Note: Part of this Side Story came out back in 2013 when this blog was still named Solvespace. Here's an updated version, with lots more content!
So you're not anymore that newbie who writes full solutions on scratch paper in case it's graded. But have you become a Matured Mathlete?
1. You retain a fetish for $\mathrm{\LaTeX}$.
So you're not anymore that newbie who writes full solutions on scratch paper in case it's graded. But have you become a Matured Mathlete?
1. You retain a fetish for $\mathrm{\LaTeX}$.
Microsoft Equation has become superb and easy to use, but nothing can really beat the oomph of sexily typeset mathematics (or chemistry, or physics):
$$ i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t} \Psi(\mathbf{r},t) = \left [ \frac{-\hbar^2}{2m}\nabla^2 + V(\mathbf{r},t)\right ] \Psi(\mathbf{r},t)$$Look at my pretty equation, ye mighty, and despair!
(Sorry, Shelley.) Back in the day, to typeset in $\mathrm{\LaTeX}$ was to be the Voice of Unerring Authority. Today, well, it's still pretty (for me, at least). And it still commands a sort of respect from the reader (Me, at least. But who can't appreciate good vector renderings?) Sure, I might just be saying $\int e^x = f_u\left(n\right)$, but the typesetting nevertheless screams, "I am serious about my math". (But then I wouldn't be; I missed a differential $\mathrm{d}x$ over there.)
2. Math jokes aren't funny anymore.
After more than a few summers training, you have probably encountered so many math jokes, that the ones circulating on Facebook have entirely lost their appeal on you. And then there are those that evoke a visceral response instead of the funny bone:
Blasphemy! What makes you laugh then? If you miss an easy solution, or discover a beautiful one. Dedicated flippancy in maths, on the other hand, you engage in in a concealed manner, all the while maintaining to the rest of us that "I am serious about my math!"
After more than a few summers training, you have probably encountered so many math jokes, that the ones circulating on Facebook have entirely lost their appeal on you. And then there are those that evoke a visceral response instead of the funny bone:
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| Girl facepalms because the maths is simply WRONG! If I'm really the one, then my sine would be $\sin(1)\approx 0.841$. |
3. You don't exactly relish skipping school like you used to.
No shame - when I started out competing in grade school, I loved free passes from class on weekdays for training and the actual competition and all that whatnot. For a child, it was an absolutely amazing perk, better even than those shiny, itchy things they make you wear if you ace the contest. And the mere idea of going abroad to compete -- two weeks out of class... boy! I never determined the exact point when my attitude switched, but it did - by the final leg of my senior year, I found myself thanking my lucky stars that certain contests were held on Saturday. Ultimately some contests had to be sacrificed.
If you're a maturing mathlete, you will probably be swarmed with things to do and contests to be in, math or otherwise. But by now you've already have developed the good judgment and sense of priority that arises from years in the game; you choose your battles. Sometimes, though you may not like it, you know that staying in class today may be the better deal.
4. You keep a Notebook of Secrets.
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| Writing in mirror image, as Leonardo da Vinci did, is optional. |
Many of the contents of this blog (especially the Codex) will springboard from my own notebook, in my own way of formalizing and encoding the scribbling therein.
5. You don't remember what a normal summer vacation is like.
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| What in the world is that "summer vacation" of which you speak? |
You might have the chance to go on holiday for a short while before the next battery of training/exams, but there's the haunting concern that they won't even let you in the next battery.
Oh yeah -- oftentimes, going through the motions of a training program isn't enough: some people undergo private tuition, others do self-study.
If you're a maturing mathlete, you've either grown to love the system, or question if you could be doing something more productive. Either way, it's important to give this a lot of thought, because at this stage, your time is limited (see item 6). If you've truly decided to be serious about this, then there's no shame in devoting every waking hour to making yourself a better mathlete.
6. Contests are really just reunions.
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| Rivalries will be rivalries, but we're all on the same boat. As Tennyson said, "One equal temper of heroic hearts". |
You've probably been around long enough to see your friends' careers -- to see some launch into stellar prominence so quickly it's genuinely scary what could happen (as they say, the higher the rise...); to see others handle disappointments and fortunes greater than they had ever dreamed of; to see others still, deciding that some other interest deserves their sweat and tears. And of course, you see (though perhaps not as clearly as others might) yourself carving a journey through the years.
Each contest becomes a mental (and emotional) review of how far you and your competitors have all gone: no longer that plucky cohort of children who dared devote a fraction of their lives to the complexities of competitive mathematics (and yes, it's not just the math that's complex.). Some will have left, the rest have changed. But I'm sure all will remember.
So you will compete against each other, and because of everything you've had in common, the victory will be that much sweeter, the loss that much more immediate.
7. You know it will end.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air: And like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
The Tempest Act 4, scene 1, 148–158
All good things must come to an end. And if you're a maturing mathlete, you have begun counting the months until your final contest. Of course, you know that whether you make it to that contest at all depends on how well you did in the screenings. You count anyway.
It's a sobering realization that I think every high school mathlete has to come to terms with. This is the last go, the last set of gigs to remember - of course everyone wants to score well in this one. More importantly for some, only a few deserving individuals will make it to the last contest available for high schoolchildren. It's a fact enough to make mathletes question their priorities, and rightfully so. The finality of things forces us to the point where it is absolutely necessary, to be true to oneself. The last steps are the the most testing, and the possible aftermaths, harder still. The sweet punishment of enduring them may not be worth it if one isn't thoroughly addicted to the ancient art of problem solving.
For the game ends as it begins - with nothing, but oneself and one's wits.
At any rate, I hope that readers who are soon ending their mathletic journeys soon have found it as pleasurable and enriching an experience as I have; and that those whose journeys have just begun will strive to make it worth every last hour of their time.
It's a sobering realization that I think every high school mathlete has to come to terms with. This is the last go, the last set of gigs to remember - of course everyone wants to score well in this one. More importantly for some, only a few deserving individuals will make it to the last contest available for high schoolchildren. It's a fact enough to make mathletes question their priorities, and rightfully so. The finality of things forces us to the point where it is absolutely necessary, to be true to oneself. The last steps are the the most testing, and the possible aftermaths, harder still. The sweet punishment of enduring them may not be worth it if one isn't thoroughly addicted to the ancient art of problem solving.
For the game ends as it begins - with nothing, but oneself and one's wits.
At any rate, I hope that readers who are soon ending their mathletic journeys soon have found it as pleasurable and enriching an experience as I have; and that those whose journeys have just begun will strive to make it worth every last hour of their time.
8. You set up blogs such as Project Phi to recapture the wonder of it all.
'Nuff said.
Image Credits
'Nuff said.
Image Credits
- "Leonardo Notebook" by Todd Dailey. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
- "Cloudy Sunset" by halfrain. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
- "A reconstructed Athenian Trireme" by John S Y Lee. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Henry. Every new article is more intriguing than the previous one. Well done! :)
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