impendia

16 ms·

1. 181.▲
   by impendia 3y ago

   I am a math professor, and I try to do a good job teaching. Any topic that 3b1b covers, the video will give a better presentation than I would in a lecture hall! It is part of our job to lecture, but that's not our only job as an instr
2. 182.▲
   by impendia 4y ago

   I moved from San Francisco, where it was common to ask people "wnat do you do?", to South Carolina, where it's considered a little bit rude. For me, it was a painful transition; I no longer find it easy to get into enjoyable
3. 183.▲
   by impendia 4y ago

   I have painful memories of my second-semester undergraduate "data structures and algorithms" class. Lots of difficult C++ programming projects; constant seg faults. I didn't have any conceptual difficulties with pointers or
4. 184.▲
   by impendia 4y ago

   > I wonder what someone like 3blue1brown would make of this. Although I am not Grant Sanderson (3blue1brown creator), I would wager very good money that he would strongly approve. I am a research mathematician, I do read Quanta, and I&#x
5. 185.▲
   by impendia 4y ago

   > It's hard to be looked at as 'the person complicating things' Recently I caved and bought a smartphone, but I remember a time before that when some friends and I went to a bar. Someone paid the bill and asked everyone to
6. 186.▲
   by impendia 4y ago

   Okay, looking at the paper more carefully (I'd just looked at the article before, and was arguing from my knowledge of the field more generally), I take it back -- there is definitely some formal category theory here.
7. 187.▲
   by impendia 4y ago

   As I said in another comment, this research isn't about category theory. [Edit: Well, not about the foundations anyway.] The use of moments as a method for understanding probability distributions isn't particularly new. What is ne
8. 188.▲
   by impendia 4y ago

   > this looks to be more concerned with applications towards number theory (specifically cohen-lenstra heuristics) rather than adding to the category theory literature. (I'm a specialist in this area of number theory) This is correct
9. 189.▲
   by impendia 4y ago

   Having lived in Japan for two years, what I'd add to this is to spend a lot of time walking, if physically able. For example, in my opinion the best way to explore Tokyo is to simply leave your hotel in the morning, wander around all d
10. 190.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    I am a tenured math professor in the US. The top-rated answer suggests to be more assertive and forceful; personally, I think a bland approach might be effective: Colleague: "I have an exciting new idea to design a new underwater baske
11. 191.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    I'm in academia -- a tenured professor in math, and in the United States. My situation is different, but here are my thoughts: "You're expected to..." "the image of a successful professor..." "they'll
12. 192.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    Yes. I'm a math professor and I use a printer, although not too often. Most common use cases: - When I'm teaching, if I have typed up notes I'll print out a copy to refer to in class. I can easily circle mistakes during class
13. 193.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    > people know that academia is more about networking, PR, politics etc rather than the exactness of academic analytics This is generally true, but academics (I am one) are at least vaguely worried that analytics will take over. Any good
14. 194.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    In addition to what the sibling commenters wrote -- The basic strategy of Zhang, as well as Goldston-Pintz-Yildirim, Maynard, and others is as follows: consider the numbers n, n+2, n+4, n+6, n+8, ... n+70,000,000 and prove that "on ave
15. 195.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    They didn't break the rule for Andrew Wiles after he proved Fermat's Last Theorem, which was arguably the most notorious unsolved problem in all of mathematics. So I expect them to stick to their rule.
16. 196.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    I believe that if the runners speeds are all real numbers which are linearly independent over the rationals, then the associated dynamical system will be ergodic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergodicity and what you sa
17. 197.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    Thanks. The remodel is overall mostly done, and the common rooms have been basically left to our department. Perhaps instructional technology/etc. would talk to us and offer suggestions but I don't expect them to assume any respon
18. 198.▲
    Ask HN: Technology for a Meeting Room?

    2 points by impendia 4y ago|4 comments
19. 199.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    Yes, I'd say this is the norm nearly everywhere I've been -- although I've mostly only been to universities in higher-income countries. There are occasional exceptions; for example, the American University of Beirut had manne
20. 200.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    I'm a math professor. In the US, it is near-universal that academic buildings are open to all: - If I'm visiting someone at a university, for example to collaborate or give a talk, I'm likely to be told "Meet me in Room
21. 201.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    Here is an article laying out why some call Putin's actions a genocide (and why some don't). https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61017352 No one is saying the situation is as bad as the Holocaust. However,
22. 202.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    You might enjoy swing/lindy hop or ballroom lessons. (I certainly have!) There are individual moves that one learns, as well as big-picture principles that tie them together. As a nerd myself, I've gravitated towards hobbies that
23. 203.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    I've read that it's just the three -- Steinway, Mason and Hamlin, and Charles Walter. Astin-Weight seems to have quietly gone out of business, see for example their Yelp page: https://www.yelp.com/biz/astin-we
24. 204.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    Yes. The Yamanobe Road is easier to get to, the endpoints are each close to train stations (Tenri on the north end, Sakurai on the south). These are well connected to Nara and Osaka. Alternatively, you can start at Sakurai and walk all the
25. 205.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    I've traveled extensively in Japan and very highly recommend it. I especially recommend a long walk in rural or small-town Japan. Perhaps the best one-day option is the Yamanobe Road https://www.japan.travel/en/des
26. 206.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    Palo Alto isn't a college town, even though it looks like one at first. Palm Drive is long and it feels even longer, and after hours people generally stay on their respective sides of the moat. As far as feeling suppressed, $4,000&#x2F
27. 207.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    > After 9pm, those streets are desolate My impression of Palo Alto as a single person was that it was beautiful, but quiet. It seemed to be oriented around family life, and families are generally not out and about after 9pm. People looki
28. 208.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    I believe that it is undesirable to live in a society where the rich get richer, and the poor get further and further behind. According to Zillow, my home -- which I own -- has gone up in value by nearly 50% in the last three years. Good fo
29. 209.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    The ISO will charge you 58 CHF (equivalent to 59 USD) to read the standard. https://www.iso.org/standard/36631.html I can't help but feel a perverse pleasure that the US refuses to switch.
30. 210.▲
    by impendia 4y ago

    Interesting. Seems my experiences in math extrapolate less well than I'd imagined.