We returned from presenting at the Kentucky chapter of the Mathematical Association of America on Saturday. It was a really interesting weekend, with many informative presentations given by faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers. My group’s presentation the research we’d done for the COMAP competition went well; it was attended by about 25 conference attendees.
There were two keynote addresses which we attended. The first was about the Truth of Proofs. The speaker contended that real progress in mathematics is made when a theory is proved false, or a counter-example is given for a theory previously thought correct. Mathematicians should not lose heart when this occurs because this is in reality an opportunity to delve deeper into the subject at hand and understand the nuances of the theorem.
The second keynote address dealt with cryptology, specifically withe the Allied attack of the German ENIGMA cypher during World War II. It was especially interesting for me, since I’m hoping to land a research internship in the field of cryptology for the summer.
» Published by Ted on March 30th, 2008
So, spring break was everything I hoped it would be. I studied a whole lot, got ready for my next round of tests, which is Monday, slept a whole lot, and hung out with a couple good friends. I missed out on ATL, but staying home was what I needed to do. So I’m pretty happy about it. It was good while it lasted, but I think I’m ready to hit the books again…
We leave tomorrow at nine for KYMAA (that would be Kentucky Chapter for the Mathematical Association of America…I’m guess at that acutally, I’ve been so confused by the acronyms for this whole competition; I still don’t know what CoMAP means…) It should be a lot of fun, we’ll be presenting our model of health care systems.
I talked to Dr. Coulliette yesterday about my schedule for next semester and ones after. I’m gonna have a pretty busy next four semesters. I didn’t know that Physics I & II were both 5 credit classes, which meet every day. It’s not so bad though, because one of those days is lab, and the other is recitation, where we can get help or just do homework, etc. But I’m kind of bummed that I wouldn’t get C++ in until my senior year; everyone tells me how bad that class is, but I’m kind of looking forward to it.
» Published by Ted on March 27th, 2008
