Recent content by zpconn

If this is a serious, professional programming position, relying on special skills and a strong educational background, then I think anything below $60k would be simply below market rate mostly anywhere in the US. If you get offered below that, that would mean one of three things: (1) this isn't...

Using more data points is actually problematic as only so many are available at any given moment. Usually up to three are available (in addition to the current location), occasionally fewer, and possibly sometimes more (but that's certainly not typical). I suppose I could try something really...

I'd love it if the simple approach were working. But it's not quite good enough. The speeds I'm getting seem too volatile. This could be an issue of simply having inherently volatile data, in which case the question becomes more of how to smooth the data without misrepresenting it--I'd welcome...

Suppose you are observing the movement of an object on the Earth's surface. At any given moment, you know its current position (in lat/lon coordinates) and three prior positions. Each prior position is separated in time from the one after it by a small but variable number of seconds (say several...

I did the same as Geezer. I can send my template to anyone who's interested.

Wouldn't it be better to start at Waterloo or UToronto and consider transferring, so you don't lose a year?

The standard book is Categories for the Working Mathematician by Saunders MacLane--one of the pioneers of the subject.

Some ideas for stuff to do over the summer: * Travel! Seriously--it may not leave a lot of time to dedicate to mathematics, but studying abroad can be really fun and educational and worthwhile. At my school at least, right now I'm pretty sure if you personally went to the study abroad people...

Thanks very much for the replies and book recommendations. Do fractals show up much in the field? My research project this summer has a lot to do with fractals, so if these show up in finance I could keep that in mind over the summer.

If you have no mathematical background, pick up "Abstract Algebra" by Herstein. It has no prerequisites. If you know some linear algebra, pick up Artin instead.

Me: an undergraduate math major, two years left, very well qualified, very disillusioned with the idea of an academic career, considering a switch to finance. I'm wondering what would be involved in making this switch. This is all hypothetical, but if I were to do this what should I do in the...

You should email your first choice program and just politely explain that you have to reply to another program in a week, but your first choice program is, well, your first choice, so you are wondering if it is at all possible to get an accelerated decision; maybe emphasize that you understand...

http://amc.maa.org/a-activities/a7-problems/putnamindex.shtml

I like Putnam and Beyond.

My understanding is that like PhDorBust wrote most REUs have an unusual focus on minorities, and if you do not fall into such a group you really are at a disadvantage. I think Cornell, Duluth, etc., are the exceptions in that they don't care nearly as much about minorities. Cornell even has a...