What leads to success in contest math?

by pythag011, May 21, 2011, 5:57 AM

See title.

Until I made USAMO, I thought contest math was mostly talent-based. Working easy, talent hard.

When I made USAMO, I became convinced that talent didn't actually exist and that hard work was the key.

When I saw people studying very hard to pass a high school math course and still doing badly I modified my theory by being like "OK the hard work needs to be done properly."

But now, it feels like curiosity was the actual key to doing well in math competitions, and that hard work was simply a byproduct.

Thoughts?

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8 Comments

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Summary of above post: In order to succeed, one must succeed.

by dragon96, May 21, 2011, 6:01 AM

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I have no clue how you got that from my post lol.

by pythag011, May 21, 2011, 6:04 AM

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Oops, I mean conclusion of post.

by dragon96, May 21, 2011, 6:11 AM

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I made usamo, and i still think talent is mostly everything to succeed past a certain point...........

by g.c.boxd, May 21, 2011, 5:48 PM

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my version, not that people really care

Before I made usamo I thought everything was talent and there was no such thing as hard work. Seeing people struggle in school reaffirmed my idea.

After I made usamo I thought it wasn't just talent, but work as well. However I thought that the only way to have motivation to work hard was to see progress and have previous successes to back your confidence up.

After I bombed the aime and didn't make usamo, I realized it wasn't talent, but rather starting early, experience, background (all of which can be categorized as "work" in some way).

Now that I've bombed the aime a 3rd time, I realized if you can let go of the small things and look at the big picture and if you have genuine interest, you can work hard and succeed, even if you lack background and confidence from previous success.
This post has been edited 4 times. Last edited by serialk11r, May 21, 2011, 7:26 PM

by serialk11r, May 21, 2011, 7:22 PM

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Luck.

Okay more seriously, here's my personal theory...
The answer depends on what kind of levels you're trying to differentiate.

If we're comparing the average or under-average people at school to stronger students, the biggest two things are going to be a) talent and b) quality of instruction. The latter stems partly from curiosity: if you manage to find the world of contest math and learn how to solve problems rather than school formula memming, that's awesome. The more talent you have, the more you're likely to step into Mathcounts or AMC's and the like, which in turn makes your talent usable.
On the other hand, if you just follow the curriculum, you're basically screwed over. You get locked into this attitude of "math is stupid" and this is essentially irreversible. This is why curiosity is important- it lets you step away from school.

If we're comparing a Red MOPper and a Green MOPper, then a very large portion of that difference is going to come from hard work/starting early/experience and whatever. On the other hand talent is a large part in the very very best... for example there's no chance of me being able to compete with Reid Barton at any realistic level no matter how much training I get.

(Also I suspect, specific to the US, that MOP training would play a large role in strengthening the top. Don't have a basis for this, just a gut feeling.)

by v_Enhance, May 21, 2011, 10:52 PM

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7th comment :o

by dragon96, May 22, 2011, 7:52 PM

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*ruins the 1337 thing*

by 3333, May 27, 2011, 3:36 AM

Click here if you did not make white MOP (Fake copy of pythag's blog)

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