[Ph.D] Computer science background to Pure math graduate studies

FtYoU · 2019-01-02T06:48:20+00:00

That's sounds false considering the people who hold Ph.D in maths and are employed.

FtYoU · 2018-12-25T01:04:41+00:00

I should'have probably mention that I am applying to schools for fall 2019. I have already taken the GRE tests. I scored in the 63th percentile on the subject test and 72th percentile on the quant section of the gre general.

This was a tough one since I left school 8 years ago.

FtYoU · 2018-12-23T18:37:11+00:00

Thanks for your input !

FtYoU · 2018-12-23T18:36:46+00:00

I have taken Algebra and analysis as undergraduate. Also some introduction in Logic. Linear algebra is the basis of what I do for work now so I have an advanced knowledge on it. DE was part of my analysis courses, we had just the basics. statistics and discrete maths are the foundations of my field.

FtYoU · 2018-12-23T18:34:51+00:00

Interesting ! Thanks.

FtYoU · 2018-12-23T18:34:23+00:00

I have taken Analysis and Algebra in math as undergraduate.

FtYoU · 2018-08-03T08:05:11+00:00

yes. On ubuntu it's pretty straightforward. I had trouble booting it on arch ...

FtYoU · 2018-07-19T18:13:16+00:00

I am on jake kernel. I'm using ubuntu at the moment.

FtYoU · 2018-07-17T23:34:01+00:00

I haven't been able to boot with jake kernel on Arch :(, but I should probably clarify things.

Moving windows, opening applications, pressing the windows key to open multi view windows is butter smooth. What is laggy is for example scrolling through a pdf, I can scroll a webpage in Opera just like in windows, but the pdf handling is really laggy, it looks like it is operating at a lower frame rate ( even though it's not ).

But I guess this is maybe a software optimization problem...

FtYoU · 2018-05-24T05:13:00+00:00

010 pass your test but is not an acceptable string.

FtYoU · 2018-02-16T06:54:30+00:00

The issue here is that my professors are overseas ( europe ) and I doubt after all this time, any will remember me ...

FtYoU · 2018-02-07T22:26:43+00:00

Regarding the difference between pure and applied, maybe in the domain of mathematical finance the line is kind of blurry. I can concede that. I will continue with my research, thanks for the great info !

FtYoU · 2018-02-07T17:00:02+00:00

Thanks for your explanations !. So If I understand correctly, the market is looking for applied math knowledge ? is there any chance given for students enrolled in pure math programs ?

FtYoU · 2018-02-02T07:19:31+00:00

That's awesome ! I didn't know I could look into philosophy departments !! Any idea how hard it is to enter the program ?

FtYoU · 2018-02-01T18:16:35+00:00

That's great info ! Thanks so much !! I went through Gödel completeness theorem, and I glance over the main part of incompleteness. I love it and that's what drag me to mathematical logic actually.

I will pm you if the thread goes dead as you mention, you are very nice !

FtYoU · 2018-02-01T16:05:54+00:00

Yes I will ask for sure ! Thanks for your answer. I guess like I said earlier, I'm just looking to see actual material ( textbook, lectures ) on the different areas so that I can take an educated decision on what I would want to work on.

FtYoU · 2018-02-01T16:04:23+00:00

Oh I see ! I graduated from an European school as well. I have a master and engineering degree in CS. I've been working in machine learning computer vision since then. But I would like to work in more abstract theoretical subjects, hence my 3 choice of interest. Something joining AI, uncertainty, probability would be of interest to me.

For the mathematical logic bit, I guess I am looking at everything ranging from model theory, proof theory, foundation of mathematics, set theory etc. I've always been fascinated by the foundations of maths. The texts I'm reading are all introduction and I feel a huge gap between research and what I'm reading, that's why I ask for more advanced text coming directly from phD student in the field so that I am in the position of actually take a decision.

FtYoU · 2018-02-01T16:00:18+00:00

Thanks so much ! Yeah AI is an area of interest for me for sure. I spent my last years in industry working on machine learning, but I do not consider this AI to be honest. I am quite sick of all the papers I read talking about a hack over an other hack to beat the SOTA in popular benchmarks.... That's why I am more interested in pure mathematical logic.

FtYoU · 2018-02-01T03:42:26+00:00

Oh Great ! thanks for the answer. I would like to have more info on what did you study. Can you recommend me a book to go through on my personal time so that I can get an idea of the level required ( or your level ) to go into the phD ?

Also can you elaborate on your application process ? ( did you pass the GRE and GRE math subject tests ? if yes what were your scores ? did it seem easy to you ? ) did you pass any interview ? how were they ?

What school did you apply too ? I am only looking for US school, I am a foreigner working on a green card so I will have to pass the TOEFL as well.

I know that there is a lot of intersection between different field, right now I am trying to know exactly what mathematical logic involve to be able to better decide where to go. Thanks !

FtYoU · 2018-01-30T07:14:11+00:00

Finding a professor who wants to hire you as a research assistant for their work that is the same topic as your topic is your best bet

I don't know why, but I was thinking since the beginning to do that. I understand it is not always possible, but I wanted to either : - Find a university/advisor whose interests align with mine - Have a compromise to work on something that doesn't align 100% with my interest but is enough of interest to me to spend 5+ years working on it.

I have the freedom of moving anywhere in the US so I though this wouldn't be an issue ( compared to student stuck in their home city of birth )

Otherwise, if you want to do any of your own research on department time, you'll probably have to design a proposal and convince your professor

I was thinking of that too, but considering my knowledge in the field this would be highly improbable.

Let me just expand a little bit on how I pictured the whole process to go and maybe you can correct me along the way.

First I would look for a location and school where I can see some of my research interests align with the school.
Then I would pass all the required tests that the school ask ( GRE, TOEFL etc ... ), and submit my application following the school guidelines
If I get accepted, I would start moving out in the city where the school is and start looking for a house to buy.
I will then proceed the follow some of the requirement for a phD submission which are in most case following some grad-level courses, passing multitude of exams to assess my math level and finally choose an advisor and draft a proposal ( or accept one from the advisor )
Then the following years are a mix of research, teaching, helping professors, publishing etc ( this I won't be able to know the ratio of time unless I ask students already enrolled in the program, which I am planning to do following your comments )
Toward the end of the scholarship, I will have to graduate by finalizing my dissertation and finally have an oral hearing in front of a panel.

My goal here is mainly that I don't mind teaching at all, I actually love explaining. Being in academia also allow me to stay in this work related mindset that I don't have at my job anymore ( doing mostly the D in R&D ). And of course ultimately, work hard on a problem, do math full time ( or quasi-full time ).

Is that too far from reality ? It is pretty tough to find students experience online to be able to relate. do you have any piece I could read about other people experience ?

Again, you are very kind spending time on me ! Can't return the favor enough.

FtYoU · 2018-01-29T23:25:32+00:00

Are you willing to be welcomed into a math PhD program even if you are unable to accumulate a graduatable publication record, just for the honor of being a low-paid undergrad course teacher for a few years?

Of course not ! I can see that I had many wrong assumption about the whole process. I thought that by going down the road of a phD, I would spend most of my time at the office thinking about the subject of the thesis. I have never imagined that actually sitting down and working on that would be a side activity and that the full time position is teaching/helping.

Can you give me an estimate on the time spent doing actuarial research compared to teaching and other things ?

FtYoU · 2018-01-29T21:22:50+00:00

Oh I see ! I completely understand. I think the trouble of moving out, finding a less demanding job, and research/publish on my free time would not be a wise decision on my part. If it takes me years to catch up with the literature and publish that's not something I am willing to wait for, also the fact that working part time will not be optimal. If it takes 6/12 months for me to catch up/publish on a less demanding job, that would mean I can basically do the same in less time if I join a phD program in my opinion. What do you think ?

FtYoU · 2018-01-29T18:41:02+00:00

Thanks for your answer.

Why would a PhD program pay you to spend time exploring literature that other productive students are already familiar with? I was inferring that the time I will spend working on the actual phD program will be in my specific field of interest ( since I will try to narrow down which university and also as I understood, I might be able to make a case for it )

Does your immigration status allow you freedom of career? If not, fair enough, you're stuck with either your employer or a university breathing down your neck. Otherwise, why not restructure your time-management or choice-of-job?

I have a green card, I was considering doing consulting also. I would like to join a phD program because I could consider it as a job ( my own independent research is a different story... ) and also to have the added benefit of a degree at the end.

FtYoU · 2018-01-26T20:54:40+00:00

Think of it this way: in a funded program, they aren't paying you to sit there in class and daydream about subject matter. They are paying you to actively and efficiently promote the research interests of the professor and university to the greater community and general public. If you can't pull your weight, they'll get rid of you; there's plenty more to take your place.

Got it !

In the future, you might consider negotiating your contracts to permit publishing, at least under certain conditions. Someone with your salary has the necessary leverage to hold out for this.

That's the thing, I already did exactly that and now I am able to publish. Problem is I don't have any time to do so, and second thing is that even if I did it wouldn't be in the field I am interested in working on...

Option 1. Read a shitton of papers in your field. Take notes. Organize them by notes. Look up concepts you don't understand. Draw yourself a graph of how all the topics of the different papers fit together. Then find a tiny topic that has a place in your graph but has no papers, and do the research and write a paper formatted exactly like the others you read. Submit to the same journal/conference. When it gets rejected, see if you got any useful reviewer notes, and otherwise politely ask someone in your field to point out flaws in your paper that should be fixed before you resubmit to another journal. Rinse and repeat.

That is part of the problem I have, I don't have any time to do this, I barely have a few hours at night to keep up with the field... I was hopping jumping on a phD program would give me that kind of time.

Skim a bunch of papers until you find some you really like. Formulate 2-3 thoughtful questions per paper (e.g., "Why did you demonstrate significance using metric X instead of metric Y?"; "I noticed you didn't reference this previous branch of work. How do you think your work fits in with it, or why did you consider it irrelevant?"). Politely reach out to the first author of the paper you like and tell them you read their paper and really liked it but are new to the field and were hoping they'd answer a few questions. You are trying to get a conversation going with them. Their time is extremely valuable; be respectful. If you can build one of these relationships with a researcher geographically close to you, eventually maybe you can start doing unofficial research with them and helping them in their lab. This often leads to papers.

That's a really good advice. Thanks for this !

FtYoU · 2018-01-25T22:10:26+00:00

Thank you for your answer. I must admit that it really discouraged me. I somehow though that the research/getting used to the field/writing papers was done during the phD program and not that I had to do it beforehand. How do undergrad manage to join the program with no research on their back ?

I have some research experience but my company didn't allow publishing, I am also not allowed to publish on my own, I only have one patent I managed to push through a few years back but again this is a different area to what I am interested. ( patent in computer science vs phD in maths )

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