There is a joke in applied mathematics that we’re like Taco Bell. We all use the same six ingredients, mixing them in different ways. For myself, I’ve found se

There is a joke in applied mathematics that we’re like Taco Bell. We all use the same six ingredients, mixing them in different ways. For myself, I’ve found several techniques I use over and over again. Some of this is a “when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” But fundamentally there are only a handful of ideas. One professor of mine once said the only groundbreaking result in the past few decades was compressive sensing.