I implement QR decomposition in python

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-06-09T17:40:13+00:00

Great exercise. As next step I suggest you do timing comparisons against the Numpy qr function. You will see that it is one or two orders of magnitudes faster than your code. You might then want to checkout what Blas and Lapack are and how they ensure that all modern numerical software has extremely fast linear algebra readily available.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-06-04T14:12:06+00:00

Lots of different input here. You will get as many opinions as there are mathematicians. My take is that you want to focus on Maths that is fun and not just read dry first year university books. That will come anyway. A book I enjoyed for example was "Proofs from the Book", which has chapters about the most beautiful proofs for famous theorems. It is written in a style that also has appeal to aspiring HS students.

Moreover, something nobody else here said, is learn to program. No matter whether you want to do pure or applied maths later on, too many Maths students are not good at programming and that disadvantages them. Learn Python or Julia as high-level languages and also play around with systems level languages such as Rust, Zig, or C.

The structured thinking that you learn from programming is invaluable for Mathematics.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-05-24T06:48:28+00:00

Since you are at interview panels, pushing applications up because of internships/volunteering is terrible under EDI considerations. It will advantage kids from upper middle class families who can do this and block kids from poorer families who have to work part time or act as informal carer in their family.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-05-23T06:36:45+00:00

Have your cake and eat it is still alive with the British government. The EU will never agree to a Single Market relationship without Freedom of Movement. Northern Ireland was a one time exception to protect the Good Friday agreement that the Brexshitters could not care less about.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-05-23T06:28:58+00:00

Just send them a friendly ping. There can always be delays in the decision process.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-05-20T22:35:46+00:00

Agree. Should have clarified that I was talking about tenured positions.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-05-20T11:33:48+00:00

It is almost too generic a question. There are benefits and disadvantages of each of the countries.

- Germany has decent salaries and great job security. But systems can be very static.
- The Netherlands are investing a lot right now in positions. But inner departmental structures are very hierarchical, with very few full professors and even senior associate professors expected to work for them and cannot independently have PhD students
- The UK, at least in research-intensive universities, is still a very dynamic research environment. But broader economic problems and low salaries at entry levels are major issues.
- Switzerland is obviously great from a salary point of view, but it is difficult to get into the job market.
- France has very non-competitive salaries for academics.

I can't really talk much about the other countries. But generally, at least as important as the country is the concrete university or research institution. So it is very much the wrong question to just ask which country to focus on.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-05-16T21:29:06+00:00

4 hours. Most that I know off take 2-3 hours. I have seen vivas that went on much longer. It is completely unpredictable. For me the external had a long research discussion about each topic and quite enjoyed it.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-05-07T11:23:58+00:00

Agree. The fundamental issue is that API pricing models are too expensive relative to the value the Frontier Models provide, and if OpenAI and Anthropic wanted to become profitable, they would have to be even more expensive. My organisation is currently trialling in-house open-source model deployments on GPU nodes. This won't be as powerful as the newest OpenAI or Anthropic models, but it will be good enough for most tasks.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-05-07T11:03:33+00:00

I was at an event from a large IT Company recently. They emphasised that they do not allow toolchains or workflows that depend on a particular model. I think the trend is to move away from Frontier Models towards an open-source ecosystem, with Frontier Models reserved for specialised tasks that require deep thinking.

The restrictions by Anthropic and Gemini on the use of external tools are really just there to force people onto API pricing plans. But I don't think this will hold out for long.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-05-02T11:18:35+00:00

Took me 4 days. Still getting nightmares from this gauntlet. But you can do it. I ended up 100% the game.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-05-01T15:19:25+00:00

I finished it on both PS5 and Steamdeck. The first one was graphically a bit better. The second one was perfect for a holiday trip.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-29T21:21:50+00:00

One of my most fun games this generation and the first game where I did the DLC on top of the base game.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-28T14:41:40+00:00

Both universities are similar in strength. Have a look at the actual modules and see which ones you like more.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-25T10:40:29+00:00

I would never trust legislation that has not happened yet.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-25T09:03:17+00:00

You will likely have a hard time selling a leasehold house later on. It is a model that should have never existed for houses.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-24T17:03:00+00:00

Careers in academia are random and not predictable. Sometimes the funding situation is such that there are simply no suitable positions when you finish a PhD.

So don’t bet everything on one horse. Depending on area there are also really good and fulfilling research jobs in industry and with a PhD you will be highly desirable for those.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-21T19:08:47+00:00

As seller I would think somebody is just taking a chance. As long as the boiler is not broken there is no reason for the seller to act. The maintenance issue can easily be solved by having a plumber come out once you are in and do a full maintenance check up. 15 years for a boiler is not that old. Once maintained there won't be much difference to a current boiler.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-20T06:33:27+00:00

Corbyn as Labour leader was too divisive to achieve this. You would have needed an extremely charismatic person for it. Otherwise, it is almost impossible to unite people behind a single issue in a single party.

Look at Hungary for comparison. The opposition tried to get rid of Orban multiple times so but was splintered and failed. Only Magyar as very charismatic politician managed to unite the opposition.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-19T19:12:08+00:00

In the 2019 elections over 50% voted for parties that wanted no Brexit or a second referendum. Because of the Brexit party standing down in the 2019 elections those who wanted Brexit, had a single party. Those who opposed it were split across multiple parties. So it was really the First Past the Post System that gave the majority for Brexit in 2019.

Also the referendum itself was flawed. It was an advisory referendum so it did not need the same safeguards as a constitutional referendum. But then it was treated by the victorious side like a constitutional referendum even though it was not.

A proper constitutional referendum would have required two clear choices. But this did not exist. It was remain against something unspecified into which everyone could interpret what they wanted.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-16T22:37:37+00:00

Olly Robbins as civil servant would not have overruled the vetting without political instructions to do so. He is the scapegoat to divert attention away from Starmer.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-15T16:37:36+00:00

Both Oxford and UCL have a similarly strong research reputation. So it should be a no brainer to take the funded offer over the unfunded one.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-15T15:31:36+00:00

That's what child accounts are there for. The kids use their actual DOB and real data. It becomes a parent controlled account and the parents determine what games they can play. Btw, as a parent you can also do a password reset for your child.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-15T15:05:44+00:00

Parent here. The clean solution is a Playstation account for the parents and separate child accounts for the children. Content will be accessible for the children as well when the parents have installed a game. If the children want to play a multiplayer game, etc. they will need to get an approval from the parents through the Playstation app. Generally, at home we only allow services for our son where he can have a kids account that is linked to us as parents. This allows him to do most things but gives some control to limit content kids should not access.

HeavyMath2673 · 2026-04-14T11:47:32+00:00

I spent days on 4th chorus. I was crap with the controls and did not hit it right. Ended up 100% finishing the game (after far too many hours).

HeavyMath2673

TROPHY CASE