Dead run

I am doing really badly in my QM2 class. I think that he has dropped the first exam, which I failed terribly, since everyone else also did terribly. He was a bit vague, but I'm pretty sure he dropped it.

My next exam is April 12th, and then all that's left is the final. I can't fail this one. I really need to knock this one out of the park, just in case he decides to count that first exam. (Rumor has it that my professor will let you retake the final if you need this class to graduate and you're failing, but there's no way I'm going to let it come to that.) I figure if I do nothing but study from now until the 12th, I can at least console myself that, if I do fail, I did everything I could have possibly done to pass. I need to know everything completely cold. I'm going to work and rework homework problems until I can do this stuff in my sleep.

Right. So, degenerate perturbation theory, here I come...

(...and on a happier note, my knee is feeling better, and I've finished my past three runs without incident!)

Frat boys and matrix elements

First of all, let me just say that I hate frat boys. I really do. Screw frats and the people in them. It's 11 AM and I'm at work at the SLC and there's about 20-30 frat boys here (and they ARE frat boys, you can tell just by looking at them) screaming and running around and cheering. AT THE SLC. For about 2 hours solid. It's intensely obnoxious. Anyone who would be in this area studying has to go to a different area of the building because of these imbeciles. I can't even tell them to shut up because this isn't technically a quiet area.

Anyway...

One thing that turns up over and over in QM2 is 'matrix elements'; this is because you represent operators with linear transformations, and linear transformations are written as matrices. I realized that I don't understand that well why this is, so I'm reviewing that, and using this as my notepad...

For any vector with components a1, a2,..., an where you know what a linear transformation T does to its set of basis vectors, T|a> returns a new vector |b> with components:

b1 = T11*a1 + T12*a2 + T13*a3 + ... + T1n*an
b2 = T21*a1 + T22*a2 + T23*a3 + ... + T2n*an
...
b3 = T31*a1 + T32*a2 + T33*a3 + ... + Tnn*an

And T acting on the basis vectors gives you:

T|e1> = T11|e1> + T21|e2> + ... + Tn1|en>
T|e2> = T12|e1> + T22|e2> + ... + Tn2|en>
...
T|en> = T1n|e1> + T2n|e2> + ... + Tnn|en>

These equations give you the matrix elements for T. Take the inner product of each equation with one of the basis vectors to find these; for example, to find the element T21:

<e2|T|e1> = <e2|T11|e1> + <e2|T21|e2> + ... + <e2|Tn1|en>

But the Tij's are scalars, so you can take them out of the inner products. Assuming this is an orthonormal basis, you are left with only one term on the RHS that is not zero:

<e2|T|e1> = T21<e2|e2> = T21

So this is the formula for finding the matrix elements.

C++ ftw

I've been thinking that I would like to get involved in computational biophysics research when I get to UCSF, even though my background is mostly in experimental work. The work I've been doing with Jake here at UGA is mostly computational/analytical stuff, and while the specific stuff we are doing (analysis of threshold traits in multiple environments) is not particularly interesting to me, I do like the sort of work that I've been doing. I guess I've always enjoyed working with computers, so it's not any great surprise that I like this kind of stuff.

One thing that I am planning on doing this summer is really throwing a lot of energy into re-learning C++. I knew C, and C++ to a lesser extent, fairly competently when I was in high school, so re-learning it should not be so difficult, but I think I will probably have much more success getting involved in computational research at UCSF if I show up and can demonstrate that I am a good coder. It is something that I do have a relatively strong aptitude for, but a lot of the more complex ideas and syntax fades from memory when you haven't done it for such a long time.

I actually sat down at Hot Corner tonight and spent some time reviewing simple C++ stuff, and it's coming pretty naturally to me, so that's a promising sign! I guess I shouldn't spend too much time doing this during the semester, though. I've got a little over a month left until I graduate...ALL I need to do is pass this crazy quantum mechanics 2 class and I will be done. Easier said than done, though...

Not even four-letter words

Words really can't describe how much I hate having to be at work at 8 AM.

End do

So, I ended up getting rejected from Harvard. I expected this, since their application was due back at the beginning of December, and you normally don't wait this long for an interview offer! It's a moot point anyway, though, since I've already accepted UCSF's bid.

Would have been a nice ego trip, though...heh.

So, I applied to 8 schools, one of which (the University of California, San Diego) actually returned my application fee, which I suppose means there was some undetermined problem with my application and it wasn't processed or something. Of the 7 I was considered for, I was rejected from 4 (MIT, Stanford, UW, and Harvard), and received 3 formal admission offers (from ASU, UCSB, and UCSF). And I'm going to UCSF.

Perks!

I just found out that UCSF's graduate program includes not only payment of all fees and tuition and health insurance and a $26,500 annual stipend for living expenses, but also includes a fitness center membership and they give you a free brand new Mac laptop when you begin. I mean, I'm sure this is a for-business-use-only sort of deal, and you probably have to give it back when you graduate, but...wow! How cool is that?

Hee. Excited!

I am teh uber nerd

So I'm sitting at a coffee shop downtown, reviewing some mathematics (calculus, actually), and it's spring break. Everyone else is out partying, and I'm sitting here, studying theorems about infinite series and convergence. I guess this makes me some kind of uber-nerd or something. What's more, although I am reviewing this because I need to for one my classes, I actually enjoy this stuff a lot. I like learning about mathematics. I find it satisfying, and interesting, and even fun. I think I like it more than I like, for example, drinking myself blind, which is, I suppose, sort of the normal thing to do over spring break.

It's strange that a person can go out and drink until they puke every night of spring break, and their peers will think this perfectly normal, even praiseworthy, but if a guy would prefer to sit down and study something, that's weird, and mockable.

Ah well...that's why I'm such a nerd I guess...

Degeneration...

So, it turns out that degenerate perturbation theory is, like...hard. And tedious. And my homework assignment is due tomorrow morning at 9:30, DAMMIT!!

Decision

So, I've accepted UCSF's bid. (And canceled my trip to Phoenix, which seemed like the more polite thing to do at this point...)

I'm really excited about this. Moving to San Francisco, baby! Woo!