Me Or My Maths

Ramanujan deserves a name in top 5 at least, he is...

2010-05-30T20:10:08.345+01:00

Ramanujan deserves a name in top 5 at least, he is said to surpass jacobi, hilbert and euler in terms of pure mathematical talent

It is foolish to make this list. It will be biased...

2010-04-25T22:29:37.727+01:00

It is foolish to make this list. It will be biased some or the other way

I was wondering what makes google so reluctant to ...

2010-02-18T21:09:08.928Z

I was wondering what makes google so reluctant to pay attention to Latex. blogger, google site etc. just do not have any easy Latex plugin. I was using blogger, but find it is not worth spending time on such configurations. I switched to wordpress which has tons of plugins.

mymaths is bad!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-26T12:43:36.442Z

mymaths is bad!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing this site. you can download lot...

2009-11-23T13:10:04.369Z

Thanks for sharing this site. you can download lots of ebooks from here

http://feboook.blogspot.com

Leaving out Ramanujam would be unfair to his contr...

2009-09-13T23:35:53.504+01:00

Leaving out Ramanujam would be unfair to his contributions.Imagine all ATMs & smart cards you guys are using today are based on his number theory only!Also much of his important discoveries have started impacting the modern mathematics and still today opening new areas of further research.
Also Father of Calculas,Newton was not first person to use calculas,Yes he did it for western maths,Calculas was used much earlier by Indians,at least 4-5 centuries earlier than Newton!Brahmgupta must be in the list for his introduction of ZERO without which perhaps many mathematicians in your list would have died un noticed!!!

Hi Max, Thanks a lot for your message - it was ve...

2009-09-13T13:22:39.096+01:00

Hi Max,

Thanks a lot for your message - it was very reassuring as it's nice to hear that what I'm hoping to do is not impossible. :)

I'm kinda glad that I actually didn't do the four years too, for although I am missing going back to the Maths department, I'm not really missing the Maths! (Just the hustle and bustle of student life and TGG).

Although I'm doing the PGCE (which is Maths related) I'm actually enjoying it (at the moment anyway!), and I have got something crazy non-maths related thing lined up too!

What topic are you doing your PhD in? Although a PhD is obviously hard, the fact that it's all about how you structure yourself does make it sound appealing! Good luck with it and I do hope that I end up doing the Maths too! :D

Beans

PS: Mohit - I don't agree that Aryabhatta is the best mathematician of all times in the world.

Thanks for that! I will update this post ASAP (and...

2009-09-13T11:54:56.576+01:00

Thanks for that! I will update this post ASAP (and attempt to solve this problemt too... hopefully!).

u bloody ****** guys dont u know aryabhatta had di...

2009-09-11T16:07:44.533+01:00

u bloody ****** guys dont u know aryabhatta had discoverd the number zeo '0'.without which tere is no mathematics, physics or no scientifc inventions

hi beans i've read your blog since you starte...

2009-09-10T09:12:25.824+01:00

hi beans

i've read your blog since you started! (i was in third year when you were in first). i'm really sorry to read that you're feeling down about your maths :( but all is not lost.

i was feeling pretty bummed when i finished third year, and i dropped out of fourth year after 3 weeks. so i got this job as a bicycle courier, with no real plans for the future, and i spent the year making all these new great friends and making cash! and not thinking about maths AT ALL. (i found it impossible to motivate myself to do maths when i was working full time).

then the next year i decided that i badly needed some brain stimulation, so i went back and did my fourth year. i was still being a courier 3 days a week, for the cash and cus i found it gave me head space. it was challenging balancing study and work but it gave me great focus. then i won the prize for the best honours thesis!

then i had another year off and now i'm 6 months into my phd and let me tell you it's the sweet life. you get paid to do maths and tutor first years and there's no exams or assignments or pressure or timetables, it's really great.

so my advice is do something crazy non-maths related that you would never try otherwise, and don't stress it. i promise you haven't disadvantaged yourself by taking a break. some head space and some perspective will only be an advantage when you decide to come back!

anyway, best of luck mate, don't despair, i know you'll end up doing something rad whether it's maths or not -- but i DO think it will be maths ;-)

max

dude don't ever try to cross ur limits .don...

2009-08-30T11:09:02.448+01:00

dude don't ever try to cross ur limits .don't dare to peak about Aryabhatta he is the 1 and the best mathematician of all the times in the world

There's an important bit of information missin...

2009-08-22T16:23:36.276+01:00

There's an important bit of information missing! Here's the complete riddle. It originates from M. Gardner ("Combinatorial Card Problems" in "Time travel and other mathematical bewilderments", W. H. Freeman, New York, 1986 as quoted by David Joyner: "Adventures in Group Theory", second edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, p. 7)

Professor White, Professor Brown and Professor Black were lunching together."Isn't it remarkable", said the lady, "that our names are White, Black and Brown and one of us has black hair, one has brown hair, and one has white hair."

"It is indeed", answered the one with the black hair as Professor Black bit into his sandwich, "and have you noticed that not one has hair color to match our name?"

The lady's hair is not brown. What is the color of Professor Black's hair?

Thanks. A certain pressure has gone, yes, and at t...

2009-08-17T14:46:39.896+01:00

Thanks. A certain pressure has gone, yes, and at the moment I'm least bothered about finding a job!

I wish I could tell you what's next, as I'm still thinking about that myself...

The fourth year didn't happen due to a change in circumstances, which resulted in me studying Maths less frequently. Thus there was no point in me studying further (at this moment in time) if my heart was not fully in it.

Good luck for your results too! I hope you get into Manchester - it's a great place to study.

Hi, Well I hadn't honestly heard of Aryabhata ...

2009-08-16T21:47:06.168+01:00

Hi, Well I hadn't honestly heard of Aryabhata until that comment, hence I had refrained from replying.

Now I don't feel like such a dumbo. :p

aryabhata is the worst mathematician.

2009-08-16T09:21:13.778+01:00

aryabhata is the worst mathematician.

I think Aryabhata is the worst mathematician ever....

2009-08-16T09:19:24.257+01:00

I think Aryabhata is the worst mathematician ever.In no way did he contribute to maths except write books about what others already discoverd.

Congratulation. I guess all the pressure is gone n...

2009-07-14T18:59:39.197+01:00

Congratulation. I guess all the pressure is gone now, although finding a job will be hard this year.

What next bean?

Why can't you do fourth year? is it more the stress or is it more that you haven't got the grades?

For TGG I will help next year if I get in.

Looking at stats most Mathematicians best work is in their 40s, so I would't worry about that nonsense about you need to be young to do maths.

I would think that you would like AG.

Anyway, good luck.

I don't know to be honest, the summer holidays...

2009-07-14T00:10:28.657+01:00

I don't know to be honest, the summer holidays are a welcome break from the intense term and sometimes you need a break. Light reading is different but I wouldn't have a very intense studying routine! You have the whole semester to worry about that.

"Sadly"? There's nothing wrong with that - I bought mine on the first day\{the stats one!} as I prefer having my own collection of books!

Modular arithmetic was hard initially (but not "conceptually" if you follow me). Stuff like cardinality and the pigeon hole principal (counting etc) was what really hurt me in my first ever semester of studying Maths. I was in it deep you see!

RE: Last year, see my recent post!

Bad things like?

I don't think that there is a book sale, but second years tend to advertise in the first few weeks, so keep an eye out on noticeboards.

PS: Yep - I got my results on June 26th.

Good luck for your results - I'm sure you can't have failed!

Hi Steve and egm, Many thanks for the congratulat...

2009-07-13T23:57:27.255+01:00

Hi Steve and egm,

Many thanks for the congratulations! It has indeed been a great day, and obviously filled with chaos! (My post will have more details, but I nearly disowned my folks today due to them arriving pretty much late. And then I wonder why I'm like this too! :p)

Steve: Hopefully there will be a Gooseania mark 2, but not just yet! I think my journey now will consist a lot of independent studying, and hopefully it won't be that bad. :)

Egm - thanks, I'm actually quite excited about post graduation writing. I even remembered you when everyone was taking photos after the ceremony! If only you and Raul had been there! (I actually wanted to be in the photos for a change, so my camera was passed from hand to hand, and I'm perhaps being overally critical of some shots. :p Well the family one mainly, but there was some good shots too.)

Congratulations! It has surely been great followin...

2009-07-13T13:19:12.153+01:00

Congratulations! It has surely been great following your journey. I look forward to the Beans post-graduation writings.

Congratulations! Looking forward to Gooseania mark...

2009-07-13T10:50:20.708+01:00

Congratulations! Looking forward to Gooseania mark 2!

I still think you should do some studying during t...

2009-07-12T15:07:56.911+01:00

I still think you should do some studying during the summer holidays. I find its easier to follow something if I already know it. I don't know but really on lectures too much is bad.

Fraleigh's book is on my list of books to get. Sadly, I got most of the books for the first year.

Your blog was useful as I noticed that you struggled with proofs in the first year. So yeah, I know where to focus my energy. Although, you do mention problems with module arithmetic so I will focus on that later.

Its good to hear you didn't drop out. Have you made up your mind if your going to do the last year?

I think the problem with really on lectures to motivate you is that its hard to build up the habit of independent study. Although, yeah I heard bad things about the teaching quality at Manchester.

On a more positive note. Is there book sales in the first week? As I'm thinking of buying all the second year maths books but I don't want to spend lots of money.

P.S. I was wondering have you got your results from third year yet? As I though uni people get there results sooner then a level people?

I have to wait to the 20th. I think I will start blogging then as if I fail A level then my maths career might be over;(

Hi, I have another solution to write latex on Blog...

2009-07-10T20:32:50.372+01:00

Hi, I have another solution to write latex on Blogger. It is based on mathtex.
It can write latex symbol by just putting latex code inside two dollar signs.
Check out my article here: http://watchmath.com/vlog/?p=438

It now feels like university Maths set the foundat...

2009-07-10T20:28:50.830+01:00

It now feels like university Maths set the foundations for me. It it interesting and I hope you enjoy your time at Manchester. You already seemed to have read quite a lor around the subject, which is something I didn't do whilst at college, so might be useful.

Galois Theory was quite a complex, yet very satisfactory course. In the sense, once you knuckled through the theory and had some understanding, it was more fun. Hmm, well I'm a bit fifty fifty on some of Stewart's books (although I have a signed copy of one of them!). His Galois Theory book was good, but if I didn't have Fraleigh's book I would have been doomed. Fraleigh's book on Abstract Algebra helped me with the field and group theory bit which was obviously causing me problems.

Drop out?!!?! I think it would have been very foolish of me to drop out in my third year! I have no idea what I'm doing next year, which is quite reassuring at times (in a funny sort of way).

I don't think it was a case of not getting it. I didn't particularly like the lectures and thus didn't put the extra hours in (as per usual). Although I will be positive about it if I come across it in the future.

Lol - I would definitely encourage blogging, it helped me a lot whilst at University. And well, your blog is there for whatever you want it be there for - might was to help get things of my mind.

I guess studying in the summer is more useful to some than others.

I'm glad the blog has been helpful. We've been doing some renovation work since my exams finished, hence why I've not really been around for ages! I actually do intend to continue blogging, whatever may come next.

I totally agree, his Real Analysis course is defin...

2009-07-07T23:47:35.346+01:00

I totally agree, his Real Analysis course is definitely my favourite of all the courses thus far!