Mathematics as a way of thinking

People often ask what I study math for, then answer for me: for exams, for medals. I have a fair number of medals, so maybe that's partly true. But if it were only about medals I'd have quit long ago, because there are problems I've sat with for a week and never solved.

What keeps me is harder to put into words. Math is the only subject where I can't fake it. In an essay, I can write well enough to hide what I don't understand. In math I can't — one wrong step and the whole thing is wrong. It forces me to be honest with myself about how much I actually understand.

And it taught me patience in a way nothing else did. A hard problem doesn't give in because you're impatient. It only opens when you're willing to sit long enough, and to try enough wrong directions. I carry that exact habit into writing code and building products.

So for me, training in math was never only training for medals. It was training in honesty and patience — two things I think will stay with me far longer than any medal will.