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>> 25.03.04

Viva l'Espana
Now that the end of the undergraduate term is upon us, I will be off on holiday for just over a week, until the second week of April. As a result, the PhD diary will suffer — much as it has done for the last few weeks — from a lack of updates. In the meantime, please occupy yourselves either with the prime number calculator or my efforts elsewhere. (The latter point may be an admission of guilt, although the about page would prove to be just as incriminating if... {>>}

Maths news
The mathematical world moves slower than the real one. I don't think there is any mystery as to why this is the case — it is simply a natural product of the discipline that maths requires and, as a subject, actually is. Come to think of it, keeping a diary of my studies in this format could actually be construed as an impossibility (as the lack of frequent entries over the last few weeks has proved). That aside, there are two main sources of mathematical know-how and news that I... {>>}

>> 19.03.04

Tumbleweed (it's all gone quiet)
Despite the charge of the PhD diary resolutely resisting the temptation to digress in to the sorts of insignificant trivialities that are so often associate with the "blogosphere", at least two occurences today were of startlingly ordinary proportions that their lack of inclusion here would be surprising. The first was the observation of a toupee quite literally blowing in the wind. Today is a blustery day and if the toupee in question had have been any bigger it would have resembled tumbleweed lumbering across some dusty outback or other in... {>>}

>> 17.03.04

Relocation, relocation, relocation
...and I'm not talking about the Channel 4 afternoon television programme, either. Since starting my PhD in October, I have been working - along with six others - in an "office" that resembles some sort of 1970s-esque homage to the dull as dishwater shades of green of the late 1950s. "Pea green" wouldn't quite do it justice, neither would that peculiar shade of green that Marks & Spencer seems to be able to achieve with their socks for middle- to old-aged men. Imagine the colour of the cushions on your... {>>}

>> 15.03.04

Skills training for mathematicians
Nearer the end of last semester, I was moaning away about the sheer uselessness of the research skills lectures all new postgraduate students had to attend. Or rather, I was bemoaning the fact that — though in principle a good idea — the research skills lectures as they stood were of no relevance to maths students and were far too heavily geared to engineers and physicists. In order to demonstrate how I felt about things, I didn't treat one of my assignments as I should have done and ended up... {>>}

>> 14.03.04

Interviews
There seems to be very little information from university to university about the process (or not) of interviewing prospective students to determine their suitability to study at a postgraduate (research) level. Having discussed this with various other students and lecturers in the department, however, this doesn't seem to be as much of an oversight as it first appears, because the formal interview is not necessarily a fundamental part of the applications process. Once again, I will have to concentrate on research postgraduate courses because that is all I know about;... {>>}

>> 12.03.04

British Applied Maths Colloquium 2004
As part of the routine that university departments and their academics follow, each Friday sees the non-linear mathematics seminars, a phenomenon that I have spoken about before. Not only do these seminars provide an opportunity to find out about current research in different areas, they also allow academics to establish links with other university departments and for postgraduate students to meet other academics outside of the department. Seminar seasons such as the ones in the maths department basically form a subset of conferences and provide a good idea of what... {>>}

>> 10.03.04

Good week, bad week, good week...
Embarking on the Funding Focus a month ago seemed like a good idea at the time; it is still probably a good idea now, but it has meant that the PhD diary as a report of my progress and lifestlye has suffered somewhat. There is a list of topics to cover that I have collected over the month, though, so I will endeavour to cover those over the next few days. The Funding Focus has actually highlighted an aspect of my approach to learning that has always been troublesome: as... {>>}

>> 05.03.04

Funding focus (v): other income and expenses
The final entry in the Funding Focus looks at other sources of money and where that money can be put to good use Having dealt with the "boring" parts of budgeting and finances if the fourth part of the Funding Focus, the time has come to look at other areas of expense and income. As with undergraduate study, there are items that you simply cannot do without: pens, paper, folders and stationary in general. Far from this being an exercise in telling prospective postgraduate students to remember to pack their... {>>}

>> 04.03.04

Funding focus (iv): typical budget
What the incomes and outgoings amount to from day to day forms the fourth part of the Funding Focus. Now that you know how much money you have for your respective years of study, it seems a reasonable proposition to determine what this lump sum translates into in terms of living from day to day. How much money can you spend in your weekly shop? Can you go to the cinema more than once a week? Is there any room for savings? What if you fancy more than just the... {>>}