CATAM News
Read CATAM News for up-to-date information about the Computational Projects and changes to the `Desktop Services' / `Managed Cluster Service' (DS/MCS) network facilities.
CATAM Headlines
New this year: General | Part IB | Part II
22/04/14: Advisors on duty in Easter Term11/01/14: Advisors on duty in Lent Term28/12/13: A draft Brief LaTeX Guide for CATAM is available12/09/13: Updating an expiring MATLAB license
22/04/14: Paper and electronic submission of Part IB Additional CATAM Projects13/01/14: Minor correction to the wording of the marking scheme for project 1.111/01/14: Paper submission of Part IB core projects11/01/14: Electronic submission of Part IB core project files19/10/13: Model answer to the Part IB Introductory Project available01/08/13: Part IB Manual online
22/04/14: Paper and electronic submission of Part II CATAM Projects27/03/14: Typographic correction to equation (14) in Part II project 2.1127/03/14: Correction to question 1 in Part II project 10.920/01/14: Link to data file in Part II project 10.906/01/14: Correction to question 3 in Part II project 11.404/01/14: Minor change to the footnote to question 1 and updated link in Part II project 12.303/10/13: Minor clarification to the wording of question 8 in Part II project 16.514/09/13: Correction to introductory remarks in Part II project 17.101/08/13: Part II Manual online
Less recent, but still relevant:
27/03/08: Warning - cached pages31/01/07: Make sure you get through to the CATAM Helpline
22/04/04: File security
22nd April 2014: Advisors on duty
An advisor will be on duty in the CATAM room, GL.04, from 2pm until 4pm on Thursday 24 April and Friday 25 April. There will also be a few places available from 2pm-4pm on Wednesday 23 April but these will be limited as this is a dual session at which priority will be given to pre-booked IA students.
On Monday 28 April, Tuesday 29 April and Wednesday 30 April 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.
22nd April 2014: 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 29 April 2014. There will be directions to EL.09 (the same room as for the Core Submission) from the entrance to the CMS. You must submit in person; someone else cannot submit your work for you.
As explained in the Part IB Manual you will need to sign a Submission Form (an example was given in Appendix D of the Manual). You should download the current Part IB Submission Form by clicking on this link (forms will also be available from the CMS reception on the morning of Tuesday 29 April 2014). 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 and Exchanges section. In the past a few students have failed to correctly fill in their 'Declaration of Discussions and Exchanges'. If the comparison programme that we use then identifies similarities, and/or if the Assessors notice similarities, this can lead to an Examination Interview and/or an Investigative Meeting (please see the Computational Projects Manual section on Unfair Means, Plagiarism and Guidelines for Collaboration, including that on Oral Examinations for more details).
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, not write in pencil or erasable pen, and not to use red or green ink (although red and/or green lines on plots are acceptable).
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 29 April 2014. However electronic submission will be available several days before submission day (we hope from sometime on Wednesday 23 April 2014), and you are strongly urged to perform it in advance. Click here for further information. Please note that you will need to know your Desktop Services / Managed Cluster Services (DS/MCS) password in order to complete electronic submission (please note that your DS/MCS password is in principle different from your Raven or Hermes passwords). If you cannot remember your DS/MCS password you will need to ask the Computing Service to reset it: see http://www.ucs.cam.ac.uk/docs/faq/accounts/n3 and http://www.ucs.cam.ac.uk/docs/faq/accounts/n17. This can take some time, so check that you know your MCS password well before submission day.
Please note that:
- For both paper submission and electronic submission the 4pm deadline on Tuesday 29 April 2014 will be strictly adhered to (unless there are exceptional circumstances, and your Director of Studies has obtained an extension for you).
- Please do not email asking for confirmation that your electronic submission has been successful; we do not have the resources to provide confirmation. However, if your files are not there we will notice and be in touch.
- It would help if you made your paper submission as early in the day as you can (unless you like long queues). You should make your electronic submission beforehand; advisors will be on duty in the CATAM MCS room from 10am until 4pm on submission day.
22nd April 2014: 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 30 April 2014. There will be directions to EL.09 (the same room as for last year) from the entrance to the CMS. You must submit in person; someone else cannot submit your work for you.
As explained in the Part II Manual you will need to sign a Submission Form (an example was given in Appendix D of the Manual). You should download the current Part II Submission Form by clicking on this link (forms will also be available from the CMS reception on the morning of Wednesday 30 April 2014). 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 and Exchanges section. In the past a few students have failed to correctly fill in their 'Declaration of Discussions and Exchanges'. If the comparison programme that we use then identifies similarities, and/or if the Assessors notice similarities, this can lead to an Examination Interview and/or an Investigative Meeting (please see the Computational Projects Manual section on Unfair Means, Plagiarism and Guidelines for Collaboration, including that on Oral Examinations for more details).
As also explained in the Part II 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, not write in pencil or erasable pen, and not to use red or green ink (although red and/or green lines on plots are acceptable).
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 30 April 2014. However electronic submission will be available several days before submission day (we hope from sometime on Wednesday 23 April 2014), and you are strongly urged to perform it in advance. Click here for further information. Please note that you will need to know your Desktop Services / Managed Cluster Services (DS/MCS) password in order to complete electronic submission (please note that your DS/MCS password is in principle different from your Raven or Hermes passwords). If you cannot remember your DS/MCS password you will need to ask the Computing Service to reset it: see http://www.ucs.cam.ac.uk/docs/faq/accounts/n3 and http://www.ucs.cam.ac.uk/docs/faq/accounts/n17. This can take some time, so check that you know your MCS password well before submission day.
Please note that:
- For both paper submission and electronic submission the 4pm deadline on Wednesday 30 April 2014 will be strictly adhered to (unless there are exceptional circumstances, and your Director of Studies has obtained an extension for you).
- Please do not email asking for confirmation that your electronic submission has been successful; we do not have the resources to provide confirmation. However, if your files are not there we will notice and be in touch.
- It would help if you made your paper submission as early in the day as you can (unless you like long queues). You should make your electronic submission beforehand; advisors will be on duty in the CATAM MCS room from 10am until 4pm on submission day.
27th March 2014: Typographic correction to equation (14) in Part II project 2.11
A typographic correction has been made to equation (14) in project 2.11, which was previously given as \(t_w=\log(1+{1}{6g_2})\). The expression now reads
\(t_w=\log(1+\frac{1}{6g_2})\) .
However, as the phrasing of the question relating to this equation is open-ended, candidates may choose either version for their comparison without disadvantage.
27th March 2014: Correction to question 1 in Part II project 10.9
As the result of an error the distribution specified in Question 1 of project 10.9 is not reversible (as candidates had been asked to verify). The question has therefore been replaced by the following:
Question 1. Assume that the Markov chain \({\bf X}(n)\) takes values in a finite subset \(S \subset \mathbb{R}^m\). Verify that \(\pi\) is an equilibrium distribution for this chain. That is, check that for all \({\bf y} \in S\), \[\sum_{{\bf x} }\pi({\bf x}) \pi({\bf x}, {\bf y}) = \pi({\bf y}).\]
This change does not affect the remainder of the project.
Because of the late notice of this correction, the Assessors will ensure that no candidate who has answered the original question will be disadvantaged; hence those who have already attempted this question need not re-attempt it unless they choose to do so.
20th January 2014: Link to data file in Part II project 10.9
The link to the data file 2-10-9-2007football.csv required for project 10.9 was previously incorrect and has now been corrected.
13th January 2014: Minor correction to the wording of the marking scheme for project 1.1
In question 6 of the marking scheme for project 1.1, the term '\(\textit{analytic}\) solution \(Y_{n}\)' has been corrected to '\(\textit{numerical}\) solution \(Y_{n}\)'.
11th January 2014: Paper submission of Part IB core projects
Paper submission of Part IB `core' projects will take place in room EL.09 in Pavilion E of the CMS between 10am and 4pm on Tuesday 21st January 2014. There will be directions to EL.09 from the entrance to the CMS. You must submit in person; someone else cannot submit your work for you.
As explained in the Part IB Manual you will need to sign a Submission Form (an example was given in Appendix D of the Manual). You should download the `core' projects Submission Form by clicking on this link (forms will also be available from the CMS reception on the morning of Tuesday 21st January 2014). 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 and Exchanges' section. In the past a few students have failed to correctly fill in their `Declaration of Discussions and Exchanges'. If the comparison programme that we use then identifies similarities, and/or if the Assessors notice similarities, this can lead to an Examination Interview and/or an Investigative Meeting (please see the Computational Projects Manual section on Unfair Means, Plagiarism and Guidelines for Collaboration, including that on Oral Examinations for more details).
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, not write in pencil or erasable pen, and not to use red or green ink (although red and/or green lines on plots are acceptable).
11th January 2014: 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 21st January 2014. 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 Desktop Services / Managed Cluster Services (DS/MCS) password in order to complete electronic submission (please note that your DS/MCS password is in principle different from your Raven or Hermes passwords). If you cannot remember your DS/MCS password 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.
Please note that:
- 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).
- Please do not email asking for confirmation that your electronic submission has been successful; we do not have the resources to provide confirmation. However, if your files are not there we will notice and be in touch.
- It would help if you made your paper submission as early in the day as you can (unless you like long queues). You should make your electronic submission beforehand; advisors will be on duty in the CATAM MCS room from 10am until 4pm on submission day.
11th January 2014: Advisors on duty in Lent Term
An advisor will be on duty in the CATAM MCS room, GL.04, from 2pm until 4pm for the week starting Monday 13th January and ending Friday 17th January.
An advisor will also be on duty on Monday 20th January (9-11am and 12-4pm) and Tuesday 21st January (from 10am until 4pm), since Part IB students will be preparing, and then submitting, their Core Projects.
6th January 2014: Correction to question 3 in Part II project 11.4
The list of parameters has now been amended to include \(\delta\)\(r\)=\(0.1\).
4th January 2014: Minor change to the footnote to question 1 and updated link in Part II project 12.3
The footnote to question 1 has been updated due to changes to the links provided by Mathworks, and now reads
For example you can download a suitable solver from http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/98293
28th December 2013: A draft Brief LaTeX Guide for CATAM is available.
A draft Brief LaTeX Guide for CATAM is available for download. It is emphasised that this is a draft, so may contain mistakes.
The LaTeX source file, and supporting files, are also available for download as a zip file. Mac and Unix users should already have an unzip utility, while Windows users can download 7-Zip if they have not.
The main brief-guide.tex file may be helpful as a template.
19th October 2013: 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.
3rd October 2013: Minor clarification to the wording of question 8 in Part II project 16.5
The last sentence of question 8 has been rephrased slightly in order to clarify the meaning and now reads
Are any of the generators for the groups listed above redundant?
14th September 2013: Correction to introductory remarks in Part II project 17.1
The introductory remarks in italics have been amended, removing the previously-stated restriction to values of \(k\) dividing \(n\).
12th September 2013: Updating an expiring MATLAB license
If your MATLAB licence is expiring (there is usually a message when starting up MATLAB) then to update the licence:
- quit and relaunch MATLAB by right-clicking icon and choosing "run as administrator" if this option is available
- help -> licensing -> Update Current Licences
- click on "update" button
- restart MATLAB
1st August 2013: Part IB Manual online
The Manual containing the Part IB Projects for 2013-14 is now available online. We would be grateful if you could draw our attention to any misprints.
However familiar you already are with computing, you are strongly urged to read the Introduction to the Manual before starting either on the Introductory Project 0.1 (for which a solution will be posted early in the Michaelmas Term), or on the Core Projects 1.1 and 1.2 (which are due to be submitted at the beginning of the Lent Term). In a change from previous years there are now no quality marks, i.e. alphas and betas; instead the maximum number of Tripos marks available has been increased.
Please also make sure you familiarise yourself with the section on Unfair Means, Plagiarism and Guidelines for Collaboration in the Introduction to the Manual.
1st August 2013: Part II Manual online
The Manual containing the Part II Projects for 2013-14 is now available online. We would be grateful if you could draw our attention to any misprints.
However familiar you feel you already are with the Computational Projects course, you are very strongly urged to read the Introduction to the Manual. There are a number of changes from last year, not least in how marks are awarded. In summary there are now no quality marks, i.e. alphas and betas; instead the number of Tripos marks available has been increased.
Please also make sure you familiarise yourself with the section on Unfair Means, Plagiarism and Guidelines for Collaboration in the Introduction to the Manual.
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 how the email relates to CATAM, e.g. mention MATLAB.
(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 Managed Cluster Services (MCS) 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 MCS.
