Maths prodigy, 15, makes Cambridge history | Hacker News Reader

Maths prodigy, 15, makes Cambridge history

bbc.co.uk

34 pointsMikeCapone16 comments

wasn't there a study somewhere saying that math savants peak around age 21, so thus the motivation to push them harder at a young age.

http://xkcd.com/447/

My real hope is that he becomes a well "socialized" kid. lots of kids who are homeschooled lack the social interactions necessary to interact comfortably w/other peers. I knew a girl when i was in college who was 16, she had a seemingly hard time making friends.

Kudos to him and all.. but don't 15 yo's these days have better things to do than solve the Riemann hypothesis? Like, ant collections or something?

As an uncle with 18 nieces and nephews I can tell you that most of them don't have anything better to do.

I doubt it was a serious suggestion. I discovered at a similar age that news reporters have a habit of taking remarks out of context.

The reporter probably has little understanding of what the Riemann Hypothesis is, and so can't tell whether or not it was a serious suggestion.

But the reporter gave no weight to his statement. "Arran has said he would like to solve" doesn't imply anything other than that's what he said.

Sure it implies something: By noting it, the reporter weights it as relevant/important.

I don't get the downvoting here. I think it's a legitimate question. Makes me think thoughts like: For what purposes are we alowed to take away a childhood?

Part of childhood is having freedom to basically play at / study what you want, without having to worry about paying the bills / social approval, etc. That's what he's doing.

So, there's a possibility that this is exactly what he wants to do. The danger is he may not have had a lot of time to sample other interests, so he's doing the first thing he was good at, while there may be more optimal (for his happiness) alternatives that get closed off by this focus.

Also, if he has a close group of friends and moving to university will separate them, that's something that can be quite traumatic.

Can you tell I'm ambivalent? I'm speaking from experience.

The goal of my entrepreneurship is pretty much to return to a state where I can work on whatever I fancy, without having to worry about how to pay the bills (and without sacrificing the obligations I've accumulated).

Exactly, childhood isn't about just studying hard, getting the best education in the fastest amount of time... its also about building a foundation of character skills to help you through life: making friends, building social skills, having crushes, playing in the sand and building castles, creating the ability to imagine things. That's what makes a fulfilling life, not solving theorems.

As a high level scientist myself, I know the tunnel vision you get when you're working on pointed world-class problems. And come on people.. this kid is "not" kidding about trying to solve the Riemann hypothesis. When I was 15 I wanted to build a time machine.

I should have played outside more too.

I bet solving the Riemann would be pretty fulfilling.

I never found having a crush to be particularly fulfilling.

What part of childhood is he missing?

Most people would say that it's the social aspect of schooling that he's missing. Somehow I disagree. I get the feeling that this kid would either be bullied or teased for being a "nerd". At least in this college, he'll be able to interact with people who share similar interests as him.

My extra 2c: I didn't really make any real friends as such until I went to uni anyway.

If it's what he wants to do, and his parents aren't pressuring him to do it, where's the problem?

Worked for Terence Tao.

The bird watching doesn't count?

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