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9:32 PM
@ShaVuklia I see. Wish you have a nice time there then.
@ShaVuklia is back!!! :D
 
haha:P hi!
Guys, my book says that $\sin(nt)$ is an even function about $\pi/2$ for even $n$. I would like to show this analytically. Should I use the following?:
$$
\sin(nt)=\sin(2mt)=2\cos(mt)\sin(mt).
$$
I'm not sure how to proceed.
 
@ShaVuklia Hey there! Somewhat more motivated now? :P
 
lol NO!:P I'm forced
my exams are coming week
but for some reason I got obsessively interested in skin care the past week
so I've been binge-watching those videos, while I should be preparing my exams
and I keep telling myself: just watch those bloody videos after the exams. but I can't listen :l
 
@ShaVuklia Oh, I see. You seem to be involved in some exams in the last weeks as I could see from your messages.
@ShaVuklia Neverending exams actually. :P
 
yea.. but honestly, I wish I could do an exam on natural "beauty" products :P I literally know everything that is necessary, I think
I'm even bored now by most experts, because I can't find any new information.
so that's good :P
because this is wasting my time big time
 
9:38 PM
haha, that would be cool for you I suppose! To get rid of some tough integrals (supposing) :P
 
hahahaha! maybe some fine developing integrals, in my case
 
@ShaVuklia When your vacation starts?:P
 
second week of july
 
Oh, there is some way to go till then!
:P
 
yea:l unfortunately
I've been motivated the entire year. I felt obsessed. and now the motivation is gone entirely. but whatever I guess
 
9:40 PM
@ShaVuklia You live in Europe?
 
gotta continue now!
yea I live in Amsterdam
 
@ShaVuklia Nice! I have some friends living there.
 
not really. the food here sucks
but apart from that, it's a good place :P
and cool!
sorry that I have to go now. I hope to catch up with you after next week!
really gotta continue working:(
 
@ShaVuklia Maybe all over the planet the food sucks, pollution is everywhere spread these days.
 
hahaha true true
 
9:41 PM
@ShaVuklia OK
@ShaVuklia Have fun! :P
 
"fun", :P thanks!
 
@ShaVuklia :P
I also need to develop some of my uninteresting research. Perhaps only I and my dogs show interest in my mathematics.
(especially the one I do these days)
 
Hi @Ted
 
@Sha: Seems like you've caught the Balarka/Astyx/Demonark procrastination bug.
 
This'll get you pumped @ShaVuklia youtube.com/watch?v=z1PSbDmV8Gw
 
9:44 PM
rehi un-un-unsleeping Balarka.
 
Pretty sure I'm in that category as well.
 
Yes, of course, you are, @Semiclassic. Odd, that's never been one of my strengths.
I always returned graded exams the next class, for example.
 
@ShaVuklia Direct approach is to check that $\sin nt$ is invariant under $x\mapsto \pi-x$.
 
You didn't just get TA's and students to mark the work for you?
 
I should be but I'm reading foliations.
 
9:47 PM
@BalarkaSen Have you heard of Charles Bukowski? He writes good poetry but then I saw a documentary of sorts on youtube of him, and he's brutal.
 
No, I didn't have TAs, Nate.
 
@TedShifrin That's crazy. My girlfriend went through her undergrad without ever having a professor mark an assignment or a test.
 
Hm, no, I haven't.
 
Better this than video games, at least it's easy to alternate between this and productivity
 
I even graded all homeworks in advanced classes (no other faculty bothered — they used grad students, many of whom did not a good job).
 
9:48 PM
I guess I should go back to banging my head against this paper.
 
Huh
As far as I've seen it, for undergrad classes, a mix of other undergrads and grad students grade
 
@TedShifrin So it must be a faculty thing then. She took Social Science.
 
It definitely depends on what sort of course is being taught.
 
Or perhaps you're just a really hard worker.
 
If an undergrad does, it's only homework. No grading tests, and basically no student contact
 
9:50 PM
No, Nate. Certainly my colleagues who taught social science at UGA graded exams and papers for advanced classes.
 
There are certain calculus sections that have undergrads doing tutorials as well/holding office hours
 
A big intro course is rather akin to an assembly line.
 
Hm.
 
The only way to have sections as large as they do is to delegate most of the grading to TAs.
 
When graduate students grade, they also assist sometimes in grading tests, and often have problem sessions, office hours, etc
 
9:51 PM
And the grading involved in an intro course is usually simpler than in an advanced course.
 
@BalarkaSen His poems are always slightly upbeat and motivational, but in the documentary he basically said that he didn't mean it to be like that and most people suck and blah lbah. At one point he confronts his girlfriend (who is like half his age) accusing her of cheating. She laughs and he kicks her right off he couch while smoking a joint.
Like it was nuts.
 
(I say that, but I muuuuch preferred TAing for advanced classes. far fewer students and no lab reports)
 
@Dodsy Um.
 
Yep. So then, naturally I turned it off.
 
@Semi Lol, lab reports sound painful to deal with
 
9:54 PM
they are.
 
I have never done it, but I suspect grading lab reports is worse than grading math proofs.
 
I'd prefer some kind of TA position where I'd do problem sessions or office hours as opposed to just grading
 
Everyone prefers that ... although grading can be done (in a timely fashion) at your convenience, like at home.
 
Or if I'm grading one of Laci's classes because his problems are just fun
 
I should clarify one thing though; I am not a movie/literature-buff so you won't see me knowing a lot of works. I am only into the very, very strange stuff.
 
9:55 PM
One thing I decided after this semester is how much I despise my old approach to grading lab reports
 
a very narrow subset, i admit
 
@BalarkaSen I wouldn't necessarily call T.S Elliot strange...
 
namely, to collect them in-lab, write stuff down on them, and hand 'em back.
 
Is this like Semiclassic 2.0 speaking?
 
Charles Bukowski is much stranger.
 
9:56 PM
nah.
 
@Ted I think I know at least a few people who don't really care much, perhaps only doing it for the cash, so the fact that mere grading is more convenient pushes the preference toward that
 
I'm only talking about a very specific thing here.
 
@Dodsy Well, depending on what strange means, sure.
 
Interacting with students a lot in office hours was one of the things I enjoyed most about my teaching career.
 
@BalarkaSen Go to Tibet
Ride a camel.
Read the bible.
Dye your shoes blue.
Grow a beard.
Circle the world in a paper canoe.
Subscribe to The Saturday Evening Post.
Chew on the left side of your mouth only.
Marry a woman with one leg and shave with a straight razor.
And carve your name in her arm.

Brush your teeth with gasoline.
Sleep all day and climb trees at night.
Be a monk and drink buckshot and beer.
Hold your head under water and play the violin.
Do a belly dance before pink candles.
Kill your dog.
 
9:56 PM
Rehi people
 
Namely, this semester taught me that emailing in lab reports is a waaaay better system than collecting paper copies.
 
Rehi @Astyx (comme il est tard!)
 
For one, it means I can actually keep a copy of what they've done.
 
@Dodsy Is that your plans for this week end ?
 
I don't like grading electronic things, @Semiclassic. I have to print and write.
 
9:57 PM
For another, it means I can actually type stuff out rather than write it by hand.
 
Lmfao no, Charles Bukowski poetry.
 
On est toujours aujourd'hui donc ça va @Ted
 
All my puppies died of old age.
 
Merveilleux, @Astyx.
 
@Ted lol, you mentioned that toward the end of your career you started holding a lot more office hours, right?
 
9:57 PM
Have you guys figured out anything more about my visit, @Astyx?
 
Dans 4 minutes on est demain, ça ira moins
 
@Dodsy Er.
 
Euh pas que je sache, enfin maintenant j'ai le numéro de JeSuis
 
My handwriting is sufficiently terrible/slow that writing out comments was always an exercise in horror.
 
No, Demonark, I always did a lot throughout my career. But teaching the multivariable math class I had to be more generous, because it was so hard for most of them.
 
9:58 PM
On a encore deux semaines pour se décider on est large :p
 
I dunno what to make of it. Certainly not my cup of tea :P
 
@BalarkaSen yep he's out there.
 
Working with students is great.
 
I see
 
Comme il faut procrastiner au maximum, @Astyx :D
 
9:58 PM
Working in an educational system...significantly less so
 
sounds a bit beat to me
 
@Semi truth
 
Exactement ! On organisera ça samedi matin et tout ira bien
 
So I'm getting curious about what I might get to teach in AoPS ... if I do it.
Ou plutôt on ne fera absolument rien, @Astyx.
 
That said, I am thinking of applying to teach Physics in an adjunct capacity at a local college.
there was an email thing about it
 
10:00 PM
@TedShifrin higher category theory
 
Mais si, il faut pas être aussi négatif que ça !
 
I am...conflicted.
 
Ceci étant dit on est demain, donc je vais y aller ! Bye guys
 
Have you definitively decided you're quitting, @Semiclassic.
Bye, Astyx.
 
I'm trying to get out, to put it in those terms.
 
10:01 PM
OK ...
 
Quitting what, if I may ask?
(Don't feel pressured to respond if it's personal)
 
My adviser would like me to leave with the PhD, and that's not out of the realm of possibility if there are some bureaucractic shortcuts possible.
There's steps being taken in that regard.
 
Yeah, I think after all the work you've done, you should, @Semiclassic.
I concur completely.
 
Ah, I see. Well, I wish you the best of luck in all of this
 
My main paranoia is the "overqualification" boogeyman
 
10:02 PM
overqualification for adjunct?
or overqualification in general?
 
For careers in general.
Hence why my other big goal for the summer is to figure out my next career step.
 
Well, your CV is going to list 5 years in grad school working on a Ph.D., regardless. Better to have the degree to show you accomplished it.
 
7. But yeah, even more so.
 
I wasn't sure about the number.
 
@Semi Oh nice thanks!
$$
\sin(nx)=\sin(2mx)=\sin(\pi-2mx),
$$
hence
$$
\sin(2m\cdot\frac{1}{2}\pi)=\sin(m\pi)=\sin(\pi-m\pi)
$$
 
10:04 PM
math phd's are highly employable.
 
He's physics, Nate, but same difference.
 
he's a Physics PhD
 
Yeah.
 
Oh, sorry.
 
and thanks @Dodsy :P though I'm already motivated (i.e. stressed)
 
10:04 PM
That said, the kind of physics I do is basically a mix between applied and pure math.
 
Haha, no worries Sha. I'm sure you'll do great!
 
you're into solid state stuff right
 
Eh. In principle.
 
That's awesome :)
 
I was definitely on the mathematical physics boundary of things.
The problem I have with the notion that STEM PhDs are highly employable is that it's a bit of a cipher.
 
10:06 PM
It's the opinion of a lot of people that physics is a harder degree than mathematics.
 
Employable as what? Where? etc.
 
Would you all agree?
 
Yeah, you need to be careful about jumping to that claim so quickly
 
Ah OK. I'm not entirely sure of what kind of things you do, despite a lot of conversations :)
 
Semiclassical stuff, of course :P
Which is, in fact, the closest thing I have to a unifying theme in my research
 
10:07 PM
Haha. Well I have admittedly 0 idea what that is.
 
I don't think I agree, Nate.
I suspect it depends on the individual and on the thesis work.
 
Plus, there's such a wide range of projects in physics.
 
@Semiclassical I have seen some testimonials from various institutions here that make it seem as though math PhD's are very employable. One that comes to mind is a math PhD becoming the vice president of Intel.
 
Same in math, @Semiclassic.
 
10:08 PM
Well, sure. But in physics there's the whole experimentalist vs. theorist distinction.
And I am definitely not the former :P
 
True. I guess I figure experimentalists need to know a lot of theory, too. At least the ones I know do.
 
Math people are reasonably employable in finance, for example, but that's also a bit tight, and many wouldn't necessarily like it
 
I could see myself working in the -right- kind of finance field.
Not that I know what that is, sigh.
 
Things they're more likely to prefer, say along the lines of coding, require more pointed CS knowledge, which they may not have gotten because they were doing raw math/physics more
 
^
That's another source of concern.
 
10:10 PM
@Semi How would you characterize "right"?
I'm interested in part for personal reasons as well :P
 
I'd want something that's less "make people a lot of money" and "keep people/institutions honest", maybe?
 
I dunno how you keep our current government honest.
 
oh btw, I'm afraid I didn't show it yet @Semi. Why should we check invariance and/or how to use that?
 
Yeah I think I'd do finance if I didn't think I had what it takes to do research work.
 
@TedShifrin Can't argue with you there.
@ShaVuklia Remind me of what you're trying to show?
 
10:12 PM
Hello!!! I have a question about fourier series.
 
that $\sin(nx)$ is an odd function about $\pi/2$ for even $n$
(I said it wrong at first)
 
It's the same as for $n=1$, @Sha, about $x=0$. You know this.
 
Okay. Do you know what it means for a function to be odd about a point other than zero?
 
yes one sec @Semi
 
Are you still hoping to stick to the teaching profession, or do you have better choices you think you want to go to?
 
10:13 PM
Oops. I mistyped.
 
This is coming from someone who doesn't know anything about where STEM people go outside academia
 
Honestly, I'm hoping to avoid teaching
 
Really, Semi?
 
Fair enough.
 
You're a natural.
 
10:14 PM
I have no interest at all in K-12, if only because that'd involve licensure.
 
$f(x_0+x)=-f(x_0-x)$
 
Why would you teach k-12?
Why not college?
 
I wouldn't. I'm just explaining why that particular avenue isn't of interest.
For college....maybe.
 
@Ted oh really? I thought I couldn't use the case $n=1$
 
Yeah college was what I had in mind when I asked.
 
10:15 PM
@sha Right. Or, if you replace $x$ there with $x+\pi/2$: $f(\pi-x)=-f(x)$.
 
I'd be up for teaching in college, not K-12 unless it's some particular program for motivated students
 
$2k(x-\pi/2) = 2kx - k\pi$. What do you know about $\sin(y-k\pi)$ for $k$ an integer?
 
That's generally the next step. A post-doc and then trying to secure a tenure track.
 
That's why I'm thinking I may go for this adjunct position.
 
You should.
 
10:15 PM
And preferably with no state/AP/IB tests looming overhead
 
Yeah, no way in hell I'm doing a post-doc.
 
Why not?
 
Because the entire reason I want to get out of grad school is because I have no interest in becoming a professional researcher.
That's not what I want out of life.
 
Ah I see.
You get a fancy office though.
 
And the entire point of post-docs is to build up your CV / stay alive in academia juuuust long enough to get a tenure track position.
 
10:17 PM
Yeah...
 
@Semi acquisition concerns notwithstanding, what would you want to do?
 
That's the problem.
I really don't know -what- I want to do.
I mean, I can formulate some basic rules.
 
Let $f,f'$ piecewise continuous functions in $-L<x<L$ and $f$ 2L-periodic, then I want to show that $na_n$ and $nb_n$ are bounded sequences, where $a_n, b_n$ Fourier coefficients of $f$.

We have that f is piecewise continuous, so there are subintervals of [0,L], [-L,0] at which f is bounded and $f(x)=\frac{a_0}{2}+ \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \left( a_n \cos{\frac{n \pi x}{L}}+ b_n \sin{\frac{n \pi x}{L}}\right)$.

Since the functions $\sin{x}, \cos{x}$ are bounded, in order f to be bounded, $a_n$ and $b_n$ need to be bounded, and so $na_n$ and $nb_n$ also are.
 
@Semiclassical Is that really that much cling-to-the-cliff-for-dear-life situation (which is what I parse out of that sentence)? Out of curiosity.
 
@BalarkaSen That's my impression of it.
 
10:18 PM
Hm.
 
$\{a_n\}$ bounded implies $\{na_n\}$ bounded? Wake up!!!
 
I care more about financial stability than financial...profit, I guess?
 
I also get that vibe
 
I know there's a better word than that, though.
 
I guess academia is somewhat scary :P
 
10:19 PM
Oh no, because we can take the limit $n \to +\infty$, right? @TedShifrin
 
Try $a_n=1$.
 
Well, it's a situation where there's a lot more PhD's than there are tenure track positions.
 
@Balarka if it's any consolation, careers/life in general is somewhat scary :P
 
ohhh right @Ted I see it now (sorry @Semi I had no idea what to do with your tip:P but I get it now)
 
@sha lol
 
10:20 PM
Aren't we helpful, @Sha? Making you work it out?
 
lol you all are golden
 
@Semiclassical Perhaps. I suppose it might change depending on the country. For instance I think 10 people on average graduate with a PhD in mathematics from each school in Ontario.
 
Though academia moreso because of what Semi said, and especially because people view it in contrast to "the gold old days" (presuming they exist) when apparently things were reasonable
 
@evinda: There's a crucial hypothesis at the beginning of your problem. You need to use it.
 
@Daminark yeah i just hope one morning i wake up and find myself stop existing
 
10:22 PM
In physics there's also a historical aspect. Cold war funding was different, for instance.
 
@Balarka: I really do not like talk like that.
 
You won't quite be waking up
But that's dark
 
If you're depressed, you need to talk with a professional.
 
It's not a depression, just general being-scared-ness. But it's better than waking up and finding yourself turned into a giant beetle
 
@sha Point was that if $f(\pi/2-x)=-f(\pi/2+x)$, then you can replace $x\to x-\pi/2$ and get $f(\pi-x)=-f(x)$.
 
10:23 PM
Terror reigns... and also that's a frightening prospect
 
We're back to Gregor Samsa?
 
So being odd about $\pi/2$ is equivalent to $f$ picking up a minus sign if you replace $x\mapsto \pi-x$.
 
Yep, Kafka everytime
 
@BalarkaSen Have you read about Godel's life?
He was a fan of Kafka.
 
Hm, no I haven't
Oh, interesting
 
10:24 PM
@Dodsy you know, if the Canadian academic market is reasonable (and remains like so until around the time tenure would be happening) I'd actually be down for something like that
I've visited my aunt a couple times when I was younger, in Mississauga, and it was a chill place
 
@Daminark It's the first line of Metamorphosis. "One morning Gregor Samsa woke up from uneasy dreams and found himself turned into a giant beetle"
 
I don't remember the "uneasy dreams" in the original German.
 
I've read the trial not that long ago but that's it by Kafka
This doesn't surprise me though
 
Huh, I definitely remember that.
 
Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte ... Yup you're right. I forgot those 3 words.
 
10:28 PM
@Daminark The problem is that Canadian Universities (much like american ones, I'm sure) take people from all over the place. The school I'm hoping to get into has students with PhD's from MIT, Umich, UofT, etc. So though we don't graduate a lot of mathematics PhD's the market might be just as tough as the American market. However, this also means that A Uchicago candidate may have a good chance given the prestige of UC.
 
@Daminark I want to read that at some point.
 
So, it's always good to keep your options open, and I would certainly be around to be a pal of yours if you ever chose to come here. :)
 
There's also the problem of: Would your university be willing to hire a PhD they'd created?
I don't mean that at a direct level, really. Institutions are generally loath to hire directly.
 
"I awoke from The Sickness at the age of forty five, calm and sane, and in reasonably good health except for a weakened liver and the look of borrowed flesh common to everyone who survives" That's my favorite opener on a novel for a while.
 
I mean more at the level of: Does my university hire people like me, or does it hire people from Harvard?
Though the other reason I wouldn't want a post-doc is that I've no interest in moving across the country for whatever position I can find. That's not a lifestyle that appeals to me.
 
10:34 PM
@TedShifrin $1 \leq 1$ but $n \cdot 1 \to +\infty$, so it is not bounded. @TedShifrin

I have thought the following.

We can get that $a_n=-\frac{1}{n \pi} \int_{-L}^L f'(x) \sin{\frac{n \pi x}{L}} dx$ and $b_n=-\frac{1}{n \pi } \left[ f(L) \cos{n \pi}-f(-L) \cos{n \pi}-\int_{-L}^L f'(x) \cos{\frac{n \pi x}{L}} dx\right]$.

So we get that


$na_n=-\frac{1}{\pi} \int_{-L}^L f'(x) \sin{\frac{n \pi x}{L}} dx$ and $nb_n=-\frac{1}{\pi} \left( f(L) \cos{n \pi}-f(-L) \cos{n \pi}-\int_{-L}^L f'(x) \cos{\frac{n \pi x}{L}} dx\right)$
 
OK, @evinda, good. So why do these formulas tell you that $\{na_n\}$ and $\{nb_n\}$ are bounded?
 
@ShaVuklia The reason I take that view of it, btw, is because in quantum mechanics it's common to refer to the parity operator $P$ which acts as $(Pf)(x)=f(-x)$.
 
Because $f'$ is piecewise continuous and thus bounded and so the integral $\int_{-L}^L f'(x) dx$ is also bounded. Or am I wrong? @TedShifrin
 
Or, depending on context, as $(Pf)(x)=f(a-x)$. For instance, that's the version you'd use if the system were on the interval $[0,a]$.
 
That's right, @evinda. Just write out the details (like putting in absolute values and appropriate estimates).
 
10:37 PM
So being an odd function means that it a $(-1)$-eigenfunction of the parity operator.
 
Ah, so $\int_{-L}^L f'(x) dx \leq \sup_{x \in [-L,L} f'(x) \int_{-L}^L 1 dx=2L \sup_{x \in [-L,L} f'(x)$, which is bounded. @TedShifrin
 
And that's a handy POV because, if the Hamiltonian commutes with $P$, then both operators should be simultaneously diagonalizable. So each energy eigenfunction will have a well-defined parity.
 
You need absolute values and appropriate things.
 
(In physics terms, one says that the parity is a good quantum number in that case.)
 
$\left| \int_{-L}^L f'(x) dx\right| \leq \int_{-L}^L |f'(x)| dx \leq \int_{-L}^L \sup_{x \in [-L,L]} |f'(x)| dx \leq 2L \sup_{x \in [-L,L]} |f'(x)| \leq 2LM$, some $M \in \mathbb{N}$.

You mean like that, right? @TedShifrin
 
10:42 PM
Excellent, @evinda. Except the first thing needs the sin in there, etc.
 
Oh yes, right. Thanks a lot!!! :) @TedShifrin
 
You're welcome, @evinda :)
 
I'll keep that in mind @Dodsy, thanks! :)
@Balarka it was good
 
@Semiclassical I am opposite to you. I like to move often. I really hate to stay in the same place for long.
 

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