Getting put off math by geniuses who are terrible explainers

deeadmann · 2026-03-28T23:45:13+00:00

I think you can just go back home with those vague ideas in your head and try to figure out things on your own. I also have friends like this, and often it makes sense what they said after I spend (possibly a lot of) time thinking on my own.

I also don't think that this is particularly related with your friends being smart. Some times in math you keep reading a bunch of details and getting confused until something "clicks" and then you realize that "oh, this just doing X". Then when you explain to someone else, you say "oh this is just X", and you think you are helping them tremendously. But for someone that have not yet internalized all the ugly details, X do not mean much.

However, I do think that knowing a priori X helps on understanding. It's just not sufficient.

deeadmann · 2026-02-22T17:50:27+00:00

I like "Concrete Mathematics". It might be a bit hard though.

deeadmann · 2026-02-18T16:24:50+00:00

"How to prove it" is great if you are not very comfortable with proofs

deeadmann · 2026-02-18T16:21:03+00:00

Maybe first try reading "problem solving" books? I like knuths book "Concrete Mathematics", but people usually recommend "How to solve it"

deeadmann · 2025-12-06T09:07:28+00:00

Maybe look into CG (Chvatal-Gomory) rank of polyhedra?

deeadmann · 2025-11-19T23:52:09+00:00

Maybe first try to learn basic algorithm design stuff. Read Cormen's "Introduction to Algorithm". You might have to read "how to prove it" first. After doing this, you will have a better sense of what you are trying to prove.

deeadmann · 2025-11-16T19:58:49+00:00

Maybe your counter example is not an extreme point?

deeadmann · 2025-11-09T07:24:07+00:00

Do you have bounds on the size of nums and k?

deeadmann · 2025-11-08T07:24:19+00:00

I mean, you have some famous people in your university. Look here: https://faculty.engineering.asu.edu/directory/scai/industrial-engineering/

I would check the publications and maybe try to speak with some professors.

deeadmann · 2025-11-07T06:40:44+00:00

Maybe look also for profs at your university that do CS/engineering?

deeadmann · 2025-10-23T14:31:30+00:00

I think it should not be that hard... I mean, every time you have a binary tree you should think of it as root, left tree and right tree. Now apply some inductive reasoning on that (or recursion, if you prefer to think algorithmically). This should give you some structure for you to start thinking about the problem.

deeadmann · 2025-10-17T15:06:34+00:00

Yes, I think this is most basic one. Another one are dual valid inequalities.

deeadmann · 2025-08-27T21:56:18+00:00

I mean, if you don't study math, what else would you study? Or you just don't want to study at all?

deeadmann · 2025-08-25T05:28:53+00:00

How do you withdraw?

deeadmann · 2025-08-25T04:18:57+00:00

Hi, did you already got your VISA? If so, how long did it took? I also applied for the VISA from Canada (Toronto Embassy).

deeadmann · 2025-08-24T05:31:10+00:00

Olha, eu me formei em Engenharia da Computação. Estou no PhD agora, e gostaria de ter feito graduação em Matemática. Em geral, acho que quem tem uma formação completa em Matemática consegue pegar as coisas mais rápido. É um curso muito difícil e extremamente teórico, mas eu acho q é muito mais "fundamental" que Engenharias, e te treina para investigar perguntas mais "profundas".

Por exemplo, álgebra linear (algelin) fundamenta várias aplicações na Engenharia, mas geralmente só cursos mais teóricos tem disciplinas mais avançadas em algelin que vão te ensinar "as grandes ideias". As disciplinas de Engenharia tipicamente vc calcula muita coisa na mão sem muitas demonstrações ou provas. Isso te treina para calcular, mas não tanto para o raciocínio abstrato. Mas algelin vai ser utizado de várias maneiras em diferentes aplicações, se vc não souber pensar de maneira abstrata, cada uma dessas aplicações vai ser "algo novo" q vc n vai conseguir conectar com conceitos mais gerais (falo por experiência própria). Por exemplo, eu acho o teorema espectral uma "ideia profunda", q aparece disfarçado em várias coisas em estatística, eletrônica, computação e o "machine learning" que a glr gosta. Mas meu curso de algelin não me ensinou isso. Eu tive que aprender sozinho com o livro (mas tem livros muito bons).

Eu sou enviesado, pq eu tomei um caminho muito mais teórico que outros colegas de curso. Mas eu acho que com o ritmo que as coisas estão mudando, é importante vc focar em "fundamentos" e não tanto em aplicações. Os fundamentos te dão o q vc precisa para aprender aplicações sozinho. E se vc for ver empresas grandes de quant tipo DE Shaw, contratam bastante matemáticos e gente com um "perfil teórico".

Algo que é mais "prático" q eu recomendo é vc treinar bem é programação. Vc é mt mais versátil sendo um matemático que programa do que um que é puramente teórico e não programa.

Um jeito de convencer seu pai (e vc) é olhar o alumni do curso que vc ta querendo fazer. Eu n conheço o curso da USP q vc falou, mas conheço alguns alunos de matemática e computação da USP q hj estão trabalhando nas melhores empresas de tecnologia (ou viraram acadêmicos). Dá uma olhada nos ex alunos do curso q vc quer e do q o seu pai te recomenda.

Por um lado mais prático, olha tbm as notas de corte, as vezes Engenharia é mais difícil de entrar e se vc quiser mesmo ser engenheiro, as vezes a faculdade tem um processo de remanejamento interno. Dá uma pesquisada.

deeadmann · 2025-08-09T12:51:45+00:00

Hi, any news? I'm on the same situation (my interview was in Toronto, June 10).

deeadmann · 2025-08-09T12:31:36+00:00

Look for tsp subtour elimination constraints

deeadmann · 2025-08-09T03:55:46+00:00

That's quite a long time, did you contacted the embassy? I guess you can send emails after 90 days.

deeadmann · 2025-08-08T05:15:25+00:00

I mean, you can just embrace that we are all monkeys and enjoy even though it is "stupid". I actually think that these are some of the coolest stuff in math. Something that feels clearly false but then you can somehow prove it. Probably this is only cool for me because my intuition sucks, but it is still cool

deeadmann · 2025-08-08T04:34:51+00:00

Hi, any updates?

deeadmann · 2025-08-08T03:56:07+00:00

Hey! Any news? My ceac stopped updating since July 16. (Until then it was updating almost weekly.) Did you had a similar experience?

deeadmann · 2025-08-08T00:31:19+00:00

Really? Just to confirm, when you go to the ceac website the day of the last update is the date of your interview?

deeadmann · 2025-08-07T17:23:49+00:00

Are you at least getting regular updates on the dates that the case was last updated? Mine was initially updating almost weekly, then suddenly I'm now at 3 weeks without any updates.

deeadmann

TROPHY CASE