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From Computational Complexity

May the fourth be with you. To many -days?

(This post was inspired by Rachel F, a prior REU-CAAR student, emailing me wishing me a happy Star Wars Day.)   I am writing this on May 4 which is Star Wars day...

From Computational Complexity

Math Thoughts Inspired by the TV show Succession

I watched Succession one-episode-a-day on treadmill for 39 days. I'm glad I did this in 2023 since Season 2 aired its last show on Oct 19, 2019, and Season 3 had...

From Computational Complexity

Intelligent Comments on Bill's G.H. Hardy/Avi W post that we did not post.

I posted (see here) about Avi Wigderson being a counterexample to two of G.H. Hardy's opinions:1) Hardy thought Math was a young man's game. I got some good comments...

From Computational Complexity

Avi Wigderson is a counterexample to TWO stupid thoughts of G.H. Hardy

 Recently1) Avi Wigderson won the Turing Award (See blog posts by Fortnow-here, Scott-here, Lipton-Regan here, and the ACM announcement here).  The last time Ihere...

From Computational Complexity

Rance Cleaveland passed away on March 27, 2024. He will be missed

 My friend and colleague Rance Cleaveland passed away on March 27, 2024 at the age of 62.  He was a professor at The University of Maryland at College Park in the...

From Computational Complexity

Answer to Question. MetaQuestion remains unsolved

 In a prior post I asked the following question:find x,y,z positive natural numbers such that the following is true:$$ \frac{x}{y+z} + \frac{y}{x+z} + \frac{z}{x...

From Computational Complexity

A Math Question and a Meta Question

 1) Question: find x,y,z natural numbers such that the following is true:$$ \frac{x}{y+z} + \frac{y}{x+z} + \frac{z}{x+y} = 4. $$I was first presented the problem...

From Computational Complexity

I know what A-B-C-D-F mean but what about V? X? HP?

 I am looking at LOTS of transcript of students who applied for my program REU-CAAR so I sometimes come across grades that I don't understand. The transcript does...

From Computational Complexity

Grad Student Visit Day: That was then, this is now.

(Harry Lewis helped me with this post.) March 15 was UMCP Computer Science Grad Student Visit Day. I suspect many of my readers are at schools that had their Grad...

From Computational Complexity

The Thrill of Seeing Your Name in Print is Gone

 In the 1980's and 1990's when I got a paper accepted to a journal or conference  it seemed important to see it in print. Having a paper accepted was nice, butthis...

From Computational Complexity

The letter to recommend John Nash was ``The Best Recomendation Letter Ever''- I do not think so.

There is an article about the letter Richard Duffin wrote for John Nash that helped John Nash get into Princeton: here. The title of the article is The Best Recommendation...

From Computational Complexity

When is it worth the time and effort to verify a proof FORMALLY?

(This post was inspired by Lance's tweet and later post on part of IP=PSPACE being formally verified.) We now have the means to verify that a proof (prob just some...

From Computational Complexity

ChatGPT thinks Graph Isomorphism has real applications. Is it right?

Lance did a post on Babai's result on Graph Isomorphism (see here). I then did a post asking if Graph Isomorphism has real applications (see here).  Lance proofread...

From Computational Complexity

Are there any REAL applications of Graph Isomorphism?

Lance's post on Babai's result on Graph Isomorphism (henceforth GI) inspired some random thoughts on GI. (Lance's post is here.) 1) Here is a conversation withOrganic...

From Computational Complexity

The advantage of working on obscure things

 I got an email from an organization that wants to publicize one of my papers. Which paper did they want to publicize? 1) If the organization was Quanta, they...

From Computational Complexity

Certifying a Number is in a set A using Polynomials

 (This post was done with the help of Max Burkes and Larry Washington.)During this post \(N= \{0,1,2,\ldots \}\) and  \(N^+=\{1,2,3,\ldots \}\).Recall: Hilbert's...

From Computational Complexity

A paper that every Undergraduate should read

 The paper As we may thinkbyVannevar Bush appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, in July 1945. I first read it since it was one of the papers in Ideas that Created the...

From Computational Complexity

A nice dice problem-Part 2

In my last post (see here) I posed a dice problem, promising to give the answer in the next blog which is this blog. Here is the problem from my last blog:-----...

From Computational Complexity

Guest Post by Mohammad Hajiaghayi on SODA Business Meeting 2024

This is a guest post Mohammad Hajiaghayi on the SODA business Meeting from 2024. The meeting was held in Alexandria Virginia, Jan 7-10, 2024. The following meetings...

From Computational Complexity

A nice dice problem- Part I

In this blog I pose a dice problem. The problem is NOT mine and the answer is KNOWN. However, I DO NOT  think its well known, and I DO think it's interesting. My...
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