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2006, Feb 17

Mathematics, Logic and More

Filed under: Uncategorized — Hrishikesh @ 23:24

Nothing new, but once again, I’ve been reminded how hopeless I’m when it comes to hardcore mathematics, algorithms and numerical logic. And over time, I’ve come to accept that I almost completely suck at it.
 
Oh well, I can scrape through, most of the times. And I am competent enough to use it when required, but it simply isn’t my forte.
 
The question, therefore, is: Is being proficient in it really important?
 
For those who are thinking that I’m shooting words in the air, here’s a concrete example: We had a Programming and Debugging in Space 2006, and while I comfortably cleared the eliminations, the finals were a different story altogether. And here’s why: The finals had problem statements from TopCoder, which lays a great deal of emphasis on algorithmic programming, logic and maths. And, as we all know by now, I’m not good with it. Some people are great in it… Nishant, Nadeem (props to you guys ;-) )…
 
Sure, I can improve a lot. But it’s not something I love… So, unless the situation demands that, I’m not going to take it up.
 
Here’s what I’m good at: I’m excellent when it comes to top level views. I can design reasonably good application programs, but when it comes to something that uses maths, you’d be safe with the next guy. I’m good at overviews… I can show you a possibility, but I can’t necessarily do the implementation. Which does not mean, that I won’t be able to do it (unlike some other people I know, who’d claim they can do everything, even if it’s clear it’s not feasible). It’s just that I don’t particularly like doing it. And consequently, lack faculty.
 
That brings me to an interesting conclusion, something which I’ve known since quite some time now: I’m good with systems. If that is what they mean by systems. Then again, they might not, so the conclusion does not necessarily hold.

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  • hey cmon dude, wht ur thinking is correct, but why do u seem to underestimate urself. Now, u mite be gr8 at a lot of things which a majority of ur collg mite never hav heard of, so just stay cool, its a valid pt u've made here, ppl do get this feeling abt themselves sometime, but all u need to do is... jerk it off....
  • Like some other people I know, who'd claim they can do everything, even if it's clear it's not feasible...

    Potshots at your namesake, eh? ;)

    Varun has the right idea - you are in fact, excellent at what you do. Take a gander at this quote about mentats from one of the Dune novels. In case you've forgotten, mentats are human computers who became necessary after humanity wiped out AI and swore never to build machine intelligences. They still needed what computers provided, though, so they have Mentats to do all this stuff. Fascinating characters, Mentats...

    Above all else, the mentat must be a generalist, not a specialist. It is wise to
    have decisions of great moment monitored by generalists. Experts and specialists
    lead you quickly into chaos. They are a source of useless nit picking, the
    ferocious quibble over a comma. The mentat-generalist, on the other hand, should
    bring to decision-making a healthy common sense. He must not cut himself off
    from the broad sweep of what is happening in his universe. He must remain
    capable of saying: "There's no real mystery about this at the moment. This is
    what we want now. It may prove wrong later, but we'll correct that when we come
    to it." The mentat-generalist must understand that anything which we can
    identify as our universe is merely part of larger phenomena. But the expert
    looks backward; he looks into the narrow standards of his own specialty. The
    generalist looks outward; he looks for living principles, knowing full well that
    such principles change, that they develop. It is to the characteristics of
    change itself that the mentat-generalist must look. There can be no permanent
    catalogue of such change, no handbook or manual. You must look at it with as few
    preconceptions as possible, asking yourself: "Now what is this thing doing?"
    -The Mentat Handbook


    So be happy, your sort of thinking is useful for monitoring 'decisions of great moment', which is more than you can say for most people...
  • so what's the big deal???

    Anyway, more than half the population(maybe the entire.. in our college) might not be as good as you are, in whatever u are good at(wow!!).

    Move on buddy!!
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