Tag Archives: competition

TikTok Math

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Long before the TikTok saga, when the quid-pro-quo ex-president and his gang were entertaining the idea how they’d extract any financial or political gain from the mainland Chinese company on the pretext of security concerns, I was thinking how local math teachers (who’re dissuaded from using social media to share their personal or professional views on math or math education) could leverage on this fast-growing platform to popularize the gospel of mathematics to billions of people.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, I’d christened “TikTok Math” as follows:

Is “TokTok Math” a four-letter word for MAGA patriots?

The TikTok Factor

Last month, following TikTok’s CEO’s four-odd hours meeting with US lawmakers, I tweeted the following:

TikTok’s “theoretical threat”: Blessing or curse? Unlike Singapore that welcomes (or sometimes reluctantly allows) foreign competition as its people mostly benefit from their presence, the US—and the yes-nations—would rather use politics or paranoia than creative power to be a leader.

TikTok “Theoretical Threat”

Does it pay to be a technology leader if for decades your competitor has dominated the industry?

The TikTok saga is an eye-opener to the outside world, as it shows that even the United States, when technologically challenged or militarily threatened, would abandon its own playbook of business ethics, or concoct some theoretical or imaginary security threats, to neutralize the competition or enemy.

Today, the world’s policeman, which has caused more pain than inciting peace, has lost its moral compass on the global stage. A divided polarized nation that doesn’t walk its talk, with promises often turning into pains, or where perks and profits trump people and principles.

The democracy deliverer has inflicted more human pain and suffering than any other country since the last world war. Think of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, to name a few nations they “delivered” against communism, totalitarianism, or terrorism.

You’d easily parrot your list of nations whose peoples’ lives have gotten worse in the name of democracy, political freedom, rule of law, or religion. All these universal human ideals have been traded for poverty and pain.

Even with quality or selective immigration, the US is struggling to maintain its superpower status, much less commanding respect from the world. Its gospel of justice, equality, equity, opportunity, morality, or democracy falls short when we see that the lives of half of its [mostly nonwhite] population have gotten worse in the last three or four decades, when their incomes haven’t kept up with the standard of living.

For those in the Chinese diaspora, communist China or the CCP is arguably autocratic, anticompetitive, and antidemocratic, but these marxists-capitalists aren’t that stupid to ask TikTok or ByteDance to hand over the personal of millions of Americans just because they can.

Hearing the shallow or oft-laughable arguments of some of the technologically challenged US lawmakers or politicians questioning TikTok’s CEO, it’s crystal clear that they’ve quasi-zero idea how the mainland Chinese or Asian or African psyche operates in business settings.

On March 20, 2023, @MathPlus asked the following question:

Yes-states & Yes-nations

A few days earlier, I’d hypothesized that

It looks like President Biden & Co. are a second-rate team that can’t think creatively to contain China, by banning their app and the sale of chips, instead of outsmarting them with better products. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64973156 #US #politics #TikTok #ban #China #competition #5G #fear

TikTokers v. Trumpists

Way back in 2020, before the last US presidential election, when Microsoft hinted that they’d be keen to buying TikTok, to poke fun at Trump, I’d posted the following:

Survival Odds: Which group would see their wish come true: TikTokers or Trumpists? Which hashtag would triumph: #SaveTikTok or #SaveTrump? Who would have the last laugh on 11/3: Xi or Trump? #ban #TokTok #Trumpism #US #politics #technology #China #Microsoft #math #odds #Covid-19

On 2/8/20, @Zero_Math tweeted the following:

Political Math: Should President Trump ban TikTok for “security reasons,” guesstimate how many millions of young and old voters he’d lose on 11/3, as he diverts attention on his failure to contain the pandemic crisis. #math #Covid-19 #US #politics #TikTok

Waco: A Tale of Two Faux Messiahs

Comparing David Koresh, 33, a “prophet” of the Branch Davidians cult in 1993 to Donald Trump, 76, Trumpublicans’ “anointed one” and “political messiah” of rural America, before the ex-president’s lies-plagued rally in Waco, under “Political Math,” I’d tweeted:

Guesstimate how many TikTokers would be reserving seats for Trump’s campaign rally in Waco, Texas, without showing up—a prank proposed by his niece, who’s suing him for lying and cheating. cnn.com/2023/03/25/politics/texas-trump-2024-rally/index.html

A cartoon by John McNamee

TikTok & Math

TikTok’s global popularity or notoriety provides math educators a fertile ground for creative mathematical problem posing and problem solving in the midst of polarized politicians’ and puritan parents’ oft-paranoiac security or mental health concerns.

Let not politics, paranoia, or phobia hijack math and math education, because the double-edged TikTok could be a mathematical blessing rather than a curse, thanks to the creativity of tens of thousands of math educators worldwide.

√–1 TikTok Math, ∴ √–1 am.

© Yan Kow Cheong, April 16, 2023.

Otter Math

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In the aftermath of a Singapore permanent resident who was bitten 26 times by a romp of otters in 10 seconds at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which attracted mixed reactions from both locals and foreigners, I entertained the idea how math teachers could use this once-in-a-lifetime incident to indulge in some problem posing for elementary math students.

As natural swimmers, Singapore’s smooth coated otters, once thought to be extinct, have made a comeback to the island-state. They are believed to have swum across the Straits of Johore and made their homes here. Their present “locations of choice” are: Bishan Park, the Kallang River estuary, Marina Bay, and Singapore Botanic Gardens—and the Singapore Zoo.

Singaponacci Numbers and the C-Word

Mathematically or theoretically speaking, without culling, Singapore’s otters could exponentially grow as fast as Fibonacci’s rabbits, although otter sexperts think there are alternative humane ways of family planning.

An “otterman” who was furious that netizens had uttered the C-word against the cute-looking furry creature blamed them for spreading white lies or fake news about these “critically endangered animals.”

The Fear Factor

These “urban pests” seem to be better protected under the Wildlife Act than we humans against the Delta and Omicron variants. They’ve the SPCA behind them, but we’ve the POFMA* and FICA** over us to police our online behaviors.

Can you distinguish an adult otter from a baby seal?

Co-Existing with Covid and Otters

Last week, in the light of Singapore’s otter saga making the headlines overseas, I tweeted the following:

Otter Math: If the present population of 150 otters doubles every leap year, while Singapore’s annual fertility rate continues to head south, with zero immigration allowed, when would otter babies outnumber human babies? https://lnkd.in/gVfqjEZ8

Animals’ cruelty against humans: Otters bit a Singapore Botanic Gardens visitor 26 times in 10 seconds. What are the chances that such a similar incident happening again are less than the odds of someone being abducted by an alien? https://bit.ly/3oH93IO

Canals, Condos & Churches

Singaporean river otters are notorious in devouring dear ornamental fish found in condominiums and churches. If the probability of rich people disliking otters is x folds higher than that of poor folks, guesstimate x.

What are the odds that someone from a middle-income family in Singapore is more likely to cross paths with an otter family thanks to a greening Singapore, which provides an ideal milieu for otters to breed stresslessly, compared to Singaporeans, who often can’t even find a little space to do their private business?

Otter: Singapore’s Unofficial Mascot

Think of Singapore as an otter, and its frenemies-neighbors as crocodiles and monitor lizards. When threatened by its natural resources-rich, but militarily weaker, neighbors, Singapore would hit back to defend itself. Sure, they’d use low-cost warfare tactics like forest haze and arsenic-polluted rainwater to frustrate their little-red-dot neighbor—a form of asymmetric warfare to neutralize the enemy by natural and man-made means.

How not to mismanage Singapore’s otter population

Thou Shalt Not Catch an Otter! Fine: S$X

How much is the fine for someone caught capturing or trapping otters in the “fine” city of Singapore? What are the odds that a repeated offender could get jailed or/and caned for their illegal activity?

What If? Exotic Singapore Cuisine

Does otter meat taste more like chicken, beef, or pork? What if Singapore started farming otters to satisfy the desire of adventurous gourmets? Like crocodile, deer, or frog meat, could the legalized consumption of otter meat be a lucrative food business for both locals and aliens, who are looking for an exotic dish (halal, kosher & vegetarian), if there were a mismanaged otter population control in future?

An Otters Naming Contest

In the past, Singapore had the famous or notorious romp of otters called the “The Marina 10.” Now, we’ve local groups like the Zouk Family. Has the raft of otters that bit the über-unlucky British man 26 times at the Singapore Botanic Gardens been christened? If not, why about having a national contest to name them following the recent biting incident, which could have potentially led to Singapore’s first case of “death by otters”?

Otter Math for Mature Students

Let’s end with a grades 1–2 otter math question to tickle actress Sandra Bullock’s two children and their peers, who’ve been jabbed (or maybe even boosted) with a dose or two of the Singapore math vaccine to protect them against the plague of innumeracy:

After seeing an otter family of twelve devouring the fish in their condominium pond, a number of children were traumatized for weeks. Five children had recurring nightmares about the attack. There were three fewer children having nightmares than those needing counseling.
a) If two boys and a pair of twin sisters met up with a school counselor, how many children were altogether affected by the otter invasion?
b) Guesstimate how many fish were eaten up by the hungry otters in a few minutes before they made their way to the swimming pool.

Answer: (a) 13 children (b) Hint: Think about the demographics of the condo residents.

A grades 4–6 Singapore math question

Answer: 1. 8 koi fish. Can you solve the question in more than one way without algebra?

* POFMA: Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act ** FICA: Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act

© Yan Kow Cheong, Dec. 16, 2021.

Mathematical Kiasuism

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It’s an unwritten or unspoken fact that other than local Singapore parents and homeschoolers, both local and foreign math students and teachers are equally kiasu, with the extreme ones being conferred the ignoble title of “Ugly Singaporean.”

In the age of the pandemic, how would you redefine the word “kiasu” in math or math education? Below is one such attempt to relook at this Singaporean “negative trait.”

Singapore’s CPDD’s Primary Math One Textbook

Are we guilty of “mathematical kiasuism” without even being aware of it? Or we think that no one would notice it!

It’s never too late to stop and ask ourselves every now and then whether our actions (or inactions) have made us more or less kiasu.

Are we prone to rationalizing our “selfish” behaviors because after all few folks are really “hurt” or “inconvenienced” by our doings (or “wrongdoings”)? Isn’t it a thousand times easier to spot a “mathematical kiasuist” than reluctantly admitting that we’d be one ourselves, knowingly or unknowingly?

Parents are generally blamed to be super-kiasu. Teachers are über-kiasu. Students are kiasu. What about math editors, writers, or consultants? Are they less so?

Selflessly yours

© Yan Kow Cheong, March 1, 2021.