My first day in the SMS Masterclass was pretty much boring. The first topic was "The Mathematics of Transportation" by Dr Chua Chek Beng. This topic is mainly on a theory/formula made by the Americans during The Cold War with the Soviet Union. They made this formula in case they had to fight a war with the Soviet. This formula is a method to find the most efficient way of cutting of the enemies supply line. In that period, trains were one of the main ways of supplying resources to the soldiers. This steps of the formula are simple but very tedious. First, find a path that connects from the start of the supply point to the area you wish to supply. Maximize the amount of trains that go through and then, find another path (different) that connects supply point to area and repeat the steps. Repeat this until there is no more paths that can be taken and that all trains are used or cannot go through anymore. The next step is to find the lowest number of lines that make up all the trains that are supplying and choose these lines to be "bombed". This topic was rather boring, as it pretty simple yet tedious. After lunch break, a new professor came in and talked about "Seven Bridges and a Mathematical Genius" by Dr Ng Kah Loon. The Mathematical Genius here is famous mathematician called Leonhard Euler. The seven bridges is based in Königsberg. Euler managed to solve a problem there by creating a theory called the graph theory. This theory explains the reason why it is impossible to cross all the bridges and go back to the staring position. The professor explained it in a very humourous way and made the whole lecture very interesting.
Links to find out more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_flow_problem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory
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