That is awesome news and should be shouted from the rooftops!

There is a universal truth about math, no matter what symbols have been used over the millenia. Human languages (Latin, Urdu, Swahili, etc.) all have ways of interpretation that lead to horrible conflicts and babel.

Math is not really hard. We are somehow programmed by people that haven't taken the time to understand it that it's very difficult.

Math should be as fun to recite in a coffee shop as the trivia that I hear spouted by underused minds.

Last edited Tue Jul 6, 2021, 10:37 PM - Edit history (1)

What on earth is that? The highest math I ever understood fully was addition and subtraction.

Ironically it's all pretty much addition and subtraction; it's a series of sums (that's the sigma thing) and of trigonometric functions. I'd assume you're supposed to convert the trigonometric functions to sums too (there's a very simple way to do that) and find ways to reduce the terms.

0, 1, i, e

HG2G.

:-D

I remember it well enough to say two things:

*Some of the extracurriculars in Junior High School can make it a very lonely place.

*Those kids rock. Even the "easy" problems were hard as nails.

Well done, gentlemen (now where's my calculator?).

Including my DAUGHTERS. One of them went to Illinois Math and Science Academy.

My son competed at the state level, twice.

We had a seventh grader, a boy from our community, who won the entire tournament in DC. I love Mathcounts.

The only thing wrong with that picture? No girls!

And good point, Muriel: these news would have been ever better with at least one young lady in the team, and to some it will no doubt be used to argue the old canard that "girls aren't as good in math."

I myself know better, since my sister was always better than I was in the subject, and since the captain of our little team (some 20 years ago) was an Asian girl who ran circles around all of us guys.

I'm guessing they call it the "Olympiad" because somebody has copyrighted or trademarked "Olympics." An Olympiad is the four year period between Olympics. I also know the difference between gantlet and gauntlet, but don't get me started. Anyway, good job! Seeing these smiling faces makes me wish I were a math nerd. Nice going!

wanna give this one a shot?

"He loved his work ... That's all he did. He loved solving problems, he loved the answers. But he thought the answers were the answers for everything. Wrong. All science, no philosophy.

- Real Genius

Wonder if they give them room to be good human beings?

All White and Asian.
I like the third guy from the right: "I ain't hugging nobody."

But they are to be congratulated. Amazing accomplishment!

His family was known as "Madison's first family of Math."

"As a teenager, he described math as a fun-filled hobby that would occupy him for hours at night."


http://host.madison.com/news/local/former-memorial-high-school-math-whiz-coaches-team-usa-to/article_46884065-21ce-5908-aead-3b86f5cef706.html

Good for him!

I would never have considered math a "fun-filled hobby"! I'm glad some people do.

our brains are wired, men in general have an edge in mathematical skills and women have the advantage in verbal or language skills.

Another evolutionary difference is in the way we see things, again this is in general, women see color better and men are better able at distinguishing movement.

I know about the studies. I think they are likely skewed by the males who conduct them and by societal attitudes towards women. I remember Larry Summers....

I'm not suggesting one is better than the other but there are differences.

Some of it is due to hazard, some due to genes. Hazard includes random mutations and epigenetics. Males and females do have different sets of chromosomes and different tendencies in lots of areas.

As a parent of 5 children and 4 grandchildren, 8 of which are girls and 1 is of my X persuasion, I can say that most of the females are more proficient in mathematical thinking than my one son.

Some of my children are better at spatial reasoning but worse at physical positioning. Some are better at listening and deducing and many are better at stating their minds without listening.

Eventually all of this will be mapped to the way the brain and body are put together. Until that time, I like it the way it is.

their reality.

Life would be most boring otherwise.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule and both genders have members that are more likely to bleed over to the other in terms of thinking and/or perceiving but that just adds more spice to life.

Absolute nonsense.

Girls are underrepresented in STEM fields (including math) because they are socialized that "math is hard."

our brains are wired differently over eons of evolution, we played different roles during pre-historic times and evolved accordingly to enhance survival of the species.

I'm not suggesting that one type of thinking or perception is better than the other but there are differences giving each gender advantages in specific fields.

I also never said this was all inclusive of every man or woman, but only a generalization based on biological differences, some members of each gender lean closer to the other.

Do you suspect an intentional act to prevent women from participating in this event?

I wouldn't have thought it a "shame" if the entire team were women. But anyway, they get on the team via a competition, so the best (that entered) won. No bias, no shame, no ....

Good job kids!

What you take as a single event or competition is actually the result of years upon years (centuries?) of girls being excluded from math and science. Sometimes it's overt, but that is less common these days. Now, it's Barbie declaring "math is hard." Or other similarly subtle messages from society at large. From toys to clothes, you can see the bias. Boys get science and math toys (look at the toy aisles sometime), girls are encouraged to be princesses. It is blatant. It is repugnant.

So it is a great shame. And very much a product of bias.

for this age demographic. ymmv