A Tool to understand Graphs

I found these mathopenref tools extremely helpful in understanding graphs:

1. Linear Equations: http://www.mathopenref.com/linearexplorer.html
2. Quadratic Equations: http://www.mathopenref.com/quadraticexplorer.html
3. Cubic Equations: http://www.mathopenref.com/cubicexplorer.html

Things to do: Change the variable values with the help of the sliders and see the change in the shape of the curve.

For instance, in a quadratic equation y=ax^2+bx+c:

• changing c moves it up and down
• changing b changes the slope
• changing a alters the curvature of the parabolic element

Enjoy!

Good times are back: Job offers flood IIMs

Good times are back: Job offers flood IIMs
BANGALORE: The green shoots are springing up and they're becoming visible at the Indian Institutes of Management, bringing some hope that the economy is looking up.

Pre-placement offers (job offers which come to students before the final placements) have begun to pour in for the graduating class of 2010. The IIMs are seeing a positive response from all sectors.

At IIM-Bangalore, consulting firms, which participated in the summer placement last year have announced their PPO results and all students received PPOs. "IIM-Bangalore is the only IIM with a 100% success rate till now. While this speak highly about the institution as a brand, credit must be given to students and their calibre too. The success rate is actually better than last year's," Vineet Sharma, placement representative, IIM-B, told TOI.

Last year, 12 consulting firms participated in these process. Some of the firms were McKinsey & Co, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Co. Also, consulting majors Alvarez & Marsal and Result recruited students for the first time.

This year, the positions offered vary a fair bit. "But, it's on a par with an entry-level MBA position across the world," Sharma said. Last year, 120 companies confirmed their participation for the 270 students.

During last year's summer placements at IIMB, overall 24% of the batch accepted a position in a consulting career, known for its demand for multi-functional skills and cutting across finance, strategy and marketing. Other sectors which saw a significant number of offers included finance (21%), investment banking (20%), marketing (13%) and general management (13%). Consulting firms like McKinsey & Co., Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Co. recruited the highest number of interns from IIM-B. Interestingly, students have also bagged 2-3 international offers.
IIM-Calcutta students too are happy as they've got offers from across sectors, including FMCGs. Though IIM-C refused to give the number of offers made, it said the offers are a positive sign for students, especially during this recession. Students here bagged offers from the finance sectors and international ones.

The IIM-C didn't rule out the possibility of more than 10 overseas offers. Paul Savio, external relations secretary, IIM-C told TOI that some banks have put off the PPOs till September. "Earlier, we'd get the offers during May-June from some firms. One reason could be that banks want to see if the markets are doing better and hire people, if required. However, we're only some of the few lucky IIMs to get offers from the finance sector," he added.

Indian Institute of Management-Indore (IIM-I) started to receive PPOs from mid-June. With 240 students in the 2008-10 class, PPOs are more from for the marketing and finance sectors. "We're constantly in touch with firms and received a positive response," sources at placement committee, IIM-I said. He said PPOs would pick up later this year. "However, it's better compared to last year's," he added.

Shruthi Balakrishna, TNN 17 July 2009, 04:46am IST
Source: The Times Of India.

IIFT Exam Notification

IIFT Exam Notification:
Here are some of the important dates
Last Date for Sale of Prospectus by post for IIFT MBA 2010 - 2012: 20th August 2009
Last date for Sale of Prospectus across the counter at IIFT : 3rd September 2009
Last Date for Receipt of completed Applications for IIFT MBA 2010 - 2012: 3rd September 2009
Written Test for IIFT MBA 2010 - 2012 : 22nd November 2009 (10 a.m - 12 noon)

A Classic River Crossing Game...

Here's the classic River Crossing Game that will help you in beginning with logical reasoning.

Common Errors (Contd)

Well, this blog is dedicated to my my PRO batch at Aundh. This is my first blog ever since their batch started and I would request them to accept this as an apology for not putting up any relevant stuff for a long time now.


So here it goes for all of you...Sentence correction tips and some common confusables....


1)BORROW OFF/BORROW FROM:

Although in some dialects you can borrow money off a friend, but in standard English you borrow money from a friend.



2)AFFLUENCE/EFFLUENCE:

Wealth brings AFFLUENCE and...wait for it....EFFLUENCE is sewage!!!

3)PARAMOUNT/TANTAMOUNT:

“Paramount” means “best,” “most important.” “Tantamount” means “equivalent.”
“The committee’s paramount concern is to get at the truth; your continued insistence that you don’t remember any of the meetings you attended is tantamount to a confession of incompetence.”

4)PERPETRATE/PERPETUATE:
Perpetrate is to commit or execute or present in a poor tasteless manner. Generally criminals perpetrate or a person can perpetrate a practical joke.
However, Perpetuate is to cause to continue indefinitely or to prolong the existence of something.

5)WANGLE/WRANGLE:

To wrangle means to get into an argument, but to wangle means to obtain by unfair or underhand methods.
Wrangle of course has the other meaning of herding and rounding up cattle and a wrangler means a cowboy (WRANGLER Denimwear etc...rings a bell???)

6)All that Susan wants this semester is a wink and a smile from the cute guy who sits next to her in algebra class.
In the above statement the subject is "All" and that refers to "a wink and a smile". Hence, the corrected version would be "All that Susan wants this semester ARE a wink and a smile from the cute guy who sits next to her in algebra class"

7)Aditya believed that he wrote the best essay of the semester, but when Mrs. Sharma returned the paper, the slashes of red ink and caustic comments immediately changed his opinion of the work.

Now the above sentence has an obvious tense error. The latest action is Mrs Sharma returning the paper and Aditya had finished writing the paper before the second action(So verb is the past participle form). Therefore the correct sentence would be :

"Aditya believed that he HAD WRITTEN the best essay of the semester, but when Mrs. Sharma returned the paper, the slashes of red ink and caustic comments immediately changed his opinion of the work."

8)Alisha will welcome whoever/whomever Rounak picks to join the study group, even if he chooses another beautiful woman.

Notice that all of the verbs already have subjects! The verb "will welcome" has Alisha as its subject; the verb "picks" has Rounak as its subject; and the verb "chooses" has he as its subject. Thus, you need WHOMEVER, the object form!!!

9)At the end of the semester, Mr. Kansal will leave piles of old books outside his office. He gives these outdated editions to whoever/whomever wanders down the hallway and wants a free text.

In this sentence the verbs "wanders" and "wants" are missing a subject, so you need WHOEVER, the subject form!!!

10)An illustrous lineage plays a factor in getting admission into this University.

In this case, there has been the mixture of two often misconstrued idioms...it can either be "is a factor in getting admission." or "plays a role in getting admission."


Well, so that's it from my end for the moment. Will be back in about a couple of days with some idiomatic usage errors. Till then, hit the test gyms and solve as many online tests as possible.
Go break a leg!!!

The Future of Email/ IM?

Just couldn't resist the temptation of putting the All New Google Wave preview video...
Its a longish one....an hour long. But what the heck...Enjoy!