Math Stories: A Strange Advanced Analysis Journey

In today’s digital era, all sorts of engaging narratives are locked away in niche corners of the internet. I was recently looking up mathematical academia experiences, and landed on a very interesting story. So, I thought I would give shed more light on it.

That’s right. This essay is not just about any story, but a mathematical one. Our story begins with an engineering student who is unsure about his future career. So, he chooses to enrol in an advanced analysis course just to hedge his bets.

His grand plan is to potentially double major. But little does he know that he has just signed up to one of the most challenging courses in his (distinguished) university.

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The Class, The Professor, and The Enigma

As the student enters the class for the first time, he notices just 13 other classmates in attendance. As for the professor, he turns out to be a former PhD student of the widely-agreed current top mathematician in the world, Terence Tao.

Unsure about what to expect, the student settles in. The professor just writes on the board using a shorthand that the student does not recognise.

Even more weirdly, the professor keeps writing without uttering a single word. He does not use a textbook either; everything that he writes comes straight from his mind. In other words, the professor is as enigmatically formidable as he is eccentric.

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The Unforgiving Curve and The Unusual Office Hours

As the course forges on at an unforgiving pace, the class reaches metric spaces. By this time, the already small class size of 14 has dwindled down to 8. A little nerved by the turn of events, the student decides to push on.

Lo and behold, the first homework assignment arrives. Despite his utmost efforts, our student just manages to get 60%. Rather devastated by this, the student checks to learn how the rest of the class has done.

It turns out that the class average is at 40%. This fact mildly comforts him. Yet, he cannot shake the feeling that he is not making much progress with the course.

Little does he know at this stage that this is the highest score he will receive all semester. But there is hope — it turns out that the professor’s office hours come with an unusual safety net.

Any student who regularly participates in office hours receives a guaranteed 60% on homework.

The professor’s office is a sight to behold. But one feature catches our student’s attention: a grand whiteboard with a kaleidoscope of equations, graphs, and theories. There is almost no blank space left on this board.

When the student approaches the professor with his questions, the professor urges him to use the space between ‘the harmonic series’ and ‘the partials’ to elaborate his ideas.

Fast forward a little, and the duo finds itself engaged more in fascinating discussions about culture, cuisine, and old proverbs than mathematical solutions.

Shocking Exam Results and Surprising Assurances

As the examination period arrives, our student’s confidence melts into disarray. Nonetheless, he completes the exam pretty well; or he thinks he did.

As the results arrive, he is shocked to see a dismal 20%. When the student approaches the professor for guidance and feedback, the professor responds as enigmatically as ever:

“Your have the right idea for all of these, but you didn’t quite say it right. And there are no partial credits!”

Following this, the student seeks a video call with the professor to discuss whether he should drop out of the course.

In the call, the student explains to the professor that based on his past grades, even if he were to ace the remaining tests, he would still not pass the course.

To this, the professor calmly reassures him to not drop out, as he plans to give 50% of the class an ‘A’, and the remaining 50% a ‘B’.

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Cultural Exchanges, Friendships, and A Twist in the Tale

With the reassurance that he cannot fail, our student chooses to embrace the unique situation. The professor’s quirks that initially bothered him now seem unique and interesting. The student starts having more fun in the classes.

Now, he often finds himself in cultural exchanges with the professor. The professor, as eccentric as ever, often talks about mathematics via proverbs:

“Look at mathematics like a cockroach…”

As the student’s frustration turns to amusement, friendships start to blossom with his classmates.

To his surprise, one of these classmates is just 15 years old (who knows how this student got in) and has an unwavering 98% record in the class; not for the faint of heart.

As the course wraps up, the student offers the professor a popular drink from his home town as a parting gift. Excited at the sight of the wrapped gift, the professor asks:

“Is it beer?!”

When the student reveals that it isn’t, the professor is visibly disappointed. Despite all of the ups and lows, the student ends up receiving an ‘A’ in this course.

Final Thoughts

Just to be clear, neither am I an academic nor do I have academic experience with mathematics. But boy did this story show me things that I did not know about the world of academia.

Who knew that the academic world of mathematics features cockroach comparisons and cultural discussions.

If you would ask me to summarise, I would say that this story serves as a reminder to us all that learning is, after all, a journey and not a destination.

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Further reading that might interest you: 

• How To Benefit From Computer Science In Real Life? (III)
• The Lonely Search For Deus Ex Machina
• How To Use Leverage In Life Using First Principles?

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Source: The original reddit post that inspired this essay.