What is your opinion on mathematical olympiads?
>>7773206
talented, genius, and smart kids.
but than some of them want to major in cs or physics than mathematics sadly.
What happens to them when they reach adulthood? Why don't they become tech moguls and such?
They won the genetic and environmental lottery and were artificially raised to make use of their talents, they will earn 6 figs probably, but none of them end up spectacularly successful. There is still a lot we don't understand and outside of human control.
>>7773206
Giant math-based-autism cirklejerk.
>>7773206
Could be a productive experience but it has otherwise devolved into a giant ego-boosting show with a bit of national pride at stake rather than the goal of having young mathematicians improve/learn math.
>>7773206
Easy peasy desu fham. I went to a gymnasium with a focus on maths that was the best in my country due to relatively difficult entrance exams in maths. We were trained like Chinese kiddies to be great at olympiads, so our school doubled the result of the second best school in literally every statistic in the country. Of course, everyone affiliated with the school was extremely full of themselves and proud of the school, but only a fraction of kids were above average and actually achieved something to be proud of. There were too many average students who acted like the world owed them something. At least the nerdy kids who were also talented could achieve something, but the really smart ones didn't fit in any category, really, except maybe distanced from idiots. That place taught me that you're judged by the company you keep.
Anyway, olympiads are something to be proud of if you're in a hostile enviroment where kids don't banter to each other about how many points they didn't get, instead of what place they got etc.
>>7773218
>what is science
It's just a sport like all other sports, with the additional benefit that you become a lot better at proving / proofwriting, and doing math under pressure (e.g. during final exams).
Spent 4 years in the national IMO training programme, good times.
Only downside is that it's rather competitive, you have to deal with it. I suspect quite a few people will be butthurt about it in this bread, but I can't see how it's different from any other sport.
t. Got Bronze on an IMO
>>7773215
There are many successful ones, for example perelman.
I'm pretty sad that I didn't know about olympiad training (or MO in general) until I was in my last year of HS (ie. when it was too late)
I'll never have the time I had then to git gud at elementary stuff
>>7773271
Can i train on my own? Curious
>>7773241
That's the German education system for you.
>>7773283
Well I guess (I have, in a way) but it will never be as good as going to a math club.
There, you have people to guide you, show you cool stuff and you can work with other kids. I think the stimulation of working with others can really accelerate your progress.
Now, to train on your own, you can read pdf lecture notes, problem sets (there are a bunch of those on AOPS), books (bookzz dot org) and all that
I met a guy who won math oly when he was young (at a conference). The fact that he is a literal autist was one of my biggest disappointments.... I'm working for a big corporation now.
>>7773206
The best thing ever. I'm so sad my parents/school didn't send me as a kid, although I was ahead 4-5 grades all the time.
>>7773206
It's sad. I wanted to join in my senior year of HS but some really weird shit happened in which, even though I'd signed up and I was present that day, nobody told me that the first round of the olympiad was taking place.
In the end, only womyn were selected to go in and I was left incredibly suspicious.
Anyways, I needed nothing from that so I guess it doesn't matter. I just wanted to inflate my ego a little bit because I had started to get increasingly good at mathematics. After that I accomplished that very same thing by dropping my HS-tier books and immediately started reading college level calculus and algebra so that I *knew* I was better than everyone else.
I am better than everyone else
>>7773607
Lol, i work better alone anyways, usually when it is with teams, i can't maintain proficiency it's usually awkwardness when they're really serious or just lols the whole way. When i'm alone i get shit done
>>7773271
Same here. I only just got involved in olympiads this year, which is my last year of school. My school has sent a handful of people to the IMO (UK team) but I never really knew about the whole thing until this year. I scored 120/125 on the senior maths challenge, the top 1000 (104+/125) qualify for the British Maths Olympiad round 1. I did that and got a decent 31/60 so I just missed the top 100 BMO round 2 threshold. The thing is, if I had done this for the past couple of years, I reckon I *might* have been in with a chance of going all the way third time around. It's highly unlikely, but I'll always know that I missed the chance.
>>7773215
I know what you mean. Only a handful of IMO mathematicians seem to make it big in the research world, even with their enormous IQs and computer-like brains. Perelman and Tao are rare exceptions.
To my knowledge, Wiles never competed in the IMO...
>>7773206
wrt actual mathematics, it's nothing like it. It's competition that can be fun for some, but being good at it does not mean you're good at math, and a lot of kids who are really excellent at math don't see the value of studying for competition math.
>>7773270
Perelman is an exception to almost every rule.
>>7773259
Well its different from other sports in that you don't do any strenuous physical activity...
