serious-discussion

[sick burrow]

only two combinatorics courses 😔

[blazing pawn]

Yummy

is this cambridge

part 3

[sick kite]

isnt cambridge part 3 notorious for just being hella difficult

[blazing pawn]

Their algebra courses seem interesting

or like

Idk i havent seen infinite group or coxeter group courses before

is cambridge just like

better at NT than anything else

[bronze pelican]

uyes

i have no idea what Cambridge is good at

But i like their course selection for Part III

[neat lintel]

What's that?

A book?

[blazing pawn]

A masters math program at cambridge

[next vigil]

Is there any reason why there's no solution for sin^-1(6/5)?

[leaden torrent]

recall that sine means opposite/hypotenuse

its impossible for the opposite to be LONGER than the hypotenuse

since the hypotenuse is the longest side

so opposite/hypotenuse is at most 1

do you follow so far?

[nimble shuttle]

that's quittin' talk

[leaden torrent]

now, sin⁻¹(6/5) means "the angle that, when we take a sine, gives us 6/5"

but we just said thats impossible

since sine is at most 1

and 6/5 > 1

more generally, sin⁻¹ is only defined on the interval [-1, 1]

if your input is less than -1 or greater than 1, it doesnt make sense.

[surreal sapphire]

i like how you asked if they follow and then continued anyway

[leaden torrent]

it was more meant as a "checkpoint"

to make sure they focus on that last point

(namely, why is a/b ≤ 1 when a≤b)

(for positive a, b)

[surreal sapphire]

do any of you ever find webpages that just copy wikipedia for some reason?

i think one is called handwiki

i just found the personal homepage of some person (as in it shares random private info) that has a mathematics rubric that just copies (german) math wikipedia articles

what is the reason for this

[nimble shuttle]

hm not sure

I have seen other types of websites that do this though

for example information about a somewhat obscure topic can often be found in multiple google search results, but often some websites will directly copy content from better sources just so you click on the website

[surreal sapphire]

ye, thats how i found it

first result was wikipedia, second one was [firstname][lastname].de

and its just a copied wp article, nothing else on the site is about math

and there is no way to navigate to the copied article from the mainpage

super weird

[next vigil]

Thanks!

[sterile hare]

Why does the roots forming an equilateral triangle imply that the sum of the three roots is 0?

[cold needle]

addition is like vector addition, tip to tail

but you should read #❓how-to-get-help

[karmic lion]

I need a graphing calculator. Money no object, what is the best graphing calculator? I've heard Ti-Inspire or HP Prime, but I don't want a Ti-84 because the UI is crap. Please help.

[pale orchid]

the new TI-84 have nice UI, but indeed, the inspire is better

i cannot comment on the hp ones, i have never used them

the TIs served me well through my undergrad, and i used it maybe 3 or so times during my masters

as you go on, coding replaces the calc

[karmic lion]

Thank you very much

[pale orchid]

you can look up some reviews on youtube, i was surprised at how good the new ti 84 look

just make sure you get a model with CAS. i think all inspire have it, but not all 84s do

[toxic schooner]

1984

[turbid epoch]

Bruh these abstract algebra looks really expect me to brute force linear congruences with numbers above 30.

[neat lintel]

Wow. Smart people

[sick burrow]

I present the following object:
$0 \xrightarrow{id_0} 0 \xrightarrow{id_0} 0$

[fathom swallow]

Very Active Because Very Lazy

[sick burrow]

I call it a very short exact sequence

[compact tartan]

$0$

[fathom swallow]

mniip

[vague lion]

i agree

[wild lantern]

It can be sort of reasonable for any modulus under a couple hundred on a scientific calculator that can store values in variables and formulas in history.

x is a soln for ax=b(mod m) when (ax-b)/m is an integer so you just alternate between that and x+1->x starting from 0->x

(-> meaning assignment)

Still tedious and sucks, but no real thought required at least.

Granted at some point you might as well just ditch the calculator and write a short script to do it or use a cas instead I guess.

[vague lion]

??

extended euclidean algorithm, right?

[vast surge]

I'm in a slightly awkward position with course selection. Of the math courses offered officially next semester, there's only one that I'm eligible to take, graph theory (offered once every 3 years, i.e. it won't be offered again until 18 months after I graduate). If I want to do the computer science minor, I need to do an advanced programming class, which is only offered once a year. I would go insane going a full semester without taking a math course, but I need a minor to graduate. What should I do?

I've tried emailing the professors and seeing if there's some way I could, like, alternate back-and-forth, showing up to every other lecture in each class and doing lots of self-studying. I also asked them if they would be willing to look into one of them changing the time their course is.

[mild nebula]

You're not missing much if you don't take graph theory imo. @vast surge

Just study it in your spare time if you really have to

[willow ocean]

hello math buddies, send help to help-4 👍

[neat lintel]

according to #❓how-to-get-help

you disobey rule#1

[willow ocean]

Okay fine but technically I’m starting a discussion. Nvm I’m gonna sleep. Good night my friends 😍

[neat lintel]

good night 😊

[swift sinew]

How’s the progress coming along on figuring out the potential new layout of the advanced channels?

[leaden torrent]

im planning on getting that sorted this weekend

[swift sinew]

Awesome. Can’t wait to post in #Goldbach-Conjecture

[leaden torrent]

that already exists

#bots

[clever knot]

do the help channels ever revert back automatically

like lets say you keep saying you didn't get an answer

does it just stay locked?

like if you just click on the x

[cold needle]

it would auto close after a while

[clever knot]

even if you click the ❌

I just didn't know if there was a limit to eventually free up the channel as like a "give up"

[sick burrow]

ok so consider

take the Riemann sphere but reflected about the plane so z=0 is the "top"

actually hold up

so I was going to talk about defining a norm based on the residue at z=0

as an eventual buildup to a Norm of the North pun

but then I realized I don't actually remember enough complex analysis

plus that would be a weird norm to define since you'd need to take it on a quotient of the space of functions

so just

pretend I just said something funny

[deep mango]

[pale orchid]

who's the bottom

[sick burrow]

$\infty$

[fathom swallow]

mizratocutapie

[sick burrow]

it misheard and thought it was being asked to be a sup.

[cloud kernel]

"Consider a demand curve that has a constant elasticity value of ∞."

[fervent coyote]

how to calcualte rates of change

[pale orchid]

please read #❓how-to-get-help

[mint patio]

try integrating the second derivative of the function

[turbid epoch]

Yeah, I loaded up Python and wrote some code to check all solutions.

[neat lintel]

isn't that just that derivative of the function?

[mint patio]

yes. read their question :3

[neat lintel]

oh you were answering a question lmao

[mint patio]

yes :^) but a bad answer

[neat lintel]

nah the best answer

now I know how to flex my skills

[swift sinew]

Is there any semi common way to denote the element of an arbitrary singleton?

I’m sure this is just me misunderstanding something fundamental but if Y = {1}. Is there a way to write 1 in terms of Y?

[leaden torrent]

1

[swift sinew]

:(

[leaden torrent]

i mean you can say y ∈ Y

[distant vortex]

There is no standard notation that specificies the single element of a singleton

[leaden torrent]

and then use y

[distant vortex]

Mostly because it doesn't seem useful to have

[deep mango]

Just abuse notation and pretend Y is also 1.

[distant vortex]

Identify the set with its element, based

[fathom swallow]

ryc

[deep mango]

Even if it's ambiguous whether or not the function is bijective

But I think this is just common in analysis

People dont care there

[swift sinew]

1={null}=null=0

ok thx

[distant vortex]

ryc proving that 1 = 0 like it's nbd

[mint patio]

LMFAO

[sick burrow]

Y={1}, }Y{=1

[deep mango]

[sick burrow]

Question

Does analytic philosophy imply the existence of algebraic philosophy

[wild lantern]

Combinatorial Philosopher: Count all the ways you can have a justified true belief.

[sick burrow]

What is topological philosophy

[wild lantern]

Philosophizing about coffee cups and donuts

[sick burrow]

Wait are you telling me that donut equals ONE COFFIS CUP

[wild lantern]

Yes

[sick burrow]

How does one even proof that anyways

Like I can kinda visualize the homeomorphism but I don't know how to formally prove it exists

[swift sinew]

https://youtu.be/j-_E7R-Eu_w

my god

they were right

[maiden bear]

[surreal sapphire]

you will probably have to give a description of a coffee cup first

[lapis dune]

Question: I'm a new graduate student, and I've been joining more math groups in person and online and I'm considering what I may need to do for professional development in the future. What would you all say are important things for career development? I've heard people say LinkedIn, programming certifications, having your own website or blog or Youtube, and other stuff too but I'm not sure how helpful that or other advice may be.

[velvet dagger]

A lot depends on the career. I'm gonna venture a guess that you're not committed either to academia or non-academia yet. That or you're principally gunning for academia but realize that the job market is tough and you wanna be ready to jump ship if needed

[lapis dune]

I'd say it's generally the second

I want to teach is the main thing of it

I know I want to do that, but I'm aware the market ain't the best at the moment

And I wouldn't say I'm hard set or committed against non-academia

[sick burrow]

What happens in academia if someone changes their name

Like what happens to previous papers they published

[velvet dagger]

I'm not sure Gaslight

@lapis dune sorry I was out for some time. I know for academia, it's good to have a website, it's good to network a good bit so people know your name (e.g. going to conferences, esp once you have some research going so that when you meet people you can be like "Oh I do XYZ" and they might remember you)

Linkedin is less academia-specific and more generically good to have

For jumping ship to industry, coding and stats are the things to know

(On top of what you likely already know in math, e.g. calc/linear algebra/probability)

[sick burrow]

Gaslight

That isn't my name

[surreal sapphire]

many people have published under different names as well
why should this be an issue?

the papers remain unchanged

[sick burrow]

Well I mean what if someone doesn't want a certain name associated with them

[surreal sapphire]

its hard to un-print a paper

i guess digital versions can be altered, not sure how the legality is around that when you submit a paper

i would be surprised if you can force publishers to alter the name, but they might anyways if you ask nicely

[velvet dagger]

I never called you that

[surreal sapphire]

this is actually shopped

you can tell from how it has pixels

[vague lion]

whoosh

[velvet dagger]

Yeah clearly photoshopped

Thing I'm confused about is your motive here tbh

[neat lintel]

[velvet dagger]

Like okay let's say I called gaslight, which if I did I would've had a reason for

I didn't but let's say I did. I would be like oops nvm and just call you your name

[deep mango]

Hello Gaslight.

[velvet dagger]

Wouldn't hurt my reputation or smth. So I'm not sure why you're going out of your way to "accuse" me of doing something that would've been fine you do anyway

[deep mango]

That pfp could be a nice gaslamp.

Sloth moment.

[velvet dagger]

No u

[deep mango]

Some of the names around here are difficult to track

What did "brotherford" ever mean

Remember when gamma was something that sounded like mirza today

[neat lintel]

mirzajuice

[deep mango]

😵‍💫

[neat lintel]

wait no

mirzacutiepie

[narrow rock]

bro version of rutherford

[deep mango]

Rutherford B Hayes?

[limber perch]

brotherford's gold foil experiment

[sick burrow]

No

I think you're making things up

[deep mango]

[hollow ginkgo]

Is there a special name for a group of all the rotations and reflections of a geometric object? This excludes point groups such as the special orthogonal groups, since anything with SO(n) symmetry also has GO(n) symmetry.

[rose dock]

coxeter groups?

[mortal igloo]

Wallpaper groups, crystallographic groups maybe?

[hollow ginkgo]

The general orthogonal groups are definitely not any of those.

[deep mango]

I would posit that every group is the group of rotations and reflections of a geometric object.

If you embed its cayley graph into some space in the right way

[hollow ginkgo]

This is false

[deep mango]

What's your counterexample...

[hollow ginkgo]

SO(2)

[fast ivy]

[deep mango]

Surely we can find a way to quotient the reflections back onto the same geomeric object...

Like

Idk I dont want to think about this

This seems hard to fix

[hollow ginkgo]

Wdym quotient

[deep mango]

Idk just like

Put something there to make "reflections" not be symmetries

Who knows

[neat lintel]

Am I fit for grad school if I like taking one day without any math?

It seems like the competition has no rest days

[deep mango]

Of course...

"the competition" is gonna burn out if they dont chill

[crystal stone]

Can confirm if you don't take a rest day for extended periods of time you will burn out

[jovial ember]

The amount of time I’ve thought this

But this quarter things are looking really good for grad apps, so I’m learning to let myself rest

And not feel guilty about it

This reads like I’m bragging haha, the point I meant to make is that I’ve felt the same but even feeling like “I wasted so much time I could’ve spent studying” things are looking good

[vague lion]

reflection groups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_group

[crystal stone]

@jovial ember wishing you luck this cycle

Are the columbia nerds that you wanna work with still going to be there?

[crystal stone]

@devout nacelle it's not book related so I'll tell my tale here

My senior year at UCLA, right before my spring quarter (over spring break) I got married

[devout nacelle]

Ah, I see

[crystal stone]

My newly wed spouse was going to transfer to UC Irvine as a CS major, she had an honors 2 honors contract

Which was guaranteed admission if you maintained a high enough GPA and took the right coursework

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

Being an international student, the fees were ridiculous. So she had a scholarship for $45k/year for up to 3 years

It was just enough to cover tuition at a UC, and live at home with her older sister who owned the house (little to no rent)

Which was next to UC Irvine

Turns out, she didn't get into Irvine for CS

[devout nacelle]

:(

[crystal stone]

She got into UCLA and Cal Poly SLO

[devout nacelle]

Oh, that's neat. Did the scholarship carry over?

[crystal stone]

At UCLA the scholarship would count, but then we'd have to pay for housing ourselves

[devout nacelle]

Aah

[crystal stone]

which would be about 2.5k/month

So I'd need a job that pays at least $5k a month

[devout nacelle]

True

[crystal stone]

The thing is: I found out I couldn't graduate from UCLA as I was two units shy

So I'd need to find a job that was going to pay like $70k/year without a degree when I did pure math

[sage karma]

Hello

[devout nacelle]

[sage karma]

i have a big question.

[crystal stone]

Ok so that's not happening

I take 3 weeks off from UCLA to go fight administration at UC Irvine

[devout nacelle]

Couldn't you add just one more course to your plate for the credits?

[crystal stone]

Not at week 7 of the spring quarter

[devout nacelle]

Oh oooof

Why didn't you know that sooner?

[crystal stone]

So yeah, great question

Because my UCLA counselor told me I was good

and my degree audit report looked fine

[devout nacelle]

Ooooooof

[crystal stone]

Ok, so a perfect storm

[turbid epoch]

Is that your super villain origin story @crystal stone ?

[neat lintel]

damn

[crystal stone]

So we can't afford UCLA. The first day my problem set for Tao is due, it's transfer orientation day at Cal Poly SLO

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

I get up at 4 am to drive my spouse there, it's a 5 hour drive

we get there at 9 am, and spend all day evaluating if this is a good fit for her

We decide it wasn't worth it later, but by the time it's over it's like 5 pm and I'm dead tired

but I gotta finish like one or two problems for terry

[devout nacelle]

Pain

[crystal stone]

So I write it up, and I get shrekt

because there were subtle details I couldn't do in that state

[devout nacelle]

Yeah that's understandable

[crystal stone]

(On going state of panic for weeks)

Alright, so then I go to Irvine after deciding SLO was a waste of time

And I just fight administration for 2 weeks

At UC Irvine and my community college

My old physics professor was faculty at both, and he set up a meeting with the head of marketing and outreach

This is after 2 weeks of fighting. This is the final week to make the decision to go to SLO

Go talk to this guy for 30 minutes, next day she's in at Irvine

[devout nacelle]

You wanted UC Irvine to reconsider letting in your spouse?

[crystal stone]

Saved $50k on rent + relocation fees

She had a guaranteed admissions

[devout nacelle]

Aaah

[crystal stone]

By fulfilling the community college contract, and somewhere a ball was dropped

By the time this is all over

It's week 7, and I turned in like 3 problem sets to Terry. One of them I accidentally sent the wrong file

And he just gave me a 0

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

Wasn't really focused on school at the time

[devout nacelle]

Fair

[crystal stone]

So I was like fk this, and I took a W

[devout nacelle]

Looks like a good call

You did get the remaining credits elsewhere, right?

[crystal stone]

Yeah, so I had to do something. I took 9 units over the summer

We did a courthouse wedding in spring, but I wanted a proper wedding for family & friends

[devout nacelle]

At your community college? Or UCLA?

[crystal stone]

6 at UCLA, one at CC for computer programming

[devout nacelle]

Nice

[crystal stone]

So, funny thing

I was at my transfer limit for community college courses

I had completed 145 units at CC, but UCLA could only accept 105 units at the maximum

So those 3 units for computer programming didn't allow me to graduate

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

My scholarship at UCLA ran out, and I couldn't afford it anymore

[turbid epoch]

[crystal stone]

I enrolled at CSULB, and took 3 graduate courses

[devout nacelle]

Sorry to hear that MoonBears

[crystal stone]

And transferred one back to UCLA

[devout nacelle]

That seems very maddening

[crystal stone]

Then when I did that, they told me Oh we don't accept non-UCLA graduate courses for undergrad credit

And tried to deny me my BS again

[devout nacelle]

Bruh

[crystal stone]

At this point I had spring admissions for CSULB MS program w/ funding

And I told them "That is a load of shit, I have you on email telling me that's ok"

[devout nacelle]

So you could jump over without a BS?

[crystal stone]

"Oh..."

Went to a degree auditor, and they eventually Ok'd my graduation

[devout nacelle]

Ah neat

[crystal stone]

Fast forward to graduating with my MS

Oh that one course you sent back to UCLA, we can't count the other two courses at CSULB for your graduation

[neat lintel]

||Im not sure if this server is pro-drug, but does anyone know a nice combination to reduce anxiousness/jitteryness. What would you give to someone who is hyperactive after drinking coffee? Or has headrush for other reasons.||

[devout nacelle]

Bruh

[crystal stone]

But I had CSULB on email telling me it was ok

[devout nacelle]

Oooooof

[crystal stone]

It was an unfortunate year because that was the year they decided to audit all degrees earned in the past 5 years, including that year

[devout nacelle]

Do these people not read their own bylaws or whatever

[crystal stone]

So there was no wiggle room here

My advisor deeply apologized, got me into a 3 unit math education independent study course

and got me a tuition waiver

A course which actually helped me land my current job

So it all worked out in the end

But like

stress

[turbid epoch]

Bruh this is like an action book in the final arc, and the author is rushing to tie all loose ends.

But it ends happily. Thank god for that.

[crystal stone]

What's the lesson here: whenever administration tells you something, get it in email

[neat lintel]

👍

[crystal stone]

It doesn't exist if it's not in writing

There's actually more to the plot

than what I said, a lot more

But that's the summarized version

[turbid epoch]

Here comes the epilogue...

[devout nacelle]

I should definitely bear that in mind, bureaucracy surrounding education is plainly awful here

But yeah, glad it worked out to be alright for you

[crystal stone]

yUh

So thus finishes the tale of moonbears' journey to his BS and MS degree in math

[devout nacelle]

😌

[crystal stone]

Learned alot about bureaucracy and people

But wait you ask: what do I do with those 6 graduate units

They are out in space, floating, waiting to be applied to my PhD degree

[devout nacelle]

Lmfaooo

Can they get you waiver from quals or sth?

[crystal stone]

No, it's point set topology and analytic number theory

[devout nacelle]

Aaah

[crystal stone]

The best I can do is clear a pre-req

[surreal sapphire]

damn you will not like germany

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

I'll have to say, my case is exceptional

And a cascade of one thing happening

[devout nacelle]

I mean, you guys at least respond to emails right

[crystal stone]

leading to 5 other things

[surreal sapphire]

tbf every prof i ever met hates bureaucracy more than the students

[devout nacelle]

My profs/department plainly ghost me on all my emails, messages and calls

[surreal sapphire]

and they try to hack it as much as possible

[crystal stone]

which only makes things worse

[surreal sapphire]

no it works fine here

[devout nacelle]

Yeah if the profs are sympathetic it should be nice

[surreal sapphire]

the worst that can happen is you get a grade for an exam later

[crystal stone]

oh that's not bad

what are grad apps like in GR

[devout nacelle]

Mfw Bonn responds to my email sooner than my professor does

[surreal sapphire]

grad apps (phd) is just

"hey you have funding for me?"

"yes"

"ok, cool"

[crystal stone]

oh that's sick

[surreal sapphire]

places like bonn are more strict

bcs lots of people want in

[crystal stone]

In the US it's like you gotta play this whole charade

[surreal sapphire]

but a lot is very informal

which is both good and bad

[neat lintel]

is bureaucracy a thing in German Universities?

[surreal sapphire]

bureaucracy in germany is bad

[crystal stone]

bureacracy is a thin in any university

[surreal sapphire]

there are many rules

and its slow

[crystal stone]

thing* bureaucracy*

[surreal sapphire]

university is not too terrible but there is lots of rules when it comes to exams

[neat lintel]

what kind of rules?

[surreal sapphire]

especially foreign students often fail

[crystal stone]

That can be a blessing and a curse

[surreal sapphire]

mostly having to sign up during certain dates

and if you dont, you are legally not allowed to write the exam

[crystal stone]

You know exactly what to expect

what

Why

Like we have that for quals

[devout nacelle]

That sounds okay to me

[surreal sapphire]

it is

[crystal stone]

do you have midterms + finals

[surreal sapphire]

it sucks if you are foreign, dont get the memo and you cant write an exam

[devout nacelle]

Unless the sign up period is horribly short

[crystal stone]

every term

[surreal sapphire]

and have to wait x months

[crystal stone]

or is it the end of the year?

[surreal sapphire]

nah, its fine

[devout nacelle]

Oh oof

[neat lintel]

that's not entirely unreasonable

[surreal sapphire]

and like, there is no downside to signing up and not showing

back in the day profs would just hack you a grade anyway

[neat lintel]

I hear Germans are very time picky and punctual

[surreal sapphire]

but its getting harder and harder

germans also like suing

and uni needs to protect from students

it happens frequently in medicine, econ

[devout nacelle]

Gets sued by prof for not submitting homework

[surreal sapphire]

sued for not getting into a degree

or sued for bad grade

[devout nacelle]

Ah

[crystal stone]

Exactly like the US

[neat lintel]

what

[surreal sapphire]

not much of a thing in math

[crystal stone]

I was on the verge of suing UCLA during my tale, if they didn't give me my degree

[devout nacelle]

I mean, things like these are generally not up for scrutiny, right? I guess most university policies just stipulate right off the bat that grades are not subject to review and the final decision just lies with concerned profs/department?

[crystal stone]

In germany do you have to prove damages

Like not getting your degree cost you a job offer

[surreal sapphire]

i dont think not getting your degree can happen

well, unless you fail your thesis or an exam

and expected not to

[crystal stone]

interesting

I guess people don't try to pull shenanigans of transferring credit from other schools

[surreal sapphire]

once you have your credits your degree is automatically printed

[crystal stone]

Like what I do all the time

[surreal sapphire]

bologna made it easy to transfer credits

[devout nacelle]

Are credits capped/semester?

[surreal sapphire]

no

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

We had some german exchange students in my grad program

[surreal sapphire]

you need to get at least 1 i think

[devout nacelle]

So in principle you can just graduate in a year?

[crystal stone]

They didn't like weekly homework and exams every few weeks

[surreal sapphire]

yes

there recently was a cade of a private school

[devout nacelle]

For M.Sc too?

[surreal sapphire]

someone finished in 3 instead of 6 semesters

and didnt want to pay the private school fees

[devout nacelle]

Scholze moment

[devout nacelle]

That sounds fair

[surreal sapphire]

ye, you can graduate in a semester

in theory

[crystal stone]

Is that how scholze did it?

[surreal sapphire]

he was like a year faster than usual

4+2 semesters instead of 6+4

so 2 years faster total

im doing 5+5 lmao

average is probably closer to 7+5

[neat lintel]

if one does a phd in Germany or Switzerland, is proficiency in German a must?

[turbid epoch]

^

[crystal stone]

take a gander

[surreal sapphire]

no

nowhere in europe

you need the local language in academia

except france

[crystal stone]

I mean, I think france's exception is because

The english had to win

English had to be the language everyone uses

So I think the french are just pouting

[surreal sapphire]

france is weird people

[hollow ginkgo]

As I’ve already explained, no.

[surreal sapphire]

like i heard stories of people refusing to talk english

[crystal stone]

Oh yeah, I did 7 years of french classes + a study abroad

[surreal sapphire]

they expect you to learn french and will just refuse talking english with you (even though they could)

[crystal stone]

One time I just tried ordering my food in french, which wasn't fluent but still pretty good

[surreal sapphire]

and some french academics still publish in french i think

[neat lintel]

So French academia is foreign friendly?

[crystal stone]

For an american. Anyway she corrected every word I said

And I had no interest in correcting my french at the time. I was too tired

and just wanted my food

[surreal sapphire]

i think in general it depends a lot on the department

CS department here has as many romanian phd students as german

their german skills vary from very good to maybe a single word

[neat lintel]

I have some departments categorizing foundations under CS instead of math lmao

[crystal stone]

Most higher ed places in the US must be taught in English, so when people try asking questions in Chinese, Spanish, etc. faculty must respond in English unless they're teaching a foreign language course

[neat lintel]

maybe some tcs sub genre

[surreal sapphire]

ye i took mathematical logic in the CS department

[neat lintel]

like discrete math?

[surreal sapphire]

no, gödel's theorems

[crystal stone]

This runs into hilarious issues at like UCLA where chinese internationals will insist on speaking chinese to their TAs or profs

[surreal sapphire]

i have this diff geo class this semester

and the prof refuses to answer to german questions

because it has foreign students

and he does not want to translate questions

[crystal stone]

Is there an official language of instruction?

[surreal sapphire]

its english or german, instructor can choose

[crystal stone]

do they have to be consistent with that choice

once made

Or can they just switch

[surreal sapphire]

or well, we have an international math degree thing, so it must be english if students need it

they can switch

my lie theory class became german halfway

because international students dropped it

its just good manner to use a language everyone in the room understands

[jovial ember]

Yup. Danke

[crystal stone]

yeah, I understand good manners

But what if a prof doesn't have good manners

And lots of international students just fail because now everything's in German

[surreal sapphire]

they have no choice

in my case

because there is a international degree

and they have to teach that

[crystal stone]

Ahh ok

Germany sounds fun

I'd like to visit for a conference or something

[devout nacelle]

I'd like to visit to just never move out again

[surreal sapphire]

sometimes its weird

prof will start first day in german

"oh, i forgot"

[devout nacelle]

[surreal sapphire]

"would anyone prefer to have this class in english?"

but most foreign students are indian or chinese

and you can tell from the name

so they will start in english

[devout nacelle]

Lmaooo

How proficient are the students with German usually?

[turbid epoch]

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa

[devout nacelle]

The international students

[surreal sapphire]

not at all

most just stay 1-2 semesters

[devout nacelle]

Ah

Transfers?

[surreal sapphire]

i guess

i guess you pick something up

enough to order food and buy groceries

[devout nacelle]

You can get by with English even on that, right?

[surreal sapphire]

yeah but

[turbid epoch]

Why not Google Translate it all like in the ads? /s

[surreal sapphire]

they will assume german at first i guess

[devout nacelle]

Yeah, it would probably throw them off momentarily

[surreal sapphire]

at grocery store it doesnt really matter

you check display for the number

and give them enough

if they say anything else you just say "haha nein" and laugh a bit

[turbid epoch]

Sounds like something to have down to a science.

[surreal sapphire]

or you learn "Mit Karte bitte" to pay with credit card

[turbid epoch]

Is Germany a nice place to migrate to?

[devout nacelle]

[steep mountain]

nein danke

[devout nacelle]

I'll have to restart my Duolingo arc

[surreal sapphire]

one of my teachers was in china for a while and first week only food related word she knew was pork

so when she was hungry she went into a random bakery and just kept saying "pork"

[devout nacelle]

Or preferably learn it from the embassy here when I finish undergrad, I think I would like a gap year in any case

[surreal sapphire]

until the guy realized she was hungry, wanted some food and sold her something

[devout nacelle]

Lmfaoooooo

[turbid epoch]

Did she recount this in the class? lol

[surreal sapphire]

yes

[devout nacelle]

Chill environments sound fun

Never got that here

[surreal sapphire]

the thing with foreign languages i think is

if you learn german on duolingo or wtv for a year

you will probably make less progress than being in germany for a month

[devout nacelle]

That's true

[crystal stone]

Are you trying to learn german Manan?

[surreal sapphire]

and most german unis should offer "german for foreigners" classes

[devout nacelle]

Yes

[crystal stone]

Are there german clubs you could go to?

[surreal sapphire]

which are free if you are enrolled anyway

[crystal stone]

Like I used to do french club, and we'd practice speaking french 2-3 times a week for about 2 hours

[surreal sapphire]

(and you will likely meet other indians there)

[devout nacelle]

Hmmm, maybe. I haven't looked much other than proper certification courses, and they seem a bit intensive on time.

[devout nacelle]

[surreal sapphire]

i mean edd takes german classes right

[devout nacelle]

Hmmm, that sounds like a good idea.

Oh he does?

[surreal sapphire]

not sure how much he knew when he moved here

hes working on some level

his german is pretty good i think

[devout nacelle]

😌

Nice

I think I could do the club thing

[crystal stone]

It only takes about 6 months to learn the 90% of the words you'll use everyday

But fluency takes years

[devout nacelle]

Even VCs seem convenient to that end if people are lazy to gather offline

[surreal sapphire]

in german 90% of words used arent even in the dictionary

[devout nacelle]

Seems to be the case with almost every major language

Hindi on paper and the way it is spoken are dramatically different

[crystal stone]

I think English is pretty accurate

Unless I'm delusional

And just surrounded by foreigners that learned english very well

[devout nacelle]

I'm pretty sure I can't parse most legal documents written in Hindi

[crystal stone]

Somehow

[surreal sapphire]

i was refering more to the fact that in german you create new words ad hoc

[devout nacelle]

Aah

[surreal sapphire]

and well, legal german is something else entirely but thats the case anywhere i think

[devout nacelle]

That must need some practice to understand

[crystal stone]

Acts of God is a legally defined term

[surreal sapphire]

it must sound odd to foreigners

[crystal stone]

in the US

[devout nacelle]

I think that's the case everywhere MoonBears

[crystal stone]

Is it really

That's crazy

[surreal sapphire]

and german grammar is horrible (compared to english)

[devout nacelle]

Indians in particular enjoy having each and every law encoded on paper, making the Indian Constitution intractable to be stored anywhere but digitally

[crystal stone]

why don't you just simplify your grammar rules

[surreal sapphire]

because things like that either happen naturally or they dont

changing languages artificially is ... not easy

[turbid epoch]

Hmm if a very large group of people change the pronunciation of a word in some language, it becomes official right?

[crystal stone]

I kinda hope that English simplifies to ebonics

[surreal sapphire]

it depends on your country

[crystal stone]

I be, you be, we be, they be

[surreal sapphire]

in france there is an institution that decides what is correct french

[crystal stone]

Les immortels

[surreal sapphire]

the equivalent in germany is purely descriptive, i.e. if enough people use a word or grammar construction it will be recorded as 'official'

[turbid epoch]

The way it should be.

[crystal stone]

I think spelling reform in french is a good thing

It's just that I now spell everything incorrectly

[surreal sapphire]

french has horrible spelling

but so does english

german pretty good overall

[crystal stone]

No

English and French have terrible spelling systems

There's very little consistency

[devout nacelle]

How was the French word for "bird" spelt again?

[crystal stone]

oisaeu or some shit

oiseau

dyslexia strikes again

[turbid epoch]

English isn't phonetically consistent for shit.

And in French, they probably don't even have a word for that.

[surreal sapphire]

german is mostly spelt as its pronounced

[crystal stone]

french grammar is easy for the most part

[surreal sapphire]

i wonder how french spelling even evolved

[crystal stone]

I also don't like the quotation marks in french

[surreal sapphire]

in germany people used to spell however they want

[crystal stone]

They just look ugly

[surreal sapphire]

(and those texts can still be parsed rather easily)

Kant still spelt words however he wanted

[crystal stone]

Did I tell you I read critique of judgement

without reading the other two

[surreal sapphire]

i had to read critique of pure reason in school

Kant overall is very horrible to read, i do not wish this upon anyone

[crystal stone]

I actually enjoyed critique of pure reason and judgement

although I read them in the wrong order

I read an english translation of course

[devout nacelle]

Right, something along oiseaux?

[crystal stone]

Would you come to the US for faculty position or postdoc Loch?

[crystal stone]

That's the plural form

[devout nacelle]

Good 😌

[surreal sapphire]

postdoc sure

[devout nacelle]

Ah

[surreal sapphire]

faculty position probably

[devout nacelle]

Anyway the pronunciation is superwhack

[surreal sapphire]

i dont think i will stay in academia

if i start my phd as planned it will be rather applied and then i just transition into industry

[crystal stone]

Would you work as an engineer/applied mathematician

[surreal sapphire]

yeah probably

i will just apply to siemens lmao

i mean audi might fund my phd (at least partly), i can probably stay with them

[crystal stone]

My first year of PhD I want to take computational modelling courses so I can land an internship over the summers

but I'd rather do pure math

[surreal sapphire]

i want to copy my advisor

he worked in industry for 20 odd years, published a bit on the side and is now a professor

[crystal stone]

That's not a bad plan

I'm doing internships hopefully so that if I don't find a faculty position I want I can at least work on interesting things

I like heat flow and fluid flow type stuff

[devout nacelle]

Any reason why you don't want to aim straight for academia?

Are jobs too few?

[crystal stone]

It's very competitive, and I'm an idiot

[surreal sapphire]

i should look into internships

i dont think i would be willing to move to a country thats not english/german speaking

very competitive market for academia in germany + i dont see it improving here or anywhere really

i think academia especially in math will be downscaled in the coming years

[crystal stone]

I can get a faculty position at my current university that I work for

But it's not research oriented

There's no grad program, and the undergrad program has lots of issues

I think of my job as a stepping stone

to what I want to do

the experience is good, the pay is definitely better than most people w/ my experience

I run a math-physics-computer science tutoring center at a small university in the american south

So I just manage a team of tutors, a budget, and help support the math department with events

[surreal sapphire]

sounds like an ok job tbh

[crystal stone]

It's pretty good, and I get paid $50k/year

Lots of free time too

I've been at work this whole time

[surreal sapphire]

but yeah thats also a thing

i grew up poor and at some point i might want to ... stop doing that

[crystal stone]

See, I was in the same boat

What I did was marry someone that wanted to be a software engineer

[surreal sapphire]

going through x postdocs for low money doesnt seem too enticing at the moment

[crystal stone]

Now I didn't plan or calculate that out, it just happened

[surreal sapphire]

but mostly i try to not plan too far ahead

just keep options open

start this phd next year and see what will happen

[crystal stone]

My spouse makes like 3x what I make

She's transitioning roles and her salary will be like 4x what I make. We'll be ok while I do my PhD

But we won't have the same financial freedom as we do now on two incomes

eh she was just a student and there was no guarantee that she'd get a good job offer

I married her because I love her with all my heart and soul

[surreal sapphire]

i mean im fine with not having a lot of money

[crystal stone]

It just happened to work out in such a way where we'll be very financially stable and I can pursue the career of my dreams, and she can pursue hers

[surreal sapphire]

but i have to periodically fear for my livelihood because of the terrible housing situation where i live

and it being very hard to find housing at all with my income situation

[crystal stone]

I think they're referring to this

[surreal sapphire]

i have no idea yet what a phd position will pay

hopefully enough so landlords dont ignore more completely

[turbid epoch]

I'd wager that it's not.

[surreal sapphire]

im doing it for the dr in front of my name not for the money

[crystal stone]

If you can show me where it's a better financial decision than learning and being employed in a type of engineering

Please be my guest

I'd love to see it

I dunno, you can make a youtube video and get it big

As a musician

It's really not that more secure in trying to go to academia

[surreal sapphire]

not with the kind of music i make

[turbid epoch]

That's... not a good metric now, is it?

[crystal stone]

The flip side is that most mathematicians can transition into an industrial role if they really wanted to

So there's some trade offs

Not necessarily engineering, but that's an option too

[surreal sapphire]

its most likely not

[crystal stone]

I think you don't know what you're talking about

That's a good one

"But but my categories"

"IT'S FUNCTIONAL"

[surreal sapphire]

if you have a phd in mathematics and you end up in a code monkey job, you are underselling yourself a lot

[crystal stone]

Most of them end up being like an Applied Research Scientist at a tech company where they work on statistical models

For computer training

[turbid epoch]

I've heard actuaries make big bucks from several sources, any truth to that?

[surreal sapphire]

i'll just work for the german equivalent of the NSA

[crystal stone]

Lots of sources of truth, but large barrier to enter

Much faster to go into finance or tech or some form of engineering

Although engineering is a high chance to work on defense/weapons that kill people

So you might have moral qualms about that

Which can be just as destructive

[turbid epoch]

Fun story: Our school put up a list of all of the jobs you could have if you took the combination of Physics, Math and Chemistry and all the options were engineers with a different prefix.

[crystal stone]

Well, it's not that far off the mark

[surreal sapphire]

i mean engineering is a good job

[crystal stone]

I interviewed to be a radio frequency engineer

They were going to hire me if I had lived near that area and didn't mention the fact that I'm probably not wanting to live in that area for longer than 5 years

It didn't seem that difficult to pick up

[turbid epoch]

I'm not knocking on Engineering, it's just that every facet of Indian society presents Engineering as the first choice and the best thing since sliced bread so I'm very averse to it.

Am I interpreting the word Carpentry wrongly? If not, seems like an abnormal decision.

[neat lintel]

sarcasm..

[surreal sapphire]

one of my friends studied mechanical engineering, decided its not for him and became a butcher

[neat lintel]

wait

so you're not joking?

[turbid epoch]

huh I don't know what to say to that

The Unabomber, right?

[fast ivy]

It seems that the Unabomber did geometric function theory and complex analysis stuff back in the day

Based

[turbid epoch]

Alas, MKUltra got him.

[devout nacelle]

I think I want to stay closer to teaching

Even if down the line I'm not cut out for academia

I'll even be okay with teaching in some kind of alternate schooling system

[turbid epoch]

@devout nacelle Just become a highschool teacher! We have plenty of those with degrees in our school. /s

[devout nacelle]

I think options are fairly broad modulo state of employability in general

[surreal sapphire]

complex analysts all have some mental issues

[devout nacelle]

It's an okay option for me

[crystal stone]

I met a guy that got his BS in mechanical engineering, and MS is civil/transportation engineering with a focus on water ducts

[surreal sapphire]

unabomber, bloch, ...

[crystal stone]

He quit to start a church and became a pastor

[surreal sapphire]

i am sure there are more

[devout nacelle]

Yeah, that's why I mentioned "alternate schooling system"

Usual school teaching seems yikes

[surreal sapphire]

thats what i will do

germany has "Fachhochschulen" which are like unis but more towards engineering and applied stuff

my advisor teaches at one

[devout nacelle]

Polytechnics kinda?

[crystal stone]

polytechnicals?

[surreal sapphire]

yeah

[crystal stone]

woah manan

We had the same thought

at the same time

[devout nacelle]

Haha

[surreal sapphire]

so my advisor is head of some CS-math degree thing

they have some pure math classes too

[devout nacelle]

They're fairly common here as well so I thought the same

[surreal sapphire]

and it seems easier to get into than actual academia

[devout nacelle]

That sounds neat

[crystal stone]

They're not so common in California. They have to CSU designated as polytechnics

[surreal sapphire]

and technically he is in academia as he has the right to accept phd students and works with other researchers

[crystal stone]

two*

But only one of them is any good

what is your perception of college mathematics

Are you talking about undergrad or grad

lmao

[fast ivy]

[surreal sapphire]

i mean i would teach highschool as well

[crystal stone]

Pretty accurate

[surreal sapphire]

teaching is cool its just

you really want motivated students

[crystal stone]

If teaching high school paid six figures I'd do it in a heartbeat

[surreal sapphire]

and at highschool level everyone hates math

[devout nacelle]

That's the depressing bit

[crystal stone]

uh oh

[devout nacelle]

Plus I kinda don't like the usual HS environment

All that madness to do well on tests

[crystal stone]

You know, I was never bothered by my students not liking math

I just teach

[surreal sapphire]

i will have to talk with this one german mathematician who writes cool books

[crystal stone]

and if they like it

[surreal sapphire]

he was a professor i think

[crystal stone]

That's cool, if they don't like it then I don't think about them

[surreal sapphire]

worked in academia at least, decently successful

and then decided to work in a random highschool

[devout nacelle]

I think I really want to be a part of, or even initiate, some kind of hybrid, open-to-all math learning program

That could freely use more interesting methods of instruction

[turbid epoch]

40 limit MCQs, 1 hour. Several lines long answers.

[devout nacelle]

[primal crater]

wait till you hear my side

[crystal stone]

You know it sounds cool

[primal crater]

[crystal stone]

And then what it turns out to be is a lot of fucking work & stress for little pay

[devout nacelle]

That is true

That is the concerning part of the trade here

[crystal stone]

Then there's the bureaucracy you will be shoe horned into doing against your will

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

Because "numbers will be better if you do that"

[primal crater]

QPP problem that we had to turn into a LPP (of 10 variables) and solve along with another 2. time 1hr

[crystal stone]

A lot of ppl complain about some standard set of curricula to follow

I love having a curricula to follow

If I want to deviate from it I can

but if I want to follow it I can

[devout nacelle]

Maybe that's nice to have if your end goal is preparing students for the current education system

I have more like, math circles along the lines of Soviet Union in mind

Where bunch of people assemble on weekends to learn and teach maths

[crystal stone]

Yeah, I've worked at companies that do that

Like Russian School of Math, John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth

[devout nacelle]

Right, I think US has a few of them

[crystal stone]

I can tell you exactly what it's like working in such environments

[devout nacelle]

Berkeley Math Circle too I think?

[crystal stone]

and what the limitations are

[devout nacelle]

Sure

[crystal stone]

It's a longer conversation, it'd be done through voice chat

But this is the area I've worked in for like 8 years now

The only part of it I haven't set foot in is the competition math side

because I can't do competition math problem

problems*

The main problem is you're not replacing their curriculum with those types of things

You're shoe horned into making it relevant to the curriculum, and usually parents are paying money to be there

[devout nacelle]

Same

[devout nacelle]

That is true

[crystal stone]

So the next thing you have to do is start selling the programs for their kids

[devout nacelle]

But I'm still more tempted to fit in the existing curriculum with more exotic stuff

[crystal stone]

And you don't actually get a lot of time with them to show them the "correct" way of doing stuff

[surreal sapphire]

i can't do comp math either and i have been grading comp math problems in the past

[devout nacelle]

Or like, at least make it slightly less algorithmic and make people use their heads

I came to know only yesterday that there's this program called "Inquiry Based Learning" for some math at undergrad level

[crystal stone]

This is complete ass

[devout nacelle]

Lmfaooo

[crystal stone]

I've been through these systems and they just don't work

[surreal sapphire]

inquiry based learning just takes super long

[devout nacelle]

I was reading An Inquiry Based Approach to Enumerative Combinatorics

[crystal stone]

The reason they don't work is unless it's a very controlled environment where an expert can guide it very carefully

It will be a waste of time

[devout nacelle]

I mean, I'd expect an expert to teach and monitor it

[crystal stone]

even if the right people are running it, there's no guarantee that students will respond positively to it

[devout nacelle]

This is certainly doomed otherwise

[crystal stone]

And that's the other thing, I learned measure and integration theory through inquiry based learning

I loved it, and other ppl w/ a background in education loved it

But 95% of the class fucking hated the prof

[devout nacelle]

Hmmm, I guess a mix of usual lecturing+inverted classrooms+problem/discovery sessions could be much better than monotone lectures and quizzes

[crystal stone]

He went above and beyond to make his own problems, group quizzes, investigations

[devout nacelle]

Ooof, why's that?

[turbid epoch]

Can someone illuminate the term inquiry based learning?

[crystal stone]

Because why don't you just give a standard lecture

We'd cover more material

You don't teach anything

how are we supposed to teach ourselves

I can't learn this on my own

[devout nacelle]

[turbid epoch]

I'm not the prof but that fcking hurts

[devout nacelle]

How can a class of supposedly advanced math majors say this

[crystal stone]

I think it can be good to spice up a standard course every now and then

[surreal sapphire]

just inverted classroom takes super long

[crystal stone]

It was a grad course

[devout nacelle]

Bruh

[turbid epoch]

Despair

[ancient flame]

I would love inquiry based learning in high school

my business teacher kinda does that

[surreal sapphire]

inverted classroom is cool but if everyone did it, students would be lost

[devout nacelle]

Yeah fair, I just think it's good to throw it in once in a while and even make it optional/use it to cover stuff that won't be on exam

[ancient flame]

lmao

[crystal stone]

So like every "fresh and new" initiative that you can probably think of, I've seen it tried. I've seen them fail, and I've seen them succeed. I've even implemented a lot of it in my own classroom, and at best there's mixed results

[devout nacelle]

I feel a lot of hardwiring is to be blamed here

[crystal stone]

There's just too many moving parts to get an accurate read on whether something like that will succeed

Before you do it with a specific set of students

[devout nacelle]

Since most students are too hardwired into the same old monotone lecture-homework-quiz framework

[crystal stone]

Yeah, and if you branch out from that

People get mad

[devout nacelle]

Right

[crystal stone]

but if youdon't branch out from that "You don't inspire us"

It's like c'mon

[devout nacelle]

Yes, shitposting on Discord

[crystal stone]

Stfu, you don't know what you're talking about

[devout nacelle]

Lmaooo

[crystal stone]

That's my response to students anyway

[surreal sapphire]

studying on your own is also super hard

[devout nacelle]

It should be guided definitely

[surreal sapphire]

i am noticing it again

[crystal stone]

So my goal, if I make it in academia is to just run programs like this

[surreal sapphire]

my AG class only met once for now

[devout nacelle]

Like not having anyone looking over your progress can make it simply not feasible

[crystal stone]

Manan, at the undergraduate and graduate level

[surreal sapphire]

i have been readin books for 50+ hours now

to prepare for a single class

[devout nacelle]

Since a typical student would be taking multiple classes simultaneously as well

[crystal stone]

Do inquiry based stuff as a supplement to standard lectures, have formal study groups, and train/organize the whole thing

[devout nacelle]

Ooooof

[devout nacelle]

Yeah, I agree

[crystal stone]

from the freshman up until people pass their quals for math

[devout nacelle]

This is still better than droning lectures

[crystal stone]

My current job is basically that

[surreal sapphire]

also i have learned

don't read hartshorne

[crystal stone]

It's pretty neat, but nobody shows up to my lectures

Except for like 2-3 students per class

[surreal sapphire]

read Gathmann or Perrin

[crystal stone]

Those students are getting a fine education, but the others

🤷‍♂️

They're adults. They don't wanna come that's their choice

[devout nacelle]

Also, is it common for faculty to "push down" others initiatives because it could entail a higher standard/more work for them?

I can at least see that happening here

[crystal stone]

That's what faculty do

[devout nacelle]

Lmfaooo

[crystal stone]

"Oh should we switch from quarter to semester because students will have better mental health and improve their learning"

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

YOu want me to rewrite my year sequence of lectures

To fit the semester system

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

Cal Poly SLO had to be dragged kicking and screaming back into semester by the CSU system

Even though there's a lot of evidence showing undergrads do significantly better on semester

[devout nacelle]

Quarters certainly seem more stressful, yeah

[crystal stone]

Because faculty don't like it

I think the UC system is going to fall next

I wouldn't be surprised if in 15 years all the UCs are on semester

Ppl thought it'd be crazy for the CSU system 10 years ago

Cal Poly Pomona made the switch

SLO is forced now

[devout nacelle]

I see

[crystal stone]

You know UCLA law and med school are on semester

So is UC Irvine's medical school

Because "There's too much info to learn in a quarter"

Huh

Gee, ya think?

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

You know why they all switched from semester to quarter

Because educational fanatics found humanities students like taking more classes through quarter

They barely did any research on how it affects STEM students

turns out, it fucking obliterates them on average

3 weeks into a class and you have a test

Who the fuck thought of this shit

You can't take a day off cuz you fall behind

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

But if you don't take a day off you burn out and fall behind

[devout nacelle]

Yeah this sounds very horrible

[crystal stone]

You also have a shorter winter break

And between winter quarter + spring quarter you only have 1 week off

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

Plus you graduate in fucking June, when all your semester peers graduate in May

So companies looking to hire, want to hire people who are done sooner

Also makes it harder to do internships

Schools have been on semester system for nearly 2,000 years

[inner finch]

@velvet dagger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77F8fn-jL3w

[crystal stone]

Then some people in California decide "nah two thousand years of history is boomer logic, let's throw it away"

Fucking brilliant

[turbid epoch]

that makes me angry

the fact that this was done by a professional institute

[crystal stone]

Nobody can convince me that quarter system is better

Many a person have tried, and all have failed

[devout nacelle]

Why are universities overlooking this

[crystal stone]

Because faculty have to rewrite their lectures

That's why UCLA has rejected the transition to semester 3 times in the 21st century

Also makes transferring from a community college hell

because semester units aren't quarter units

[devout nacelle]

As someone in the semester system I often felt courses tend to become less dense (especially when starting) and offer lesser flexibility, but I think I'd rather have an easygoing program instead of a trainwreck quarter.

[crystal stone]

I think for advanced graduate courses, quarter system is ideal

[devout nacelle]

Yeah, that makes sense

[crystal stone]

Because you get more topics/flexibility

but why would you structure a university based on <2% of its population

[devout nacelle]

[crystal stone]

when the vast majority of students are taking undergrad programs

[devout nacelle]

True