30 VII – 1 VIII 2021

yea right in some parallel universe

All that I understand about algebraic geometry at my present stage of learning.

The proof is left as an exercise to the IRS

lmao wtf people seriously say shit like "math is homophobic"? because queer people can't do math… a priori?? isn't it inherently homophobic to claim that homosexuality implies being bad at math? this is the most unhinged thing I've seen this week

It's so funny to me when people reblog math posts on this site and say shit like "this is homophobic" "this is an attack on queer people" like hello this is tumblr. OP is queer. Like we've got a HANDFUL of cishets here on mathblr but most of us are queer. Because it's tumblr. And everyone is queer on tumblr. If you see math on this site, a queer person probably put it there. Stfu about "gays can't do math" if it's on tumblr, gays can do it, that's why it's on tumblr.

And of course there is also a large and brilliant and beloved queer math community off of tumblr but I just think it's extra funny when people don't notice it ON TUMBLR.

Alan Turing didn't kick the Nazis' collective ass laying foundations for the field of computing and then go on to also lay foundations for the field of biomathematics, Leonardo Da Vinci didn't give us fundamental physical and mathematical diagrams used in engineering well beyond his time, Moon Duchin doesn't study the math of fair redistricting, Chad Topaz and Jude Higdon don't analyze criminal sentencing disparities, et cetera et cetera, for y'all to call math homophobic and an attack on the queer community.

people using a matrix as just a bunch of numbers in a grid or a way to summarize some elaborate calculation instead of a way of notating a linear transformation (or at least a set of points) feels kind of genuinely profane to me. like its one of the only times i feel like i "get" the concept of the profane. how could you do that to her

14 II 2023

so yesterday would be the last of my exams but I decided to retake both the written and the oral part. the grade I would get is 4, so not the highest possible, still pretty good especially for the standards of that course (it's one of the most difficult), but I am not satisfied

it was the professor who suggested I retake the exams, which surprised me, I was mentally prepared to finish being only half-happy about my results and his reactions, strangely enough, inspired me to try harder. he wouldn't offer it if he didn't think I could do better, right?

if he gave me a 5 with my written exam points I would feel like an impostor, because I don't think I am fluent enough with the topics to receive the best grade. to be graded 4 and not being effered the chance to try again would make me feel that it's done, I was just too slow and I can't do anything else to fix it (at least on paper, but we're talking symbolics now) and him giving me a second chance meant to me that he believes in my potential yet doesn't want to give me a participation trophy, instead he made it about earning the reward that I know I deserve

he achieved the aurea mediocritas with this and the most absurd part of it all is that he of all people was to give me this inspiration. half of the students I talk to think that he is pure evil, the majority of the other half think he is an inconsiderate asshole lmao

so in two weeks I'm trying the exam again. in the meantime I will have a party with friends (small – 5 people + my boyfriend's cat) and then I will be grading the math olympiad. afterwards my another grind of algebraic methods shall commence and this time please let me not fuck it up

gonna list my general goals, not necessarily what theorems i want to learn but rather some global "fix your life" things. gonna post about it every week to keep myself accountable

(1) wake up at 9 instead of 12. go to sleep at 1 instead of 4. if my current circadian rythm is here to stay, it's gonna be a fucking nightmare in november. first goal is to start going to sleep between 2 and 3

(2) concentrate on lectures. my focus is really bad when it comes to listening to someone. i have some interesting lectures downloaded and want to use them as training. first goal is to be able to actively listen to one for 30 minutes, then I can have a break for a zone-out

(3) get used to not checking my phone every damn 20 minutes. first goal is to have two 1-hour intervals daily of not checking it

probably will add some more soon

stepped on a plum (overripe plum) (barefoot) it was on the driveway got out of the car and accidentally (didn't know it was there) stepped on the plum (warm) (on the ground) (it had fallen from the tree) barefoot (no shoes) wearing long pants (too long) (need to hem them) plum viscera got on them (the pants) unexpected plum on the driveway (hot plum) (97 degrees out) already super hungover (throwing up all morning) (should not have been driving at all) and I stepped out of the car (black car) (97 degrees out) and onto the plum (unexpected) (didn't know the plum was there) and it burst (plum nightmare on my only good pair of sweatpants) still we find ways to keep ourselves going from day to day

I know your thesis was about something to do with algebraic topology, may I ask what exactly it was about?

(and congrats to you getting your bachelors degree and into a masters program)

(thank you!)

my thesis was about an open question regarding a certain skein module of tangles on 2n nodes. the conjecture is that the module is free and in my thesis I constructed a generating set that is free for n=2,3 (direct calculation) but I have yet to prove that for a general n. if you are interested I can send you the paper in which the question was posed, all the details are explained there and would be hard to write down here without tex lol