CATAM News
Read CATAM News for up-to-date information about the Computational Projects and changes to the Managed Cluster Service (MCS) network facilities.
CATAM Headlines
New this year: General | Part IB | Part II
21/04/13:
Advisors on duty
09/09/12:
MS Office and LibreOffice in CATAM room
21/04/13:
Paper and electronic submission of Part IB Additional CATAM Projects
11/01/13:
Paper submission of Part IB core projects
11/01/13:
Electronic submission of Part IB core project files
09/01/13:
Advisors on duty in Lent Term
15/10/12:
Model answer to the Part IB Introductory Project available
31/07/12:
Clarification to question 4 of Part IB project 1.1
11/07/12:
Part IB Manual online
21/04/13:
Paper and electronic submission of Part II CATAM Projects
08/01/13:
Additional information for Part II project 20.1.
11/12/12:
Typographic correction to parameter values in part 1 of Part II
project 12.2 [update].
10/08/12:
Typographic correction to Section 3 of Part II project 1.3.
30/07/12:
Part II Manual online
Less recent, but still relevant:
27/03/08:
Warning - cached pages
31/01/07:
Make sure you get through to the CATAM Helpline
22/04/04:
File security
21st April 2013: Advisors on duty
An advisor will be on duty in the CATAM room, GL.04, from 2pm until 4pm on Thursday 25 April and Friday 26 April. There will also be a few places available from 2pm-4pm on Wednesday 24 April but these will be limited as this is a dual session at which priority will be given to prebooked IA students.
On Monday 29 April, Tuesday 30 April and Wednesday 1 May there will be an advisor on duty from 10am until 4pm since Part IB and Part II students will be preparing and submitting their projects.
21st April 2013: Paper and electronic submission of Part IB Additional CATAM Projects
Paper submission of all Part IB 'additional' projects will take place in room EL.09 in Pavilion E of the CMS between 10am and 4pm on Tuesday 30th April 2013. There will be directions to EL.09 (the same room as for the Core Submission) from the entrance to the CMS.
As explained in the Part IB Manual you will need to sign a Declaration Form (an example was given in Appendix D of the Manual). You should download the current Part IB Declaration Form by clicking on this link (forms will also be available from the CMS reception on the morning of Tuesday 30th April 2013). Please print the form double-sided. Please also make sure that you understand what you are signing, and that you have fully filled in the "Declaration of Discussions" section. In the past a few students have failed to correctly fill in their "Declaration of Discussions". If the comparison programme that we use then identifies similarities, and/or if the assessors notice similarities, this can lead to investigative interviews (please see the Computational Projects Manual section on Guidelines for Collaboration and Oral Examinations).
As also explained in the Manual, you should leave a gap 11 cm wide by 5 cm deep in the top right-hand corner on the first page of each project write-up. This is for a sticky label, so that your candidate number (which you will be given on submission day) can be added to each project. Also, while you should write the project number clearly in the top left hand corner of the first page, your name or user identifier should not appear anywhere in the write-up (including programme listings, graphs, etc.), as the scripts are marked anonymously. In addition, please remember to write or print on only one side of the paper, to leave a margin at least 2 cm wide at the left, to number each page, table and graph, and to not to use green or red pens.
Students are also required to submit electronic copies of their programs to the Project Assessors for checking. Files may be submitted up to the deadline of 4pm on Tuesday 30th April 2013. However electronic submission is already (or will soon be) available and you are strongly urged to perform it as soon as possible. Click here for further information. Please note that you will need to know your Managed Cluster Services (MCS) password in order to complete electronic submission (please also note that your MCS password is in principle different from your Raven or Hermes passwords). If you cannot remember your password on the MCS you will need to ask the Computing Service to reset it. This can take some time, so check that you know your MCS password well before submission day.
For both paper submission and electronic submission the 4pm deadline on Tuesday 30th April 2013 will be strictly adhered to (unless there are exceptional circumstances, and your Director of Studies has obtained an extension for you).
It would help if you made your paper submission as early in the day as you can (unless you like long queues), and you should make your electronic submission beforehand. Advisors will be on duty in the CATAM room from 10am until 4pm on submission day.
21st April 2013: Paper and electronic submission of Part II CATAM Projects
Paper submission of all Part II projects will take place in room EL.09 in Pavilion E of the CMS between 10am and 4pm on Wednesday 1st May 2013. There will be directions to EL.09 (the same room as last year) from the entrance to the CMS.
As explained in the Part II Manual you will need to sign a Declaration Form (an example was given in Appendix D of the Manual). You should download the current Part II Declaration Form by clicking on this link (forms will also be available from the CMS reception on the morning of Wednesday 1st May 2013). Please print the form double-sided. Please also make sure that you understand what you are signing, and that you have fully filled in the "Declaration of Discussions" section. In the past a few students have failed to correctly fill in their "Declaration of Discussions". If the comparison programme that we use then identifies similarities, and/or if the assessors notice similarities, this can lead to investigative interviews (please see the Computational Projects Manual section on Guidelines for Collaboration and Oral Examinations).
As also explained in the Manual, you should leave a gap 11 cm wide by 5 cm deep in the top right-hand corner on the first page of each project write-up. This is for a sticky label, so that your candidate number (which you will be given on submission day) can be added to each project. Also, while you should write the project number clearly in the top left hand corner of the first page, your name or user identifier should not appear anywhere in the write-up (including programme listings, graphs, etc.), as the scripts are marked anonymously. In addition, please remember to write or print on only one side of the paper, to leave a margin at least 2 cm wide at the left, to number each page, table and graph, and to not to use green or red pens.
Students are also required to submit electronic copies of their programs to the Project Assessors for checking. Files may be submitted up to the deadline of 4pm on Wednesday 1st May 2013. However electronic submission is already (or will soon be) available and you are strongly urged to perform it as soon as possible. Click here for further information. Please note that you will need to know your Managed Cluster Services (MCS) password in order to complete electronic submission (please also note that your MCS password is in principle different from your Raven or Hermes passwords). If you cannot remember your password on the MCS you will need to ask the Computing Service to reset it. This can take some time, so check that you know your MCS password well before submission day.
For both paper submission and electronic submission the 4pm deadline on Wednesday 1st May 2013 will be strictly adhered to (unless there are exceptional circumstances, and your Director of Studies has obtained an extension for you).
It would help if you made your paper submission as early in the day as you can (unless you like long queues), and you should make your electronic submission beforehand. Advisors will be on duty in the CATAM room from 10am until 4pm on submission day.
11th January 2013: Paper submission of Part IB core projects
Paper submission of all Part IB `core' projects will take place in room EL.09 in Pavilion E of the CMS between 10am and 4pm on Tuesday 22nd January. There will be directions from the entrance to the CMS.
As explained in the Part IB Manual you will need to sign a Declaration Form (an example was given in Appendix D of the Manual). You should download the appropriate Declaration Form by clicking on this link (forms will also be available from the CMS reception on the morning of Tuesday 22nd January 2013). Please print the form double-sided. Please also make sure that you understand what you are signing, and that you have fully filled in the "Declaration of Discussions" section. In the past a few students have failed to correctly fill in their "Declaration of Discussions". If the comparison programme that we use then identifies similarities, and/or if the assessors notice similarities, this can lead to investigative interviews (please see the Computational Projects Manual section on Guidelines for Collaboration and Oral Examinations).
As also explained in the Part IB Manual, you should leave a gap 11 cm wide by 5 cm deep in the top right-hand corner on the first page of each project write-up. This is for a sticky label, so that your candidate number (which you will be given on submission day) can be added to each project. Also, while you should write the project number clearly in the top left hand corner of the first page, your name or user identifier should not appear anywhere in the write-up (including programme listings, graphs, etc.), as the scripts are marked anonymously. In addition, please remember to write or print on only one side of the paper, to leave a margin at least 2 cm wide at the left, to number each page, table and graph, and to not to use green or red pens.
11th January 2013: Electronic submission of Part IB core project files
Part IB students are required to submit electronic copies of their programs to the Project Assessors for checking. Files may be submitted up to the deadline of 4pm on 22nd January 2013. However electronic submission is available now, and you are urged to perform it as soon as possible. Click here for further information. Please note that you will need to know your Managed Cluster Services (MCS) password in order to complete electronic submission (please also note that your MCS password is in principle different from your Raven or Hermes passwords). If you cannot remember your password on the MCS you will need to ask the Computing Service to reset it. This can take some time, so check that you know your MCS password well before submission day.
For both paper submission and electronic submission the 4pm deadline will be strictly adhered to (unless there are exceptional circumstances, and your Director of Studies has obtained an extension for you).
It would help if you made your paper submission as early in the day as you can (unless you like long queues), and you should make your electronic submission beforehand. Demonstrators will be on duty in the CATAM room from 10am until 4pm on submission day.
9th January 2013: Advisors on duty in Lent Term
An advisor will be on duty in the CATAM room, GL.04, from 2pm until 4pm for the week starting Monday 14th January and ending Friday 18 January.
On Monday 21st January and Tuesday 22nd January there will be an advisor on duty from 10am until 4pm since Part IB students will be preparing, and then submitting, their Core Projects.
8th January 2013: Additional information for Part II project 20.1.
Question 1 refers to the Bernstein inequality. This can be found, for example, in Probability and Random Processes, G R Grimmett and D R Stirzaker, OUP, Oxford 2001. A note to this effect has been added to the project.
11th December 2012: Typographic correction to parameter values in part 1 of Part II project 12.2 [update].
An updated correction has been made to the values of parameters specified in the paragraph following question 2. The first sentence of the paragraph now reads
Now set \(\alpha = 0.15\) and \( \beta = 0.3 \).
This replaces the news item posted on 7/12/12.
15th October 2012: Model answer to the Part IB Introductory Project available
A model answer to the Part IB Introductory Project is now available from the CATAM webpages. The link is http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergrad/catam/IB/0pt1/Answer.pdf.
Please email typos, comments, errors and improvements to the model answer to catam@maths.cam.ac.uk.
9th September 2012: MS Office and LibreOffice in CATAM room
There has been a change in the availability of Microsoft Office (which is commercial and includes Word and Excel) on the CATAM Managed Cluster Service (MCS) in the CATAM room, i.e. GL.04 in the CMS.
Microsoft Office 2003 used to be available on all the machines in the CATAM room. However, this version of Office is no longer supported by the University Computing Service. Instead,
- Microsoft Office 2007 is available on the second-from-back row of PCs in the CATAM room (note, only the second-from-back row);
- in addition, the free [mainly] compatible package LibreOffice (formerly OpenOffice) continues to be available on all PCs in the CATAM room.
If this change seriously inconveniences you please email catam@maths.cam.ac.uk.
10th August 2012: Typographic correction to Section 3 of Part II project 1.3.
A typographical correction has been made to the equation in part (ii) of Section 3. The denominator on the left hand side has been corrected and the expression now reads
\[ \frac{\theta_n^{m+1}-\theta_n^{m-1}}{2\delta t} = \left(\delta^2\theta\right)_n^m \ .\]
31st July 2012: Clarification to question 4 of Part IB project 1.1
The notation in question 4 has been rephrased to clarify the required parameter range and now reads as follows:
For each of the three methods, tabulate the global error \(E_n\) at \(x_n=0.5\) against \(h = 0.5/2^k\) for \(k=0,1,2,\dots ,12\), and plot a log-log graph of \(|E_n|\) against \(h\) over this range.
30th July 2012: Part II Manual online
The Manual containing the Part II Projects for 2012-13 is now available online. We would be grateful if you could draw our attention to any misprints.
11th July 2012: Part IB Manual online
The Manual containing the Part IB Projects for 2012-13 is now available online. We would be grateful if you could draw our attention to any misprints.
27th March 2008: Warning - cached pages
When checking the latest online version of a project before finalising your write-up, ensure that your computer has not 'cached', and is therefore displaying, the previous version that you accessed.
31st January 2007: Make sure you get through to the CATAM Helpline
When emailing the Helpline:
(1) Always write from your University email address (@hermes or @cam)
(2) If a project is involved, put it it the subject line: e.g., Part II project 14.5. Otherwise make it clear that the email relates to CATAM, e.g. mention CCATSL.
(3) Include a clear message in the body of the email, making clear the relevance to CATAM: e.g. I have attached the electronic versions of my Part IB core CATAM projects.
(4) Only discuss one project and, ideally, only one question in each email.
If for good reason you cannot achieve (1), be particularly careful about (2) and (3).
At first sight the above may seen rather pedantic and unnecessary. However it is the cost of modern communications: the University estimates that it receives over 6 million messages per day of which at least 90% are spam. Most is filtered by the University's spam filter, which will remove emails with no message for example. What gets through to the Helpline still needs filtering, which is done ad hoc, mainly by reference to the sender's address and the subject line.
22nd April 2004: File security
It is important that you keep backup copies of your project files on CD, memory stick or floppy disk to guard against loss by human error (accidental overwriting or deletion), or by hardware problems on your own computer or University/College fileservers.
Do not leave copies of your project files behind on the local hard disk of PWF or College computers. If someone took a copy of your work and incorporated it in one of their own programs, you might be falsely accused of unfair collaboration by the Project Assessors.
If you lose a memory stick or floppy disk containing your programs, please report it to the CATAM helpline.
The Computing Service publish these notes on file security on the PWF.