a preprint brings unexpected memories.

today my mind was scattered and i couldn't concentrate on very much, which is a dangerous state to be in. my days are numbered and there is still quite a bit of a thesis to write.

as always, i worry.

but i didn't mean to cast this post in such a negative light. i meant to write about a new preprint on the SNS Pisa preprint server called

"The Bernstein Problem in Higher Dimensions"
Authors: Umberto Massari - Mario Miranda - Michele Miranda Jr

[the link]

i find it a bit unusual, in two respects:

1. Abstract: In this work we have reconsidered the famous paper of Bombieri, De Giorgi and Giusti and, thanks to the software Mathematica we made it possible for anybody to control the difficult computations.
   
   interesting. i guess it's a good thing, to include something interactive in the paper. myself, i've used mathematica before for symbolic computation: it involved checking the ricci curvature of a certain manifold.
   
   
2. the introduction is a little story, a narrative. reading it reminded me of the advisor and the december memorial service. i, too, felt like i stood in the shadows; when it was over, a small band of us spirited away and talked a little math.
   
   i think the advisor would have approved. (: