My First MCM

Note: This article is automatically translated, please turn to the Chinese version for more accurate expression if possible.

From February 9th to 13th, 2018, I participated in the first mathematics modeling competition with very insufficient preparation. In order to better communicate with teammates, I rented a homestay in Tianjin to play games. On the last day of the 13th, I had a heavy meeting with the high school class (Can Nian).

When I arrived in Tianjin on the night of the 8th, the location of the selected homestay was good, there were more prosperous restaurants nearby (but there was no time to go out to eat), and there was a cathedral below. I got acquainted with the environment, set up the computer, and waited for the next day to start.

The question was posted at 6 am on the 9th, but we only got up at 7 or 8 o’clock (we still saw the question posted by the teacher in the WeChat group on the bed). What surprised me was that the other two got up later than me. Ignore washing and start to study the topic. The first question is a physics question, but it is too difficult. If I am a physics major, I might still be able to fight, but it would be a bit miserable to do this simulation at the current level. The second question is to study the distribution, evolution, and prediction of language, etc., and the third question is data analysis. Since the three of us are all computer majors and don’t want to choose ICM, we chose the third question which is more related to the major. This question gave a lot of data. The most difficult points are deleting data, describing data, judging and comparing, and predicting data.

The topic selection was very fast, I was looking for information on the first day, and I was relaxed because the progress was a bit faster than the expected timetable. I did a good translation of the title and looked for papers, but there are not many strong relevant ones. That is, the CIA official website has a large amount of data, and the title is given up to 2009, and the official website has up to 15 years. What’s interesting is that teammates have added a lot of groups, and there are some forums in the group that have posted various papers. That was almost the end of the first day.

The schedule of this game was rather fascinating, and I didn’t agree a good time to start in the morning. Basically, I woke up but didn’t want to get out of bed. After listening for a while, there was no movement outside, and after a while, I thought it was too bad. They got out of bed to work, but they didn’t get up yet (vomiting blood).

All the modeling work was completed in two days on the 10th and 11th plus the morning on the 12th. This question requires more, and we did not give a more unified model, but used many small models to answer many small questions in the question. What’s more painful is that although the other two have looked at the papers and discussed what model to use, they actually didn’t have any productivity output. In the end, it was basically the code I made, and it came out anyway. Execution is very important. You must have the energy and ability to start solving the problem, otherwise you will only rub the edge of the problem and dare not deal with it in depth, which will waste time.

During this period, I wrote papers while modeling, because there were many small models, so I finished writing a little bit. What is irritating is that when I finished the first model and wrote the paper, they were discussing the second model. After I finished writing, they had not started to do it, and they asked me to deal with it. Next time you have a good game, you must choose your teammates. However, they did the things that I had a headache for. They set the goals of the energy contract and planned actions, and the paragraphs of papers were also very eye-catching.

In the afternoon of the last day, I finished most of the content, and I had to polish up, write a summary, etc. By the way, I compiled the program even if I made the paper latex. . Fortunately, my teammates wrote the thesis very well, and finally got nearly 20 pages. The last night is a bit like staying up to stay up late. In fact, it’s okay to go to bed early, but I feel it’s rare to have fun. It happened that a teammate with OCD was revising the paper over and over again, and he didn’t go to bed until four or five .

When I got up in the morning on the 13th, it was almost 8 o’clock. The official website of junk exploded. The email was sent but I waited for a long time for confirmation at the official website, but it was finished at the end. Later, when I had time, I went out and typed a control sheet, signed and sent it, all done.

The degree of completion of this question should be enough, but I can’t stand the result of it myself. It is very trivial and embarrassing. I still have to blame my lack of ability. The appearance of the paper is there, the structure is well organized, the summary is super nice, and the judges like it (mistake). There is not much expectation in the first game, high probability H, small probability S and M.

During the game, I found that I still have a lot of things to learn, and I am happy that I still have plenty of time to learn them.

I hope the next time will be a well-prepared game~