It’s two in the morning and I have a problem set due tomorrow that I haven’t started writing up yet. Actually it was due on Tuesday but I got an extension because I had that presentation to give on Monday. Anyway, it’s gonna take me about four hours to write up, so I’m considering just going to sleep now — but my RA neighbor has decided to have another informal party so sleep is out of the question, for the time being. LJ is the next best thing :).<\/p>\n
So why didn’t I start the PS yet? Well, it’s because as soon as I came back from classes today at 4:30 I started playing music and I’ve essentially just stopped now. I hadn’t played anything for over a week so I was itching to today. First piano and drums, and then guitar for a couple of hours. In fact, I wrote and recorded a whole song tonight. But more on that in a bit.<\/p>\n
The last week has been great. Went to a Warriors game on Friday night. It was weird to root for people like Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy. They played the Blazers, who basically dominated, with several SportsCenter-worthy plays. Luckily, the final score was 120-100, which meant that we all got free chalupas! By the fourth quarter, it was pretty obvious that Golden State was going to lose, so we just started rooting for them to get 100 points so we could cash in on Taco Bell…. they came though with 35 seconds left. Money.<\/p>\n
Also played lots of sports: soccer, tennis, volleyball. I had forgotten how much I love volleyball. Got beat up pretty badly playing soccer on Saturday so I’ve been limping around since. Almost better though. Watched Syracuse win on Monday and then UConn win on Tuesday. I’m not going to launch into my usual diatribe about how women’s basketball is really fun to follow even though no one gives it any respect. The game was a pleasure to watch, and I was thrilled that UConn won. Then straight after that I went to see Sigur Ros at the Paramount. Amazing show. It was one of those concerts where you want to go home and listen to their CDs immediately afterwards. <\/p>\n
Okay this is getting boring. So, the song. The lyrics came to me as I was walking home from Soda Hall at 2am on Saturday night (yes). It’s completely nerdy and basically a joke, which is probably why I was able to record it so quickly — normally I’d spend a long time developing a good melody, etc. The music for this one just popped out today in the practice room in about 25 minutes. Actually the whole song is quite formulaic and predictable, but somehow because it wasn’t a “serious” song I didn’t mind, which is good. As usual, I recorded it, warts and all, on my laptop’s mic. <\/p>\n
Listen to the song: P Equals NP<\/a>.<\/p>\n All the CS majors will be laughing at how incredibly nerdy I am, and everyone else will probably be wondering what the hell the song is about. Some background: whether P = NP is the most famous outstanding question in computer science. There’s a million dollar prize<\/a> for anyone who solves it. Knapsack, boolean satisfiability, et. al. are NP problems. CS172 is the class I’m TAing. A reduction is a method you might use to prove P=NP. Actually, just ask the nearest CS nerd about everything else, heh. Can you catch the Fermat’s Last Theorem reference too? And yes, the song is supposed to be a joke :).<\/p>\n Because P equals NP Been doing a lot of learning DFAs and CFGs And I’ve been searching, thinking Because P equals NP Vertex cover, knapsack Boolean formulas What’ll I do with the dough? And I’ve been searching, looking, Because P equals NP It’s two in the morning and I have a problem set due tomorrow that I haven’t started writing up yet. Actually it was due on Tuesday but I got an extension because I had that presentation to give on Monday. … Continue reading
\n\tor maybe I’m just wrong
\nBut give me my million dollars
\n\tso I can stop singing this damn song
\nYeah P equals NP
\n\tor maybe I’m just wrong
\nBut give me my million dollars
\n\tor I’ll be singing all day long<\/p>\n
\nIn CS172
\nBeen going to every lecture
\n‘Cause the TA, he has no clue<\/p>\n
\nThis ain’t their finest hour
\nIt’s all about the Turning Machines
\nThey’ve got the power<\/p>\n
\n\t’bout that magical reduction
\nYeah I’ve been searching, thinking, looking
\n\tfor that glorious construction<\/p>\n
\n\tI couldn’t be more right
\nSo just give me my million dollars
\n\tor I’ll be here all night
\nYeah P equals NP
\n\tI’ll be all over Wired
\nSo just give me my million dollars
\n\tDamn, my fingers are getting tired<\/p>\n
\nIndependent set
\nSoon they’ll be owing me
\nA million dollar debt<\/p>\n
\nWell you can “satisfy” this:
\nMy request for a million bucks
\nYou don’t want to see me pissed<\/p>\n
\nI don’t have a clue
\nOh wait — yes, I know
\nI’ll replace my old Pentium II<\/p>\n
\n\tfor that magical reduction
\nYeah I’ve been looking, thinking,
\n\tabout that glorious construction
\nAnd I’ve been searching, looking, and I found it
\n\tfound it to perfection!<\/p>\n
\n\tor maybe I’m just wrong
\nBut give me my million dollars
\n\tso I can stop singing this damn song
\nYeah P equals NP
\n\tIt was easy all along
\nI’d tell you my reduction
\n\tbut it wouldn’t fit into this song…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"