mathlete | Yan's One Minute Math Blog

Slightly more than a year before Singapore won its first gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, I tweeted that “Joseph Schooling’s golds at the SEA Games looks like Barcelona or Manchester United, winning the Singapore’s S-league. #swimming” (@SingaporeLite on June 11, 2015).

From 4-Year Games to 4D Gambling

On August 13, 2016, within an hour of Joseph Schooling’s historic feat for winning Singapore its first gold at the Rio Olympics, punters in Singapore were lining up outside betting outlets islandwide to leverage on his Olympic record-breaking time of 50.39sec in the Men’s 100m butterfly. Who says that medalists’ record times can’t numerologically be used to divine the next winning lottery numbers?

A Grade 9 Singapore Math Question: “How many possible 4D numbers (with and without repetitions) could punters choose from Joseph Isaac Schooling’s winning time of 50.39 seconds?”

The Olympicology of Schooling

Following the mania among superstitious punters to strike it big, I coined Olympiocology to poke fun at their irrational or paranormal behaviors.

On the same day, I also tweeted: “How can Singapore experience the Schooling Effect in the aftermath of winning its first gold medal?” with a link that opens up the DIY e-card below.

Sports Awards First, Military Service Second

Three days later, @Zero_Math, I texted: “Military rules are man-made—not cast in stone. How many Joseph Schooling’s and Fandi Ahmad’s does Singapore have?,” accompanied by the following e-card:

Should gold medalists be exempted from military service?

A Tale of Two Promoters: Vandal & Victor

On August 16, 2016, I also tweeted tongue-in-cheek another DIY e-card, comparing the notorious Michael Fey (the American teenager who was caned for vandalism in Singapore) and the glorious Joseph Schooling (whom some “bigoted” locals or Trump “patriots” claimed not to be a “true-blue Singaporean”).

When a cane brings more attention to Singapore than a coin.

Mathletes & Olympians: Mental v. Physical

Which is harder for most countries to produce: a gold medalist at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) or at the Olympic Games?

Although differentiating mathletes and olympians might look like comparing apples with oranges, however, for a number of developed countries, it appears that the chances of their athletes bringing in an Olympic gold medal home are higher than the odds of their IMO mathletes being a gold medalist, if some of their representatives aren’t foreign-born, or if they were to rely solely on their limited pool of local talents.

Below is another e-card I produced in the aftermath of Singapore’s first ever-win of a gold medal at the Olympics.

Which Singapore values more: Olympic or IMO gold medalists?

A Guesstimation Question: In a number of highly competitive events at the Olympic Games, where victory is determined by mini-seconds or centimeters, and if winning a gold medal is arguably “60% skill, 40% luck,” or “50% talent, 50% luck,” guesstimate what percentage of gold medalists make it by pure luck rather than by sheer skill.

Count on Me, Singapore!

Can Singapore still count on Joseph Schooling for more medals? Would he prove his critics or detractors wrong in making his country proud again? What are the chances that he’d “make Singapore great(er) again”?

Let’s wish him all the best in the next phase of his swimming career! Let no one take away what he did to make Singapore and Singaporeans proud.

2016: Singapore & Schooling: 🏊 🇸🇬 🥇

2020: Singapore & (Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low): ⛵️ 🇸🇬 [🏅?]

Bibliography & References

Commentary: Singapore sports must learn lessons from Schooling’s decline
https://www.todayonline.com/node/12067716

President Halimah, govt leaders speak up against ‘negative, hurtful’ comments on Joseph Schooling’s Olympics performance
https://www.todayonline.com/node/12062406

‘It’s hard to swallow’: Joseph Schooling disappointed by butterfly performance at Olympics, vows to fight harder
https://www.todayonline.com/node/12056111

Golden ticket 5039 sold out after Schooling’s win http://www.todayonline.com/node/2318881

Here are some pointers I would share with my students at the start of a secondary math olympiad programme. In Singapore, most mathletes attending these enrichment classes are usually selected by the form or math teacher, who tends to choose the best three math students from each class to form a small group of 15 to 20 participants. They would then graduate to represent the school after attending a six-, eight-, or ten-session training programme, depending on the mathematical needs and wants of the school.

• Take your time! Very few contestants can solve all given problems within the time limit. For instance, in the Singapore Mathematics Olympiad (SMO), both at the junior and senior levels, [unconfirmed] feedback based on different schools’ results hints to the fact that those who can win a medal hover around five percent.

Interestingly but disturbingly, an SMO mathlete who can get six or seven out of 35 questions correct may still win a bronze medal, revealing how unmoderated olympiad math papers had been in recent years, going by the abnormally high rate of failures among the participants. This is primarily due to the fact that few, if any, faculty members who set these competition papers, are familiar with what elementary and middle school teachers are covering in local schools.

• Try the “easier” questions first. The questions aren’t set in ascending order of difficulty. It’s not uncommon to see easier questions in the second half of the paper.

• Olympiad questions don’t “crack” immediately. Be patient. Try various approaches. Experiment with simple cases. Working backwards from the desired result in some cases is helpful.

• If you’re using a contests book, and you’re stuck, glance at the “Hints” section. Sometimes a problem requires an unusual idea or technique.

• Even if you can solve a problem, read the hints and solutions. The hints may contain some ideas or insights that didn’t occur in your solution, and they may discuss intuitive, strategic, or tactical approaches that can be used elsewhere.

Remember that modeled or elegant solutions often conceal the torturous or tedious process of investigation, false starts, inspiration and attention to detail that led to them. Be aware of the behind-the-scenes hours-long dirty mathematical work! When you read the modeled solutions, try to reconstruct the thinking that went into them. Ask yourself, “What were the key ideas?” “How can I apply these ideas further?”

• Go back to the original problem later, and see if you can solve it in a different way, or in a different context. When all else fails, remember the reliable old friend, the guess-and-check strategy (or heuristic, as it’s being arguably called in Singapore)—for instance, substituting the optional answers-numbers given in an MCQ into some given equation or expression may yield the answer sooner than later.

Meaningful or creative problem solving takes practice, with insightful or elegant solutions not being the norm. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t seem to make any headway at first. The key isn’t to give up; come back to the question after a day or a week. Stickability and perseverance are two long-time buddies for full-time problem solvers.

Happy problem solving!

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