Math 560 Homework 00


1. 
Please summarize for me:
 
- your name
- your nickname, if you go by one, or how to pronounce your name if you think I might not know.
- your program/major and any secondary programs/certificates you're in or interested in
- your past, current, or future jobs
- other hobbies/interests potentially related to optimization
- how much programming experience you have, and/or how much you like it. Name the languages/software you've used.
- how much statistics experience you have, and/or how much you like stats.


--------------------------------------------

2.  Read the problem descriptions from the old Math Contest in Modeling
(MCM) problems, at
http://people.emich.edu/aross15/math319/mcm-1985-to-2008.pdf
up to 2008, and then at
http://www.comap.com/undergraduate/contests/mcm/previous-contests.php
for 2009 and later.


Some of them are naturally phrased as optimization problems, while others are not.
On a lot of them, I would say there isn't much of an optimization to do.
Make a table/list of the top 10 that are interesting to you,
and what (if any) optimization  problem is applicable.

For example, (seeing into the future),

Year Problem             Linear?  Integer? Optimization? Other Thoughts, if any
2137 Ship Design         N          N          Y
2137 Factory simulation  N          N          N
2138 Weather prediction  N          N          Y
2138 Jetpack routing     Y          Y          Y
2139 ... etc

You do not have to formulate the problem, just try to figure out if it 
is an optimization problem at all,
whether it's integer or not, and linear or nonlinear.

Tell me which 3 are your favorites (which you'd like to have worked on
 the most), and why.

Hints:
It's perfectly fine to guess. If there's anything involving
trigonometry, exponential growth/decay, parabolas, trajectories,
curved paths, computing distances (like sqrt(x^2+y^2) ), or
computing sum-of-squared-residuals, etc. then
it's probably nonlinear. The slightly tricky exception is that
simply adding distances that have already been computed and won't be changing
(like what Google Maps or your GPS does when you're navigating) is linear.


--------------------------------------------

3. Read the list of old project titles at
http://people.emich.edu/aross15/project-guides/math560-titles.html
and the list of standard projects at
http://people.emich.edu/aross15/project-guides/standard-projects-319.txt
and the project overview at
http://people.emich.edu/aross15/project-guides/ross-project-overview-guide.htm

* Write down in your homework which project ideas are your favorite so far,
and why.

--------------------------------------------

4.  Tell me which of these professional societies (or any others that suit your 
interests) you are joining as a student member, and let me know how I can help
verify your student status:

* MAA - Math for 4-year colleges, mostly focused on teaching
* AMATYC - Math for 2-year colleges, mostly on teaching
* NCTM - Math for K-12 teaching
* AMS - pure math, ams.org
* SIAM - applied math
* INFORMS - Operations Research math
* ASA - statistics
* AEA - economics
* AAPT - physics teachers
* APS - physics research
* IEEE - electrical engineering/computer science
* AMS - meteorological, ametsoc.org
* AGU - geophysical
* GSA - geological, geosociety.org
* ACM - computer science
* IIE - industrial engineering

Student memberships typically cost $30-$50 per year.  If you truly cannot 
afford this investment in your future right now, ask your society if
they have a sliding-scale membership fee.