The Short Story

Mathematician by profession. Passionate about technology. Interested in puzzles. Born '82 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

E-mail

rkirov2.at.illinois.dot.edu

My Other Online Profiles

Twitter
Google Profiles
Facebook
Project Euler

Present

I am currently all-but-dissertation graduate student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My thesis advisor is Dr. Iwan Duursma.

Publications

• "An extension of the order bound for AG codes" with Iwan Duursma
• "Minimum Distance Bounds for Algebraic Geometric Codes" submitted, with Iwan Duursma and Seung-Kook Park
• "Improved Two-Point Codes on Hermitian Curves" in preparation, with Iwan Duursma

Talks

• Lower Bounds on Distances of Improved Two Point Codes - contributed talk for Finite Fields '09 Dublin

Algebraic Geometric Code Tables

I maintain the following site agtables.appspot.com, where you can find different parameters on algebraic geometric codes computed with different algorithms.

Fields of Interest

• algebraic geometry
• algebraic number theory
• coding theory and cryptography
• combinatorics

Academic Past

Occidental College - Los Angeles,CA
American College of Sofia, Bulgaria

Currently I work as the graduate student liaison for the computer-based teaching program Calculus&Mathematica(C&M). My job involves supervising the 8 C&M courses taught by graduate students and teaching one of them. The courses in the C&M program use the Mathematica software for a clearer visualization and a better conceptual understanding.

Courses Taught

• Linear Algebra (standalone,computer-based)
• Calculus 3 (standalone,computer-based)
• Calculus for Business (recitation section)
• Differential Equations (tutoring section)

Semesters on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent

4 (more information about the list)

ProcessingJS/Pyjamas

When math gets to much, I like to unwind by programming small puzzle games (usually exploiting some math structures). Everything runs in your browser.

• Light out game (try to use linear algebra to generate all solutions)
• Hex out (a variation of light out)

Flash/ActionScript

I used to use Flash before I switched to the open-source world.

• Puzzle game
• Fire Grass
• Floating Letters

Google Maps

Google Maps API is great for making interactive maps. I used the data from AMS to make this map.

• Mathematics PhD granting institutions in the USA
• Statistics PhD granting institutions in the USA

Using John Resig (the author of some great js tools like jquery) excellent js library Processing js, I have made an interactive graph editor. Soon it would be part of the computer algebra SAGE. You can also try it stand-alone in your browser.

• Graph Editor.
• Graph Editor LIVE (using a live spring model)

Droste Effect

The picture above is an example of a Droste effect. The spiralling was first done by Escher in one of his paintings . To understand the mathematics behind it this article in AMS is very useful. As it turns out these are "just"(remove parenthasis if you are a mathematician) holomorphic maps between elliptic curves over the complex numbers.

Code

To create the image, I have written a small program in processing(it's java with some extra libraries). You can use the program below to make your own pictures. The source code is sloppy at best, but it was more a proof of concept then fully developed application.

Droste Program for Windows (needs Java to run)
Source (use Processing to compile)

If you want to rewrite the code this article might help you, but seemed too engineering for my liking. There is already such a plug-in for GIMPS, which seems to have more functionality.