Assessment of LW7082 Corporations and International Business Law Essay

Assessment of LW7082 Corporations and International Business Law Essay Free Online Research Papers Assessment of LW7082 Corporations and International Business Law Essay Discuss the development of the EC programme for the harmonization of Company Law. Explain why that programme was seen as important to the economic development of the European Community and outline the various successes and obstacles encountered by that programme. INTRODUCTION The European Community is also a community of laws. The aim of the harmonisation of laws in the European Community is not focused on the creation of one single European Law in contrast to the Member States. Instead, it focuses on the harmonisation of the national legal system only to the extent which is required for the functioning of the common market. The harmonisation of Company Law was regarded as an essential part of this process. As a result, Company Law is one of the most harmonized legal areas in the European Community. This essay will be mainly divided into three Chapters: First, a brief introduction about the development of EC programme for the harmonization of Company Law. Second, analysis and consideration will be given to explain why this harmonization programme was seen as important to the economic development of the European Community. Finally, discussion will focus on the successes the Company Law harmonization programme has achieved and the obstacles it encountered. CHAPTER 1. DEVELOPMENT OF THE EC COMPANY LAW HARMONISATION PROGRAMME The development of the harmonization programme of Company Law in EC can be regarded as the issuing of a series of directives and their applications within EC member states. By harmonizing the company law, the subject was, as Scmitthoff defined as â€Å"salami tactics†, divided into numerous fields, each being regulated by a separate directive. But before we look into those directives, which form the development of EC Company Law harmonization, the legitimate basis of these directives deserves a mention first. 1.1 The legal Foundation of EC Company Law Harmonization The legitimacy of the company law of Europe must be found in the authorizing treaty provisions. The Treaty basis for the company law harmonization programme is particularly Article 44(2) (g) (formerly 54(3) (g)) and, more generally, Articles 94, 95, 293 and 308 (formerly 100, 102, 220 and 235) of the Treaty of Rome. However, the Article 44(2) (g) is of significant importance and plays the primary roles among others, since the majority of the legal bases on Company Law area has been based on that Article. Article 44 (2) (g) set in Chapter 2, â€Å"Right of establishment†, in TITLE III, â€Å"Free movement of persons, services and capital†, provides: â€Å"2. The Council and the Commission shall carry out the duties devolving upon them under the preceding provisions, in particular: †¦ by coordinating to the necessary extent the safeguards which, for the protection of the interests of members and other, are required by Member States of companies or firms within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 48 with a view to making such safeguards equivalent throughout the Community; † Article 94, set in the chapter on the approximation of laws, require the Council, acting unanimously, to issue directives â€Å"for the approximation of such laws, regulations or administrative provisions of the Member States as directly affect the establishment or functioning of the common market.† 1.2 The Directives of Harmonization Programme of EC Company Law According to Article 44, the Council shall act in the fields which that Article covers by way of directives. But in the first stage of EC Company Law Harmonization Programme, it is as always, when the harmonization of laws is attempted, progress was very slow and involved great effort. The first Commission Proposal for a Publicity Directive dates from the beginning of 1964, and the issuing of this First Directive in 1968 marked the beginning of the EC harmonization in Company Law. The first directive sought to harmonize publicity requirements applying to companies, the circumstances in which company transactions will be valid and the rules relating of the nullity of companies. Eight years later, the 2nd Directive followed dealing with the formation of public limited liability companies and the maintenance and alteration of their capital. In tenor and approach it differs from the First Directive: many of the provisions lay down detailed procedural requirements rather than simply directing the Member States to legislate to a certain end. Thus it has been criticized by some commentators for that reason. However the Second Directive is undeniably of major importance, constituting a significant step towards company law harmonization in the European Community. Following the Second Directives, it did not take too long for the Third and Fourth Directives to be issued. The Third company law Directive can be regarded as having presented a new framework for exercising cross-border collaborative economic activities. It provided for co-ordination of procedures applying to internal mergers within a Member States. The Fourth Directive dealt with disclosure of financial information and the contents of a company’s annual accounts. It complements the First Directive and is supplemented by the Seventh Directive which deals with group accounts. After that, it took another six years until the Sixth, Seven and Eighth Directives came into force. The Sixth Directive 1982 (on division of public companies) deals with the division of an existing public company into entities. The allocation of assets and liabilities among the various beneficiary companies require specific provisions to protect creditors. Member countries are not obliged to introduce this form of reconstruction but, if it is used, the process must be in conformity with the Directive. The Seventh Directive specifies how and in what circumstances consolidated accounts are to be prepared and published by companies with subsidiaries. The Eighth Directive deals with the qualifications and independence of auditors of both public and private companies. It places an obligation on Member States to ensure that auditors are independent and properly carry out their task of auditing company accounts. From the long-lasting intervals of issuing these Company Law Directives mentioned above, we can see that the process of the first stage of EC company law Harmonization programme was slow. In the beginning of the harmonization process only six Member States with six legal systems and traditions had to be considered. The legal system of these Member States based mainly on common continental European legal principles. Later, with the expansion of the European Community, the legal systems of new Member States had to be considered. Hence, the process of harmonization became more difficult. However, until 1984 still five more directives followed. In 1985 the Commission made a new start, and company law developments were given renewed momentum. In a way, this is rather surprising, for â€Å"the White Book decided upon a new approach to harmonization, i.e. abandoning the idea of uniformity and attributing equal value and mutual recognition to national legal provisions instead.† Ha ving written â€Å"less harmonization† upon its banner, the Commission paradoxically achieved more progress with general, and particularly company law harmonization than anyone had previously considered possible. So, after 1984 the harmonization process came to a turning point. As a result the Eleventh Directive and the twelfth Directive were passed in 1989. The Eleventh Directive mainly deals with disclosure requirements in respect of branches opened in a Member State by certain types of companies governed by the law of another state. The Twelfth Directive allows the operation of one-member private companies. Although both directives had considerable implication on German Corporate Law they were of a less general and fundamental approach than the First Directives. So far, there are five more directives that have not yet been passed by the European legislators. The Draft Fifth Directive dealing with corporate structure and worker participation has been the subject of much controversy. One of the most difficult topics in the Fifth Directive is the latter one, â€Å"employee participation in corporate decision-making†. The Draft Ninth Directive deals with certain aspects of groups of companies and the relationship between the participating corporations. The Proposed Tenth Directive concerns cross-border mergers and is progressing no further because fears have been expressed that a cross-border merger could be a way of escaping from worker participation provisions. The Proposed Thirteenth Directive deals with takeovers and is influenced by the City of London takeover code. Finally, the Proposed Fourteenth Directive deals with the Relocation of Registered Office. Besides these Directives known under their numbers, there are some other directives which played a very important role in the EC Company Law Harmonization. For example, The Major Shareholdings Directive focuses on the disclosure of interests in shares. The Insider Dealing Directive, which was implemented in the United Kingdom by Part V of the Criminal Justice Act 1993, with its concise provisions to deal with share market abuse in general and to improve enforcement, virtually placed the investors on an equal footing. Also, a Directive was proposed in 2001 to deal with share market abuse in general and to improve enforcement. From analyzing those directives in EC Company Law Harmonization Programme, it is obvious that a lot of achievements have been made, such as nullity, minimum capital, disclosure and publicity requirements, mergers of public companies and accounts. However, it is still too early to regard that this programme as successful. Some controversial areas such as management structure, employee participation, groups and international mergers?are still pending. They are what EC and Member States should work on in the future of harmonization programme. 1.3 The suitability of directives as the instrument of harmonization By virtue of Article 54 of the Treaty, the Council, in order to attain the effectiveness of the freedom of establishment, â€Å"shall act by means of directives†. The use of the directive as an instrument has both advantages and disadvantages. Traditionally, the general view is that the advantages predominated. These advantages are flexibility and greater freedom of movement for member states, which makes it easier to introduce Community rules into their national laws. This flexible character of directive has many advantages: in a multicultural, multilingual economic area, agreements on common principles of Company Law can be reached without having to agree about the precise wording in the actually applicable provision. It allows bridging the considerable differences in the legislative traditions of the Member States, and also allows each state to use its own wording and language, as the directive only binds as to its result, not as to its forms and methods. For these and ot her reasons, there is a greater readiness to agree upon directives. As Hopt wrote: â€Å"the use of directives does, of course, not preclude the possibility of very detailed regulation, nor does it mean that national legislators may not be well advised in particular cases to follow the text of the directives more or less verbatim. The directive may also go into so much detail that member states have little practical alternative to taking over the directive verbatim.† On the other hand, the Directives still bear some disadvantages as well. The problem arises especially when we look into those particular areas which require comprehensive regulations. Although the directives leaves a degree of discretion to Member States for its transformation, many of them lay down merely the minimum standards to achieve the result specified in those directives. Some of them, such as the Fourth, Seventh and Twelfth Directives, are in the form of a framework for the regulation of a particular matter, as Member States may well introduce additional provisions to create differences between national laws. This fact will inevitably raise the problem of â€Å"blocking effect† from Company Law directives. That is, on the one hand, those directives must be detailed in order to cover multiple aspects of particular matters. However, the detailed provisions may lead to a â€Å"block effect†. Additionally, despite the detail in the directives there still exist s ignificant differences between company regimes in Member States. 1.4 Adoption of Regulations in EC Company Law Harmonization Programme The common market implies the creation of Europe-wide companies, which must be able to act throughout the Community in the same way as in their own country. It thus requires making available new forms of association and co-operation. Therefore, the process of harmonization has always been accompanied by â€Å"a process aiming at the creation of supranational regulations†. The use of regulation for harmonization has considerable advantages. Firstly, unlike the directive, it does not need, any further implementation at national level, thus avoiding long process of adoption of the Community provision by Member States. Secondly, being directly and equally applicable all over the Community, the regulation serves to ensure the same features all over Europe. Also, some disputes about the interpretation of the regulation ultimately have to be submitted to the European court, leading to a more uniform interpretation. In 1985, with the Regulation on the European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) a new model for a supranational corporation was introduced. In order to accelerate the introduction of the EEIG the European legislator focused only on the provisions with European background and therefore the national Corporate Laws of the Member States still apply. It is argued that Due to the application of national law besides the provisions of the regulation, the EEIG could not provide the sufficient flexibility and legal certainty that was expected by introducing supranational corporations. At the conference of Nice in December 2000, the Member States finally agreed on the introduction of the European Company or Societas Europaea (the â€Å"SE†). The Regulation on the Statue for a European Company has been adopted by the Council on 8 October 2001. Its virtue is to provide companies that want to act or establish themselves in another Member State with the option of being subject to one set of legislation. Besides these two most important regulations mentioned hereinabove, other Regulations, such as Insolvency Proceedings Regulation and International Accounting Standards Regulation, also make considerable contribution to the EC Company Law Harmonization Programme. CHAPTER 2. The reasons why EC Company Law Harmonization Programme was seen as important to the economic development of European Community Article 2 of the Treaty indicates that its footstone and aim are the establishment of a common market. For that purpose, the activities of the Community are to include the abolition as between Member States, of obstacles to the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital and the approximation of the laws of Member States to the extent required for the functioning of the common market. The divergences in national laws among Member States will cause a lot of problems and can frustrate the functioning of the internal market. The primary reason is that competition can be distorted. The establishment of companies or other enterprise entities will bring in a lot of relevant attractive economic effectiveness, such as tax revenues, expansion of employment, market development and innovation, shareholder and investor interest, etc. If national company laws governing importance areas of creditor and shareholder protection and company management are fundamentally different, this may be expected to create a European â€Å"Delaware effect†, encouraging the establishment of new companies in those Member States with the most attractive and laxest laws and policy. It will then run contrarily to the economic efficiency, since corporate decisions of cross-border establishment and activities should be solely taken on the economic grounds without being significantly influenced by the relative burden of domestic regulation. Different laws will definitely impose administrative and legal burdens on companies with subsidiaries in several Member States. Once companies are free to move their seat or registered office to another Member State, it should be ensured that members and creditors are not prejudiced by the relocation. With the Harmonization of Company Law in European Community, equivalent creditor and shareholder protection should encourage cross-border credit, corporation and investment, thus the economic development of European Community as a whole can be expeditious and rational. What should be mentioned here is that, regulations play an indirect but important part in the economic development of European Community. For example, The Regulation on the European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) has created a new type of co-operation, which enables companies in one Member State to co-operate in a joint venture with companies or legal persons in other Member States. Moreover, European Company Statue Regulation (the SE) is of central importance. It enables companies to act throughout the Community in the same way as in their own country. The regulation, in a sense, can insure that all the Member Countries in EC would have available the same basic structure for a company’s establishment and business, no specific States would prevail over others. In this way, the EC Member States can pursue their economic development in a fair and healthy environment. It can be seen as one of the major successes of that more than 30 years old programme. CHAPTER 3. The Successes and Obstacles of EC Company Law Harmonization Programme As mentioned hereinabove, the aim and virtue of the EC Company Law Harmonization, which are reflected in the provisions of the Treaty, is the establishment of a common market. It can be said that the Programme, from its beginning, focused on â€Å"the prevention of the so-called Delaware-effect in the European Community†. The successes of this Programme are obvious and impressive. 3.1 Adoption and Implementation of EC Directives within national legislation. Most of the directives are agreed and adopted among the Member States, which can be seen as the symbol of the significant realization of EC Company Harmonization. The directives in respect of nullity, minimum capital, disclosure and publicity requirements, mergers of public companies and accounts, have been adopted. Most of them have been implemented within the level of national legislation in either some or all EC Member States. 3.2 The breach of legislative barrier among Member States. As mentioned in CHAPTER 2 of this essay, the process of EC Company Law Harmonization is also a process to break down the legislative barrier among the Member States. The harmonisation programme will directly facilitate the free movement of goods, persons services and capital, which will ultimately benefit the creation of a common market. 3.3 The Achievements of Right of Establishment. Because of the absence of an overriding European regulation and the great importance of this issue for the freedom of establishment of firms in the EU, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has been confronted with this issue at several occasions. In its first decision (Daily-Mail) of 1989, the ECJ held that the right of establishment does not include the right of a company incorporated under the legislation of a Member State to transfer its central management and control to another Member State. Later, with the judgments of the ECJ in Centros and ÃÅ"berseering cases, the circumstances of an legislative competition have fundamentally changed. Due to the Courts displayed, wider understanding of the right of establishment, companies can now move their central management and control from one Member State without the need for further proceedings. In effect, the ECJ has given the right of establishment a â€Å"radically new, wider interpretation†. A company can now be found in a M ember State without having later any further relations to it, which has been a central obstacle to legislative competition in the past. However, the Harmonization Programme which lasting over the past 30 years has inevitably arise some question and controversies. They laid the stumbling block for further progress of this programme. Certain criticism of the company law harmonization programme has been mentioned above CHAPTER 1.3, in respect of the suitability of directives as the instrument of harmonization. Apart from that controversy, this programme also encountered some other obstacles. 3.4 Inefficiency of Directive Implementation The necessity to implement a directive in order to make it more effective in national law sometimes causes problems of inefficiency. Although the European Court of Justice has recognized the direct effect of directives against Member States, this implementation duty is still a weakness, since directives â€Å"have no horizontal direct effect, i.e. in relations between individuals.† Moreover, since directives are directly addressed to Member States but not to companies directly, directives do not provide directly enforceable rights to the companies, to investors or other stakeholders. 3.5 Comprehension and Communication of legal Concepts. A particular problem in seeking to harmonize the Company laws among Member States with disparate legal traditions is the difficulty in dovetailing legal concepts. A directive may focus on an area in which specific concepts are familiar to one State’s understanding of the law but alien and hard for another legal culture to comprehend. For example, the concept of the company organ introduced into Community company law, which was borrowed from German Law, is familiar to the states whose legislation is originated from the Napoleonic code but uneasy for the United Kingdom to analyze the company transactions within the framework of agency. Also, similar problems arise from the use of terms which may not be sufficiently proximate in the different language versions of a directive and in the Member States’ implementation. 3.6 The restrictions of fields harmonized in Directives Criticisms have been directed at the Commission’s priorities for the subject of adopted directives or the undertakings which are subject to them. For example, the pattern of incorporation as public and private companies in the different Member States is significantly different. The Second Directive, which is restricted to public companies, can obviously distort the harmonizing effect of measures applying only to one category of companies. The United Kingdom and Germany, for example, have relatively small numbers of public compared to private companies. 3.7 The problem of compromises in the EC legislative processes In the beginning of the harmonization process only six Member States with six legal systems and traditions had to be considered. The legal system of these Member States based in part on common continental European legal principles. Due to the growth in number of Member States, compromises have always been difficult to reach. Hence, the process of harmonization faced with stagnation. At the conference of Nice, the Member States tried to handle this problem by simplifying the legislative process. But these amendments and institutional reforms will most likely not be able to solve this stagnation problem. While the future of the following directives and other legislative acts are uncertain, the existing Directives and Regulations about corporate law will- taken by themselves be hard to change. CONCLUSION Having evaluating the EC programme for the harmonization of Company Law, it can be concluded that the overall progress is impressive. However, it is yet too early to say that this programme is an absolute success. The Commission acknowledges that there is much work remaining to be done regarding the legal framework for company law. There still exist the problems such as the complete freedom of establishment of companies â€Å"in a strict sense† , sufficient protection of creditors and shareholders. Moreover, the rules relating to takeovers and the board are important elements of company law, and harmonisation cannot be brought much further before the conflicts in these areas are resolved. What has been achieved so far for this Harmonization Programme will become the history for tomorrow, what should be done now and in future is more important and crucial for legislators to consider, on both European Community and national legal system levels. Taking for reference the past achievement and obstacles, we are awaiting the further progress and achievements of EC Company Harmonization Programme. BIBLIOGRAPHY Christopher Bovis, Business Law in the European Union, London: Sweet Maxwell, 1997 Cagdas Evrim Ergun, The European Community’s Company Law Harmonisation Programme: Successes and Failures C. M. Schmitthoff, â€Å"The Future of the European Company Law Scene† in The Harmonisation of European Company Law, London 1973 C. M. Schmitthoff, â€Å"The Success of the Harmonisation of European Company Law†, (1976) 1 E.L.Rev. 100 â€Å"Consolidated Version of The Treaty Establishing The European Community†? (Available at http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/treaties/dat/EC_consol.pdf) Daniel C. Esty/Damien Geradin (Eds.), Regulatory Competition and Economic Integration. Comparative Perspectives (Oxford University Press: Oxford/New York 2001) Dr. Rob Wilmott, CBE, Co-chairman of European Silicon Structures, speaking at an EEIG conference, Brussels, April 18, 1989 E. Wymeersch, Company Law in Europe and European Company Law, Financial Law Institute, Working Paper Series, April 2001 KLAUS J. HOPT, Company Law in the European Union: Harmonization or Subsidiarity. Roma 1998 (available at http://w3.uniroma1.it/idc/centro/publications/31hopt.pdf) J. Wouters, European Company Law: Quo vadis?, Common Market Law Review, Vol. 37, 2000 Janet M. Dine, The Community Law Harmonisation Programme, European Law Review 1989 R. R. Drury, A Review of the European Community’s Company Law Harmonisation Programme, (1992), Bracton Law Journal, reprinted in Hicks Goo Casebook Sebastian Mock?Harmonisation, Regulation and Legislative Competition in European Corporate Law, German Law Journal Vol.3 No.12-01 December 2002. (Available at germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=216) Vanessa Edwards, EC Company Law (Oxford University Press: Oxford/New York 1999) Research Papers on Assessment of LW7082 Corporations and International Business Law EssayMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesPETSTEL analysis of IndiaDefinition of Export QuotasAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Influences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceOpen Architechture a white paperAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaRiordan Manufacturing Production Plan

Polygons on ACT Math Geometry Formulas and Strategies

Polygons on ACT Math Geometry Formulas and Strategies SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Questions about both circles and various types of polygons are some of the most prevalent types of geometry questions on the ACT. Polygons come in many shapes and sizes and you will have to know them inside and out in order to take on the many different types of polygon questions the ACT has to offer. The good news is that, despite their variety, polygons are often less complex than they look; a few simple rules and strategies are all that you need when it comes to solving an ACT polygon question. This will be your complete guide to ACT polygons- the rules and formulas for various polygons, the kinds of questions you’ll be asked about them, and the best approach for solving these types of questions. What is a Polygon? Before we go to polygon formulas, let’s look at what exactly a polygon is. A polygon is any flat, enclosed shape that is made up of straight lines. To be â€Å"enclosed† means that the lines must all connect, and no side of the polygon can be curved. Polygons NOT Polygons Polygons come in two broad categories- regular and irregular. A regular polygon has all equal sides and all equal angles, while irregular polygons do not. Regular Polygons Irregular Polygons A polygon will always have the same number of sides as it has angles. So a polygon with nine sides will have nine angles. The different types of polygons are named after their number of sides and angles. A triangle is made of three sides and three angles (â€Å"tri† meaning three), a quadrilateral is made of four sides (â€Å"quad† meaning four), a pentagon is made of five sides (â€Å"penta† meaning five), etc. Many of the polygons you’ll see on the ACT (though not all) will either be triangles or some sort of quadrilateral. Triangles in all their forms are covered in our complete guide to ACT triangles, so let’s move on to look at the various types of quadrilaterals you’ll see on the test. Barber shop quartets, quadrilaterals- clearly the secret to success is in fours. Quadrilaterals There are many different types of quadrilaterals, most of which are subcategories of one another. Parallelogram A parallelogram is a quadrilateral in which each set of opposite sides is both parallel and congruent (equal) with one another. The length may be different than the width, but both widths will be equal and both lengths will be equal. Parallelograms are peculiar in that their opposite angles will be equal and their adjacent angles will be supplementary (meaning any two adjacent angles will add up to 180 degrees). Most questions that require you to know this information are quite straightforward. For example: If we draw this parallelogram, we can see that the two angles in question are supplementary. This means that the two angles will add up to 180 degrees. Our final answer is F, add up to 180 degrees. Rhombus A rhombus is a type of parallelogram in which all four sides are equal and the angles can be any measure (so long as their adjacents add up to 180 degrees and their opposite angles are equal). Rectangle A rectangle is a special kind of parallelogram in which each angle is 90 degrees. The rectangle’s length and width can either be equal or different from one another. Square If a rectangle has an equal length and width, it is called a square. This means that a square is a type of rectangle (which in turn is a type of parallelogram), but NOT all rectangles are squares. Trapezoid A trapezoid is a quadrilateral that has only one set of parallel sides. The other two sides are non-parallel. Kite A kite is a quadrilateral that has two pairs of equal sides that meet one another. You'll notice that a lot of polygon definitions will fit inside other definitions, but a little organization (and dedication) will help keep them straight in your head. Polygon Formulas Though there are many different types of polygons, their rules and formulas build off of a few basic ideas. Let’s go through the list. Area Formulas Most polygon questions on the ACT will ask you to find the area or the perimeter of a figure. These will be the most important area formulas for you to remember on the test. Area of a Triangle $$a = {1/2}bh$$ The area of a triangle will always be half the amount of the base times the height. In a right triangle, the height will be equal to one of the legs. In any other type of triangle, you must drop down your own height, perpendicular from the vertex of the triangle to the base. Area of a Square $$l^2$$ Or $$lw$$ Because each side of a square is equal, you can find the area by either multiplying the length times the width or simply by squaring one of the sides. Area of a Rectangle $$lw$$ For any rectangle that is not a square, you must always multiply the base times the height to find the area. Area of a Parallelogram $$bh$$ Finding the area of a parallelogram is exactly the same as finding the area of a rectangle. Because a parallelogram may slant to the side, we say we must use its base and its height (instead of its length and width), but the principle is the same. You can see why the two actions are equal if you were to transform your parallelogram into a rectangle by dropping down straight heights and shifting the base. Area of a Trapezoid $$[(l_1 + l_2)/2]h$$ In order to find the area of a trapezoid, you must find the average of the two parallel bases and multiply this by the height of the trapezoid. Let's take a look at this formula in action, The trapezoid is divided into a rectangle and two triangles. Lengths are given in inches. What is the combined area of the two shaded triangles? A. 4 B. 6 C. 9 D. 12 E. 18 If you remember your formula for trapezoids, then we can find the area of our triangles by finding the area of the trapezoid as a whole and then subtracting out the area of the rectangle inside it. First, we should find the area of the trapezoid. $[(l_1 + l_2)/2]h$ $[(6 + 12)/2]3$ $(18/2)3$ $(9)3$ $27$ Now, we can find the area of the rectangle. $6 * 3$ 18 And finally, we can subtract out the area of the rectangle from the trapezoid. $27 - 18$ 9 The combined area of the triangles is 9. Our final answer is C, 9. In general, the best way to find the area of different kinds of polygons is to transform the polygon into smaller and more manageable shapes. This will also help you if you forget your formulas come test day. For example, if you forget the formula for the area of a trapezoid, turn your trapezoid into a rectangle and two triangles and find the area for each. Luckily for us, this has already been done in this problem. We know that we can find the area of a triangle by ${1/2}bh$ and we already have a height of 3. We also know that the combined bases for the triangles will be: $12 - 6$ 6 So let us say that one triangle has a base of 4 and the other has a base of 2. (Why those numbers? Any numbers for the triangle bases will work so long as they add up to 6.) Now, let us find the area for each triangle. or the first triangle, we have: ${1/2}(4)(3)$ $(2)(3)$ $6$ And for the second triangle, we have: ${1/2}(2)(3)$ $(1)(3)$ 3 Now, let us add them together. $6 + 3$ 9 Again, the area of our triangles together is 9. Our final answer is C, 9. Always remember that there are many different ways to find what you need, so don’t be afraid to use your shortcuts! Side and Angle Formulas Whether your polygon is regular or irregular, the sum of its interior degrees will always follow the rules of that particular polygon. Every polygon has a different degree sum, but this sum will be consistent, no matter how irregular the polygon. For example, the interior angles of a triangle will always equal 180 degrees, whether the triangle is equilateral (a regular polygon), isosceles, acute, or obtuse. So by that same notion, the interior angles of a quadrilateral- whether kite, square, trapezoid, or other- will always add up to be 360 degrees. Interior Angle Sum You will always be able to find the sum of a polygon’s interior angles in one of two ways- by memorizing the interior angle formula, or by dividing your polygon into a series of triangles. Method 1: Interior Angle Formula $$(n−2)180$$ If you have an n number of sides in your polygon, you can always find the interior degree sum by the formula $(n - 2)$ times 180 degrees. Method 2: Dividing Your Polygon Into Triangles The reason the above formula works is because you are essentially dividing your polygon into a series of triangles. Because a triangle is always 180 degrees, you can multiply the number of triangles by 180 to find the interior degree sum of your polygon, whether your polygon is regular or irregular. As we saw, we have two options to find our interior angle sum. Let us try each method. Solving Method 1: formulas $(n - 2)180$ There are 5 sides, so if we plug that into our formula for $n$, we get: $(5 - 2)180$ $3(180)$ 540 Now we can find the sum of the rest of the angle measurements by subtracting our known degree measure, 50, from our total interior degrees of 540. $540 - 50$ 490 Our final answer is K, 490. Solving Method 2: diving polygon into triangles We can also always divide our polygon into a series of triangles to find the total interior degree measure. We can see that our polygon makes three triangles and we know that a triangle is always 180 degrees. This means that the polygon will have a interior degree sum of: $3 * 180$ 540 degrees. And finally, let us subtract the known angle from the total in order to find the sum of the remaining degrees. $540 - 50$ 490 Again, our final answer is K, 490. Individual Interior Angles If your polygon is regular, you will also be able to find the individual degree measure of each interior angle by dividing the degree sum by the number of angles. (Note: n can be used for both the number of sides and the number of angles because the number of sides and angles in a polygon will always be equal.) ${(n - 2)180}/n$ Again, you can choose to either use the formula or the triangle dividing method by dividing your interior sum by the number of angles. Number of Sides As we saw earlier, a regular polygon will have all equal side lengths. And if your polygon is regular, you can find the number of sides by using the reverse of the formula for finding angle measures. A regular polygon with n sides has equal angles of 140 degrees. How many sides does the figure have? 6 7 8 9 10 For this question, it will be quickest for us to use our answers and work backwards in order to find the number of sides in our polygon. (For more on how to use the plugging in answers technique, check out our guide to plugging in answers). Let us start at the middle with answer choice C. We know from our angle formula (or by making triangles out of our polygons) that an eight sided figure will have: $(n - 2)180$ $(8 - 2)180$ $(6)180$ 1080 degrees. Or again, you can always find your degree sum by making triangles out of your polygon. This way you will still end up with (6)180=1080 degrees. Now, let us find the individual degree measures by dividing that sum by the number of angles. $1080/8$ $135$ Answer choice C was too small. And we also know that the more sides a figure has, the larger each individual angle will be, so we can cross off answer choices A and B, as those answers would be even smaller. (How do we know this? A regular triangle will have three 60 degree angles, a square will have four 90 degree angles, etc.) Now let us try answer choice D. $(n - 2)180$ $(9 - 2)180$ $(7)180$ 1260 Or you could find your internal degree sum by once again making triangles from your polygons. Which would again give you $(7)180 = 1260$ degrees. Now let’s divide the degree sum by the number of sides. $1260/9$ $140$ We have found our answer. The figure has 9 sides. Our final answer is D, 9. Number of Diagonals $${n(n - 3)}/2$$ It is common for the ACT to ask you about the number of distinct diagonals in a polygon. Again, you can find this information using the formula or by drawing it out (or a combination of the two). This is basically the same as dividing your polygon into triangles, but they will be overlapping and you are counting the number of lines drawn instead of the number of triangles. Method 1: formula In order to find the number of distinct diagonals in a polygon, you can simply use the formula ${n(n - 3)}/2$, wherein $n$ is the number of sides of the polygon. Method 2: drawing it out The reason the above formula works is a matter of logic. Let’s look at an octagon, for example. You can see that an octagon has eight angles (because it has eight sides). If you were to draw all the diagonals possible from one particular angle, you could draw five lines. You will always be able to draw n−3 lines because one of the angles is being used to form all the diagonals and the lines to the two adjacent angles make up part of the perimeter of the polygon and are therefore NOT diagonals. So you can only draw diagonals to n−3 corners. Now, let’s mark another angle’s series of diagonals. You can see that none of these diagonals overlap, BUT if we were to draw the diagonals from an opposite corner, we would have multiple overlapping diagonals. The adjacent angles will not overlap, but the opposite ones will. This means that there will only be half as many diagonals as the total number of angles multiplied by their possible diagonals (in other words half of n(n−3). This is why our final formula is: ${n(n - 3)}/2$ This is all the angles multiplied by their total number of diagonals, all divided by half so that we do not get overlapping diagonal lines. (Note: of course an alternative to using any form of the formula is to simply draw out your diagonals, making sure to be very very careful to not create any overlapping diagonal lines.) Just make sure you don't dizzy yourself keeping track of all your angles and diagonals. Typical Polygon Questions Now that we’ve been through all of our polygon rules and formulas, let’s look at a few different types of polygon questions you’ll see on the ACT. About half of ACT polygon questions you’ll see will involve diagrams and about half will be word problems. Most all of the word problems will involve quadrilaterals in some form or another. Typically, you will be asked to find one of three things in a polygon question: The measure of an angle (or the sum of two or more angles) The perimeter of a figure The area of a figure Let’s look at a few real ACT math examples of these different types of questions. 1. Finding the measure of an angle We know that we can find the degree measure of a regular polygon by finding their total number of degrees and dividing that by the number of sides/angles. So let us find the sum of the interior degrees of our pentagon. A pentagon can be divided into three triangles, so we know that it has a total of: 3(180) 540 degrees. If we divide this number by the number of sides/angles in a pentagon, we can see that each angle measure is: $540/5$ 108 Now, we also know that every straight line is 180 degrees. This means that we can find the exterior angles of the pentagon by subtracting the interior angles from 180. $180 - 108$ 72 We also know that a triangle's interior degrees always add up to 180, so we can find our final angle by subtracting our two known angles from 180. $180 - 72 - 72$ 36 Our final answer is C, 36. 2: Finding the perimeter of a figure We know that a square has, by definition, all equal sides. Because DC is 6, that means that ED, EB, and BC are all equal to 6 as well. We also know that an equilateral triangle has all equal sides. Because EB equals 6 and is part of the equilateral triangle, EB, AE, and AB are all equal to 6 as well. And, finally, the perimeter of the figure is made up of lines DE, EA, AB, BC, and CD. This means that our perimeter is: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 30 Our final answer is C, 30. 3: Using or finding the area of the figure We know that the area of a rectangle is found by multiplying the length times the width, and we also know that a rectangle has two paris of equal sides. So we need to find measurements for the sides that, in pairs, add up to 24 and, when multiplied, will make a prouct of 32. One way we can do this is to use the strategy of plugging in answers. Let us, as usual when using this strategy, start with answer choice C. So, if we have a short side length of 3, we need to double it to find how much the short sides contribute to the total perimeter. $3 * 2$ 6 If we subtract this from our total perimeter, we find that the sum of our longer sides are: $24 - 6$ 18 Which means that each of the longer sides is: $18/2$ 9 Now, if one side length is 3 and the other is 9, then the area of the rectangle will be: $3 * 9$ 27 This is too small to be our area. We need the shorter side lengths to be longer than 3 so that the product of the length and the width will be larger. Let us try option J instead. If we have two side lengths that each measure 4, they will add a total of: $4 * 2$ 8 Now let us subtract this from the total perimeter. $24 - 8$ 16 This is the sum of the longer side lengths, which means we must divide this number in half to find the individual measures. $16/2$ 8 And finally, let us multiply the length times the width to find the area of the rectangle. $8 * 4$ 32 These measurements fit our requirements, which means that the shorter sides must each measure 4. Our final answer is J, 4. Now let's look at the strategies for success for your polygon questions (as well as what to avoid doing). How to Solve a Polygon Question Now that we’ve seen the typical kinds of questions you’ll be asked on the ACT and gone through the process of finding our answers, we can see that each solving method has a few techniques in common. In order to solve your polygon problems most accurately and efficiently, take note of these strategies: #1: Break up figures into smaller shapes Don’t be afraid to write all over your diagrams. Polygons are complicated figures, so always break them into small pieces when you can. Break them apart into triangles, squares, or rectangles and you’ll be able to solve questions that would be impossible to figure out otherwise. Alternatively, you may need to expand your figures by providing extra lines and creating new shapes in which to break your figure. Just always remember to disregard these false lines when you’re finished with the problem. If we create and expand new lines in our figure, we can make our lengths and sides a little more clear. We can also see why this works because our red lines are essentially extensions of the perimeter branching outwards in order to give us a clearer picture. Now, we know that, because the bottom-most horizontal line is equal to 20, the sum of all the other horizontal lines is also equal to 20. We can also see that all the vertical lines will add up to: 12 + 8 + 8 + 12 This means that our total perimeter will be: 20 + 20 + 12 + 12 + 8 + 8 80 Our final answer is B, 80. #2: Use your shortcuts If you don’t feel comfortable memorizing formulas or if you are worried about getting them wrong on test day, don’t worry about it! Just understand your shortcuts (for example, remember that all polygons can be broken into triangles) and you’ll do just fine. #3: When possible, use PIA or PIN Because polygons involve a lot of data, it can be very easy to confuse your numbers or lose track of the path you need to go down to solve the problem. For this reason, it can often help you to use either the plugging in answer strategy (PIA) or the plugging in numbers strategy (PIN), even though it can sometimes take longer (for more on this, check out our guides to PIA and PIN). #4: Keep your work organized There is a lot of information to keep track of when working with polygons (especially once you break the figure into smaller shapes). It can be all too easy to lose your place or to mix-up your numbers, so be extra vigilant about your organization and don’t let yourself lose a well-earned point due to careless error. Before you go ahead and put your polygon knowledge to the test, take a moment to bask in some much-needed Cuteness. Test Your Knowledge Now, let's test your knowledge on polygons with some real SAT math examples. 1. 2. 3. 4. Answers: D, C, G, G Answer Explanations: 1. In order to find the number of distinct diagonals, we can, as always, either use our diagonal formula or be very (very) careful to draw our own. Let us try both methods. Method 1: formula ${n(n - 3)}/2$ We have a hexagon, so there are 6 sides. We can therefore plug 6 in for n. ${6(6 - 3)}/2$ $6(3)/2$ $18/2$ $9$ There will be 9 distinct diagonals. Our final answer is D, 9. Method 2: drawing it out If we draw our own diagonals, we can see that there are still 9 diagonals total. We can color-code these lines here, but you will not have that option on the test, so make sure you are both able to draw out all your diagonals and not count repeat lines. When done correctly, we will have 9 distinct diagonals in our hexagon. Our final answer is D, 9. 2. We know that, by definition, a parallelogram has two pairs of equal sides. So if one side measures 12, then at least one of the other three sides must also measure 12. So let us first subtract our pair of 12-length sides from our total perimeter of 72. $72 - 12 -12$ 48 The remaining pair of sides will have a sum of 48. We also know that the remaining pair of sides must be equal to one another, so let us divide this sum in half in order to find their individual measures. $48/2$ 24 This means that our parallelogram will have side measures of: 12, 12, 24, 24 Our final answer is C. 3. We are told that each of these rectangles is a square, which means that the side lengths for each square will be equal. We also know that, in order to find the area of a square, we can simply square (multiply a number by itself) one of the sides. So, if the larger square has an area of 50 square centimeters, that means that one of the side lengths squared must be equal to 50. In other words: $s^2 = 50$ $s =√50$ $s =√25 *√2$ $s = 5√2$ (For more info on how to manipulate roots and squares like this, check out our guide to ACT advanced integers.) So now we know that the length of each of the sides of the larger square is $5√2$. We also know that the area of the smaller square is 18 and that the length of one of the sides of the shorter square is the length of the side of the larger square, minus x. img src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/360031/body_square_example.png" alt="body_square_example" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 212px;" width="212" So let us find x by using this information. $(5√2 - x)^2 = 18$ $5√2 - x =√18$ $5√2 - x =√9 *√2$ $5√2 - x = 3√2$ $-x = -2√2$ $x = 2√2$ We have successfully found the length of $x$. Our final answer is G,$2√2$. 4. We have a few different ways to solve this problem, but one of the easiest is to use the strategy of plugging in our own numbers. This will help us to visualize the lengths and areas much more solidly. So let us imagine for a minute that the longest length of our rectangle is 12 and the shorter side is 4. (Why those numbers? Why not! When using PIN, we can choose any numbers we want to, so long as they do not contradict our given information. And these numbers do not, which means we're good to go.) Now, to make life even simpler, let us divide our rectangle in half and just work with one half at a time. Now, because we have divided our rectangle exactly in half (and we know that we did this because we are told that F and E are both midpoints of the longest side of our rectangle), we know that BF must be 6. Now we have four triangles, three of which are shaded. In order to find the ratio of unshaded area to shaded area, let us find the areas of each of our triangles. To find the area of a triangle, we know we need: ${1/2}bh$ If we take the triangle on the left, we already know that our base is 4. We also know that the height must be 3. Why? Because point G is directly in the middle of our rectangle, so the height will be exactly half of the line BF. This means that our left-most triangle will have an area of: ${1/2}bh$ ${1/2}(4)(3)$ $(2)(3)$ $6$ Now, we know that our right-most triangle (the unshaded triangle) will ALSO have an area of 6 because its height and base will be exactly the same as our left triangle. So let us find the areas of our top and bottom triangles. Again, we already have a given value for our base (in this case 6) and the height will be exactly half of the line BA. This means that the area of our top triangle (as well as our bottom triangle) will be: ${1/2}bh$ ${1/2}(6)(2)$ $(3)(2)$ $6$ Both the left and the top-most triangles have an area of 6, which means that ALL the triangles have equal areas. There is 1 unshaded triangle and 3 shaded triangles. This means that the ratio of unshaded to shaded triangles is 1:3. We also know that this will be the same ratio if we were to complete the problem for the other half of the rectangle. Why? We cut the shape exactly in half, so the ratio of all the unshaded triangles to shaded triangles will be: 2:6 Or, again: 1:3 Our final answer is G, 1:3. A little practice, a little flare, and you've got the path down to all your right answers. The Take Aways Once you internalize the few basic rules of polygons, you’ll find that these questions are not generally as difficult as they may appear at first blush. You may come across irregular polygons and ones with many sides, but the basic strategies and formulas will always be the same. Remember your strategies, keep your work well organized, and know your key definitions, and you will be able to take on even the most difficult polygon questions the ACT can throw at you. What’s Next? You've mastered polygons and now you're raring to take on more (we're guessing). Luckily for you, there are so many more math topics to cover! Take a glance through all the math topics that will appear on the ACT to make sure you've got them locked down tight. Then go ahead and check out our ACT math guides to brush up on any topics you might be rusty on. Feeling nervous about circle questions? Roots and exponents? Fractions and ratios? Whatever you need, we have the guide for you. Want to learn some of the most useful math strategies on the test? Check out our guides to plugging in answers and plugging in numbers to help you solve questions that may have had you scrambling before. Want to get a perfect score? Look no further than our guide to getting a perfect 36 on ACT math, written by a perfect-ACT-scorer. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Math lesson, you'll love our program. Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Asian American Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Asian American Literature - Essay Example The removal of confusion about the identity and ethnicity of the characters in Asian American literature depends on flexibility and diversity of the texts and the themes. The coming of age experience in Asian American Literature depicts pan ethnic entrepreneurship and father's story telling techniques as part of the narration in the novels and stories. The racial identity and economic inequality are focal points in the story telling techniques of Asian American literature. As the Asian American intellectual classes have been defined as academics, artists and activists, the cultural production finds its base in economic world. The above-mentioned economic world includes the symbolic capital that we invest with value that is capable of generating economic returns. However, the racial identity as the resistance to capitalist exploitation is explicit in most of the Asian American Literature like that of Donald Duk as well as 'Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers'(Nguyen, Viet, 2002). As a prelude to analysis of coming of age experiences in Donald Duk, it is necessary to focus on the points that rise the points of identity in Asian American youth. According to Ho Jennifer Ann (2005), the focus is on four distinct modes of identification. They are historic pride, consumerism, mourning and fusion. The Donald Duk and Wild meat and Bully Burgers express cultural legacies with alternative ethnic affiliations in Asian American youth. The author opines that the food of Chinese Americans who helped in developmental activities in US differ from the American Society in terms of nature and color as Donald Duk tries to identify him in American society. The necessity for Asian Americans to identify themselves in American Society makes them to adopt local food and culture. However, the natural aversion towards them and lack of historic cultural support for their aversion makes them confused and they tend to establish themselves as a reflection of a celebrity. The above traits can be observed in Donald Duk character and his father King Duk guides him towards an open minded attitude that helps in being identified in American Society. Another important aspect identified by Jennifer Ann is the tension in Asian Americans regarding their physical appearance. Though, Donald Duk expresses the above trait in his mentality that is better expressed in Lovey character of novel 'Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers'. She lounges for blonde and Caucasian appearance and her father convinces her to be realistic and open minded in her behavior with her friends and colleagues. The differences between food of Asians and Americans also play a major role in struggle for identification of Lovey. The author of Wild Meat and Bully Burgers delineates the consumption habits of Lovey and offers correction by pointing out to her Hawaiian culture. In both the cases, the characters are adolescents, who are most vulnerable to the cultural as well as food differences and appearance that giv e identity (Ho, Jennifer Ann, 2005). The problems of identity and mingling in the American society are well depicted in Frank Chin's

Gender differences in communicating relationship expectations Research Paper

Gender differences in communicating relationship expectations (interpersonal communication) - Research Paper Example When we communicate with other people, we do not just say words but we say it with different tone of voice and sometimes, actions. This is what interpersonal communication is all about. With just a different tone of voice, the meaning differs. Our facial expression also is an important factor in the interpersonal communication. How we look in conversing with others will mean differently. Our gestures as well as our body language also affect our communication with others. Because of gestures, the other person might understand what we mean in a different way. It is very important that we study the aspects of interpersonal communication because we surely want to convey the message the way we want to be understood. Since everyday of our lives, we communicate, we have to communicate effectively and efficiently. The first principle of interpersonal communication is it being inescapable (King, 2000). A person cannot â€Å"not† communicate. We cannot escape from communication even if we try to. Though we might not talk or use words to converse to others, our gestures, facial expression may do it for us. We must always remember that people cannot read our minds, thus whatever we put in words or show in our body language, will be understood as such by our receivers. It is our behaviour that is understood by people (King, 2000). Interpersonal communication is irreversible (King, 2000). We cannot take back something what we already said. For example, because of our anger, we might burst out words we really do not mean to say to someone. But we know that these words are really not meant to hurt the person we are talking to, but the words already pained the other person. Even if we wanted to take back everything that we have said, the hurt and pain it has caused will not be taken away from that person. The third principle is interpersonal communication being complicated (King, 2000). According to King (2000), theorists

Are Liberty and Equality Compatible?

Are Liberty and Equality Compatible? Reconciling Liberty and Equality There seems to be an endless debate amongst different philosophers in different political traditions on whether or not the concepts of liberty and equality are reconcilable. Some argues that the two go together and therefore are indistinguishable while others conversely maintain that they are incompatible. In modern democratic societies, the two principles need to be reconciled as they both seem to have a common end of developing the capacity of an individual. The concepts of liberty and equality seem to be in conflict due to the fact that they are derived from two opposite ideologies which are liberalism and socialism. However, a common argument is that the preservation of negative liberty requires positive action on the part of the state or society to prevent some individuals from taking away the liberty of others (Berlin, 1958). Political scientist Max Dalton clearly argued that liberty and equality are compatible. In his article titled; â€Å"Are liberty and equality compatible?† he says that when well reconciled, they support a capitalist state with some re-distributive measures (Dalton, 2014). However, inorder to reconcile the two concepts, we need to define the two terms on the outset. What is liberty? Liberty is derived from liberalism which believes in individualism. The term liberty narrowly means freedom, free will or permissive. The doctrine of liberalism stresses that an individual has got the right to live according to his or her wishes provided that such rights do not infringe on the overall good of the community. A liberal believer does not permit the state to constrain the freedom of an individual (Democracy Consolidation Programe, 2004). Liberty is contested concept. Different scholars have defined the term liberty differently. Mill, (1993) defined the term in a negative aspect as the freedom to act and he also defined it in a negative sense as the absence of coercion. Sir Robert Firmer defined liberty as the freedom to do what one likes, to live as one wishes and not to be tied to laws. In general liberty in a negative sense, also known as classical liberalism, means freedom of an individual from outside compulsion or coercion. In this sense, libertaria ns like Nozick, (1974) argues that any form of interference, either by a coercive authority, any other person or by oneself in form of ‘self-mastery’, ‘self-determination’, ‘self-realization’ or ‘self-compulsion’, is an encroachment in an individual’s space of freedom. Liberalism suggests that people need to be left alone to act on free will and to take responsibility for their actions. It further suggests that a man need to be given a realm of freedom without interference. Professor Isaiah Berlin said Liberty in the negative sense involves an answer to the question â€Å"What is the area within which the subject—a person or group of persons—is or should be left to do or be what he is able to do or be, without interference by other persons . In this sense, negative liberty seems to be a form of rejection of any supreme power or authority. On the extreme, the concept may be identified with a state of lawlessnes s. According to Johari, (2004) the negative view of liberty is not appreciated in the present time. Johari said that this is so because the liberty of an individual is relative to that of others because and man’s action need to be viewed as both self-regarding and other people regarding. On the contrary, positive liberty, also known as social liberalism, places emphasis on social structures and is related to egalitarianism. In the positive sense, social liberalism asserts that an individual need to be protected from tyranny and the arbitrary exercise of power. In this facet, social liberalism favors for the establishment of a social structure in a form of a minimal state that will be able to provide the necessary protection of the individual’s rights. T. H. Green as quoted by (Johari, 2004) defined positive liberty as the power to of doing or enjoying something that is worth doing or enjoying in relation with others. Johari (2004) contend that since man is a social creature, his life should be regulated by certain social bonds. This entails that liberty in its negative view favours lack of restraint of an individual while in its positive view, it permits the existence of a social system that exercises reasonable restraint of individual’s actions inorder to ensure that noone is allowed to enfringe on someone’s liberty. Equality is derived from socialism, an ideology which believes in equality of all individuals. It stresses that all people are equal and therefore someone should not necessarily get too much at the expense of others (Democracy Consolidation Programe, 2004). In socialism, mutual interest and common good is the main principle of organizing the economy. Self-interest and too much individual accumulation of wealth result in depriving others which in turn creates inequalities. Redistribution of wealth for the sake of common good is one key element of socialism (Democracy Consolidation Programe, 2004). Equality has narrowly been defined as the fact of being equal or the fact of having the same value. Johari, (2004) explains that equality means â€Å"equal conditions guaranteed to each for making the best of themselves†. In political science, the term usually means the equal treatment of people irrespective of social or cultural difference and it takes myriad forms such as social equ ality, economic equality, formal equality, legal equality, moral equality, international equality etc. These forms have been categorized into two main types which are namely positive equality and negative equality. Equality in the form of social equality is referred to as the absence of class or caste boundaries and the absence of discrimination motivated by an inalienable part of a person’s identity i.e. gender, race, age, sexual orientation, origin, caste or class, income or property, language, religion convictions, opinions, health or disability that may result in unequal treatment. In the egalitarian doctrine, equality is referred to as a condition in which all humans are equal in fundamental worth or social status should be treated equally in politics and economics cycles. It advocates for the removal of all economic inequality among people and this is considered to be the classical concept of socialists. Rawls, (1972) illustrates this notion in his Egalitarian theory of Justice where he notes that cooperation under the state is manifested in the sharing of ‘benefits’ and ‘burdens’. He further argues that if individuals acquire wealth at the expense of others, then they shall suffer the burden of having part of their wealth taken by the worst-off. Equality, may also take another form popularly known as equality before the law or legal egalitarian, which entails that all persons are entitled to equal treatment before the law. In a positive sense, equality means the provision of adequate opportunities for all (Johari, 2004). Johari further describes positive equality as not simply meaning identical treatment for all since men differ in their need and capacities for their self-development. However, scholars have argued that the provision of adequate opportunity, does not mean equal treatment for all. Equality in its negative sense is referred to the non-discrimination on the ground of religion, caste, wealth, creed, domicile, descent, sex and the like (Johari, 2004). But how can the two terms be reconcile in modern society? The fact that the two concepts are different in principle has been clearly eluded to. But however the two concepts shares some form of similarities as they have common foundations due to the fact that they all recognize that all members within the society are free and equal. Scholars have also argued that the two concept provide egalitarian guidance on controversial questions about the distribution of social and economic resources. On the positive sense, social liberty takes the form of egalitarianism as it places emphasis on the establishment of a social structure such as a state that is able to regulate the actions of an individual so that he or she does not hamper other people’s rights and freedoms. In this sense, the two are perceived to be compactible and inseparable. This is so because positive liberties fully appreciate the need of restraining an individual for the sake of public good as they are perceive as both self-regarding and other people regarding. In this aspect, the desire to have equality, just like the desire to enjoy negative liberties cannot be utilized without a positive state or social structure that would restrain the individual from infringing other person’s liberties. Therefore, the notion that liberty implies that man need to be given total freedom may not be true in our modern society. This fact agrees with the real definition of liberty given by Johari (2004) who conten ded that libery is not supposed to be identified with the absence of restraints and limitation. The desire to enjoy equality destroys the possibility of having full liberties while the exercise of full liberty may degenerate into licese and equality without liberty lapses into uniformity. Liberty is superior to equality because equality serves under liberty. According to Prof. Barker Equality in all its forms, must always be subject and instrumental to the free development of capacity; but if it be pressed to the length of uniformity; if uniformity be made to thwart the free development of capacity, the subject becomes the master, and the world is turned topsy-turvy (DasGupta, 2014). The development of a rich society requires a large measure of liberty and outlaws all attempts to enforce a dead level of social and economic equality. Liberty builds a united society but equality assesses the social hierarchy and contributes towards the stability of the community. Therefore liberty would be dull without some measure of equality and equality would be meaningless without liberty. A quick look at most of the democratic constitutions of the world and many international human rights instruments will review that both liberty and equality have been incorporated and this speaks volume to the fact that the two concepts have a common aim- and that is to develop an individual and to make life worth-living. Therefore, liberty without equality results in license – acts beyond one’s rights to abuse the rights of others; and equality without liberty is dull. Bibliography Berlin, I. (1958). Two Concepts of Liberty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dalton, M. (2014, May 1). Are liberty and equality compatible? . Retrieved from Oriel Web Site: http://www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Max Dalton Lloyd Davies Philosophy prize Liberty.pdf DasGupta, R. (2014, May 21). Retrieved from Preserve Articles Web Site: http://www.preservearticles.com/201104265965/notes-on-the-relationship-between-equality-and-liberty.html Democracy Consolidation Programe. (2004). Building an Informewd Nation. Lilongwe: Montifort Media. Johari, J. (2004). Principles of Modern Political Science. New Dehli: Sterling Publishers. Mill, J. S. (1993). On Liberty and Utilitarianism (2nd ed.). New York: Bantam Books. Nozick, R. (1974). Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic Books. Rawls, J. (1972). A Theory of Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wiktionary. (2014, May 15). Wiktionary The Free on Line Dictionary. Retrieved from equality: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/equality Jean Valjean | Les Misà ©rables | Character Analysis Jean Valjean | Les Misà ©rables | Character Analysis The character I have chosen for study from Bille Augusts film, Les Misà ©rables, is Jean Valjean. As the main protagonist of the story, Valjean starts out as an ex-convict who went to prison for stealing bread, but after an encounter with a kind bishop, he makes important changes in his life. Jean Valjean went through many psychological changes throughout the movie Les Misà ©rables which molded him into a better person because of the mercy that was extended to him by the Bishop of Digne at a time when Valjean was least deserving of it; from that point on, he became a morally upright citizen who showed compassion and mercy on others. Throughout the movie, Les Misà ©rables, Jean Valjean goes through many distinct life-changing phases that permit him to grow from a loathsome of a man to a honorable man. Jean Valjeans first psychological alteration took place during his nineteen years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread. He went in as a wholesome and straightforward man, but came out of jail showing hatred and scorn to society. While in prison, Valjean endured abuse and, in turn, dedicated himself to defeating related mistreatment in society. Because of cruelty shown to him there, Valjean discovered a new level of physical strength and, more-so, a new emotional concentration through his newly found cause of social justice. Whether Valjean knew it or not, he was about to undergo another big psychological transformation that would change his life forever. The Bishop of Digne played a huge role in the psychological change of Jean Valjean, even though he was only in the film for the first couple minutes of the movie. Right off the bat, the humble bishop shows Jean something that he hasnt experienced in a couple decades; the power of love and respect. When the bishop saved him from the authorities after escaping from prison, Valjean came to deeply respect his great kindness and assistanceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦so we thought. While the bishop and his wife are sleeping, Valjean, still stuck in his ruthless ways, starts stealing all of their silver utensils. At this point all I could think was, how could he do this to such a nice family who gave him a place to stay? But it gets crazier. The bishop hears the ruckus going on, so he goes to check it out only to find Jean Valjean stealing from him. Valjean ends up punching the bishop in the face, knocking him on the ground, unable to move as Valjean escapes. The next day, the police force caught Valjea n with all the silver he had stolen, and brought him back to the bishops house; this was the turning point in Valjean. The bishop shows an act of mercy on Valjean by telling the authorities that Jean didnt steal any of that stuff, but he just simply gave it to him. This catches Valjean totally off guard; he doesnt understand why the bishop would do this, so he questions him on why he saved him. The bishop responds by telling him something that would change his future forever: And dont forgetdont ever forget, youve promised to become a new man. You no longer belong to evil. With this silver, Ive bought your soul. Ive ransomed you from fear and hatred. And now I give you back to God. It was then when Valjean finally saw the brute, vile of a man he was, and the honorable, self-giving man he could become if he puts the bishops moral fiber into action. As nine years elapsed, Valjean was compelled towards a life of integrity, and consequently, he became a respected leader and prosperous businessman. After the city of Vigau bankrupted five years prior, Valjean decided to buy and refurbish the citys brick factory. At the time of the purchase, Valjean had been named mayor of the city. Obviously Valjean wanted to make something of himself, and also wanted to help others make something of their own lives by buying, running, and offering jobs at the factory to the people of the town. This is the first, of many, psychological changes we see in Valjean since the promise he made with the bishop. Additional evidence that further supports his transformation comes in the subsequent scene where Javert and Captain Beauvais are walking through Valjeans factory. Javert asks the question, The men and women work separately? Captain Beauvais answers, Yes. Monsieur le maire redesigned the factory in order to keep the sexes apart. He cares about honest working women and wants to protect their virtue. Valjean had a high regard for women workers despite the fact that many men did not value woman as important parts in society. He says, I dont want our ladies to be exposed to corruption. This is another moral transformation that Valjean has gone through. There have been a plethora of characteristics that Valjean has adopted over the years. Another trait he embraces is compassion. Fantine, a worker in his factory who had to turn to prostitution to support her daughter after being fired without Valjeans consent, was treated dissipatedly by men of the city and subsequently unjustly accused by Javert as he sentenced Fantine to six months in prison. When Valjean heard about this, he took time out of his night to make his way down to the police station to take care of the situation and set things straight. Not only does Jean set her free from jail, but he takes her into his home, just as the bishop had done for him, to care for her while she was very sick. He also paid to get Fantines daughter, Cosette, to be sent up to stay with him and Fantine. But before Fantine gets to see her daughter, she passes away from sickness. Valjean shows a further act of compassion by adopting Cosette and caring for her in place of her mother. These were just a few actions which demonstrated Valjeans newfound mannerism of compassion, and yet another psychological alteration in Jean. And yet Jean Valjean was still ready for more change. One day Valjean learned that a man named Jean Valjean had been found guilty of a crime. He knew that this couldnt be true because his name was Jean Valjean. After wrestling with his conscience, he decided to attend the court case where he revealed that he was the real Jean Valjean, thus releasing the indicted. Valjean says to the judge, I am the man you want. I am Jean Valjean. I wish I could keep my mouth shut and let this poor wretch suffer for me, but continue with the investigation monsieur. You will find further proof that I am Valjean. This was a huge decision that he made, since the authorities learn that he is an escape convict; forcing Valjean to, once again, to be an absconder from the law. This means that he would have to relinquish all the things that he had accomplished in his professional life, but by acceding to a standard of psychological integrity, by doing what is right and true, Valjean made one of the most affe cting psychological changes in his life. Sacrifice, what is it? According Websters New Collegiate Dictionary sacrifice is defined as, The surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim. The ultimate sacrifice is shown towards the end of the movie which shows Valjeans true character. After several years of running from Javert and the law, Valjean find himself in an intriguing situation. Valjean has Javert, who has been trying to end his life ever since he was in jail, with his hands tied, a gun to his head, and a chance for him to finally end his life. What does he do? He simply lets him go. Valjean spares Javerts life for some very straightforward, but touching reasons. Valjean is nothing like Javert. He does not embrace the same abhorrence or the desire to win like Javert does. Jeans simply wants to live in peace. This audacious decision by Valjean exemplifies how far Jean has come since the beginning of the film. Just as the bishop s howed mercy on Valjean, he also demonstrated that same act of mercy on Javert; even when he least deserved it. Even today, peoples perspectives on life are changed for the better when theyve been shown acts of love, compassion, and mercy. This is depicted in Les Misà ©rables as Jean Valjean goes through many psychological changes which shape him into, literally, a totally different person for the good. He was extended mercy when he least deserved it, and in-turn, became a morally upright citizen who showed compassion and mercy on others. I hope that through this paper youve been inspired to overcome obstacles and hard times in your own lives and are able to use your difficulties to mold you into a better person.

Athens VS Sparta Essay

Athens and Sparta were two of the greatest Greek city states ever. Not only do these two cities have many differences but they also have some things in common too. But only one could be the best, was it Sparta or Athens? Many people think that Sparta and Athens were completely different, but this is not true, they had many similarities. To start off they were both two of the most powerful and important city states in ancient Greece. Sparta with it amazing army and Athens cultural legacy, they both set the stage for the history of ancient Greece. These two cities’ also had very strict social classes, for example in both city’s wealthy land owners were the top class and slaves were the bottom class. Sparta and Athens were both strong in certain militaristic areas. Athens had very powerful Navy, while Sparta had one of the best Army’s in ancient times. Lastly, both belonged to leagues of allies. Sparta belonged to the Peloponnesian league and Athens belonged to the Delian League. Although Athens and Sparta have things in common they were more different than they were alike. For example the lives of the Spartans revolved around war, preparing for war, educating their kids for war and conquering other countries during war. While Athens had other priorities, like culture, art, education and unification. Spartan children were only educated in the art of battle and taught how to fight, while Athenian children were educated in math, music, poetry and sports. Spartan women also had more rights than Athenian women. Women in Athens were not allowed to leave their homes or participate in any events; they were considered property of their husbands and were responsible for the household duties. On the other hand Spartan women were educated in reading and writing, could participate in sports, own their own land and were treated more as equals. Sparta was one of the first places in the world to start women’s rights. The governments in these two city states were also very different. In Athens there was a direct democracy, meaning all the male citizens of Athens could vote on the laws being passed. Athens believed that all citizens should be included in government decisions and tried to unite the people. Sparta though, had an Oligarchy which was ruled by 2 kings who were usually in command of the armies. Lastly, the cultures of Athens and Sparta were very different. Athens was a united beautiful city full of art, architecture, literature, philosophy, science, medicine and they enjoyed a variety of luxurious foods in their diets. Although, Sparta on the other hand was not very unified, extremely military based and the people didn’t enjoy many luxuries for example the Spartan diet mainly consisted of pork, blood, salt and vinegar. Athens and Sparta were both wonderful cities but only one could be the best, and that was Athens. Athens was the better city in pretty much all aspects of life. The people prospered in Athens they enjoyed fine dining and art, unlike those in Sparta. Athens focused on so much more than just war; this is why Athens was the city that had some of the best cultural achievements in ancient society. They made beautiful art, medical advancements and were one of the first democratic governments, paving the way for countries today like the USA. Athens was cleaner, nicer and prettier which would have made it a much more enjoyable place to live. Athens may not have had as good of an army as Sparta but in the end cultural and society advancements are more important than having the best army in the world. All these reasons and more just shows how much better Athens is than Sparta. Two of the most powerful cities’ in the ancient times, Sparta and Athens were alike and different. They were both unique in different ways and each thrived in different areas. But in the end, it is an obvious choice that Athens was clearly the better Greek City State.

Difference Between Quote and Quotation

Often the words quote and quotation are used interchangeably. Quote is a verb and quotation is a noun. As A. A. Milne put it in a humorous note: A quotation is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself, always a laborious business.According to the  Oxford Dictionary, the word quotation  is defined as, A group of words taken from a text or speech and repeated by someone other than the original author or speaker. The word quote  means to repeat the exact words of another with the acknowledgement of the source. In Ralph Waldo Emersons words,   Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.Going Back to Roots:  Origin of the Words Quotation and Quote The origin of the word quote goes back to Medieval English, sometime around 1387. The word quote is a derivation of the Latin word quotare, which means to mark a book with numbers of chapters for reference. According to  Sol Steinmetz, author of the book, Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning, 200 years or so later, the meaning of the word quotation  was expanded to include the meaning, to copy out or repeat a passage from a book or author. One of the most frequently quoted American personalities is Abraham Lincoln. His words have proved to be a source of inspiration and wisdom. In one of his many famous writings, he wrote, It is a pleasure to be able to quote lines to fit any occasion.Humorist Steven Wright also had something to say about quotes. He mused, Sometimes I wish my first word was quote, so that on my death bed, my last words could be end quote.The most striking example of use of the word quote in a quote is that of  Robert Benchley. He said, and I quote, The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him.By 1618, the word quotation came about to mean a passage or text copied out or repeated from a book or author. So, the word  quotation  is a phrase or a sentence from a book or a speech that reflects the authors profound thoughts. In 1869, the word quotes was used to refer to the quotation marks () that are a part of English punctuation. Single or Double Quotation Marks to Punctuate the Quotations If these little quotations marks have caused you great anxiety, fret not. These little curvy creatures that adorn your text when you cite a quotation dont have rigid rules. Americans and Canadians are accustomed to using the double quotations marks ( ) to denote cited text. And if you have a quotation within a quotation, you can use single quotation marks ( ) to mark the specific word or phrase that needs to be highlighted. Here is an example of a quotation. This is a text cited from Abraham Lincolns Lyceum Address: The question recurs, how shall we fortify against it? The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. In this quote, you see that double quotation marks were used at the ends of the paraphrase, and single quotation marks were used to highlight certain words of the text. In the case of British English, the rule is reversed. The Brits prefer to have single quotation marks on the outer ends, while they use double quotation marks to denote a quotation within a quotation. Here is an example of the British style of punctuating quotes. And who better than the Queen of England whose quote can be used to explain the Queens English? Heres a quote from Queen Elizabeth I: I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too. Quoth: A Word From Old English That Was Lost in the Sands of Time Interestingly, another word that is used for quotation in Old English is the word quoth. This was a popular archaic English used by Edgar Allen Poe in his poem, in which he uses the phrase, Quoth the raven â€Å"Nevermore.Much before Poes time, the word quoth was liberally used in Shakespeares plays. In the play As You Like It, Scene VII, Jaques says, Good morrow, fool,’ quoth I. ‘ No, sir,’ quoth he.The English language saw a tectonic shift over centuries. Old English paved the way for new lexicon. New words were inducted from other dialects, other than Scandinavian, Latin, and French words. Also, the shift in sociopolitical climate in the 18th and 19th centuries contributed to the gradual decline of old English words. So, words like quoth ended up in the dusty corners of old dictionaries, never to see daylight, except in the reproductions of classic English literature. How Quotation Came to Mean the Same as Quote We see that over a period of time, more specifically by the end of 19th century, the word quotation gradually made way for its contracted version. The word quote, being concise, short, and spiffy became the favored word over its elaborate and formal precedent quotation. English scholars and puritans would still prefer to go by the word quotation rather than the word quote, but in the informal setting, the word quote is the preferred choice. Which One Should You Use? Quote or Quotation? If you are in the august presence of distinguished members who mind their Ps and Qs in far greater depth than you would envisage, make sure to use the word quotation ​when you are citing some text. However, you dont have to fret over this one. With the prolific use of quote instead of quotation in many online and offline resources, you are safe to use the words interchangeably. The grammar police will not hound you for being indiscriminate.