Happy Yellow Pigs’ Day! July 17, 2009
Posted by Jacob Hurwitz in Uncategorized.Tags: 17, hcssim, math, seventeen, summer math program, summer program, yellow pigs
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For the first time in four weeks, I wish I weren’t at RSI right now. I should clarify, that’s not saying anything bad about RSI. Despite a big deadline looming over our heads, I’m still having the time of my life here. No, the reason I say that I’d rather not be here is that there’s somewhere even more awesome than RSI. Because about two hours west of Boston, in Amherst, Massachusetts, a large group of mathematicians is gathering to celebrate yellow pigs and the number seventeen.
Yes, you heard me right. Yellow pigs. To those in the loop, July 17 is Yellow Pigs’ Day (place the apostrophe where you wish). I don’t quite know the origin of this holiday, but I’ve heard that it has something to do with David Kelly, Mike Spivak, Princeton University, and a bar. All I know is that I celebrated my first YP Day last summer when I was a student at Kelly’s summer math program, the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics (HCSSiM), and I am now a firm believer in the facts that all pigs are yellow and that seventeen is by far the best number. (more…)
About Us July 10, 2009
Posted by Delta Epsilons in General.Tags: about us, introduction, math, research science institute, rsi, welcome
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The Delta Epsilons
We, the Delta Epsilons, are a group of mathematically inclined high school students who met at the 2009 Research Science Institute at MIT. We started this blog to discuss mathematics and related sciences. Our interests are broad—they range from analysis to category theory to combinatorics to theoretical physics—and this blog will reflect that diversity.
The Blog
First, we intend to discuss mathematical competitions. Many of us have participated in problem-solving contests such as the USAMO, which may inspire posts. Since one part of our intended audience consists of other motivated high school students, we will encourage participation in such competitions by posting information about them.
As we met at RSI, we are also interested in research. We will post about our research, both our RSI projects and others, here; we may also discuss papers we read independently. Many of our posts will also be expository, discussing known mathematical results.
Other than that, the blog will occasionally contain arbitrary posts (and, very rarely, random posts), ranging from mathematical education to philosophy and history.
The Name
In real and complex analysis, deltas and epsilons are frequently used mathematical notations to define basic constructions such as limits, continuity, and integrals. The Kronecker delta, the capital delta denoting change, and the Dirac delta point measure are further examples of the importance of the letter delta in mathematics. An epsilon was also Paul Erdős’s name for a young child. We are, of course, relatively young as mathematicians go, though we hope to prove that we are capable of providing interesting discourse to mathematicians with more experience as well.
Delta Epsilons 