2009 American College Students' Mathematical Modeling Interdisciplinary Competition (ICM) Diary

Finally, It’s Over

The 4-day American University Student Mathematical Modeling Competition has finally come to an end. Participating in the mathematical modeling competition is a double challenge to one’s brainpower and physical endurance, which I had already experienced when I participated in the Electrical Engineering Cup with Kong Fangfang and Doria.

This time, I participated in the competition with Yuan Rongchang from the Science Experimental Class and Shi Bo, a senior from the Mathematics Department of the College of Science. We chose to participate in the ICM (Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling) part of the MCM/ICM competition, which focuses on mathematical modeling of interdisciplinary subjects. The topic of this competition was to conduct an ecological modeling of a coral reef area in Bolinao, Philippines, and to describe the adverse effects of Milkfish farming on the local water quality and the resulting problems through our model. We also needed to provide an improvement method for the local aquaculture industry and expected returns through our model.

Before the topic was announced, I had been guessing what kind of topic it would be and hoping that it wouldn’t be something like the economic crisis that involves “economics”. Fortunately, this ecological system topic was very much to my liking, and when I read the topic, I really wanted to delve deeper into it. My years of experience in raising animals had given me a basic understanding of water, biology, and ecological balance, and I had my own set of theories (although they may be wrong).

The First Day

On the first day, our work was mainly about understanding the topic, finding materials, and clarifying our thoughts. One of the most frustrating things was to sift through the complex and abundant materials to find the useful parts. If it were Chinese materials, we, who have grown up in the information age, have honed our reading skills to scan through things quickly (mainly because there’s too much nonsense on the internet). Unfortunately, most of the materials we found were rigorous English papers, which were not much different from not reading them at all. In fact, the online Chinese materials were the most helpful to us on the first day. Our main difficulty was how to establish a connection between the professional data indicators provided in the topic (such as the content of particulate organic carbon POC and dissolved organic carbon DOC in the water) and the food chain balance model we established.

The Second Day

On the second day, we started modeling. We began to compare and analyze the various numerical values in the topic and performed regression analysis. To find more data, we continued to read English papers. I discovered that the information provided in those English papers, which had been giving me a headache, was very important for our modeling. So, I had to calm down and carefully read each paper. I would like to especially thank my Golden Dictionary here. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to finish reading those dozen or so papers. I have to say that mastering English is really important, as most of the useful and up-to-date information is in English. Every time I was frustrated with those papers, I would think to myself, “I’m preparing for the GRE reading in advance,” and then I would feel better. Yuan Rongchang said something very right: whoever reads more papers will be closer to victory. I was particularly impressed by Yuan Rongchang’s ability to write formulas that day.

The Third Day

On the third day, we started frantically writing our paper. After analyzing and discussing, Yuan Rongchang would produce a large number of formulas every now and then, while Shi Bo was responsible for checking, and I helped translate the Chinese parts. However, my grammar was not very good, and I encountered many problems during translation. I felt that writing an English paper was more like writing an argument in a debate rather than an issue. By the early morning of the fourth day, the overall structure of our paper had finally been established. Yuan Rongchang and I finished writing the information paper required by the topic and the abstract of our paper at 4 am, of course, in Chinese.

The Fourth Day

On the fourth day, we translated, translated, and translated. Shi Bo and I frantically translated our paper, while Yuan Rongchang was deeply engaged in calculations. Finally, we completed most of the work in the afternoon. Later that evening, I discovered a Simile software that could simulate ecological chains. Although I found it too late, I still downloaded it and tried to use it to verify the first part of our model (the latter part was too difficult to verify, and the mathematical relationship was too complex). The graphical interface of Simile was very easy to use. We made the final modifications to our model that evening and then spent the whole night writing and translating our paper. This was the first time I saw the sunrise during this winter break :) . We finally completed the writing of our entire paper at 7:00 am, converted it to PDF, sent it to the email, burned it to a CD, and completed our task.

I fell asleep at 8:00 am and didn’t wake up until 12:00 pm, when my physical strength had recovered a bit. We still had to print and mail our paper to the distant United States. We gathered again and rushed to the printing room in the bathroom. The 31 pages of printed paper felt heavy in our hands, and we felt a great sense of accomplishment. Then, we went to Tsinghua University, walked through half of the campus, and finally found the UPS Federal Express in a corner of the Zijing Apartments. After mailing our paper, we crossed half of the campus again, took a bus back, and I realized that I hadn’t eaten all day. I hastily went to KFC to fill my stomach and fell asleep as soon as I returned to my dorm. Our ICM competition had ended.

Conclusion

In conclusion, compared to Yuan Rongchang and Shi Bo, my level is still far behind. If the HR of Microsoft (just imagining) asks me what I did in this competition, I can only honestly answer, “I helped find materials, translated papers, and verified formulas.” However, it’s comforting to know that I didn’t drag the team down, and I completed all my tasks. I didn’t take on things I couldn’t do, and I said “no” to things I couldn’t handle. After all, in such a time-sensitive competition, the most important thing is not to take on things you can’t do. Yuan Rongchang was really strong, and every time he went back to his dorm to “meditate”, the version of our mathematical model would increase by 1. The most terrifying thing was that after I slept for 2 hours, I logged in to the FTP and found that our paper had been updated twice, with countless new formulas.

Additional Thoughts

I had thought of using the simulated annealing algorithm in the previous competition with Kong Fangfang and Doria, but I didn’t understand it well at that time and didn’t pay attention to it afterwards. This time, when preparing for the ICM, I had actually downloaded the Java and C code of the simulated annealing algorithm and read it, but my level was limited, and I didn’t understand it. As a result, the best solution to the first question of this competition was indeed to use simulated annealing. Ah, why didn’t I spend more time understanding it earlier?! … It’s a pity. It seems that my computer programming level is still… sigh, I won’t say anymore. After I finish the GRE and TOEFL, I will continue to tackle the problems of the ACM.

Final Words

Finally, I hope we can get a good award. Hehehe. Today, I rested for a day and recovered. Tomorrow, I will continue with the GRE. As Shi Bo said, the ICM may be painful, but it’s only four days short. The GRE is the most terrifying, as the saying goes: “A short pain is better than a long one.” The machine test is approaching, and I don’t have much time left…