This is my first post using octopress i.e. a git based blogging engine. At the moment I am just testing various functionalities. Is markdown bold working? Do we have MathJax?

The quest for MathJax

Let’s try the Boltzmann equation:

$$\begin{equation} \frac{\partial f}{\partial t} + \frac{\mathbf{p}}{m} \cdot \nabla f + \mathbf{F} \cdot \frac{\partial f}{\partial \mathbf{p}} = {\left(\frac{\partial f}{\partial t} \right)}_{\mathrm{collision}} \end{equation}.$$

To test inline maths we will use $x^2+y^2=z^2$ where $x$, $y$ are catheti and $z$ is a hypotenuse of a right triangle.

It works! Although to be truthful it did not work out-of-the-box. I had to fight a small battle messing around with some files. At the moment I am using kramdown and CDN according to advice given on this post. The only difference is that my javascript code landed in

source/_includes/custom/head.html

as it is being sourced by the main head anyway. This looks like a slightly cleaner solution.

But that wasn’t enough! After uploading the files on Github Pages they wouldn’t display even though I could see them in the preview mode. The reason was the HTTP secure access to MathJax. It’s important that CDN address contains https rather than http. There’s a passage in MathJax documentation about it. So much for “setting up a scientific blog in half-an-hour”, but I’ve learnt a few things definitely.

MathJax test passed.

The plan…

… is to run this as a little experiment in curiosity, amusement and memory of all these little intellectual pursuits which somehow get lost in the daily routine of existence. I would like to focus here on the work I do related to fluid dynamics and coding but other content may appear too. The first few steps though I need make is to investigate:

• adding sub-pages,
• add contact info,
• test iPython integration,
• check comment functionalities (in the unlikely case someone wants to comment!),
• theme customization.

Interestingly at this stage the lists were not indented properly. Again, I found the instructions which fixed it though. During the whole process I was struck by the fact that I am overwhelmed by the technological nomenclature. There are lots of concepts here I completely don’t understand or just heard about for the very first time. Hopefully this will become less of an impediment as time goes on.

The first actual post to appear is going to be on the introduction to Kraichnan theory of turbulence which I am reading about at the moment. Will try to reproduce some of the results and test iPython integration. Future posts may cover some adventures in population balance modelling, partial differential with stochastic inputs and fluid dynamics problems.