Author Archives: Liyun

About Liyun

M.Sc. Economics from Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.

The difference between studying math and economics

These words were written down while I was driven crazy by the theorems and their proofs in functional analysis. Just some jokes for fun. Merry Christmas!

Title: The difference between studying math and economics

  1. Studying economics will make you confident about your IQ, while math will destroy all of you beliefs about your IQ.
    Deduction 1: If you failed in studying economics, please doubt your textbooks and teachers; if you failed in math, please suspect your IQ first.
  2. While you are proving a economic theorem, you can simply persuade yourself that "these conclusion are driven from math" so you can easily prove all of the theorems with the presumption that some conclusions are true; while you are trying to give a proof for a mathematical theorem, the author is doing his best to find the most basic assumptions and there is a long and meticulous proof waiting for you...
    Deduction 2: Creativeness in economics in easy, since you can add an assumption anywhere you need; however, it is really difficult in math, since you cannot make any additional assumptions if unnecessary.
  3. Studying the basic->intermediate->advanced level of economics is like building a house: the introductory level teaches the basic economic principles (build the framework); the intermediate level tells you how to analyze them with graphs (walling); the advanced level force you to use mathematical tools to prove the familiar principles strictly (decoration).
    However, in math, it is like taking down a house: you should drop all decorations first with calculus; then find its frame with real analysis and functional analysis.
  4. While studying economics, you should play with the dirty data in the real world everyday; when studying math, you can ignore anything in the real world and close yourself in your silent room.
  5. Dealing with data in econometrics, an economic student will go shopping -- list all available econometric models and try them one by one; a math student will offer "VIP" custom service -- design a particular model according to the nature of the data.

Anyway, there are only some jokes just for fun! At last,

Merry Christmas!

Keep off laptop [3rd week, Nov]

I don’t know exactly why, but I really feel tired when sitting in front of my laptop. I hate reading unlimited news in google reader, and I am also weary of replying emails… I should admit that the length of my reply is going to be shorter and shorter.

This week I only need to concentrate on my paper and its feedback, except for taking classes every day, mainly from the morning to the night. The weather becomes colder and colder, skipping the beauty of the fall and going directly to the winter. White snow covers almost every part of the ground, and causes some trees to bow down. Seeing the news on the television, no special feelings touch my heart.

Translating my transcript, writing a personal statement and even dealing with some stuffs are the primary tasks for me, although I still watched some dramas during spare time.

Money in, and money out. Time flows but never back. Less than 2 hours per day on average with my laptop, what can I do?

The outline for Latex Lecuture

Title:

Latex and its application in economic essay writing

Introduction:

Latex is the best tool for college students to write their papers as well as some beamers for presentation. It is pretty convenient to typeset mathematical formulas and vectorized pictures. This series of lecture will be divided into three parts, with basic introduction of the operation principle of latex, including formulas, tables, pictures and reference etc. After the brief introduction, I will use visual method to show you how to finish a paper with latex, therefore avoiding  the terrible feeling when dealing with original codes.

After the lecture, you will be able to write an article with latex independently.

Outline:

Lesson 1: Basic Knowledge

1.1 basic pinciple

  • breif introduction: the origin of latex, different distributed version, the idea of latex's typeset, and mutually convert to word
  • user group: research, publication, why use latex?
  • application: academic papers, resume (CV), books and beamers
  • localization and Chinese
  • Layout: setting up the page, footnotes, fonts and colors

1.2 mathematical formula

  • introduction: grammar (Greek letters), common symbols, subscript and upscript, and different formula environments
  • advanced support: AMS package

1.3 table

  • float environment
  • insert and config a table

Lesson 2: Common Functions

2.1 visual editing

  • introduce Lyx: functions and installations.

2.2 figures

  • Insert a pic: supported formats, typeset, rotate and zoom
  • How to draw a scientific picture: the format of EPS, Illustrator

2.3 reference

  • Cross reference: insert a lable, refer a objection (formula, table, figure)
  • reference: format (default, Bibtex), reference methods (serial numbers, author and year)
  • automatically reference collection: zotero, and Endnote

Lesson 3: Advanced Functions

3.1 Tex Editors and real-time preview

  • the latex editor: simple introduction of LED, its appearance and functions
  • real-time preview: configuration

3.2 make a beamer

  • the principle of a beamer
  • steps to make a beamer: based on available templates

3.3 templates

  • situation: the difference compared with common documents
  • some international journal's templates: how to use and edit
  • use latex to make a book: compared with articles

3.4 cooperation with word

  • word to latex: Mathtype and formula
  • tex to word: solutions

3.5 work with R and stata

  • R project
  • Stata

back to the earth[3rd week, Oct]

I just come back to the earth from a week’s escaping. Sorry for leaving without a notice.

Well, just now when I open my Gmail, I found it impossible to read every mail carefully. I’m sorry if I ignored your email, and if it was really important, please send it to me again! I promise that this time I won’t miss anyone.

Meanwhile, Gmail tells me that “You are currently using 5886 MB (79%) of your 7383 MB“. I don’t know how and why… So shall I delete some “big” ones?

However, next week I will still be pretty busy, and although I WILL NOT disappear again, finding me without an email may be a hard thing. Writing my paper, preparing for the class… shall I apply for the lectures about latex in the following month? I’m not sure whether I have enough time to get well prepared for them. Too many stuffs to be done, an incontrovertibly busy week.

Well I should admit that I’d like to communicate with others in English rather than Chinese, even in the campus. So please forgive me if I write too much in English or if I reply you in English. You can tell me about your difficulties if you wish.

Finally, I should say that the feeling of being back to earth is really good!