MAA Blog: My Path to Math

By Silva Chang

My life revolves around math. I am currently co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Mathematics Competitions 8 (AMC 8), director of the Colorado Math Circle, and faculty member in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Was I destined from a young age to pursue a career in math? Not at all.

Growing up in New York City, I wasn't acquainted with any mathematicians, scientists, or professors. My immigrant parents never attended college. Almost all of the adults I knew had careers in the retail or restaurant business. Few had college degrees, much less PhDs.

Reading books was my favorite activity. Without the public library, I don't know what I would have done. There were almost no books in any language in our home. I would walk to the local branch library, take out an armload of books, consume them, then go back a few days later to borrow more. There must have been math books at the library but I don't recall seeing any. I mostly read fiction, especially mysteries and detective stories, which appealed to my analytical nature. It was a detective story that introduced me to the mnemonic EJOTY which corresponds to the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, and 25th letters of the alphabet and can be used to quickly determine the position of any letter. I have used this mnemonic countless times for cryptography and contest math problems.

The only math-related books I recall reading other than textbooks were a few puzzle books ordered through my elementary school. I definitely enjoyed puzzles and brain teasers of all types, including crosswords. These books introduced me to the Fibonacci sequence, magic squares, and other classic math topics.

Through junior high school, I liked math but I liked other subjects equally well. Unlike other kids who know they want to be an astronaut or veterinarian when they grow up, I had no idea what career would suit me. I thought about being a librarian because the prospect of spending my days surrounded by books was appealing. I could type fast so I considered being a stenographer or secretary. After winning the school spelling bee, I checked and discovered that "professional speller" was not an option. I briefly considered being a baseball statistician when the New York Mets were winning championships. My fifth grade teacher suggested teaching as a profession and was disappointed when I said no. Why not teaching? Because I assumed that teachers have to be able to answer any question that comes up and I knew that I would never acquire enough knowledge to do that.

When did I start gravitating toward math? It was after I was invited to join my high school math team. I had no idea what a math team was, but I was willing to give it a try. The math team met at 8 a.m. each morning and quickly became my favorite activity. Here we were given a variety of problems to solve, often drawn from math contests. Unlike my regular math classes, where students were given problems related to recently taught material, the contest problems were harder. They required me to use all of my math background and reasoning skills to figure out the answers. Often I got stuck on problems, but I enjoyed the challenge. I was hooked. I learned to devise strategies to make headway on seemingly intractable problems. Over time these contest problems developed my math knowledge, analytical skills, and ability to concentrate. They strengthened my resilience—I learned not to give up too quickly. The best contest problems led to surprisingly simple, elegant solutions. They revealed the beauty of mathematics.

Several times a year, our school math team competed in a mail-in contest against other schools in New York City. Often I was the only female team member but that didn't discourage me. I looked forward to the contests but not because of the competitive aspect; outscoring others was never a goal. Instead I challenged myself to improve my performance over time. I did improve, qualifying for the New York City Math Team in my junior and senior years. It was a terrific experience to meet top math students from other schools, all who had an affinity for math. During high school I also attended The Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics, a summer program that immerses its participants in math for six weeks. Most people would blanch at the prospect of doing math 24/7 for several weeks but it was one of the best experiences of my life. Then in college, naturally, I majored in math and later decided to pursue a career in math. This career path would not have been possible without the encouragement and mentorship of many dedicated teachers whose guidance I always will be grateful for.

Today, contrary to what I told my fifth grade teacher, I teach math and am very involved in math outreach through the Colorado Math Circle and the American Mathematics Competitions. I try to give my students a glimpse of the world of mathematics beyond the standard school curriculum. I try to show them that although math has practical applications, it also can be beautiful and elegant. At the math circle, we focus on developing problem solving skills and working collaboratively in groups. Some students cannot find classmates who share their enthusiasm for math, so they come to the math circle where it's perfectly natural to do math with friends for several hours on a weekend afternoon. We participate in contests because over the years, I have found that contests motivate students to learn lots of math. They get excited about them. Although we always aim to do well on these contests, the emphasis is not on winning. Whether they receive high scores or low, my hope is that my students come away with a greater appreciation for math.

Now as co-Editor-in-Chief of the AMC 8, I've come full circle, from participating in math contests to creating them. As an AMC editor, I have the privilege to work with mathematicians from around the world who all want to share their love of math with young students. For each contest, we begin with over 100 problem submissions. The editors rank them for quality and difficulty, then meet to discuss and select the top 25 problems for the next AMC 8 contest, making sure to cover a range of subjects and difficulty levels. We then carefully edit the problems and solutions, paying attention to every word, mathematical symbol, and punctuation mark. We do our best to offer creative and insightful problems that reveal mathematical patterns and structures. We know that a well-constructed contest can spark a lifelong interest in math.

Silva Chang is co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Mathematics Competitions 8 (AMC 8), director of the Colorado Math Circle, and senior instructor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder. She enjoys discussing math and computer programming with her husband and children, all of whom are quite math-y.

My Path to Math: A Math Team Made the Difference