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My Mathematical Regression

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Re: My Mathematical Regression

#131

Post by kj4211cash »

eru wrote: post #97
jp57 wrote: post #7

I think one of the saddest thing is that the kind of person who would recognize, "we can solve this seemingly complicated problem by just applying this formula", would often have trouble even getting recognized in many corporate environments. I managed a guy like that. He was capable of very complex thinking, but he wasn't in love with complexity, he was in love with simplicity. His solutions tended to be of the form…

> I managed a guy like that. He was capable of very complex thinking, but he wasn't in love with complexity, he was in love with simplicity. His solutions tended to be of the form, "we can ignore all these things, and just focus on X, and it will provide all the value." He'd notice something and simplify it and the benefit to the company would be measured in multiples of his salary. I did some of that a few times in…

This is basically my professional career. I've stayed 5+ years at the same place now and it's gotten to the point where people ask for me to build an optimization before it's even clear they have a problem amenable to optimization. Yay! My work has a good rep. But also I'm called upon entirely too frequently to explain work I did years ago or to answer questions like which constraint "comes first". Honestly it's getting very tiring. I think a switch to a new company would help but I wonder what will happen to the optimization work at my current company after I leave. It's weird that such a useful academic field still feels like black magic to much of corporate America. I guess it's just sophisticated enough.

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#133

Post by eru »

kleiba2 wrote: post #122
eru wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compare and contrast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski

I don't get it, is the point you're trying to make that Ted Kaczynski wasn't smart?!

Just the opposite: he was very smart; but most people don't consider his overall life choices to be something you would want to copy.

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#134

Post by sjamaan »

armcat wrote: post #129
jp57 wrote: post #7

I think one of the saddest thing is that the kind of person who would recognize, "we can solve this seemingly complicated problem by just applying this formula", would often have trouble even getting recognized in many corporate environments. I managed a guy like that. He was capable of very complex thinking, but he wasn't in love with complexity, he was in love with simplicity. His solutions tended to be of the form…

I have the opposite experience with this, and I personally also default to simplest solutions at least as a baseline. However it’s important to distinguish between simple solutions that approximate the problem very well, to simple solutions that work in limited context or with heavy sacrifice in assumptions because those will hurt you in the long run.

[dead]

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#135

Post by BeetleB »

igsomething wrote: post #121
GL26 wrote: post #118

The way the problem was solved at first hand by just "recognizing the pattern of (2n) choose n" wouldn't satisfy me at all, where's the proof ? Why does it work ? This isn't maths, this is "pattern recognition".

Maths IS pattern recognition

Followed by a proof via induction.

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#136

Post by storus »

I noticed the same with me after a few years working; my solution was to take all hard mathy online MS degrees/grad certs available one after the another. Now I can understand how does the generative AI math work while designing an electric motor for my own robot. Though the latest AI can do it all better than me.

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#137

Post by jadar »

Yeah, this is relatable. Part of it comes down to "use it or lose it." We atrophy when we don't exercise. But at the same time, it might come back to the OP faster than he thinks if he went into it. Also, I've found that with AI I'm able to ask specific questions where I'm hazy and pick things up faster than if I just had to watch hours of lectures to pick something up. (There's a place for both.)

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#138

Post by erdaniels »

Since I'm between jobs, I've been taking the time to relearn geometry, trig, calc, and linear algebra. I've finished the first two and it's both humiliating and really fun to relearn some math. As an adult, I feel a very different appreciation for how much fundamental math we take for granted. I definitely recommend https://www.khanacademy.org/ and pauls notes (https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/).

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#139

Post by hansvm »

throwaw12 wrote: post #51
abhaynayar wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If his monetary value to the company was as said why would any other metric like complexity even remotely matter or need convincing assuming the main goal of the company was to make money. Money would matter even more than the interpersonal stuff in most cases but on top of it even the managers treasured him so there should've been even less of an issue of communicating value. Getting bored is totally understandable…

> If his monetary value to the company was as said why would any other metric like complexity even remotely matter Here is why: I turned off a feature flag in our feature flagging service which saved company 10% infra cost, do you think I can be promoted to Staff+ and lead 50 engineers? Promotions and/or recognitions in corporate environments works differently. I don't agree with it, but this is how it works: If what…

> staff+

Maybe. It looking easy isn't the point. If you have the knowledge and skills such that doing so is a semi-repeatable endeavor, especially in a world where your colleagues apparently missed that 10% savings lying on the floor, is that not (part of) the point of a promotion? [0]

> lead 50 engineers

That's a totally separate ballgame. Nothing in your example says anything about leadership ability. Maybe you have those skills, and maybe you don't, but technical acumen is separate from leadership.

[0] https://mosaicstrategy.us/2016/10/10/know-where-to-tap/

Re: My Mathematical Regression

#140

Post by jerf »

Something I haven't seen anyone else mention is that this is problem 15. The author probably did the previous 14 problems too. IIRC the problems aren't strictly cumulative but you do generally end up warmed up and with hints about how to approach problem N efficiently from problems [1, N-1].

Skills do decay, I can't deny that. But even when I was still in school going back and doing an end-of-year problem for a class I took two years ago would have been harder than it was for me at the time... but it would have been easier than the first time if I warmed up properly with a bit of review and practice first, and I mean, not just three minutes glancing over things but taking some serious time for it.

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