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You'd think it would be a hot take but I had someone arguing against me that it's not a good indicator since only approx 20% of competitors get a PhD in Math. I

You'd think it would be a hot take but I had someone arguing against me that it's not a good indicator since only approx 20% of competitors get a PhD in Math. I felt that he was emotionally invested in his argument, likely due to wanting to do a math PhD and not being food at the competitions. I even agreed that you don't need to be good at competitions to get a PhD but he still kept to his argument that being good doesn't help at all

lordnacho 6y ago
What's a "hot take"? I agree with the answer above. You need to pour a fair bit of effort into getting on an Olympiad team. Whether you get a PhD is more a question of economics, IMO. If you're showing that much promise there will be many other temptations, and bear in mind it's not just rich countries that have math kids, there's plenty of olympiad kids who need to get out and make money when they've done their degrees. The kind of work you do in a PhD is also quite different. A math contest is a few questions with definite answers and a time limit.
- benrbray 6y ago
  > What's a "hot take"? It's slang for "unsubstantiated opinion likely to incite controversy". Weird how this word started appearing everywhere suddenly in the last few months.
  - SuoDuanDao 6y ago
    It's an easy form of self-effacement. If I state my opinion and someone proves me wrong, I'd look silly at best, or risk cancellation at worst. If I preface by saying it's a hot take, I can easily distance myself from what I said if it's received badly.
- monktastic1 6y ago
  Also think they meant "you wouldn't think it would be a hot take, but..."
  - MaximumYComb 6y ago
    That's 100% what I meant.
- munchbunny 6y ago
  I use "hot take" to mean someone is stating an opinion (there is not enough evidence so this is an opinion at best), that they're stating it with probably more intensity/confidence than it deserves, and that you'd expect the opinion to be controversial. In this case, by "that doesn't seem like a hot take to me" I mean that as far as opinions go this seems pretty uncontroversial.
MaxBarraclough 6y ago
> I had someone arguing against me that it's not a good indicator since only approx 20% of competitors get a PhD in Math As lordnacho says, that argument doesn't hold up at all. 20% seems really high, to me. A PhD in math isn't like scoring highly on an IQ test, it's not purely the result of being mathematically capable, it's also the result of undertaking a PhD in math. Plenty of smart people apply their abilities elsewhere. Perhaps in finance, for instance. Also, I'd guess that the Olympiad winners who started a math PhD were more likely to succeed than the average math PhD student, and more likely than average to eventually get tenure. > not being food at the competitions I rather like this typo ;-P
- MaximumYComb 6y ago
  I had multiple typos. When I made these comments I was coming off a 40.1 degree fever and was laying in bed with my phone when I saw this post. I wrote some hand notes too and they're even worse. The same word is spelled incorrectly in two different ways.

lordnacho 6y ago

What's a "hot take"? I agree with the answer above. You need to pour a fair bit of effort into getting on an Olympiad team. Whether you get a PhD is more a question of economics, IMO. If you're showing that much promise there will be many other temptations, and bear in mind it's not just rich countries that have math kids, there's plenty of olympiad kids who need to get out and make money when they've done their degrees. The kind of work you do in a PhD is also quite different. A math contest is a few questions with definite answers and a time limit.

benrbray 6y ago
> What's a "hot take"? It's slang for "unsubstantiated opinion likely to incite controversy". Weird how this word started appearing everywhere suddenly in the last few months.
- SuoDuanDao 6y ago
  It's an easy form of self-effacement. If I state my opinion and someone proves me wrong, I'd look silly at best, or risk cancellation at worst. If I preface by saying it's a hot take, I can easily distance myself from what I said if it's received badly.
monktastic1 6y ago
Also think they meant "you wouldn't think it would be a hot take, but..."
- MaximumYComb 6y ago
  That's 100% what I meant.
munchbunny 6y ago
I use "hot take" to mean someone is stating an opinion (there is not enough evidence so this is an opinion at best), that they're stating it with probably more intensity/confidence than it deserves, and that you'd expect the opinion to be controversial. In this case, by "that doesn't seem like a hot take to me" I mean that as far as opinions go this seems pretty uncontroversial.

MaxBarraclough 6y ago

> I had someone arguing against me that it's not a good indicator since only approx 20% of competitors get a PhD in Math As lordnacho says, that argument doesn't hold up at all. 20% seems really high, to me. A PhD in math isn't like scoring highly on an IQ test, it's not purely the result of being mathematically capable, it's also the result of undertaking a PhD in math. Plenty of smart people apply their abilities elsewhere. Perhaps in finance, for instance. Also, I'd guess that the Olympiad winners who started a math PhD were more likely to succeed than the average math PhD student, and more likely than average to eventually get tenure. > not being food at the competitions I rather like this typo ;-P

MaximumYComb 6y ago
I had multiple typos. When I made these comments I was coming off a 40.1 degree fever and was laying in bed with my phone when I saw this post. I wrote some hand notes too and they're even worse. The same word is spelled incorrectly in two different ways.