Tuesday, November 9, 2010

What are you going to do?

So when I tell people I'm getting a master's degree in math, the typical response is something along the lines of "What are you going to do with that? Teach?" as if that is the only possible option.

Now I have no personal problem with teaching, in fact that IS what I would like to do with the degree I earn. The world is in dire need of good math teachers who understand the subject, and I think myself a good candidate for the position. But I didn't really go into math so that I could be a teacher. I could have gone into economics or history to do that. Why can't a person just do something like math strictly because they like the subject?

It is almost as if the person is asking the question "What do you want to do when you grow up?" Remember when you got asked that? My answer --at least to myself-- was usually something along the lines of "Why can't I keep doing what I am doing?" and that applies to what I am doing now. I want to go on learning everything I can, focusing on math in particular, and then share it with those who want to know more themselves.

Maybe one day I might say to myself "Well self, that was fun, but what next?" and if that day comes, then I'll deal with it then. I'm sure I can find a decent profession with the background I have. But until then (and I am perfectly fine if "then" is not in my lifetime) I say keep on doing what I love for a profession. Learn more about math and share it with others.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Memories...

This was a random post from an old blog:

Okay so this is a little ostentatious for a first post, but this is a conversation my brother and I had a few nights ago. It's amazing the solutions nerds come up with for politics.....


It's a little long, but I SWEAR that it is all relevant. At least in my mind. If you really want the punch line though you should skip to the end. That is the fun part. The rest is just a foray through my mind... be careful. ^^

THE FOLLOWING CONVERSATION TOOK PLACE BETWEEN 11:02pm AND 11:25pm SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2008:

[22:02] sythuthan: know why i don't wanna come to utah?
[22:02] acetylene302000: Y?
[22:02] sythuthan: the US sucks, i say we go somewhere else
[22:02] acetylene302000: Japan?
[22:02] sythuthan: The median download speed for the nation (USA) was 2.3 megabits per second (mbps). In Japan, the median download speed is 63 mbps, or 30 times faster than the U.S. The U.S. also trails South Korea at 49 mbps, Finland at 21 mbps, France at 17 mbps, and Canada at 7.6 mbps
[22:02] sythuthan: just canada would be fine
[22:03] acetylene302000: well japan would r0xorz
[22:03] sythuthan: heh
[22:04] sythuthan: The median upload speed from the speedmatters.org test was just 435 kilobits per second (kbps),
[22:04] sythuthan: between 2007 and 2008, the median download speed increased by only four-tenths of a megabit per second (from 1.9 mbps to 2.3 mbps), and the median upload speed barely changed (from 371 to 435 kbps). At this rate, it will take the United States more than 100 years to catch up with current Internet speeds in Japan.
[22:05] acetylene302000: sad. we need people causing ID10T eroors like stevens gone from politics.
[22:05] sythuthan: yeah.... =\
[22:07] sythuthan: I think far too much of our government is focused outside of the US, on how the rest of the world views us and what impact we can have there
[22:07] acetylene302000: I think so too, but i am mildly disillusion with our whole system.
[22:08] sythuthan: i'd really like someone who can turn the government around and force them to work for us, help our economy and change the way things work
[22:08] acetylene302000: ya, but the democrats are too liberal and the republicans are too anti govt, in general.
[22:09] sythuthan: hmmm
[22:09] sythuthan: pizza i think
[22:09] acetylene302000: current candidates are ok, but they still have too much of that old system in them
[22:09] sythuthan: brb
[22:09] acetylene302000: pizza would do it!!
[22:09] acetylene302000: kk
[22:10] sythuthan: know who i wanna blame?
[22:10] sythuthan: the lobbyists
[22:11] acetylene302000: NO more LObbies !!!
[22:11] acetylene302000: I'll start the anti lobby lobby if you 'll help....
[22:11] sythuthan: =O
[22:11] sythuthan: sounds like a plan
[22:13] sythuthan: i don't know how someone is supposed to make any difference in government when they have to worry about appeasing lobbies so they can get re-elected and keep their job in 2-6 years
[22:13] sythuthan: 2-6 years is'
[22:13] sythuthan: isn't much job security
[22:14] acetylene302000: no kidding. I think that it should be the way It was kinda meant to be,. not a carrer, but civil service, like jury duty
[22:14] sythuthan: yeah
[22:15] sythuthan: it's seems like it's been a long time since politics was about helping people instead of keeping yourself electable
[22:15] sythuthan: err
[22:15] acetylene302000: I'm all for compensation while congress is in session, but not enought for them to live outside other wies.
[22:15] sythuthan: it's seems like it's been a long time since GOVERNMENT was about helping people instead of keeping yourself electable
[22:16] acetylene302000: i mean who else do you know that gets paid $100,000 for 3 months work out of the year?
[22:16] sythuthan: or 300,000
[22:16] acetylene302000: crab fishermen?
[22:17] sythuthan: heh
[22:17] sythuthan: are you wishing a high mortality rate on career politicians?
[22:17] sythuthan: cuz that's what crab fishermen have to put up with to get that monies
[22:17] sythuthan: and i don't think they really do get quite that much
[22:18] acetylene302000: doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. For tonight's debate ... " the surprise deathmatch round!!!!"
[22:18] acetylene302000: you'd get great viewing.
[22:20] sythuthan: heh, our republican is sponsored by CocaCola, while our democrat is sponsored by PepsiCo. the indepenents will be sponsored by 'Grandma's Prune Juice' from Dayton, OH
[22:21] acetylene302000: 'Their support is bit low on funds, but ever since they got Det'Groh for candidate the independents don't seem to lose an election.'
[22:25] sythuthan: 'I dunno Jim, the republicans have Krung the Violator running for them this year. Will Det'Groh be able to keep his role as Senate Majority Leader?
[22:27] acetylene302000: Det' still has a surprising advantage over Krung, Remember the last time they met that it didn't turn out too well for Krung? I bet He's still hurting from that Bob.
[22:30] sythuthan: We'll discuss that and much more in our pre-debate show, sponsored by Nokia, Taco Bell: Think outside the Bun, Prudent Financial group, and Conoco Oil, all here on NBC!............ and now a word from our sponsors.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Firsts

Okay, i'm supposed to be doing homework, so that i don't have to worry when it is time to leave and go to the state fair tonight. But I took some time to read people's blogs and so now i want to post. Funny thing huh?

So in set theory (a part of math) there is this concept called a well-ordered set. The idea is pretty straightforward, just think of about any collection of items that you want and you can order those items so that there is a "first" item in that set. This makes plenty of sense when you don't question the normal workings in life, like for example how you count.

The thing is that there are sets of numbers that you can't count. For example take all the decimals (real numbers in math terminology) between zero and 1. now you could easily say that the "first" number is zero and the "last" number is 1, but what is the second number. I mean if you took zero out of your set, and tried to look at the first number, what would it be? Would it be .0000001? How about .000000000000000001? Maybe you could choose .5?

See that is the thing about "uncountable sets" I could go on all day picking elements from the decimals between zero and one, and even if I took forever doing it, I couldn't pick them all out.
To get an idea, try this game with a friend.

Draw a board of four squares by four squares. Then draw a line of four squares in a row. Player 1 gets the board and player 2 gets the line. Player 1 goes first and writes a series of X's and O's in the first row. Then player 2 gets to put an X or an O in their first box. Keep going this way until all the boxes are filled. Then player 1 wins if player 2's sequence of X's and O's is one of the ones written in one of the columns, and player two wins if it isn't.

If you can take this same game and "play" it on an infinite square in your head, then you'll have some idea of what i am talking about by uncountable. Even if you put all these things in a row from "first" to "last" you could still find an X and O line that was NOT in the set you made.

Hopefully this helps you see what I mean by having an uncountable set. And even if not, well at least you have some idea of the weird world mathematicians live in. We make sets you cannot count and then insist there must be a way of putting it so that you can have a "first" element of that set!

for some more reading try:

If you get through all those... let me know. You might have the makings of a great mathematician!! :)

Monday, March 29, 2010

26 days

So it is three in the morning and i should be sleeping... but just a quick post. This past weekend several bridal showers were held for my fiancee KaraLee. Lots of my family came into town to help her celebrate, including my mom and sisters, and I cannot express how grateful I am for them. also She had several amazing friends spend practically the entire day with her. Awesome.

It is amazing how quickly someone else can become so important to you if you let it happen, and I can honestly say that a large part of my happiness is tied to the happiness of KaraLee.

I have a wonderful set of friends and family and I hope that I can have the opportunity to share more of the joy I am experiencing at this time with you. It is enough joy that it is worth all the stress. But I'm also glad I only have to go through it once. ;)

26 days left and counting. We'll get announcements out this week (I hope).

Friday, February 12, 2010

happy

So I don't know why, but yesterday I woke up really grumpy. Granted, I'm not necessarily always the most cheerful person in the world, but at least I feel like an optimist most of the time. Yesterday though was different.

I spent most of the morning thinking that I was going to not catch up on any of my homework, and that I am just too busy to do anything. Not only that, but it felt like NO ONE could drive well as I was going to school. I seriously was ready to just run my car into the next person that did something stupid, just to teach them a lesson. And my drive to school is only like 2 miles! (I'm glad I didn't do that cause it would have been my fault, not to mention a BAD thing.)

So I was grumpy. Probably cause I was hungry and tired, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, I told KaraLee this over a text, and she cheered me up a bit. What really cheered me up though was that I got to have lunch with the most beautiful woman in the world (and trust me, there are plenty of beautiful women out there). And after lunch she bought me these:
Honestly, I'm the one who usually buys her flowers. Mostly because I love to see her reaction. But it was great of her to buy me flowers, and it really made my day. In fact it was the first time any girl ever bought me flowers. I'm a really lucky guy. :)

Monday, December 28, 2009

Getting to the center of it all

to some people writing can be a cathartic experience, and sometimes i wonder if i'm one of those people. i do know that occasionally i get a desire to write down something, anything, so long as it is just me putting a piece of who i am on paper. i would say "a piece of my soul" but i have found that most people's souls are like a well made butter croissant. it's layered to it's soft center, and the more layers you peel away the more buttery flakes get all over everything.

i know it's the height of egoism to think that someone would enjoy what i write just because they want to know me, but i think that is why i read. i have yet to meet an author, even one who writes textbooks, who doesn't put a little bit of who they are into what is being written. perhaps that is why stories are so appealing to us.

So why write today? Well I have a LOT on my mind. Some days I just feel like this. I know I'm not perfect, and it is unreasonable to expect me to be. In fact I would go far enough to venture that those around me don't expect that either. But some days I feel like I can't even be responsible. I'm no talking about the days where we just want to slack, we all have those. What I am talking about is what Chris Farley seems to be pointing at in the clip. That no matter how hard I try I can't help but failing in some way.

Of course there is such a thing as trying too hard. I know this, I have done it more than once in my life. But even excluding such occasions there are times where I just can't get it right. So I guess that is why I am writing. To give myself the strength to get up and have another go. I have a lot of that to do for myself right now, and I've cut myself off from some options that have given me refuge in the past.

Will this help? A little, most likely. Yet many things that would give me strength aren't doing as much as usual. At any rate time will do something, whether it is help or hurt depends on me.

I hope this finds you in good spirits and having a good holiday season. Because even though I feel bleak right now, I know what I have laid in store for myself and I can't help but feel just a little bit excited by the good work that I have to do.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

On holidays, and jobs

So here I am, supposedly doing homework or preparing a resume, and instead I am reading blogs and playing with google wave. Yeah I have invites on that, if there is anyone interested.

So yeah the time has come for me to make some interesting decisions in my life and they just seem to be piling up faster than I can decide. I wish it were the holidays already, but then if it were and I hadn't made any of these decisions then my decision would be no decision and that is not the decision I want.

Probably the most appropriate decision to share is the idea of going home. See the choice is to spend over $200 and be with family over the holidays (totally worth it), or to save the cash and use it later for someone I really care about. (also totally worth it) I know what she thinks, and that is good, but I really don't know what I should think. That is the problem. Nearly every decision I have to make this season is something I feel very strongly both ways about, and I don't have enough emotional sensitivity to determine which one is more. But then maybe they actually are equal emotionally and I just need to look at it logically.

All i know is that sitting around venting about it doesn't solve the problem. Time to go out and act.