It's the weekend!

Started off my day with Graph Theory, taught by Miklós Ruszinko. We went through walks and powers of matrices, the Brasford Search, and the definiton of a tree. It is a fine class, but it seems very difficult, not too exciting, and altogether not that rewarding enough. I will take Combinatorics instead.

Got the notes to Set Theory. There aren't enough people interested in the course as of now, so plans are to change it to a reading course. They also are thinking of shifting the time slot to go against the number theory class. If that happens, as much as I want to, I simply won't be able to take it. I hope that's not the case!

Sat in on Differential Geometry. The professor seems great, but there were lot of integrals and sins and cosines on the board, which means my attention will slowly but surely start to drift. I didn't take notes, but I remember them working on a problem involving path integrals and the formulation of a cycloid. Just not my cup of tea.

I then got a big lunch of some kind of fried chicken with rice, and a delicious many layered huge piece of cake for my desert. I ate this during my second FUN class. We continued on talking about compactness, and solved the hotel problem. It i apaprently called the Tihonov Theorem. The concept of infinity really can boggle the mind- I'll have to think about it some more, thats for sure.

We then talked about some things that he said really weren't relevant, and they involved Ramsey Theory, and the proof to Ramsey Theory. I had never seen this before, and although not understanding it 100%, it really was interesting. He also stated that there were some ramsey numbers so difficult to find, that if the aliens came down, and asked us we for R(5,5), or they would kill us all, we would have to connect all the computers of the world, and pray. If they asked us for R(6,6), we should just connect all the nuclear bombs and kill them all.

We then briefly discussed the Cantor set, and how that it creates the numbers in binary, and has all the properties of addition and multiplication, so it is actually a ring!! He almost let us go before he told us this neat fact, but he then beat his hand with his hand, and remembered. We have class Monday only if he doesn't die over the weekend- because with his age (he is not even that old), who knows what might happen! Oh, and we briefly discussed the E-D def'n of continuity- what he called the geeky definition, and that is why people don't like mathematicians. He is such a unique guy- how can I not take the class?

Then I went to the Renyi Institute to sit in on Characteristic Theory of Finite Groups (CHAR). Took the subway there, and on the way there, passed the tranin station, to the right.

The Reny institute is a great place for mathematics, and even includes a glass elevator reaching to the top floors. While going up the stairs to the classroom, we would see the pictures of famous professors who had passed on, such as Paul Erdos.

The class was taught by József Pelikan. He is a great guy, a bit more excitable than the AAL professor. I thought there would be absolutely no way I would understand what was going on, but for the most part I did, and I really enjoyed it as well. We talked about matrix representations of groups, such as D4, and A5, and what it meant for the representations to be equivalent. In algebra I really enjoyed the matrix problems, and perhaps this class holds even more of them. We went on to discuss Manschke's Theorem and irreducibility.

I talked to the professor, and he basically said I needed to understand basic group theory, and basic linear algebra as well (we discussed invariant subspaces a lot today). I think after this class this tops my AAL class, but hopefully I can get a clearer picture of the classes after the next week.

I did some wandering after that. I headed in the direction I thought home was, but instead, I headed toward Buda. I saw the White Bridge that took cars above the Danube. I decided to wait and have that journey at another time. I walked back to the Opera subway, and didn't really see much exciting, and decided to take the train back home.

Ate dinner from this pizza place, and randomly selected a pizza, which ingredients were in Hungarian. I saw the guy throw up the crust, and put the sauce on it. I got disturbed and frightened when I saw the sauce was not red, but white. In the oven it went. I waited, flipping through some Hungarian magazines, and it was soon done. It had pepperoni, celery, and a few tomatoes on it as well. I picked off the tomatoes, and reluctantly took a bite, when I was back home, in front of my computer and watching the last new Moonlight. It tasted great. The pizza made me happy.

Well, this week is over! I've pretty much seen all the courses. I just might sit in on Conjecture and Proof next week, which is supposed to be one of the prominent courses here, but for now I think I have a better idea of what I'm going to take. Class lists follow:

CHA/ AAL
FUN
COM1A
NUM1A
SET/THC/LOG
HUN1

I think I must choose between CHA and AAL. I just don't have the spots to take both. I also think I will choose between SET, THC, and LOG, with them currently ranked 1), 2), and 3).

I have been thinking too much about classes recently. That makes me tired. I think I shall go to sleep soon.

Hello!

(In Hungarian hello and goodbye are the same word. Therefore, sometimes Hungarians say "Hello" for bye! That happened today in the pizza store, after she knew I spoke English. Saying "Hello" for "Goodbye" is fun! Try it out sometime...)

-Isaac