As I sit here typing up my first post, recovering from a five-week ramen-induced coma, I am beginning to realize that I only have an inkling of what I want to research about, so apologies if this post comes across as scatter-brained.
Going into AP Research, I have a few goals that I expect to complete for the class. First, I want to be able to develop my knowledge in a field that I already have a passion in. By this I mean that I want to begin to specialize in areas that I have already spent numerous hours at home and at school studying, and otherwise reading into, not a topic that is completely new and foreign to me. Second, I want to produce a complete, tangible result, which I can use to develop further connections and research opportunities. I recognize that finding a topic for doing such a thing would very likely be difficult, as results of the latter nature usually require years to successfully produce. Nevertheless, I believe that choosing a basic aspect of an unanswered or deep question of a particular field, could prove fruitful when going to college. Finally, I look forward to creating something with "real world applications". This "R" word that seems to be as ubiquitous in research proposals as stuffed animals on my bed, doesn't really take on the same meaning here as it does in other places. By real world applications, I mean something which I can use to build on in the future. "Real" in the sense that I would be able to refer to it later and build upon fundamental ideas expressed within it.
As you may have already guessed from my overly generic and unfocused view in this post, I really don't have much of an idea of what I want to do. Having just returned from math camp, I may look into Ramsey Theory, a topic which I covered extensively during the camp, and may end up working on later this year, aside from my AP Research topic. A large problem with mathematics in general, however, is its abstracted nature. Without any solid application to cling to, mathematical jargon can quickly become overwhelming, even for people who study math extensively, but have no knowledge in a specific field. Ramsey Theory may provide more application than most fields of math, as many arguments are based upon the coloring of certain sequences, but I would have to spend more time working out particular details of the simplification process. Another avenue of research that I could look into is stock valuation methods of companies during the great depression and the great recession. Using data (which I could obtain from a contact that I have in ASU), I could compare different valuation models for companies during the great depression/ great recession. After doing a quick search of the topic, I could not find any immediate results for a comparative analysis of the great recession/ depression. Using different valuation techniques, I may be able to suggest, at least in a very simplified manner, a preferable hedging strategy during recessions, or perhaps more generally, bear markets. Finally, my most general idea involves analyzing algorithms for stock trading, or perhaps more tangentially, refining search algorithms for determining ramsey numbers, or finding stronger upper bounds for them.
What is stated before is more or less a giant mental mess of the ideas that have been running through my head for the last few days, and about a week before. In the coming week, I hope to refine my ideas, narrow my choices to one topic, and begin exploring the topic literature for my area of inquiry. (611)
Jet-Lagged and Back from China,
Akash
Going into AP Research, I have a few goals that I expect to complete for the class. First, I want to be able to develop my knowledge in a field that I already have a passion in. By this I mean that I want to begin to specialize in areas that I have already spent numerous hours at home and at school studying, and otherwise reading into, not a topic that is completely new and foreign to me. Second, I want to produce a complete, tangible result, which I can use to develop further connections and research opportunities. I recognize that finding a topic for doing such a thing would very likely be difficult, as results of the latter nature usually require years to successfully produce. Nevertheless, I believe that choosing a basic aspect of an unanswered or deep question of a particular field, could prove fruitful when going to college. Finally, I look forward to creating something with "real world applications". This "R" word that seems to be as ubiquitous in research proposals as stuffed animals on my bed, doesn't really take on the same meaning here as it does in other places. By real world applications, I mean something which I can use to build on in the future. "Real" in the sense that I would be able to refer to it later and build upon fundamental ideas expressed within it.
As you may have already guessed from my overly generic and unfocused view in this post, I really don't have much of an idea of what I want to do. Having just returned from math camp, I may look into Ramsey Theory, a topic which I covered extensively during the camp, and may end up working on later this year, aside from my AP Research topic. A large problem with mathematics in general, however, is its abstracted nature. Without any solid application to cling to, mathematical jargon can quickly become overwhelming, even for people who study math extensively, but have no knowledge in a specific field. Ramsey Theory may provide more application than most fields of math, as many arguments are based upon the coloring of certain sequences, but I would have to spend more time working out particular details of the simplification process. Another avenue of research that I could look into is stock valuation methods of companies during the great depression and the great recession. Using data (which I could obtain from a contact that I have in ASU), I could compare different valuation models for companies during the great depression/ great recession. After doing a quick search of the topic, I could not find any immediate results for a comparative analysis of the great recession/ depression. Using different valuation techniques, I may be able to suggest, at least in a very simplified manner, a preferable hedging strategy during recessions, or perhaps more generally, bear markets. Finally, my most general idea involves analyzing algorithms for stock trading, or perhaps more tangentially, refining search algorithms for determining ramsey numbers, or finding stronger upper bounds for them.
What is stated before is more or less a giant mental mess of the ideas that have been running through my head for the last few days, and about a week before. In the coming week, I hope to refine my ideas, narrow my choices to one topic, and begin exploring the topic literature for my area of inquiry. (611)
Jet-Lagged and Back from China,
Akash
Akash, oh how I've missed your scatter-brained, subtly pretentious rants! I am glad that you have returned safely from China; although, I wish you would have reached out to me letting me know you'd be missing a week of school.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, onto what you actually said: it seems like, from your post, you feel like everything is up in the air and you don't have much direction. However, the two avenues that you described sound pretty focused and viable, so I don't think you're in quite the negative place that you think you are.
Finally, from your post, I think you're saying that you have a lot of stuffed animals on your bed. If so, why? You're nearly an adult man.
Hi Akash! All of your ideas seem to be very applicable in the real world regarding finance and the coloring of sequences. The topics for your potential projects are narrowed down pretty well already, which is really good to see this early in the research process!
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the project on stock valuation methods is the most interesting, as well as the most useful in the sense of practical application. Your plausible solution in this issue can be extremely helpful to many businesses. From reading this blog post alone, I sensed that you were hesitant on choosing the Ramsey theory project simply because you had worked with it so much, and AP Research is more of a learning process.
Lastly, from the contact that you have in ASU, what research would you be able to do? Would you simply be gaining access to information that few others can get their hands on? Try to think about what you would enjoy doing in your 3 months off from school.
Have fun with your project! You're off to a great start! (180)
Akash welcome back to America. Mrs. Haag must be jumping for joy to see that her Period 0 trolls have united with the Period 8 trolls. Whatever direction you go in whether it be finance or Gordon Ramsey's cooking class, the idea sounds great.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, projection on stock valuation does not sound very Akash to me. Quite frankly it may be out of your scope or someone has done these finance predictions better. There's an entire field dedicated to that topic. However, I love the idea of creating your own analysis process or applying Ramsey theory to the data. This makes the project 8x more interesting. Gordon Ramsey theory sounds very interesting. I suggest you just look into the possible applications into a field that needs a fresh look or a new angle with Gordon Ramsey theory. Maybe you could spice a few things up, or season your topic, or cook your topic medium rare... you get the idea.
After reading your blog, there is a big hole in your ideas. Why do you care so much about Gordon Ramsey or how companies handle the depression? Make sure you can attach significance to your findings.
Yes, Ashwath. Period 6 AP Research is the confluence of all the senior class's favorite trolls.
DeleteAnd this Gordon Ramsey thing has got to stop.
DeleteAkash, I think you have a lot to think about. The two comments provided by your classmates seem to indicate two completely different directions.
ReplyDelete