾𝓫𝓫𝓵𝓮𝓼 - 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽 1

(3,081) words

summary: you're mean. you're bad. but your smart enough to get grades and attention and yet, breaking luigi mangione to be the kind of person you are doesn't seem to work.

little do ya know, he's about to break you instead.

ᴛᴡ: ɴᴏɴᴇ, ꜱᴇxᴜᴀʟ ᴛᴇɴꜱɪᴏɴ, ɴᴏᴛ ꜰᴜʟʟʏ ᴘʀᴏᴏꜰʀᴇᴀᴅ

~

Computer Science.

Now, hear me out would be the best phrase. Yeah, that's right. You're a woman in computer science at one of the snarkiest, headstrong universities in the country. Penn wasn't all that bad excluding the thousands of students that made it up. Normally, situations would push you be the bigger person and reserve some sense of decency. But in such a competitive market where you were paying to get paid, you had to be nasty.

It just so happened that what started out to be a guide now turned into you. You were and still are a snarky, irritating person that somehow turns heads every time you walk into the room. You've got the typical high-school style clique of girls fawning over you and everyone elevates your position because they are no better.

It does you good, this attitude, because it took you all but two whole semester to kick your grades up so high and absolute shatter the expectations of the degree that people didn't mind ignoring your arrogance to admire how smart you must've been.

Don't get it wrong, because you were and are smart. You're a student but better, you're the Kris Jenner of your year. You were good at marketing shallowness that somehow, was keeping you afloat with profit coming in the form of grades, internships, and attention.

In process, it became frustrating to see others who happened to be in a similar place. You wanted all the eyes on you so you went low with your actions and words to make sure it stayed that way but then, Intermediate Systems - COMPSCI 1570, rolls around and you're paired with Luigi Mangione.

Not paired with, actually, but put in a class with him. But paired in the sense of competition - who could get the most attention. You hate eo admit it, but the guy has got these ridiculously well-defined curls that are so tame yet alluring, it makes you want to rip his head off. You hate the way his smile is effortlessly charming and warms you heart. You hate the kindness that it makes bubble up inside of you.

On the more technical side, you hated how well-rounded the competition between you two was. He knew exactly who you were and you knew him, which meant he always played to get at you. You heard from everyone about how his nose was deep in the books and computer, trying his best to ace the exam only to quietly pass his grade to you. Sometimes, you did better. It made you feel like you're walking on Cloud 9, knowing this irritatingly handsome asshole could be squashed beneath your foot for this one moment, but other times? Oh, he decimated you. The professor would let his name escape from their lips, rather than yours.

It was an ultimate motivation, as you sit there, digging your nails into your palm and wondering why Luigi deserved it. How dare he step above you? How dare he pursue ambition rather than letting you have it all for yourself?

It was such a selfish notion and pursuit that had managed to seduce you with such blindness you never thought to question how you could be such a cruel, tasteless indivdual.

Yet he did. And he did so in all fairness. He, unlike you, was friends with everyone. With the bright-hair colored wimps in the corners and the sluttiest-for-him girls that applied themselves onto him with utter desire which he only combated with smiles and ultimate respect.

How frustrating, really, because even when you did beat him in an exam score, you could never beat him character wise. He would always stand above you and in truth, you were the bug. You were the dust beneath his feet so apart from your degree, you had another thing to acheive.

Him.

Not sleeping with him, no. Not fucking or kissing him throat deep. No.

Rather, being able to break his goody-two shoes act, you called. In reality, it was just him. Luigi Mangione just was a good person and that truth was so sour you only looked at him to arrogantly call him such a good boy and you hated it

You had to make him mean and nasty just like you.

That's exactly what you were going to do.

Or try to.

~

Luigi is sitting at his computer, working away on a new project the professor had assigned a few days ago. No matter where he was, he caught your eyes and this time was no different.

You walk over, swaying your hips a bit too seductively, biting your lip and wearing a stupidly sardonic smile. Your top is a low v-cut, exposing the rounds of your breasts that you were sure to apply body glitter on so everyone's eyes would stare like they were the prize. Your skirt was hiked up just enough to stir wonder and want, and as always, these were only ingredients for your experiment named Luigi Mangione.

"Hey Luigi." You wink before pulling a chair and sitting down next to him, tilting you head to the site with a pout while staring at the screen, scanning his code. It was habit, so your mind was translating the numbers and symbols into understandable language, hiding how impressed you are at all costs.

You're also relieved because you have the same answers, but we don't speak of that, now do we?

"You again." Luigi turns his head and you feel like clawing your heart out of your chest just to stop the butterflies you feel in your stomach. His lips are parted and puffy, the gap speaking a quiet invitation as if they're meant to be kissed. His nose bridge is screaming an intelligent form of dominance over the situation, as his facial curves the remainder of his gentle vice towering over you, soft yet present in all its overwhelming glory.

"Don't like me Lu? Am I too smart for you to admit?" You giggle, high pitched and bend forward, letting your biceps squeeze your breasts more as you bite your lip and look up at him with poisonously doe-y eyes, trying to make him fall. He takes a cursory glance, though, at your body before chuckling and typing away at his code.

"Are you too poor to figure that out for yourself?" His words cut at your ego and your expression instantly falls, sitting back in the chair and your loud, shocked exhales doesn't go un-missed by either of your. You curse at yourself quietly for letting it make a sound while Luigi only types away, as if he heard nothing.

He heard. Oh, yes, he did.

"Mangione is being an ass today? Code giving you a tough time Lu?" Your voice shakes at first, tears coming to your eyes in reaction to his demeaning question and he doesn't make that much better, ignoring you but smirking as if you're in desperate need of pity and attention.

Because you are and without saying it, he loves showing it to you time and time again.

The lack of answer enrages as you as you feel your heart rate shoot through your chest, prompting you to slam a few keys on his keyboard to which he only pauses, staring at your fingers. He watches how they shake, your acrylics getting stuck in the gaps between the board and keys. The way they wince from the tug of those pauses yet, there is an innocent and pitiable need that he sees and recognizes but staying silent.

Luigi turns his head toward you, cocking his neck down and to the side.

"You done? 'Cause I'm almost finished my code and seeing your excursions on Instagram makes me think your situation is otherwise." He smiles at you and you pant, removing your hands from his keyboard.

"You infuriate me Mangione." You dig your hands into your palm before continuing. "I'm finished dimwit. It's a one-part project and I submitted it yesterday because as always, I would never submit it the day its due, which is today and which is fairly typical for you." You twirl your hair between your fingers, uncaring if he admires you body as your get drunk in the expectance of hearing him sarcastically compliment you.

It's still something, even if he won't mean it.

But instead, his mouth parts and his eyes widen before contorting into a concerningly amused smile and before you know it, he's bending over the table and laughing into the table before looking back up at you.

Your expression is unchanged, but your body goes rigid with expectation.

He pulls his body away from the computer, shutting it down and putting it in his back before he places a hand on your knee.

A shiver makes its way from his fingers to your neck.

"Sweetheart," He starts talking, drawing out the pet name before his other hand slams a packet on the table.

You stare at the papers and back at Luigi.

"Is this a lecture for how I'm supposed to be a good girl?" You bite at him, words unforgiving. He raises his eyebrows before shaking his head and standing up. Your eyes follow, taking in the beauty of his height.

Heat seizes your comfort in the moment as he bends down and speaks into your ear, letting both arms cage you in the chair.

"It's a 3-part assignment. You forgot to scroll all the way down, sweetheart." You eyes widen and you turn your head up to look at him, nearly whimpering when you realize his lips are less than an inch away from yours. Suddenly, all your egotistic ideas and bubbles burst and melt away, leaving you naked as you fight the obligation to cross your eyes from how close he is. He stays in place, pushing himself back while staring into your eyes.

Your lips are parted, vulnerable in arousal and shock as a hand comes to push some loose threads behind your ear. You blink slowly, lips quivering as your realize your royally fucked because one part took four days and now, you had to complete two more in less than eight hours.

Luigi coos, watching how you break slowly in front of him, before his face is back the stoic yet kind approach he utilizes.

"See you at the submission deadline. Or not." He leaves after lifting a hand of yours and placing it on the flipped over directions packet, one that held a dirty, ugly, and devastating truth that you were lef tto fend with until 11:59pm.

~

"You look like you need a beer." Your roommate, Kate, pats your head as you're hunched over, posture despicable as you somehow manage to finish the second and half of the third part using some of your own ideas and resources.

Those resources... which aren't supposed to.

But you could care less.

"Right." You give a curt reply, ignoring the sound of a Coke popping open in Kate's hands, which you don't even need to see to realize.

"Why don't you just let loose for the evening?" Kate casually asks and you half slam your hands on the table.

"I've got this stupid project for my Systems class which I need to finish. Didn't read all the directions and now I'm cramming, so no thank you Kate." Kate raises her eyebrows before laughing.

"Hey, isn't that the class that Mangione guy is in?" She asks curiously and you freeze up.

Not him.

You rolls your eyes, ignoring how your breaths falter as you turn around and nod. "Yeah, what about 'm?" You furrow your eyebrows, licking your lips as they suddenly dry up. Kate gives you a suspicious look.

"I've heard he's one of the smartest guys. Maybe you should ask him at his frat party later." Kate supplies and before you can scream and shout in retaliation, she gets up and opens her closet.

"You can unshackle yourself and get that assignment done. Win-in to me." She rummages through her bling and glitter bodycon dresses, unbeknownst to your fuming.

You had to let her know that was out of question.

"Over my dead body." You spit the words out and Kate turns around, a dress in her hand but she barely reacts.

"And a shit GPA. Suit yourself hardass." She nudges your sitting figure with her hips before before leaving the room, leaving your to your thoughts.

This was, like any other, a crucial project and this was one of the most important classes because a stellar grade in this class meant a higher chance at a scholarship you were applying for. They liked you, but they wanted to see the grade you get in this class as a deal-breaker. If you aced, you got the scholarship.

It was everything, then, this class. You already were utilizing ChatGPT, your textbook, GitHub, and every source on the planet.

Just a half-part more.

But somehow, the last half was the hardest and it ate away two hours of your time already. Every late submission was docked 30% which would drop your grade into a B+ range, something you did not want to admit. Something that would happen because those few times Luigi beat you, he crushed you by over 20-30%.

You were not doing as well as you wanted to in the class.

You check the time, letting the 9:30pm flash into your eyes before the screen quietly goes black.

Maybe an hour wouldn't hurt.

But whatever you did, you were going to walk out finishing this project yourself and not asking Luigi.

~

"You came?" Kate is yelling over the music, dragging you by the arm as you stumbled through the people dancing over the music.

"The fuck? I didn't know Psi Kappa was this disgusting!" You nearly scream, letting Kate guide you through the place. You scan the crowd, trying to find familiar faces and friends so you can gain some footing in the place. The music is too loud, making your head pound.

The smell of alcohol, something you refused to drink, kicked around the nausea and for a second, you regret even stepping foot into this place.

Of course, that all melts away when your eyes land on Luigi Mangione.

He's wearing a white polo shirt, unbuttoned 3/4 of the way down as his pecs and defined abs scream for everyone's attention, detailed in their allure. His arms are deliciously toned and even, despite the flashy lights and revolving colors of the place. His head is craned to the side as you watch him talking up another girl, letting her feel him up.

You don't realize you're staring until his eyes suddenly swerve, directly piercing into yours. You physically feel yourself stutter, freezing as you let him hold the eye-contact. An ever-so teasing smile grace his lips before he's bending down and whispering something into the girl's ear.

You watch her pout, a face she quickly replaces with a flirty smile before letting her sight linger on Luigi and choosing to walk away. He chugs the rest of his drink down before, to your horror, he's walking in your direction.

Funny enough, the crows shifts to the start of a new song and the new gap in front of your confirms he's walking only towards you.

You instinctively take a step back against the soft strain of your own bodycon dress, feeling your legs shake as you hit the bar counter and reluctantly, you face a now towering Luigi smirking down at you.

"What happened to that attitude?" His question should sound a lot meaner, but instead, it comes out soft with a warning and hint of shame intertwined. Your head pounds as you force yourself to come up with some jumble of words to respond.

"It's there." You breath the statement out, but it's not too convincing. Luigi uses that to take a step closer and now, you're forced to stare up and into his eyes.

"Doesn't seem like it. How's that project comin' along?" He cages you in again, both arm circling around your already very limited space and you turn your head to the side, steeling yourself against his presence.

Something about the effect he has on you is so humiliating. This wasn't matching your brand - bitchy, arrogant, and perfect. Rather, this was a complete juxtaposition. You always keep control of the situation with your machinations or outright insults but now, that was not happening.

"Fine." You answers through your teeth, facing away from him still and suddenly you feel his mouth too close to your ear.

"Liar." He whispers it and you nearly moan, gulping down the sounds. He watches you shiver lightly, soaking in the helplessness that is starting to take over your figure.

"You need help baby?" He pushes the boundary, enjoying how you squirm more with every second he forces himself into your space. You're at a loss for words now, unable to distinguish between arousal, frustration, and utter confusion at your behavior right now.

So, you simply shake your head no.

It's an insufficient answers because Luigi's fingers are suddenly gripping either side of your face, making you gasp, before he forces you to look at him.

"Tell me the truth baby." Fuck, that name was really getting to you and his fuckable lips and hands were not helping right now.

Relinquishing the control you never had didn't seem like too bad of an option right now.

"I don't answer to you." You steel yourself, contorting your face and looking up at him with siren eyes which doesn't stand for long before his other hand is making it's way up your thigh and between your legs.

"I don't have a problem," He talks low and seductively in your ear, making your listen to the gravel in his voice, teasing his fingers upwards and watching you heave you chest up and down with increasing nervousness. You let your guard down, whimpering for a second before he retracts both hands.

"I'll get it out of you baby. We all need help sometimes and you..." he trails off, staring at your face that is lolling, lips parted and undoubtedly watery.

"You deserve to get the attitude fucked out of you." And with that, he pushes himself back and through the crowd, not even caring to give a glance back before leaving you alone and shaking, ready to cry.

You were such a weak, pathetic little girl and now, Luigi knew it.

~

if you would like to be a part of my taglist, please comment on my pinned blog post, not here!

taglist: @madkohi @iinfinitelimits-blog-blog @poohkie90 @chariytz @alotofsomething @nosebeers

[cplusplus-official]

huge mood honestly. id like to post more coding/compsci related stuff on my blog but after a 40 hour workweek doing exactly that my brain cannot compute

So true!!

I'll take this ask to remind you that if you work in IT/Software Engineering/Game Development

YOU SHOULD JOIN A UNION. NOW.

Shout out the unions that I cooperated with to some degree, please reblog with your own.

America - General - Code-CWA

France - General - Solidaires Informatique

France - Game Dev - STJV

UK - Game Dev - IWGB

UK - General - UTAW

Poland - Game Dev - Zwi��zek Pracowników Branży Gier

(I'm a member of that last one - if you join, say hi :3)

Union membership is the only way to a world where you can code at work, go home, and still have the energy to do whatever!

[wandasaura]

https://www.tumblr.com/wandasaura/760270354350538752/ducklings-graduation-i-feel-like-wanda-and-nat?source=share

(not the same anon) was scrolling through your asks & answers aft rereading yail (one of or my most favourite fics by the way, so thank you for that! It's so gd… wonderful a mix of tooth-rotting fluff and smut. I feel like you've spoiled a lot of other fics for me now).

Saw this and was wondering if ducky has decided what she'd do aft graduation? (also read in one of your answers from so long ago https://www.tumblr.com/wandasaura/743960989904568320/what-does-duckling-study-could-we-maybe-see-a?source=share that ducky studies compsci, wonder if that's still the same or it's different now?)

Or how she'd balance work and being w WandaNat cause ppl you work w are more permanent than those you study w (and I can envision some ppl being mean to ducky and being made to regret it)

hii, thank you so much for reading my stories and loving them so much. it truly means so much to me that you still care about these characters and plotlines even though im not writing for them as actively as i used to.

and, not to say ducky's entire plan changed after graduation, she's still very passionate about computer science and would love to secure a job in that field one day, but directly after graduation 'party planner' basically fell into her lap and its apparently something she really enjoys. enjoys enough to put her hard-earned degree on a shelf and become one more permanently.

it truly was unintentional. ducky wouldn't have even needed to apply to work as head for wandanat's tech department after graduation, the job was practically hers already as natasha prepared to promote darcy to another field, but it just so happened that wanda fired their usual event coordinator the week before the annual gala the company holds for their partners and employees, and ducky happened to be home between her last two finals when wanda was sitting at the kitchen island stressed beyond belief. ducky shoved herself between wanda and the counter and took over, only occasionally asking if wanda liked a particular color story more than any other. ducky even managed to somehow expedite an existing order of center pieces that wasn't meant to come in until the day of the gala. and after that, wanda repaid her with an earth shattering orgasm over the island counter and went about her night as normal. it was the next morning when she was telling pepper about ducky's help that pepper took initiative and hired ducky as their event coordinator 😭 natasha found out through being cc'd in an email that ducky had accepted the position and was now a member of their staff. natasha, overjoyed with the news of seeing ducky every day, of course snuck into the bedroom after one of her meetings and gave ducky some of the best head she's ever received, and then natasha went all boss mode on her and ducky decided that was the hottest thing ever.

but! they do have very good working relationships! ducky was honestly very skeptical about how they were going to balance their multiple dynamics and keep the air clean now that all three of them were tied up in the same drama all day long, but wanda and natasha are seasoned professionals, and ducky has an inability to ever preform less than stellar, so everything runs smoothly. and ducky loves getting to be apart of their world. not the criminal justice legal jargon this man is not a murderer world, but the 'i built this place so nobody ever felt as alone and unsupported as i did' world that it all stemmed from. she loves getting the summaries for different events, like the january event wanda hosts every year that meets and recognizes members of her staff and partners that have either served in the military, or lost a loved one in the military, and putting together something that just truly resonates with the message and theme. she also likes getting to boss natasha around and tell her that by no means should she show up to the mid-spring banquet in a maroon suit when the color theme is blues and pinks. honorary mention of the fact that pepper is absolutely overjoyed that the banquets and gala's actually have color stories now. the last event coordinator was too scared to push back against wanda and natasha and therefore every single event was just red and black. pepper is so glad she gets to wear the pink heels tony got her for their anniversary now.

everyone loves ducky! but its hard not to love her when one time wanda was scolding the tech department and ducky marched her ass into the room and pulled wanda out by her pinkie finger, shaking her head and muttering under her breath about how 'sometimes you should breath before you storm in guns blazing, maximoff'. nobody had ever dared to pull wanda maximoff away, let alone interrupted her in the middle of a lecture. but here's ducky, who comes to work every day in different colors leggings and a crewneck, pulling wanda away by her pinkie while she holds a pink smoothie in her hand that everyone knows she stole from natasha because theres a big NM on the front of the plastic cup. like she's so powerful to them, but also all of them know she's literally the sweetest girl and not a singe one of them can understand how she does what she does and gets away with it.

(also to address the leggings thing. ducky definitely wore a suit for the first week and then complained to natasha about how much she hates it, and one day she just decided to show up in red leggings from lulu and a black crewneck that admittedly was within dress code, but anyways, wanda lost her mind over the leggings which definitely led to office sex, which then prompted natasha to reach out to lulu and have them make ducky different pairs of leggings with the company name embroidered on them so at least they could claim she was advertising their company instead of just blatantly breaking the rules because she doesn't like suit pants or 'ugly old people dresses'.)

[pegging-satan]

Just taking a census, I’d probably end up writing it anyway but,

My whole idea is Zayne x Caleb childhood friends to lovers and Zayne x Sylus rivals to lovers, where Zayne is both their bi awakening lol but it’s a terribly slow burn, where Caleb has yearned and pined since they were teens, and Sylus purposefully tries to get on Zayne’s nerves because he cannot for the life of him make sense of his feelings for him, because he’s bad at feelings. People think they hate each other, but they actually don’t, and that’s just their way of showing affection to each other. They’re actually really caring towards their favourite nerd (because I’m making Zayne a compsci nerd) (and Sylus is a psych major) (Caleb is doing engineering) (they’re all doing loser boy degrees) and during like an electrifying performance one night at a gig feelings almost kinda spill over and after the performance one of them is like “so what was that all about” and bla bla bla (Zayne is the bassist) (Sylus I was thinking either on synth or lead guitar) (Caleb on drums 100%) and the tension between them is always so THICK and palpable that everyone else BUT them can see it because idiots in love, at some point Caleb and Sylus bonding over their shared fondness for Zayne and their frustration at how he’s so smart but so stupid

[dostoyevsky-official]

i'm literally hard pivoting to doing civil engineering instead of the electrical engineering i was initially getting a degree to do because i'm so fucking overwhelmed and disgusted by the pro-musk people in the electrical engi department. there's major overlap with the compsci dept and it's worse there. tech people are spineless bootlickers. i've tried to gently present them verifiable news articles about how shitty musk is and these dorks pucker their faces like they just sipped from a raw lemon and begin to wheeze about how you can't trust journalists. most of them come from very affluent families. every semester more cybertrucks appear in the student assigned parking lots. it's bad.

if you point out the gender ratios in these fields or their constant evocation of bunk evopsych or the obsession with fertility rates that gets translated into how they treat women or how a chunk of the white ones reacted to h1b commentary recently you get people saying that's not fair

[foreseers-flower]

i know it's kind of a joke to pursue an english degree. i know that. but i honestly don't know how im going to graduate college if i dont study something i care about and the only thing i give a shit about is writing </3. i wish i had the strength to finish my compsci degree bc i do enjoy it, but it's not enough to get me through the grueling misery that is school. ive pretty much always hated school and ive been trying to get through it but its just not working </3

i dont want to be poor </3 i know realistically i should not pursue english bc i dont want to be poor </3 but whatever im doing now is just not working. i think i could probably graduate within two years if i did something related to humanities. but it feels like a joke to do that.

but i dont want to continue on stem. i dont have any passion for it at all </3 i dont hate it.

ive also been considering trade school but i dont really know what i would wanna do there and i am a little concerned about misogyny. in short i dont know what im doing with my life at all even a little. and i need to be shot point blank range

[bagalois]

In my 2nd year doing a CompSci degree @ uni in my late 20s. Was never good at school but really like it. However. Having to do proofs just doesnt come naturally to me. Do you have any tips or ressources? Were you always good at it?

i'm going to answer this ask one part at a time. sorry to keep you waiting.... finals killed me and i wanted to give this an actual, good response.

In my 2nd year doing a CompSci degree @ uni in my late 20s. Was never good at school but really like it.

that's great! computer science is a hard major, and school is a hard thing to go through. setting yourself up to do college admissions, get into a school, and study -- especially as a full adult -- takes a lot more work than someone who gets pushed into it by their parents. so i respect the dedication that got you to university, especially when there exist so many people who have a college education handed to them and they waste it (by cheating or otherwise not caring).

Having to do proofs just doesnt come naturally to me.

i'd say doing proofs isn't natural to most people... it's just a skill that you need to get better at. math students learn proofs just to become proficient in the language, and graduate students study it to become professionals.

also, just in my experience (i was a cs major too), computer science teachers do an awful job at teaching math/proofs. they explain with things that would make more sense to a computer than they would a human - which is the useful part for cs and probably why they teach it that way... but its not good for math.

Do you have any tips or ressources?

one resource: this is George Polya's strategy for solving math problems. it's a good philosophy, but they're not actual tips. you can read this if you want to get into the right mindset.

as for tips... i think i'll just do an example that roughly follows Polya's strategy.

(i don't know your level, so i'm taking a guess to an example that hopefully is useful... this was one of the proofs i had in my discrete math homework in my second year of uni. feel free to send me another ask if this isn't helpful though.)

Let's solve this problem "Every multiple of 4 has a square which is a multiple of 4."

first, read the problem completely. identify what you are given and identify what you want to prove. now write down the stuff you're given. then write down what you want to prove.

in the example problem, we have multiples of 4. thus, i'm going to start my proof with "Let x be a multiple of 4."

what do we want to prove? we want to prove that that multiples of 4, multiplied by themselves (aka squared), gives you a multiple of 4. so, my next sentence is going to be, "In order to prove the problem statement, we need to show that x^2 is a multiple of 4."

the reason why you should lead with the answer is because it's too easy to do logical/mathematical manipulations and not get anywhere with it. you need to keep the end in mind. then, every logical/mathematical step you make is motivated by getting you closer and closer to the answer.

after this, if your statements are not already able to be mathematically manipulated, you should find the mathematical definitions of the results you're trying to show.

so in the example, how do we show that x^2 is a multiple of 4? the definition of something being a multiple of 4 is that it's equal to some integer times 4. in order to even start working with the proof, we should translate "multiple of 4" into an equation.

here is my third sentence: "Since x is a multiple of 4, we can write x = 4n for some integer n."

(notice that i didn't write down anything about x^2. this is where i am "keeping the end in mind" - we want to eventually get to "x^2 = 4 x (something)" and we're going to work our way over there.)

once you've translated your english into math, there's a few ways to proceed. our example is really easy, but you're probably doing harder proofs than this. if you find yourself struggling at this step, i suggest you learn to identify different types of problem set-ups and know how to prove them. if there's a statement that says "given this, prove that" you can try a direct proof, a contrapositive proof, or a proof by contradiction. if a problem asks you to prove a property holds for all natural numbers, you should try either a direct proof or a proof by induction. (if those words don't mean anything to you, you can look up "list of proof techniques" - here's one of them, but you should go looking for more pdfs, videos and demonstrations.)

i'm not going to explain more about proof techniques in this, because each one is deserving of their own post. but if you want me to explain any of them in particular, you should send me another ask! =w=

but anyways, i picked a simple example, so at least for this we can just prove our result directly. we have x, we want x^2, so let's go ahead and square x.

x = 4n, so x^2 = (4n)^2

but wait, in order to finish the proof, we need to write our answer in terms of 4 x (something). so factor out a 4. with this addition, we have

x = 4n, so x^2 = (4n)^2 = 4(4n^2)

look, we just wrote x^2 in terms of 4 x (something), where (something) is an integer. that's exactly what we wanted to show. so our final version of the proof is this:

Let x be a multiple of 4. In order to prove the problem statement, we need to show that x^2 is a multiple of 4. Since x is a multiple of 4, we can write x = 4n for some integer n. So x^2 = (4n)^2 = 4(4n^2), which is a multiple of 4. This completes the proof.

congratulations, you just wrote a proof.

reviewing the steps, we have:

write down the givens.

write down what you want to show. (you can also write down what proof technique you will use in step 4 - proof by contradiction, proof by cases, proof by induction, etc.)

translate the english into math. (can be combined into steps 1 and 2.)

while keeping the end in mind, do your mathematical reasoning. (learn proof techniques and the templates for those!)

reach the answer.

write a conclusion sentence. (like "This completes the proof." you can also draw a square or write QED after your last sentence to show that you're done, which is what mathematicians sometimes do.)

some other less-important-but-still-extremely-useful things to know:

rigor. this is more of a mindset than an actual tip, so don't stress about this too much. this means that, when you're writing, your reasoning should be complete and airtight. don't skip steps.

propositional logic and basic set theory. if you really want to get better at proofs, i highly suggest you get familiar with the logical calculus and be able to do rigorous proofs in basic set theory. in my experience, math students typically don't struggle with knowing what proof technique to use. at least for me, this has always been a subconscious step. i believe it's due to math students receiving a solid background in propositional logic and basic set theory before doing anything else.

read/reference your textbook. in order to translate from english to math, you need mathematical definitions, properties, and formulas. the textbook will give these to you. if you're lucky, the same (or very similar) proofs will show up as examples, and you can just follow along/copy the steps.

when all else fails, plug in variables and keep running through examples until you find a pattern. this is what i do when the problem involves numbers or equations and i literally have nowhere to start. i answered two questions on the putnam exam by doing this! (and i was just a college freshman hehe)

Were you always good at it?

sort of? i think i have talent. my brain really likes logical/mathematical reasoning, but i've always been slow at learning new concepts and i'm bad at asking exploratory/clarifying questions.

i did/was pushed to do a lot of math growing up, so i suppose i was "good" at proofs when i got to college. unfortunately i'm not a genius, and for non-geniuses, the thing that sets you apart from other non-geniuses is just clocking in the hours.

when i was little, my parents managed a lot of my time, so i had a lot more hours on other people. nowadays my time management is pretty bad, so i'm falling behind :|

[stygiansauce]

HI hello hi im obsessed with margin of error tango . i need to obtain him so badly . like a trading card ?? i also see myself in him a little bit!! im in college for compsci right now and hes who i wanna be in a way? unabashedly southern is the big thing yknow im southern appalachian and like. i know tango isnt but it brings me so much joy to see southern habits(? mannerisms? what word am i looking for here) in a character that isnt just funny and/or stupid! like i love reading descriptions of mannerisms or some of his dialogue and going "hey i do that too!!!" idk if this makes sense im not usually a words guy LOL, long and short of it i love your writing

HAAII!!

I have no clue what posessed me to write southern Tango (outside of a visceral need) but I am so very happy with the response he's gotten! He does a lot of the things I do, in means of mannerisms and dialog, so he's not the worst to write. I'm so sosososos happy you can connect with him!

I think yall will also like when Zed gets written because he is even more southern, if thats possible? Like he uses much more scientific speak but then also covers it up with extreamly Texan phrases. I think the best example I have is  “Have you looked at the time? I swear this better be important or I will shove you so far up the devil’s asscrack—” and "...To give me context while you figure out why exactly you’re callin’ me at the hour of God?”  Zed is a very fun character to write, especially because I have to build him through memories and phone calls.

Anywho, for my degree I have to take a lot of classes about language and culture. Almost all of my classes about that revolve around cultural inclusion (and language inclusion). The responses on MOE, where yall say you see yourself or feel represented (southern, midwestern, STEM, ect.), make me so proud. I'm so happy to have made something that belongs to others just as much as it does me.

Thank you for reaching out anon! You're support means the world to me.

[dreadanddespairdyke]

like is somth compsci related a good major... is molecular biology a good major or will it suck ass career-wise later... shld i do a business degree. i dont want to do the networking im not rly a presentable person i look like shit sadly </3

[white-guy-energy-swag]

GREEN NERD SHOWDOWN ROUND 1 BATTLE 2

JONATHAN SIMS FROM THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES VS DONATELLO FROM TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

PROPAGANDA

JONATHAN

He’s just a nerd generally. He also started off the series as really posh and “doesn’t believe in the supernatural” (it’s a coping mechanism). Then as the series goes on, becomes a know-it-all. Supernaturally. He gets the powers to know (almost) everything. He doesn’t really have a canon appearance, (podcast) but TMA as a whole is associated with green because of the pictures used for it.

The Magnus Archives cover is green, and per the unofficial rules of eye-themed podcasts, the fanart tends to lean towards a green color pallette. Jon Sims art frequently has him wearing green. And he's so nerdy. He researches and archives supernatural encounters. His preferred ice cream flavor is rum raisin. He went to Oxford and faked his accent. His social skills are abysmal. When someone asked if he'd seen a dog he responded with "…In general?"

Green eye powers plus he works at an archiving job not only that but the head archivist and has a degree in library science+not many friends and a loner

That man saw someone being kind to him and decided they were going to murder him

HE SEES ALL (also he needs a break. That man has so many scars and so much trauma get a that guy a fuckin nap and a raise)

DONATELLO

Green skin, dedicated nerd/tech guy of the group for like 40 years now. I'll get Vei in here to tell you more.

literally green (turtle), big ass nerd (science, chem, botany, engineering, compsci), canonical autism icon

Bro is a massive nerd and proud of it. He actively attempts to make his 3 other brothers just as nerdy as him by scientifically altering them. He has lots of tech and admits to being able to do dewey decimal mathematics (Dewey decimal being a library categorisation system). He outright rejects things that aren't scientific 90% of the time and actively argues sciences superiority. Also he's a massive fanboy of a comic book character within the series called Jupiter Jim (his fav is atomic Lass). So yeah, green purple turtle is a massive nerd.

Literally green. Also a nerd.