From: Peter Murphy <pkm@maths.uq.oz.au>
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 94 16:26:26 PDT
To: nzook@bga.com (Nathan Zook)
Subject: Re: Cypherpunks & math
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9407191010.A2415-0100000@zoom.bga.com>
Message-ID: <9407201245.AA23657@axiom.maths.uq.oz.au>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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I was slightly suspicious of this posting at first. But I don't see
what damage replying would do. My only reservation is that I find many of 
the "SUBJECT" titles too vague for proper analysis. After all, "discrete"
mathematics covers quite a lot. So I'll just go through it bit by
bit...

> 
> I know I'll regret this, but...
> I've seen a lot of comments by folks that indicates a high level of
> mathematical sofistication <sic - pkm... sorry :-) >.  So I'm curious.
> 
> Please e-mail me as follows:
> SUBJECT: nomath              If you've not had some Discrete Math course.
> SUBJECT: discrete            If you've had Discrete Math.

Well, yes... I have had quite a bit of discrete mathematics. However I
wouldn't be able to categorize it into one snappy word entry. I am mainly
interested in group theory (and am in fact doing my B. Sc. on it). Other
interests: combinatorics, digital communications, set theory, and of
course, everyone's favourite: cryptology and number theory. Oh... does
this section include high-school as well?

> SUBJECT: algebra1            If you've had semester course on algebra.
> SUBJECT: algebra2            If you've had a year-long senior level course
>                                based on Fraliegh or some such.

Assuming that "algebra"="discrete Maths", I have had ~10 odd little subjects
concerning this. Only the first 2 fell into "algebra1". As for "algebra2",
yes, we did use Fraleigh for it, but we packed it into a semester.

> SUBJECT: grad                If you've been to grad school in math.

At the U. of Q. (and a lot of other Australian Universities), the B.Sc. (and
B.A.) is a flat three year course. Doing Honours takes an extra year, and is
classified as postgraduate). So I guess I fall into the "yes" category.

> SUBJECT: firstcourse         If you've had the prelim algebra course. 
>                                      (Hungerford or such)
> SUBJECT: prelim              If you've passed your algebra prelim.

I think I answered this above.

> SUBJECT: orals               If you've passed your oral exam.
> SUBJECT: orala               If your oral had a significant algebra component

I've never actually done any oral exams. Just a few seminar presentations.

> SUBJECT: candidate           If you are a candidate in algebra.
> SUBJECT: phd                 If you have a phd in math.
> SUBJECT: research            If you have published in number theory.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

> 
> I'm an "orala".
> 
> Thanks!
> 

No Problem.

However, as there seems to be some misunderstanding on my part (due to
the different curriculum), I guess that if anyone posts this quiz in future,
there would have to be some redesigning for people from different edu-
cational systems. For example, Engineering is a separate course from
Science down here. I think this is not true in the U.S. (I could be wrong).


Peter.