UCF: Day 42

Location: Lake Claire Apartments

At today's REU meeting, Costas talked to us a little about what the difference is between Mathematical Physics and Physical Mathematics. To be honest, there isn't much. Both are heavy on the math these days. He reviewed the history of math and physics how they used to be used together, but then at one point, they diverged. It seems recently that the two have been converging back together. He said that he felt he should give us an introduction on what the REU is about because some of us didn't realize what we had applied for. For one, the REU is a theoretical REU. I have to admit I didn't think it was that kind of REU when I applied. But also, he said that this REU is one of the few theoretical REU's because not many people have interest in it so much because of the difficulty (requires a lot of knowledge of math and physics) and that NSF doesn't feel that theoretical REU's are worthwhile. This means that he has to continually prove that the this REU is worth something to the Physics community. That means lots of publish papers from the students. If that doesn't put pressure on your shoulders...

After the meeting, I met with Dr. Tamasan and Johan and I was given a new task for finding derivatives and forming a new matrix for our piecewise function we are looking for. After the meeting, Laura and I rode our bikes back together to the apartment, and she took me to the grocery store. When we got back from the store, we both went to the gym for cardio and yoga. By the time I got back to the apartment, it was 11 pm... and I still hadn't eaten dinner. It has been a long day, and I'm tired.