Reply to Congratulations to the 3 MCPS Seniors who are Intel/Regeneron finalists

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][url]https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/math/comments/3dt0oi/how_do_the_top_imo_contestants_become_so/#ampf=undefined[/url]

I had just stumbled upon this reddit discussion a couple weeks ago. I find the subject of math fascinating as of late. I have a middle school aged child who all of a sudden is taking off in math and seems really good at it.

I always viewed math ability as a gift. Apparently it’s not. It’s interesting to me how this myth is perpetuated. I think people good at math do like to be looked up to as magicians. Contest math is great—but it is not uncovering exceptional math gifts. The contests do celebrate hard work which is outstanding. But these aren’t necessarily the kids who will further the field with a math discovery.

From the Reddit linked above:

[quote] A lot of math people get a complex about whether they have the natural ability to solve this stuff, but I swear there are like &lt;100 tricks that are used to solve every contest problem ever. When these standard tricks don't show up, almost everyone (except the lucky few who happen upon an original idea that works in the given time or who have seen a rare trick that works, often in a paper somewhere) gets #rekt. [Personal aside: I distinctly remember the first time I stopped seeing IMO contestants as magicians. It was when I saw the country results for the 2011 IMO P2, the famous &quot;windmill&quot; problem, which did not really involve standard tricks in its solution. It wasn't supposed to be the hardest problem on the first day of the contest, but even very good teams uniformly did poorly on it.[/quote][/quote]

I believe everyone is talented, this or that way. For K-12 math, you don't need to be talented at all to get an A. But to further the field with a math discovery, you need talent and diligence. I'm the PP with mathematician husband and friends by the way.[/quote]

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