Post Midterm Brights
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Third blog post within one week! By the way I love post-midterm UST. The campus is a lot more empty.
Blog posts
2024
Future Science Prize Symposium 2024
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Two blog posts in one week!
My First HK Probability Seminar
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Yesterday, I attended my first Hong Kong Probability Seminar. Gefei Cai, from Peking, spoke about the 3 point connectivity problem in 2D critical percolation.
Week 1, Year 2 Fall
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Going into Year 2, I am rather uncertain about my goals this year. On the one hand, I have already started working my way into the field of statistical mechanics and random geometry. Yet, I lack the necessary prerequisites to get into some of the more ‘pure’ fields. The biggest roadblock is certainly stochastic processes and stochastic calculus. Complex analysis is also necessary, but I feel like somehow I can intuit my way through this while checking some references.
The State of Probability at HKUST
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Just a post to provide some information. As one might have noticed, Prof. Bao has left HKUST to join HKU starting from this academic year. Fortunately, Prof. Nitzschner has joined us last year, so things are still (barely) functioning. Why ‘barely’?
At Prof. Nitzschner’s MATH5411 lecture today, he has mentioned that next term will not feature any advanced pure probability courses, such as Stochastic Processes and Advanced Probability Theory II. They may be offered in Fall next year, at HKUST or other universities in Hong Kong…
No idea what to do now.
Year 1 Summer at HKUST
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This is the last time that I can call myself year 1. Actually that day probably ended since JUPAS registration. Not sure. Well if the student centre says I’m year 1 (it does), then I guess I still am.
A Survey of Personal Wiki Software
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I just spent the whole evening messing with personal wikis. I have been wanting to create a personal wiki for my maths notes for quite some time. The short conclusion is that there are currently no software satisfying my needs.
Year 1 Spring at HKUST
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Sorry to the three readers of my blog. This is a very late post, two weeks after the start of the summer term.
This has been a chaotic term. Check my course list for more details. Honestly, it has been so eventful that I don’t remember much of the first half of the term. I stopped auditing the complex analysis course around three weeks in, and calculus on manifolds just before midterm. Unfortunately, I cannot drop any more courses.
I had initiated first contact with who I hope to be my future undergraduate advisor. I am now (in the summer term) taking a special topics course from them right now. Let’s hope it goes well.
For the less maths oriented part of my life, I had resumed playing trumpet, although rather discontinuously, sometimes not finding time for weeks at a time. But it is nice every time I practiced at the Shaw Auditorium. At first, I was quite nervous that the people outside would hear, but now I just decided that I don’t care at all. Sometimes I would rickroll, but yeah.
Unfortunately, my method of choice in taking a break from maths has been Europa Universalis IV, and Krunker Strike on Discord. Needless to say, this is not very healthy. This is something I need to work on. Perhaps I will try to exercise (just perhaps). Definitely should touch more grass.
Overall, I cannot say that this term is a success, since I took many courses and did well in none of them. At the same time, it is not a failure, since I did learn a lot, and successfully transferred into IRE, i.e. my rightful place. Well, we will have an abrupt ending here. As you can see I don’t have much to say.
Some Words on IRE Transfer
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I first posted this on UST Space, a course review website for HKUST students. I will copy it here as well.
Now that I have successfully transferred to IRE, and that my reviews have uniquely revealed my identity to those who went to many of the same courses as I had, I would like to write something about transferring to IRE. This might apply to MATH only.
I am a local student admitted to SSCI through JUPAS with a score not too far away from admission to IRE. I think this doesn’t matter. You can determine quite well which courses I have taken this year by stalking me. My GPA is probably low compared to most successful transfer applicants. Around 3.6, which tells you how poorly I’ve done in these courses.
The most important factor is a combination of your grades and the difficulty of your (MATH) courses. Another important factor is your performance in the interview. You should show that you are the kind of person that they say they are looking for. Make sure that you understand how academia in your field works. This is not just for IRE. Don’t cry when you can’t find job in academia. (Genuine question: Has IRE produced a single assistant professor?)
I think I had two advantages compared to most applicants. First I knew exactly what to say in some parts of the interview, due to a good understanding of the state of academia, and a little sprinkle of magic. I think they could also see that I am highly motivated, since I showed that I already have interests developed to some extent, and I had already planned some academic engagement with a potential advisor.
As far as I know, there is no trickery involved. They are honest about everything. A certain blog post available on the internet talks about IRE specifically in the case of MATH. Read the entire blog and follow the advice within a reasonable range. What is a reasonable range? The blogger told me to only take one honors math course in addition to 1024. If you are greedy like me, taking two additional honors math courses is within reasonable range. I took three, i.e. all of the honors maths courses available in spring term. That is not reasonable. I died.
Ignore this section if you studied a lot of uni maths in high school, say, enough to get a good score on the past papers of the courses. Take grad courses whatever lmao. About course selection, you should take 2131 in fall. If you transferred credits then you can choose not to take 1023, but I would still highly recommend knowing the material. In spring, the standard load for aspiring IRE transfers is 1024, 2043, and something else. I would argue that 2043 is not necessary. The elementary analysis you learned in Honors Calculus should be enough for your subsequent courses until you take 2043 in year 2 spring even for analysis-rich courses like 2431. Would recommend 3131 instead. Should be easier than 2043 too (depending on the prof of course…).
My Shengxiao is Chicken
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I have failed. As I am writing these words, I am doing something that I would not be doing had things gone the right way. (There is a grammar mistake here somewhere, I am sure.) Right now, 100 meters away, in a small lecture hall of enthusiastic people, is where I should be. I should be sitting there, getting lost in the colloquium titled ‘Two dimensional dimers beyond planarity’. But I am not. I am sitting here, typing away on my laptop.
An Eventful Three Days
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The first (incomplete) week of the Spring term has ended. The term commenced on Wednesday, Jan 31. I am writing on Saturday, Feb 3, and I am already exhausted. But I did learn a lot from the past three days.
2023
Year 1 Fall at HKUST
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Inspired by Toby Lam, here is some life update.
HKUST converted me into a semi-vegetarian,
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2024 September update: RIP TT Veggies.
Lessons in learning from a piano master class
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Today I went to some master class in the Shaw Auditorium (mainly to satisfy some requirement). At the end, some guy asked in the Q&A session about what piano students who are disadvantaged resource-wise and cannot attend master classes such as this should do. The master’s main point was that teachers should equip these students, and perhaps not just these students, with the ability to self-learn. But something that I really took away, and that I have thought about and agreed with for quite some time, was when he said that many students sometimes lack motivation to practice a specific piece as they dislike this composer. He pointed out that, very often, this is caused by a lack of knowledge on the composer and if the student learned more, it is likely that he/she will come to like that composer. It is thus the teacher’s responsibility to impart this knowledge on the student for them to gain motivation.
My 0th Day as a Mathematics Student
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Today is my 0th day as a mathematics student.
Filet-O-Fish
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Filet-O-Fish is the earliest McDonald’s sandwich I remember tasting. Everyone’s favourite food is their mama’s and, in a sense, Filet-O-Fish touches on an even deeper level. The fluffy soft bun perfectly complements the deep-fried fish fillet generously smeared with some tartar sauce. Pickles in the sauce is an essential addition, giving the sandwich a much-needed tangy taste.
Habits I learned from STEP
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I should recall what enabled me to do STEP problems nearly a year ago.
Cream Soda
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The Cream Soda is perhaps among the most bizarre and perplexing human inventions. I have only tasted that green-and-yellow canned one by Schweppes but I would suspect my experiences coincide with drinkers of other brands and variations too.