Hong Kong Day 4: First Day of Work

today was my first day of work. while the other groups worked 40mins, 2 hours, and 7 respectively. Chelsea and i worked a solid 8. i am still not exactly sure what I am doing and we spent some of our time today going to the library and brushing up on some linear algebra and differential equations since our project involves these subjects and numerical analysis (which chelsea and i havent learned yet, but i guess we will!)

for math/enginerds/comp sci/general nerds only: if you are none of these please ignore following paragraph: here is the project description from Colorado School of Mines:

"There are two important issues to be considered in developing a numerical method for solving differential equations: efficiency and accuracy. The efficiency of a numerical method depends upon many factors. The spectral analysis of differentiation matrices plays a key role in the analysis of numerical methods. For the numerical solution of elliptic partial differential equations, a straightforward application of the spectral analysis is in the convergence analysis of iterative algorithms. Optimal acceleration parameters in classical iterative algorithms, such as SOR, ADI and Chebyshev algorithms, can be obtained only when extremal eigenvalues or good estimates of these are available.
The aim of this project is to study the spectral analysis of differentiation matrices arising from the discretization of high-order methods, such as finite element methods and spline collocation methods with high-order approximations, and to develop a fast algorithm for solving the Helmholtz equation with applications in electromagnetics. The students participating in this project will focus on the analysis of the differential eigenvalue problems with various high-order finite element approximations. This will involve the numerical approximation of second order two-point boundary value problems. A closed form of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors is expected and the eigenvector matrix obtained should be related to discrete Fourier transforms."

ok i dont really understand what 85% of that means. Today we read some papers talking about numerical techniques to solve Poisson equations (I dont know EXACTLY what i am talking about here -so math profs, dad, any other smart person bear -or is it bare- with me) we touched on Tensor product methods and used fourier analysis to solve Dirichlet-Dirichlet, Neumann-Neumann, and Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions in the Poisson equations....well i am getting confused. but anyways we worked hard.

OK you non-nerds can come back and read: after work instead of going to Mong Kok to go shopping I decided i needed to run since i missed the past two days. so i said no and I got to talk to Benjamin a bit so that was nice. Then I went running and ran around looking for a safe track to run on -since it was night -althought I think it is very safe to run on the streets. they are very populated and well-lit. but i went to tunnel park because the small track was lit and there were lots of joggers and tai chi people and a security guide in the middle. as i was running i saw that there were people shooting on the soccer court near the track. it took me three laps to get the nerve to go up and ask them if i could join. and even before that i saw a pakistani (spelling?) man sitting in the stands drinking some water and smoking. i asked him if they were going to play and he said yes and that they had just finished and would start a new game soon. he asked me where i was and if i played soccer. he played keeper and was very fun to watch in the goal because he wore loose capri length jeans and had a huge black beard. he was very nice and we both walked over to the people shooting and i said hello. they passed me the ball and i shot and even though i didnt score, they all went AHHHHH when I kicked it and were impressed with the power i had in my shot. after about 20 mins of shooting and meeting people, we got a 6v6 game with keepers going. it was very fun. we played for 30-40 mins. then some of the guys left to play basketball. then Kenis (the one who talked to me a lot while we were shooting) bought me a water (THANK GOODNESS because man i was soo thirsty and a sobbing wet mop of sweat) and I met and taked with him, Justin, Jason, Tony, and Tat (who said his name was sean because he has no English name). Most people in HK have 2 names, 1 in chinese and 1 in english. they told me their chinese names and laughed sooo hard at how i said them. i told them how i thought i had been tought to say "my name is" and they laughed the hardest about that and kept making me repeat it. --i wonder what it sounded like i was saying... anyways they asked me about the united states and such. they were about my age and were waiting to find out their test results to see if they would be excepted into a university. it is very competitive here to get into college. they told me it is common to see people commit suicide by jumping out the window of their tall buildings. i will have to watch my head as i walk. anyways we talked for about 45 mins and they said i was very good at soccer and that i had good leg and arm muscles hehe. they invited me to play with them tomorrow night at 7:15. so i am excited about that. Kenis offered to lend me one of his extra cell fones for when i am here so he can call me and tell me when they are playing. i dont know if i will take him up on his offer, but i think tomorrow i will bring paper and pencil to get some internet contact info from him and to him (from me). anways this was very awesome and i need to stop so i can play spades with mange.
see ya!



Also:

by the way here is a pic of me and maggie =)