Requests
Okay, I have some things to ask of you guys. In order of priority:
I am thinking of entering the New Trier Science Research Competition, perhaps both as an individual and team. If you would like to work with me on a team project, please get in touch with me, preferably with some ideas. I’m thinking these would likely be in the chemistry, mathematics, or computer science categories, because I’m probably not interested in your research project that requires me to cross-pollinate three thousand pea plants. Feel free, however, to propose any reasonable or unreasonable ideas for which you would like to collaborate with me. Surprise me.
I am thinking of writing AP study guides, particularly for Biology and Chemistry, and perhaps also for Physics C and Calculus AB and BC. They would be available online for a fee, and include a lot of helpful, detailed review information, unlike commercially-available AP review books, which have astonishingly little useful course content. (They do, however, suggest that you eat a good breakfast that morning.) Give me any input you have about this idea, especially how much you or others would be willing to pay. Remember that my first-year Chemistry review packet was ten pages for third quarter alone; these AP guides would be easily over 40 dense pages. I would probably only be able to finish one or two of them this year.
If you are interested in joining Scholastic Bowl and you are not on the mailing list, contact myself or David Reinstein now. Our first official practice is Wednesday in room 359.
Probably for Patrick only: If you help me get dvipng to work on my website, I will set up an online TeX rendering service with indefinite storage. You want me to do this.
If you are in Aegis Questions, write questions now.
If you have the 2.6.17 Linux kernel, I would like you to compile a few kernel modules for me. Alternatively, tell me how I can get them to compile on Knoppix 5.0.1, as it does not contain all the necessary C include files.
That is all. I hope to hear from some of you, especially about the science project and AP guides. If you read my blog but haven’t commented, now is a great time to start.
Where do you find the time for all this?
September 17th, 2006 at 1:31 amLet’s do a comp-sci project on dynamic programming!
We’ll design our own language. Here are some of my ideas:
1. Purely functional programming.
2. Even normal variables are functions, just functions which do not reference any of their arguments.
3. Even program control statements are functions (in this case, it will resemble mathematica)
4. A program consists of two parts: function definitions and expression evaluation. There will be many function definitions but only a single line of expression evaluation.
5. Functions are compiled as they are defined. They are fully simplified.
6. All functions will be derived from two basic functions:
0 (Zero)
S (Successor)
So we have:
S[S[S[S[S[0]]]]] as a typical number
7. There will be functions for Composites, with Plus the composite of S, for instance. Times will be the composite of Plus, and so on.
8. There will be functions for Mapping–function evaluation over all the arguments of another function.
9. It won’t be deadly slow because of a place-value function to store numbers in a base-two sort of way instead of with all those S’s
10. Even lists will be functions, just functions that don’t evaluate to anything.
11. It will be dynamic because function values will be stored in matrices so they won’t need to be recalculated. This makes a function like F run much faster:
F=If[Equals[#1,0[]],0[],Plus[F[Plus[#1,-1[]]],F[Plus[#1,-2[]]]]]; (a recussive definition of the Fibonacci numbers)
September 17th, 2006 at 1:53 pmI have a feeling one of those was directed at me.
September 18th, 2006 at 6:18 pmI would like to do a science competition project with someone.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:46 pmI have all sorts of crazy ideas but I forget them. I remember I had a really good idea today, but I can’t remember what it was. . .