Spreadsheets, goals, and number systems

I was going to write something on how stupid the statement “it takes money to make money” is, but that started boring me, so I quit.  Instead, I’m going to talk about accomplishing long term goals by creating a measurement scheme. 

A few posts ago, I said I found a way to teach myself a bit about artificial intelligence, and I mapped out a plan to do so.  Part of mapping out that plan was creating a spreadsheet to track my accomplishment towards that goal. 

Remember:  goals are specific and measurable.  If you haven’t narrowed these two things down, try again.

Anyways, I created a spreadsheet to provide myself some encouragement and get an idea of how far I have come.  As of now, I’m currently 12.55% complete.  This doesn’t seem like much, but it provides everything I need to keep me going.  With this spreadsheet, I can see a sense of traction and movement.  That may not seem like much, but it’s a great motivator.  Looking at the enormity of reading 6,000 pages or so is daunting.   

Seeing numbers improve over time, and seeing where you started?  Motivating.

Secondary note:

Something I was reading about that was incredibly interesting.  

The problem with 1/3 being written as an irrational number, or .3333 infinitely repeating is a problem with the base 10 number system (decimal) that is primarily used.  Java has problems with 1/10, because its math is designed around a base 2 system (binary). 

There’s a little food for thought for everyone that happens to be slightly numbers obsessed.