Christopher Boo's Messageboard
Hi, I am a student from Malaysia. My path for learning Olympiad Mathematics may be different from others. I self-studied all my Olympiad Mathematics Tools, this is because my school Math Training Team isn't that active, therefore sometimes I will be the one teaching so I can't really learn anything. If you like Olympiad Mathematics but you have no teachers or curricular activities that suit you, don't know which book to get started and websites where you can learn more (seriously, Brilliant.org is the best), I may be the right person to tell you!
If you just want to say hi or have a question for me, you are welcomed too!
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Christopher Boo
7 years, 1 month ago
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This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.
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I am a big fan of Taylor Swift, anyone is the same? XD
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Me too!! :)
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Me three!!!!!!!!!
I know that feel, bro :)
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Hi friend from Penang! How old actually are you?
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actually i am just one year old smaller than you, but since i log in this account by facebook, so, it appears like it is 28 years old
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I also used the wrong age :( By the way,I'm from Selangor
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Which school are you in?
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SJK(C) Puay Chai 2
Which do you like more - math or chemistry, or is it your favorite when a problem involves both?
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I think I like math more than chemistry, maybe it is because the chemistry problems I've met isn't challenging after I actually get all the concepts linked together. That's why I rarely post some chemistry problems/notes now. However, I am participating for the national chemistry competition and the problems might be more challenging so I will make a problem set on it, stay tuned! By the way, how does a problem involves both?
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To be honest, I don't really know how math can be used in chemistry, but I'm sure that there are ways. Maybe it's more E+M, they had to determine that there is a 109.5∘ angle between the bonds of a molecule with four bonded pairs of electrons and no lone pairs somehow!
High school level, a decent amount of math is used in Stoichiometry. :-0 But after that, there's a lot of math in biochemistry and so on. A bit of group theory, lots of calculus, and stuff. Like rate laws of enzyme kinetics etc. :P The rest of the math used in chemistry tends to be an overlap of chem-physics. ~_~
Hmm... What about you? I heard that chemistry is your favourite subject, do you have an interesting problem to share?
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Sorry, but I'm afraid that I don't have an interesting problem to share. I'm only taking Honors Chemistry (which is my schools Intro to Chemistry, we get to the fun stuff in AP Chemistry), so I haven't really been exposed to enough material. We're just now doing concentration (molarity and molality) and pH and pOH now. I'm going to teach myself AP Chemistry over the summer, most likely.
hi! Given a difficult problem, How do you approach it? What are the thoughts that go through your mind?
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That is, don't think it is difficult. Don't judge the difficulty of a problem too early but think of everything relevant you have learnt. Hope this helps! :)
Hey, I'm Vish! (y) Lots of message boards now. :-0
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Hi Vish! Why don't you start one too? So I think you are a big fan of Naruto right? And your status is very special, haha.
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Hahhaa, yeah. I'll start one as well. I like Kakashi. B|
Hi, Christopher! I Would like to know, from which sources you learned so much maths? If from any books or sites then can you tell me which are they?
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One of them are AoPS.
which mathematic tool did you use
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Hmm, not sure what are you talking about... Do you mean theorems? skills?
What would be your favourite part in mathematics? Also, out of curiosity, how did you get to know Brilliant.org? I... got to know about it from a Youtube ad or somethin'. :-D
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My favourite part in Mathematics changes frequently, sometimes Inequality, geometry, modular... That's why I won't get bored here! And I think I googled here but recently I found many ads like "Can you solve this Oxford entrance problem" and "solve this to know how unprepared titanic was" on many websites.
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Awesome! Hahah, I was hooked in by one of those ads. x'D
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Yep the same, I started brilliant when I first answered the Oxford entrance problem , approximately before 3 months.
Hei @Cole Coupland , you should definitely start your own messageboard! I see you post some black holes problem and it seems very interesting but unfortunately I know nothing about it and I can't even search anything relevant on the internet. Do you mind sharing some notes on it?
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@Christopher Boo I don't think I'll make a messageboard, I am going to be much less active on brilliant for a while. I just had a 100 day streak and I decided to end it there so I could take a break from Brilliant. Try reading this page on black holes for some hints as to how to approach my two black hole problems.
How's life? Hahha x'D So general. What are you planning on becoming in the future? :D Don't say what I did. Hahah, any ambitions/dreams that you've had since you were a child? And just some random question that popped into my mind. Do you think crying is a sign of weakness or...strength? Hmm, what's difference between living and existing? Dayum, so deep. :'-D
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Life is always busy! Schools and tons of homeworks, arghh... I want to be an actuary, but I would also hope that I have free time to compose musics. Do you love music? One of my favourite orchestra piece is Vivaldi's Four Season, you should listen to it too! When I was a child, I just play and fooling around I guess, haha. I'm not interested in studies when I was young so I don't have big ambitions/dreams by that time but I think it would be playing video games all day! Hmm... I don't cry a lot now, but I don't think crying is a sign of weakness nor strength. You see, sad things happen everyday, the plane, the ship and road accidents... everytime I can see people crying on tv and what I can do is only pray for them... Living and existing, living has a meaning; existing doesn't. If one is "living" without any dreams, friends, socials, happiness(the most important one) then he/she is only "existing". Just my opinion, that crying question is really a very random problem though, haha.
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I love music too! I play a few instruments myself. :P I like Vivaldi's Four Seasons as well! Those crying and living questions were... kinda random, 12 am thoughts I guess. :'-D
Hei @Anish Puthuraya , you should also start a messageboard! I like your mechanics problem very much, since I don't enjoy calculus-based physics at school, your problems really going to bring me to another standard! What do you think about my solution on Its Blocking The Home Run?
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Its really nice and simple. +1 from me. As for the messageboard, I think I'll do that after I finish my JEE-Advanced exam on 25th May. Its really important for me to score really well in that exam, since it will decide my career. So, even if I made a Messageboard, I dont think I'll have enough spare time to reply to each comment.
Also, thanks for your compliments. Ill try and post more problems when I get time.
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Ok, then I'll wish you the best of luck for your JEE-Advanced exam!
Hei @Ahaan Rungta , I think that your ICHOO problems are great, wonder if you mind to post it here as a set? To help construct the chemistry topic!
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I have already planned on doing so. You should see them very soon!
@Christopher Boo , I've been missing your problems.
You said that you've studied Olympiad mathematics all by yourself. Did you learn them from books? What are some of your favorite books on Olympiad math?
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Hmm... I rarely read books now, but if you ask about my favourite, it will be the Mathematical Circles: Russian Experience, since it's the first book I read through and I don't think it suits you, as it is only fundamentals. If you are searching for more, you can go to this page and get the books you want to download here.
By the way, I would like to have a private conversation with you, do you have any social accounts or give me your email?
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Just search for Mursalin Habib in Google Plus :)
Here's a link to my G+ account: https://plus.google.com/+MursalinHabibProfile
Feel free to add me!
Hi Christopher. Can you suggest other good resources for learning maths or science more? How long do you spend on olympiad maths a day? I'm really impressed of your self studying and your effort:O
Hey, I'm from Penang too! Age 13.:-)
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Hi Peng Ying! I would recommend AoPs for math. As for science, only a suggestion, you need not to rush for those advanced topics. Instead, you will learn more fun facts from Science Dump and IFLScience! I don't know how much I spend on olympiad math a day, but when I am bored, or sometimes not, I will think about a problem I can't solve.
By the way, I found many students in Penang do well in math like you! Is there a class for Olympiad Math there?
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I think there's not many classes here...I attended math olympiad classes when I'm in primary school. In Kedah, there's many maths olympiad teachers and maths olympiad is very popular there.
Actually, I feel I don't do so well in maths...as some students haha. Yeah, there are really many students are great at math in penang...such as Zi Song Yeoh, 敬全 钟 &...many more! I'm so impressed! :O
Do you like carrots?