Jedi Training: What it's like to be a postgraduate mathematics research

studentJon Xu

University of Melbourne/University of Western Australia

The Cast

Myself- MPhil student

from USyd(-> PhD)

Prof. Arun Ram,Principal Supervisor,

Unimelb

A/Prof. John Bamberg,Co-Supervisor, UWA

The Hunt

Some generalized polygons

The DoilyThe Fano Plane

Meeting Arun Ram

Admission and Funding

'Algebraising' Geometry

René Descartes: 1596-1650

Arrival at Melbourne:1st September 2012

Getting to know the mathematics community

Visitor: Kevin PurbhooFrom the University of Waterloo, Canada

Learning to write mathematics

Getting Feedback

Denmark – March 2013

Slowly learning finite geometry

• PRIMA 2013

• First Approximations

Einstein on the Beach and Repetition

Mindfulness Meditation and removing the ego

What does my work involve?

Using symbols to study symmetry.

Why do I want to become mathematician?

It's the only thing I can do well that will keep me from getting bored.

But then, why should I get paid?

Curiosity based research has a tendency to progress humanity (amongst other things)

Isaac Newton1642-1727 Discovers:

-Calculus (along with Leibniz)

-Law of gravitation-Optics

Motivated by:Curiosity.

More specific to mathematics:Finding the 'right' way to do things

~300 years later

Euclid's 'Elements' ~300B.C.

~2000 years later

The 'right' proof might look something like...

Disgust