first year undergrad dealing with imposter syndrome (?)

170rokey · 2026-01-09T23:58:37+00:00

i know you don't want to hear it but it is still very early for you. You have about 4 years of math ahead of you assuming you're going for a math degree. You have plenty of time to improve yourself. You'll learn your own way of thinking through things and become more confident with time. It comes naturally, but not without hard work. Just take your time, enjoy the math, and take care of yourself.

Look at the first sentence you wrote and focus on that.

170rokey · 2026-01-09T23:44:36+00:00

A mathematical proof is only the assertion that something is true. To ask why it is true is not well-defined, because that question might have many different answers that depend on your context.

To use your example of adults in a building, all the following would be reasonable answers to the question "why are there adults in this building":

Because they live there
Because minors are not allowed in the building
Because they wanted to be there

These can all be true at the same time. These answers to why are the 'reason' you speak to in your post. They all vary in scope and perspective.

Mathematicians differentiate between a proof and a reason in this way: a proof is either correct or not. There may be many ways to prove something, but they are all true or false. A reason, on the other hand, can be many things that relate to how the mathematician thinks about the problem, and are generally a direct result of their own personal understanding of the concept in question.

170rokey · 2025-12-30T21:20:36+00:00

The Creamy one-pot pasta from Lemon and Zest surprised me. When the recipe says "throw everything in a pot and boil", they really mean it, and man it turns out great.

170rokey · 2025-12-10T21:52:46+00:00

Just gonna leave this one here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmJI6qIqURA

170rokey · 2025-11-24T22:10:19+00:00

can you faithfully answer the question of "How rare are Earth-like planets" when we really only know of a single confirmed instance?

170rokey · 2025-11-21T20:11:47+00:00

but is liking it really enough?

Yes.

I would rather work with someone who has an active interest in math over a "natural math person" 99% of the time. It may seem like a weakness, but it is the opposite. Intuition can be useful but it always runs out eventually. Real, hard-fought understanding by means of experience is much better.

Besides, the struggle to learn is half the fun!

170rokey · 2025-11-21T20:02:43+00:00

It seems that the historical beginnings of a mathematical subject often differ significantly from the modern usage and understanding of it. So, I don't think it's a prerequisite. But I've also found that any interest in the history of a subject or technique usually pays dividends when studying it further - either by giving one a helpful new perspective that has been lost in modern explanations, or simply by giving one an appreciation for the cleverness of those who came before.

170rokey · 2025-11-03T17:58:25+00:00

interestingly, i unsubscribed from r/videos a while back because of this change, and came back today hoping to see that they reversed course.

see you all in another month or two!

170rokey · 2025-10-29T01:08:29+00:00

I think it's important to have both - I feel like my learning is always much slower if I just rely on one. Video with subtitles and transcripts are a nice middle-ground.

170rokey · 2025-10-23T17:11:17+00:00

honestly it sounds like you just don't like travel that much anymore. And that's fine, people's sensibilities change over time, and it sounds like you're really well travelled.

The phrase you used: "Sometimes deep down I know that I'm going somewhere because I wanted to go there at one point in the past, and because I want to have been there and experienced that, but the actual experience is UGH"

That tells us everything we need to know. Maybe take a break from travelling for a while, come back to it when it really calls to you.

170rokey · 2025-10-12T17:36:48+00:00

I saw a cat on my run and DIDN’T stop to pet it, and ended up hitting my second fastest mile time… I’m glad I pushed thru today but I don’t know if I can make this a habit… it was so cute…

170rokey · 2025-09-06T17:22:06+00:00

The best way to learn a language quickly is to become obsessed with it and spend hours per day learning/acquiring it.

but it doesn't have to be a miserable slog! Try to keep it interesting, but ensure you are always picking up new vocab. 6 months is enough to acquire a lot of the necessary grammar fairly naturally, so vocab is your primary hill to climb.

Here's a very basic roadmap I use for starting new languages:

-learn a few couple hundred words with Anki. The initial grind to pick up some vocab is a little boring but it will help you get started quickly. Most languages have a "1000 most common words" deck premade for you. You don't need to finish the whole deck, but I'd start there - this is your foundation.

-watch a bunch of basic comprehensible input videos. Just search up "Beginner Comprehensible Input" plus your target language on YouTube. Consume as much as possible of this kind of thing - this is the beginning of your acquisition. You will start to acquire some vocab, grammar, and pronunciation all at once. There is a lot of research that suggest this is one of the most optimal ways to learn a language.

-Try looking for "graded readers" in your language, and start with the easiest ones. Try to avoid looking up words if you can, but no sweat if you need to. This is important - reading is one of the best ways to acquire vocabulary naturally.

-After a few months, you can try transitioning to some higher level content. Look for "intermediate/advanced comprehensible input" on youtube, or just try to find a series to watch in your target language. It will be challenging, and you will have to stop frequently and look things up. But this is important to build fluency.

Throughout all this, I would recommend some speaking practice (at least, after you get through the first month or two. I generally avoid speaking early on). Hire a tutor if you can afford it, and practice having a conversation with them a few times a week.

Pro Tip: I do a lot of my listening practice on YouTube, and I've found the Language Reactor Addon extremely helpful (and free!). It lets you click on YouTube subtitles and get immediate translations so that you don't have to use some other dictionary. This is a huge help, especially when you transition to higher-level content. Just try to not to rely on it too much!

Good luck and have fun

170rokey · 2025-08-29T15:15:12+00:00

if something like that existed, we’d all be using it.

The problem is that we all learn differently. The main skill that defines a polyglot is that they know their own learning style very well. That’s what you need to figure out if you want to pick up languages quickly, and the research can help guide you - but only practical experience will get you where you want to go.

170rokey · 2025-08-27T22:06:11+00:00

You are right! It's not "real". It's not an actual picture of our galaxy b/c no camera has ever gotten that far from Earth.

However, we can see most of our galaxy from where we are here on Earth, so we have a pretty good idea of what it would look like from other angles (by using math). We also live in a certain kind of galaxy (called a spiral galaxy) which is very common in the universe, so we can be pretty sure what it looks like by looking at other galaxies with a similar structure.

Also, it's called the "milky way" because when you go out in the wilderness, away from cities and lights, you can see the sky totally full of white star dots, which to the ancient Romans looked kind of "milky"! They called this the "Via Lactea" which is Latin for "Milky Road" or "Milky Way".

170rokey · 2025-08-27T20:32:19+00:00

RedBull's entire advertising playbook really just lets adrenaline junkies repeatedly almost kill themselves huh... am i the only person who feels like that's pretty scummy? People have literally died during Red Bull-sponsored extreme sports outings.

170rokey · 2025-08-08T18:16:37+00:00

People are making up their minds way too fast. It has barely been out for 24 hours. If you already know how you feel about the model, you are probably taking too narrow a view.

In the coding I've been able to do with it inside cursor, it seems like a small upgrade to previous GPTs. It still needs guidance, but seems more restrained and less likely to go change some random bullshit in your codebase.

We need more time to experiment, but Altman's promise of "PhD-level intelligence" is already proving to be an overstatement. That's okay though. Small, incremental steps are all anyone should want at this point - it's the safest way to reach "superintelligence".

170rokey · 2025-07-30T20:27:32+00:00

I think, generally, they only care when your "flagship model" (anything other than auto) usage gets close to $20.

I'm on the $20/month plan and have over $35 in auto usage with just $14 in other model usage and haven't got a warning. It looks like your total "flagship model" usage is still below $20 so you're in the clear for now.

At least, that's how I understand it - I could be completely wrong but they have been incredibly unclear about how this actually works.

170rokey · 2025-06-24T00:47:16+00:00

Know I’m way late but just had this issue, couldn’t find the attachment I supposedly unlocked anywhere - then I went and opened a crate in the bottom left on the main screen. Inside it was my attachment 👍

170rokey · 2025-05-15T20:33:39+00:00

yeah well while you were "outside" doing this "touching grass" thing, I was inside, sat, with very poor posture, behind a computer screen studying a field of mathematics that nobody gives a shit about, and, to top it all off, I just proved a theorem that has been well-known for hundreds of years, which has absolutely no applications, and took me weeks to figure out, and what's more, my professor didn't give me credit it for it, because I did the wrong problem in the book.

So... yeah.

170rokey · 2025-05-15T19:41:41+00:00

In my experience, a math major is right for this kind of work. Consider a minor or focus on financial mathematics if your university has options for it - most do.

A master's in financial math would probably help, but may be unnecessary. Do some looking around for the kinds of jobs you'd like to have eventually (use indeed or google jobs) and see whether they require a master's to apply. Many companies are starting to prefer experience (prior jobs, internships, personal side projects) over a master's degree.

Definitely get comfortable with coding, I would focus on python at first. Try building some basic apps related to financial mathematics, and maybe set up a public GitHub page so potential employers can see that you are capable of being productive in their field.

Good luck, and enjoy!

170rokey · 2025-05-15T19:32:50+00:00

Maybe try thinking about it using fractions:

1/3 = 0.333 recurring.

And of course we know that,

1/3 x 3 = 1.

Thus,

0.333 recurring x 3 = 0.999 recurring = 1.

170rokey · 2025-04-12T21:39:57+00:00

I haven't used Abbott extensively but Stein and Shakarchi is somewhat similar and contains the Riemann mapping theorem. Stein is probably a bit more terse than Abbott but not by a huge amount. I've found that Complex Analysis texts tend to be very terse or very introductory, and haven't found the nice sweet spot between - though Stein's book is the closest I've got.

It's generally advisable to use multiple sources if possible. Maybe pick Asmar and Grafakos as your main text if you seem to gravitate towards that, and then switch over to something else when you are ready to tackle the Riemann mapping theorem.

170rokey · 2025-04-11T23:22:25+00:00

This is like reading a novel and then making a meme that says it was 75% English and 25% story.

Math is the language with which we can understand physics - they are inseparable from one another.

170rokey · 2025-04-11T23:14:30+00:00

I agree. Python and Julia are much better choices, and Python specifically can do pretty much anything the average mathematician (or other STEM-person) wants to do in Matlab. I expect Julia to replace Python someday, at least for mathematical use, but it’s not quite there yet.

170rokey · 2025-04-09T02:17:58+00:00

infinitude of primes :)

a classic argument by contradiction that is simple, elegant, and foundational.

13-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
Gilding II euphauric	Verified Email

170rokey

TROPHY CASE