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Mathematics...mathematician by training
I've always had a logical mind, and mathematics is based on logic, so I guess that's why I like maths. It might also be because maths is about the only thing I studied in sixth form... I was off school a fair bit because of an operation on my leg, and the other teachers didn't give me any work to do.
I ended up getting a degree in maths. I figured that there would be very little chance of learning maths on the job, due to the scarcity of maths-related jobs, so university would be my only chance to learn it. I knew I could always get work as a programmer, and to employers it doesn't make a lot of difference what you have a degree in as long as you have one.
I particularly enjoyed algebra (group theory and stuff), because it's pretty close to the underlying logic... not a lot of writing to do and not many formulae to memorise. In theory, everything in every field of mathematics can be worked out from scratch if you've forgotten it, but that's a little easier in algebra than in, say, differential equations. And it turns out that group theory is very relevant to both particle physics and language. Aww man, if only I could have five careers at once.
I made a HyperCard stack called FriezingWorkz to demonstrate the seven frieze groups.
A while after getting my degree, and then a programming job not too far from the campus, I read Quarks, Leptons, and the Big Bang and got interested in physics again. I vaguely remembered stories of people majoring in (for example) horticulture and then doing postgraduate work in quantum computing, as if the subject of the undergraduate degree matters as little to universities as it does to employers. So it occurred to me that, having graduated, and in such a similar subject to physics, perhaps I could do some particle physics without going through all the boring first-year lab courses. The system didn't seem quite as flexible as that though, so in the end I enrolled for another maths paper... but it was mathematical physics. I figured I'd sneak up on postgraduate physics sideways. The paper was on continuum mechanics, which even sounds like quantum mechanics if you say it quickly enough. I did the paper while working full time... I'd just nip over to the campus in the afternoon and then go back to work and work later to make up for it. It was a nice afternoon break, a great opportunity to use my recently-purchased eMate, and I learnt how bends in rivers turn into islands. I didn't have time to finish all the assignments, but I somehow managed to pass anyway, perhaps because, since I learnt LaTeX specifically for that purpose, my work was better-presented than the lecturer's.
I have not officially studied mathematics since then, but I did attend a lecture by the Lucasian professor of mathematics of Cambridge. It's one of the perks of working at the world's biggest physics lab, where I eventually got a job in order to make up for not being allowed to study postgraduate particle physics. There's more about that on my physics page.This page has been accessed  times since 2024-04-23 13:41:36 Last updated: 2007-01-28 08:49:52
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