International Math Competition in Modeling 2009

The International Math Competition in Modeling (IMCM or MCM) took place 3 weeks ago over a period of 96 crazy hours.  However, I must say that the team clicked pretty well this year.  I think the latest any of us stayed up to was 2:30AM and we usually got together to work at like 11AM.  This competition, I was the dedicated programmer from the start.   We chose problem A (the traffic circle problem) after about an hour and a half brain storming about each, feeling a bit overwhelmed about each and then taking a vote on the confidence and enthusiasm for each problem.

Prior to this vote we had been leaning toward the cellphone problem.  The traffic circle problem seemed overwhelming.  However, on a plus side having taking Math 425 Numerical Analysis last semester, I already had written Matlab source code for solving the traffic PDE in which cars circled as if in a traffic circle.  Having this code as well as the higher overall enthuasism for the traffic circle problem led us to choose it.

One noteworthy observation was that as soon as we settled down on the traffic circle problem we checked Wikipedia and a reference to the IMCM 2009 was already on the page.

Unlike my previous competitions, as soon as we decided on a problem we ran off to the library.  It was helpful that one of the members of the team had a car so we could quickly go between the math and engineering libraries before they closed for the evening.  We ended up grabbing about 10 books, many of which we used, some of which we didn’t use, over the duration of the competition.

Later that evening I sat down with my old source code and began modifying it in order to make it fit the problem better.  However, all my changes were surface changes.  I needed to be able to simulate cars entering at certain roads and leaving at others.  Moreover, cars only want to get off at their exit so I had to develop a way to track the cars from each entrance around the circle.  I ended up creating multiple circles, for each exit, and summing their traffic together to get the total traffic around the circle.  The traffic circle PDE was then applied to the sum of circles.  Next I calculated the velocity at each “point” around the circle and then moved the cars in each of the circles the distance corresponding to that velocity multiplied by the timestep.  Moreover, the code also needed to check to make sure the density of the summed circle did not exceed the maximal density for the circle.  If it did, I just had the extra cars pile up behind the maximal density points.  This “piling up” was then analyzed in order to maintain the proper proportion of cars in each circle.

Then using these exit circles, the code allows a certain proportion of the density of cars trying to leave at each exit to leave the circle.  Thus, we can simulate cars getting stuck in the circle causing them to loop around.

We then also simulate the entry roads to the traffic circle since the circle can often cause a backup on the roads.  We then also simulated traffic control elements at the entry point of each road into the circle.  We used greedy/nongreedy yield and stop signs to simulate the circle being yielded/stopped and the entries yielded/stopped respectively.  We also simulated several traffic lights: fixed duration and local density optimizing.

We ended up running several basic setups in order to gauge the effectiveness of each traffic control element.  However, we did not have enough time to collect results for more complicated circle designs.  It did not help since the runtime often exceeded 5 minutes on my 3.8 Ghz overclocked Core 2 Duo system.  For several of the runs we had to increase the time resolution since it was possible for the cars to “jump” over their exits without even being allowed to leave.

If you have more interest in our work check out our paper.  Out of everything with the competition, as a team we feel like our title could not have been better: A Straightfoward Solution to a Roundabout Problem.

Overall, the competition was enjoyable and there is certainly room for improvement for the future.  However, this past competition was definetly the most enjoyable in which I have participated.

CAS: Understanding the Heavens Lecture

Tonight at 7:30 PM at Fuertes Observatory, Matipon Tangmatitham will give a lecture on the motion of the planets.  Pon, as we like to call him, will go through the history behind the subject, including the infamous problems between the Church and the scientists of the time, most notably Galileo.  After this lecture you will also be able to mutter “Eppur si muove” (And yet it moves).

And if the lecture is not enough to convince you to come up, Clear Sky Clocks indicates that tonight should be good for star gazing.  Hope to see you there.

COMAP International Math Competition in Modeling

Tonight at 8pm EST, approximately 1300 teams (of up to 3 people) from hundreds of institutions of higher learning across the world will begin a 96 hour competition based on applied mathematics.  Cornell University will have three teams participate, of which my team is one.  I am looking foward to the opportunity to the challenge, especially after the dismal past performances.  I have certainly learned a lot of math, but also the need for team structure during such a competition as the MCM.  As I type this I note that in under 11 hours the competition will start.

I wish all teams participating the best of luck.  While it is a math competition, it is supposed to be a fun and enjoyable experience (although it might not seem so at the time).  From my experiences, the amount which one learns over the 96 hours of the competition is unparalleled by anything else one does.

Cornell Astronomical Society Spring 2009

This Friday marks the beginning of the Cornell Astronomical Society Spring 2009 lecture series.  I am certainly looking foward to seeing what interesting things will be happening at Fuertes.  Unfortunately, we do not have a visiting scientist scheduled to give a talk.  Last semester’s David Grinspoon visit was incredible.  But on the other hand, it will give many different members of CAS the opportunity to present their own lecture.

It should also be noted that as of the start of the spring semester I am now the webmaster for CAS.  I am looking foward to seeing what ways in which the website can be improved.  I would certainly appreciate any suggestions that anyone has.

The first lecture of this semester will be given by Art Samplaski on the topic of Navigating the Night Sky.  Moreover, as of right now, the Ithaca Clear Sky Clock is indicating that Friday night should be clear, in which case the observatory will be open for observing (many of you may remember how nearly every Friday was cloudy last semester).

Cornell Math Competition in Modeling 2008

Well this past weekend was the Cornell Math Competition in Modelling to determine which teams will represent Cornell in the international competition.  This year’s problem was quite interesting and based off an xkcd comic.  For the problem we  had  to optimize the layout of the sidewalks on the Arts quad here at Cornell.

My team worked together pretty well and we came up with some interesting results.  However, we did not have enough time to include all the variables we wanted nor take data on current traffic flow.    We did get several interesting plots which can be seen in our writeup.

I look foward to finding out how many other teams competed and the ways they approached this problem.  All in all I think my team had a lot of fun with this problem.  I myself definitely liked it better  than last year’s diversity problem.

My lecture at CAS

This past weekend I gave a talk on the Large Hadron Collider and its implications for astrophysics, mainly cosmology.  It was my first long talk I ever gave and I gained a lot of experience and insight on how to improve.  I did get some interesting questions at the end and the crowd did seem to be enthusiastic about the topic at the end.  All in all it was a good learning experience for both the crowd and myself.  You can find a copy of my LHC presentation.

Division of Planetary Science Comes to Cornell

Well this is it, finally.  This weekend will mark the 40th Aniversary of the Division of Planetary Science (DPS) and I think it is quite appropriate that it is being held here at Cornell.  I myself am staying and volunteering at this fantastic event (after all what better could I do over fall break).  There will be a conference for interest parties (costs a registration fee) as well as several public events.

Among the public events, tonight at 7PMDr. David Grinspoon, Curator of Astrobiology, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, will speak on “Climate Catastrophes in the Solar System “.  Saturday evening from 8-10PM in Bailey Hall there will be a free concert in which Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” will be played in its entirity.   Sunday also in Bailey from 730-930 pm there will be a public lecture.  Also sometime over the weekend Bill Nye will be doing a planet walk down at the Commons.

All in all this looks to be a very promising event.

CAS Organizational Meeting

This Friday, September 5th at 6:30pm in the Fuertes Observatory Lecture Hall CAS officers and interested community members will be meeting to find out who is interested in working with us as well as determine who will give astronomy lectures over the first semester.

I hope we have a good turnout, after our clubfest outing I expect 4-5 freshman to be active at that meeting (we shall see).  As of right now it looks like it will be partly cloudy Friday evening with a poor seeing for after 8pm.  However, seeing as this is our first meeting and there will only be a few clouds we will probably get some observing in.  Hope to see everyone there.

Cornell Astronomical Society Clubfest

This past Sunday the Cornell Astronomical Society participated in clubfest and we had a very good turnout.  I am looking foward to working with many new freshman as well as a few students from other years.  We also had like 6/7 members from CAS show up and share their experiences up at Fuertes as well as other events we put on with those attending clubfest.

I am looking foward to this new observing season  with great anticipation.

Phoenix Mission to be Extended by 5 Weeks

Due to the good condition of the Phoenix lander NASA has decided to extend its mission5 weeks beyond its original 3 month assignment.  So the probe will run until September 30th.  With the recent discovery of water ice, the probe will certainly have a lot of data to collect during this time extension.

As for after its mission, Phoenix will shut down with a subroutine to wake it up in the spring if it lasts through the winter.  While having this extra time would be fantastic, Phoenix has already helped us understand Martian soil and weather better than we did before.

Over the next few days I will be working on a post gathering all of the scientific discoveries and the big steps taken by Phoenix so far.