Understanding an explanation

Understanding an explanation

Listen to a professor's explanation to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Professor: OK, before we continue, does anybody have a question? Oh, lots of questions, I see. OK, we'll go one at a time. Yes?

Student: Thank you. You talked about Fibonacci numbers in the lecture. Sorry, I don't understand. Can you explain?

Professor: Of course. What do you want to know?

Student: OK … I hope this isn't a silly question, but what does Fibonacci actually mean?

Professor: No question is ever silly – it's always good to ask. OK, it's the name of a person. Fibonacci was a European mathematician in the Middle Ages.

Student: Ah, OK. Thanks. So, we know he was a person, but what are the Fibonacci numbers? I don't get it.

Professor: The Fibonacci numbers are a sequence of numbers. They go 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and so on. Do you see the sequence? Do you see how it works?

Student: I'm not sure.

Professor: OK. This is how it works. The first number is 1, then 1 again, then 2. The third number is the first number plus the second number. The fourth number is the second number plus the third number: 1 plus 2 is 3. The fifth number is the third number, 2, plus the fourth number, 3. So the fifth number in a Fibonacci sequence is 5.

Student: Ah! I think I understand now. But what about their importance? You said these were very important.

Professor: Yes, let me explain. This sequence of numbers is important because we see it in many things. Fibonacci numbers are common in geometry, they are common in nature, for example in plants. We see the sequence everywhere.

Student: Could you give us some more examples?

Professor: OK ... well, we don't have time right now but I can bring more examples in for next class, OK?

Discussion

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Average: 4.5 (31 votes)

Submitted by ddddsky on Fri, 09/02/2024 - 07:12

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"What was the last lecture you went to about? Did the professor explain it clearly?"
The last lecture that I attend is "Biomechanics." Yes, my professor explained it clearly, and he was funny, so the lecture was fun.

Submitted by Jim34 on Tue, 06/02/2024 - 16:40

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What was the last lecture you went to about? Did the professor explain it clearly? The last lecture I read was about the History of Art. I don't have a professor to explain the lectures because I study online, so I do everything on my own.

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Submitted by alessandro.it on Sun, 21/01/2024 - 21:26

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The last lecture I attended was an introduction to the subject "Applied Thermodynamics and Heat and Mass Transfer" at university. The professor was very clear and spoke calmly. She tried and persuaded students to ask questions to have a feedback. To capture their attention, she explained some curious event like a plane crash due to a mistake in the conversion of different units of measure. In few words, she is a great teacher!

Submitted by DzhusAngela on Tue, 09/01/2024 - 11:32

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The last lecture it was about art terapy.The speaker explain sequance and clearly.Speaks about common things,so I dont ask silly quastion.

Submitted by pikanov on Thu, 19/10/2023 - 05:38

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I love a series of lectures titled Analysis of Epidemiology because it gives me another perspective to analyze the problem or topics. My professors always teach me very well. She always opened and closed the lecture by asking us if there were any questions. She always answers the question in detail, too.

Submitted by Safe_Mode on Tue, 20/06/2023 - 12:02

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My last lecture I went was about using Redis in Nest applications. Nest.js is node.js framework for building application's backend, redis is cache service. It was online. I don't remember my last offline lecture, because I have studied at the university about ten years ago... I remember my last lecture at driving school, thought, when I was getting the driving license about two years ago, but I don't remember it's subject.

Submitted by anastasiaa-02 on Tue, 06/06/2023 - 20:45

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My last lecture was about social security law. The professor told us about types of pensions, benefits for the poor etc. By the way, she explained it clearly and brought different examples.

Submitted by Sliang on Thu, 23/03/2023 - 05:15

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I can't remember the last lecture I attended since it was quite a long time ago. However, I am glad to be able to participate here and post comments. It brings me joy to see myself progressing as I work my way through the A2 listening materials. I noticed that the number of comments decreases as I go through the new topics, with less than 100 comments on some of them. Nonetheless, I remain determined to persist until the end.

Submitted by Ibrahimyousef on Sat, 04/03/2023 - 14:18

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The last lecture in myclass English , I ask teacher I don't understand the word cosmopolitan , her teacher answer a very clarify.

Submitted by TTTTWWW on Thu, 16/02/2023 - 19:20

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my last lecture was about English. We learned lots of vocabulary but ı have difficulties remembering the sences of words. I think my teacher didn't explain them clearly. She should make more practice on these words. Maybe she can give us some homework about that.