harlow once again
And so once again I’m up in the air, signaling an end to the quarter that has gone by. (And now I’m wondering if my parents know that I’m travelling. Well, you’re now informed.) It was an incredibly fast 10 weeks, hit the ground running when school started and things just went on from there. Haven’t had time to record down my thoughts, which was what this is for. So this would be a potentially long entry, depending on what I have to say (and once again, you’re not obliged to read it all). Oh, and don’t count on any regular updates for the next year either.
Grad classes
Was taking 3 grad classes this quarter, which was definitely a lot more than I could afford to bite off. Algebra, Topology, Price Theory. Topology was completely brand new, I really should have taken the undergrad course beforehand, to have gotten exposure to the ideas and such. Still, I think it went fine overall, along with all the weekends of bunkering down and attempting to understand what was being taught. Didn’t really like the way Farb was presenting his arguments without much solid proofs, and am not all that sure that I understand the ideas of homology, cohomology and homotopy. The last two in particular are still quite shaky, but I think I managed to apply them somewhat successfully in the final. I’m glad for getting to know these ideas, having heard of them from Jonathon and Lucas, and seeing them fleshed out in greater detail. What are its applications you may ask? Well, one never knows. There would certainly be possibilities in game theory.
Algebra with Ginzburg was slightly better, but only because some of the material was covered by Nori earlier. Seeing representation theory, Classification of PID, Jordan normal form, Wedderburn theory, etc, once again was good. Which reminds me, I need to get my notes back from Sue at some point in time. The homework sets were a good test of understanding and application, and working with the group of undergrads certainly helped me. Though, I would always prefer to have a better understanding of algebra, and my concepts of it are still but mere grasps of straw. Made some really careless mistakes on the final, but oh well.
Price Theory certainly suffered the most. It was well taught by Gary Becker and Kevin Murphy, in terms of modeling of economics and seeing various ideas come together in some coherent framework. But as algebra homework was due on the same day as Price Theory, it often ended up that price theory was neglected to deal with algebra, or interviews. In the end, I took it for a Reading grade, also because I didn’t have time to prepare for the final.
Thesis
Something else that I might not have the time for. Sigh. I actually do want to carry out the experiment to see the results. I might just do it, but then not complete the thesis. Though actually, there isn’t much to it, but just carrying out the experiment. Will see how that goes. I’m really undecided on this, really really want to see it through. In other news, Ali has my penultimate draft, which he’d look through before we email it to Crawford for a reply. After one iteration, we’d look at which possible journals to submit it to. Will see how it goes, failing which I have a thesis paper more or less written up.
Knowing myself
The closing of a chapter of my life only leads to the opening of another door. My exploits in competition mathematics is almost certainly over, definitely for the position of a participant, with the Putnam last Saturday. Did the best that I could have on it, and am very happy with how things turned out. With any luck, I’d be able to pick up $250 again, though it was a somewhat easier year and cutoffs are going to be higher. Then again, it’s not like I really care. I’m glad for the experience and exposure that I’ve had been given, which has so dramatically changed my life. I’ve waxed lyrical about the professors, my teammates, the IMO experience, my brats, the questions, the techniques, the ideas. I actually went to the extent of sharing my favorite homotethy question (the title of this site) with one of the Optiver interviewers (and yes, I had prepared to talk about it beforehand)
I’m really glad for the bunch of friends that I’ve found here. I will certainly miss them when we graduate, though I’d be rooming with Sibo next year. The river of life has its tributaries and distributaries, people that come in and out of my life, leaving indelible footprints in my heart. I’m happy I finally made it down for dinner on 10th week Tuesday, though I was really tired out and hiding my tension under the table. All things have their time, and I think it’s a good time. Right now, my future is so uncertain (but certainly bright and unlimited). I think I’d take Weiwei’s suggestion of relaxing control for the moment and falling. It’s scary, like a roller coaster, but also exhilarating.
On a sadder note, this entry would not be complete without a paragraph about Wei Ren. I remember a conversation at the end of spring quarter last year, where we were talking about graduation plans, work opprortunities, student loans, life. I’d certainly miss seeing him on the East bus, or even in the halls of Eckhart. I’d like to thank H for helping me work/talk through this.
Wicked is going to end its Chicago leg in a month or so. I might drag myself down to watch it over winter break, awaiting the lottery tickets. Here’s a slight tribute to it:
GALINDA:
What is this feeling,
So sudden and new?
ELPHABA:
I felt the moment
I laid eyes on you;
GALINDA:
My pulse is rushing;
ELPHABA:
My head is reeling;
GALINDA:
My face is flushing;
BOTH:
What is this feeling?
Fervid as a flame,
Does it have a name?
Yes! Loathing
Unadulterated loathing
Grad classes
Was taking 3 grad classes this quarter, which was definitely a lot more than I could afford to bite off. Algebra, Topology, Price Theory. Topology was completely brand new, I really should have taken the undergrad course beforehand, to have gotten exposure to the ideas and such. Still, I think it went fine overall, along with all the weekends of bunkering down and attempting to understand what was being taught. Didn’t really like the way Farb was presenting his arguments without much solid proofs, and am not all that sure that I understand the ideas of homology, cohomology and homotopy. The last two in particular are still quite shaky, but I think I managed to apply them somewhat successfully in the final. I’m glad for getting to know these ideas, having heard of them from Jonathon and Lucas, and seeing them fleshed out in greater detail. What are its applications you may ask? Well, one never knows. There would certainly be possibilities in game theory.
Algebra with Ginzburg was slightly better, but only because some of the material was covered by Nori earlier. Seeing representation theory, Classification of PID, Jordan normal form, Wedderburn theory, etc, once again was good. Which reminds me, I need to get my notes back from Sue at some point in time. The homework sets were a good test of understanding and application, and working with the group of undergrads certainly helped me. Though, I would always prefer to have a better understanding of algebra, and my concepts of it are still but mere grasps of straw. Made some really careless mistakes on the final, but oh well.
Price Theory certainly suffered the most. It was well taught by Gary Becker and Kevin Murphy, in terms of modeling of economics and seeing various ideas come together in some coherent framework. But as algebra homework was due on the same day as Price Theory, it often ended up that price theory was neglected to deal with algebra, or interviews. In the end, I took it for a Reading grade, also because I didn’t have time to prepare for the final.
Thesis
Something else that I might not have the time for. Sigh. I actually do want to carry out the experiment to see the results. I might just do it, but then not complete the thesis. Though actually, there isn’t much to it, but just carrying out the experiment. Will see how that goes. I’m really undecided on this, really really want to see it through. In other news, Ali has my penultimate draft, which he’d look through before we email it to Crawford for a reply. After one iteration, we’d look at which possible journals to submit it to. Will see how it goes, failing which I have a thesis paper more or less written up.
Knowing myself
The closing of a chapter of my life only leads to the opening of another door. My exploits in competition mathematics is almost certainly over, definitely for the position of a participant, with the Putnam last Saturday. Did the best that I could have on it, and am very happy with how things turned out. With any luck, I’d be able to pick up $250 again, though it was a somewhat easier year and cutoffs are going to be higher. Then again, it’s not like I really care. I’m glad for the experience and exposure that I’ve had been given, which has so dramatically changed my life. I’ve waxed lyrical about the professors, my teammates, the IMO experience, my brats, the questions, the techniques, the ideas. I actually went to the extent of sharing my favorite homotethy question (the title of this site) with one of the Optiver interviewers (and yes, I had prepared to talk about it beforehand)
I’m really glad for the bunch of friends that I’ve found here. I will certainly miss them when we graduate, though I’d be rooming with Sibo next year. The river of life has its tributaries and distributaries, people that come in and out of my life, leaving indelible footprints in my heart. I’m happy I finally made it down for dinner on 10th week Tuesday, though I was really tired out and hiding my tension under the table. All things have their time, and I think it’s a good time. Right now, my future is so uncertain (but certainly bright and unlimited). I think I’d take Weiwei’s suggestion of relaxing control for the moment and falling. It’s scary, like a roller coaster, but also exhilarating.
On a sadder note, this entry would not be complete without a paragraph about Wei Ren. I remember a conversation at the end of spring quarter last year, where we were talking about graduation plans, work opprortunities, student loans, life. I’d certainly miss seeing him on the East bus, or even in the halls of Eckhart. I’d like to thank H for helping me work/talk through this.
Wicked is going to end its Chicago leg in a month or so. I might drag myself down to watch it over winter break, awaiting the lottery tickets. Here’s a slight tribute to it:
GALINDA:
What is this feeling,
So sudden and new?
ELPHABA:
I felt the moment
I laid eyes on you;
GALINDA:
My pulse is rushing;
ELPHABA:
My head is reeling;
GALINDA:
My face is flushing;
BOTH:
What is this feeling?
Fervid as a flame,
Does it have a name?
Yes! Loathing
Unadulterated loathing
posted by calvinlinzw at
10:15 PM
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