Valentine's Day

I've been so busy trying to get a computer program to work that I forgot it was Valentine's Day until a dozen roses arrived from Allan. They are beautiful and, thankfully, he remembered to include a vase. I had to move the lava lamp to the floor to accommodate the flowers on my piece of furniture. They make me smile each time I look up. I just hope Coma doesn't get lost on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The lava lamp is her nightlight.

I finally (why did I wait so long) switched from trying to use Java to using Matlab for the genetic algorithm solution to the QAP (Quadratic Assignment Problem). I think I've described the problem before. Apparently, we get to try solving the same problem in every technique we study. I have finished the programming part of the problem. I'll wait until I'm more fresh to manipulate the parameters and write my report. Now, I have to start again with problem number 2. This time, I'll start with Matlab. But, first I have to figure out what Euclidean distance is. This is the way everything starts--I do a lot of backtracking.

In case you're curious, this is what Wikipedia says about Euclidean Distance: In mathematics, the Euclidean distance or Euclidean metric is the "ordinary" distance between two points that one would measure with a ruler, and is given by the Pythagorean formula. By using this formula as distance, Euclidean space (or even any inner product space) becomes a metric space. The associated norm is called the Euclidean norm. Older literature refers to the metric as Pythagorean metric.