Hi, I'm Kamlapati

My Programming and Math

Unbelievably, I’ve been programming since 1968! At AJ I teach an occasional intro to Python class, and some intro to data science along with my math and physics. Since the time I started programming in high school I have learned a heckuva lot of computer languages but I only stay fluent in what I’m using now, and currently that’s whatever helps me do math, physics or data science problems.

I do a lot of my math with my computer. It’s a great way to check your work or to investigate new ideas. If I get a challenging problem from a student, or perhaps just a problem I need to brush up on, I’ll make a document or presentation for them. I love the CoCalc development environment and web service, a system designed for mathematicians, scientists, and data scientists. I use it as a Computer Algebra System (Sage), a development environment (Python, R, Java, whatever), and a document server (LaTeX).

Power Series - A LaTeX write up for my Calc BC students.

Parametric and Polar Equations - A reference / cheat sheet for calculus.

Probability with Counting and Binomial Theorem - This one is cool because it interleaves markdown, LaTeX, and real computation using SageMath and Jupyter Notebooks. 

Vector Fields - This is a saved Jupyter Notebook, using the SageMath kernel, with some fancy graphics. Scroll down a bit to the 3-D figures, and in most browsers you will be able to zoom and rotate them.  

Volumes of Revolution - A classic problem for calculus students. Check out the interactive 3-D figures!

Wine Study - A little R / data science project I did with some of my students.

Merge - A little Python sort for beginning CS students.

Projections - Linear algebra is likely the most important field of math for the web. Whenever you do a Google search or follow the recommendations on Netflix or YouTube, you are benefiting from someone's work in liner algebra. 

Orbital Motion Simulation - A problem inspired by my calc/physics students who asked about linear approximations. The Python code sticks to object oriented methods. My takeaway is that Newton developed calculus to solve these types of problems because he didn't have a computer! The figure at the top of this section is an output.

If you'd just like to play with a Computer Algebra System, I suggest SageMathCell.

GeoGebra is an open source project aimed at students and teachers. It provides the best mathematical graphing tools as well as a fairly complete CAS, basd on GIAC I think, and a scripting language. The documentation is great if you’re a beginner, and the capability is exhaustive if you’re an advanced user.

Animated 3d Lissajous Figure

Play with Matrix Transforms

A complete index of my math, science, and computer work is HERE.

Both CoCalc and GeoGebra are open source, and that is very important to me. I have been an open source advocate since I first stumbled on the GNU project in the 80's, and have been GNU/Linux user since 1999. When you use software that is not open source it frequently feels like you don’t fully own the system, like it does things that you didn’t ask. I want full control over my computers, I want to control my own privacy and security, and I want choice over the tools that I use. 

I hate arguing over the best Linux distros, really distro and UI preferences should be on the list with politics and religion of things to never discuss at work, but for personal use I like Ubuntu for it’s huge repository and sensible security updates. All GNU/Linux distributions are infinitely customizable,  so you should think of a distro as the starting point, not the destination.  Lately I have also been using Chrome OS with the Crostini VM and Debian Linux installed and I am really happy with it. Play with your computer!