Recent content by abiyo

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    Stay or go back to home country?

    I am at a point where I have to decide what I want to do at this point in my life. I am currently finishing a Masters program and I am doing quite well with my research and school. I see myself going to Academia or industry here in US. As much as I like this country and however hard I...
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    Should I continue dating a heartbroken girl?

    Thank you Simon, Lavabug and Astronuc for your advices. I agree with your explanations. I have to admit there was some level of desperation and immaturity in my part. Since it has been a while I have been dating, I had some expectations. But now I have taken a step back and avoided messaging...
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    Should I continue dating a heartbroken girl?

    I was going out with this awesome girl. After telling her how I liked hanging out with her, she was receptive and that day ended with good notes. A few days after while we were chatting, she told me she is still heart broken and is not ready for a relationship. She mentioned we should be...
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    Please criticize my REU personal statement

    I think ZombieFeynman gave a lot of useful comments above. In your second paragraph, " and I am certain I won't grow bored in your lab." I think this is unnecessary. In the second paragraph as a whole, it will be nice to be specific of a problem you like that the group does. Reading it as...
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    Master in Physics vs. Bachelors in Engineering?

    Long story short: I got into a lower ranked school for PhD in Mathematics and a top ranked school for Masters in computational mathematics. My interest is theory and my only reason for applying to computational program was as a backup. What I ultimately want to do is mathematics(analysis) and I...
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    PhD Physics student on career planning

    I didn't get into any of the Maths Phd schools I applied for. I thought I was a decent applicant with some research experience(no publications), solid gre(above 90%) and good recc. letters. I did apply to top ranked, medium ranked and even some with lower ranks. Such is life. I want to...
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    How Can I Prepare for a Challenging Analysis Class?

    When I took Analysis, I studied from Rudin and Apostol. I think for a starter Rudin on its own might be a tough so having a complementary book will help. As others noted above, it also depends how good the teacher is and whether you will have people to work with. ++ for spivak if you want...
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    Cutting Up Squares: Problem Solving Method

    I have to think more about this but it is necessary to specify i)the number of rectangles ii) is any cut allowed? Can I cut a triangle out of the square and fill it in the rectangle? Is there a restriction on the shape or size of the cut area? The more rectangles you need to fill, the more...
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    Q on Second partial derivative test for functions of n variables

    what you have as the conditions is right. When the determinant is zero, the test fails. This is to say that we might have a maximum, minimum or saddle but the test will not help us identify such a critical point. You might have to plot the function or see some values to be able to identify...
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    I need input, I invented a number system

    Here again no offense intended but you should show the implication of your number system to other areas of mathematics. In what does this idea help or connect to other ideas/concepts in mathematics? Also if you want people to read your idea, you should write it in a mathematical style...
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    Confirming divergence theorm example

    You applied the divergence theorem correctly. The flux over the circle is also correct. The mistake you made is when you computed the flux over S1: the cone. To define the normal for z=f(x,y) first write it in a format as follows: \sqrt{x^{2}+y^{2}}-z=0 Then the normal N will be...
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    What do you do during the holidays?

    Working on campus, relaxing and studying. I don't study for the next semester but review some stuff I forgot, or learn a proof I put off during the semester, read some journals and on an area I am interested. Where ever I fill there was a hole in my foundation, I put all the effort during the...
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    Axiom of Choice: finite sets to infinite sets

    If I get what you said above, the choice function exists since the set is non-empty and a non-empty set, by definition, contains an element. So in the finite case the condition the sets are non-empty is equivalent to the existence of a choice function. I think this is making sense slowly. Thanks...
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    More questions about Relations

    To help you see how an equivalence relation is related to partition, let me give you a fictitious example. Consider a town. This town has rivers and mountains. So sometimes to be able to visit a friend means to be able to climb a mountain or swim a river. Let's define an equivalence relation in...
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    Axiom of Choice: finite sets to infinite sets

    Thanks Jarle for the explanation and micromass I will take a look at your blog. Hurkyl, here is my understanding. From Jarle's explanation, I know that for the infinite case we won't be able to say at any point explicitly what the choice function is. What is bothering me this line of thought...
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