A Brilliant Young Mind

1

I find any communication

of a non-mathematical

nature very difficult.

Because I don't talk much, people

think I don't have anything to say,

or that I'm stupid.

And that's not true.

I have lots of things to say.

I'm just afraid to say them.

I know that I'm

strange in lots of ways.

I think I see the world in a

different way to other people.

I've always been like that.

Would you like to play with it?

Are you scared it will eat you?

No.

Is it because it's a toy?

No. Because stegosauruses

aren't carnivores.

So, Nathan, what do you like?

I imagine there's things

that you don't like.

Maybe, say, when

meal times change?

Yes. Yes, he is fussy

about his food.

Nathan?

Nathan?

I... I like patterns.

And what does it feel like

to see a good pattern?

Nice.

They're pretty colours.

So, it's positive. Nathan is

certainly on the spectrum.

Traits of autism combined

with synaesthesia,

sensitive to a change

in light and pattern.

These can be gifts, of course, but they

do come with some big challenges,

socially and emotionally, which

will stay with Nathan all of his life.

But there is no question; That

he's a unique young man.

Give Mum a wave. Bye, Mum.

Bye.

Bye.

You know what I was thinking?

You know, sometimes

it might seem like

we don't always understand

what it's like to be you.

It's like you've got

these special powers,

like a wizard.

And we're just Muggles that

don't understand how you do it.

It's like a different

language to us.

But even though we don't always

understand each other, Nath,

it doesn't mean that any of us

ever stops loving each other.

Does that make sense?

Nathan, look at me.

But you shouldn't be afraid.

Sweetheart

What have you done to us?

I turned my back and

you turned to dust

What have you done?

And, Please

Just come here,

don't fight with me

And I admit

Think you may have broken It

Yeah, I admit

Come here, darling. Come here.

Just hold my hand.

Please, Nathan. Nathan, just

hold my hand. Just this once.

It's okay. We'll do this together.

Come here, darling.

Darling, come on.

Nathan. Please,

don't. No, Nathan!

Hey.

Gosh.

That looks complicated.

That's not schoolwork then?

Wait, why don't you try

and explain it to me?

I might be able to help you.

You can't.

Why not?

You're not clever enough.

So, Nathan, this

is the big school.

When you're older, you'll

go here every single day.

Watch out.

We're just gonna

start things early.

It's nothing to be

frightened about.

Don't run in the corridor.

Excuse me.

Excuse me!

There you go.

That's subtle.

- Really subtle.

- What? We're not... We're not doing anything.

"We're not... We're not...

We're not doing anything."

Give me that now!

Is this drugs?

Go on, piss off.

We're so lucky.

- Mr. Humphreys.

- Yep.

- Can I have a quick word?

- Yeah.

How old are you? Five?

No, Nathan is nine.

His mum got in touch because of

Nathan's rather advanced interest

in numbers and patterns and his primary

schoolwork was no longer testing.

I can see why,

yeah. Bit of algebra.

Distance geometry.

Where'd you learn

all this, mate?

Mr. Humphreys just joined

our maths department.

He was a bit of a maths whizz

when he was young, Nathan.

- Not really, it was a long time ago.

- No, no, no.

He competed in the International

Mathematical Olympiad.

- Olympiad?

- Olympiad, yes. The IMO.

Did you know you could win

medals for maths, Nathan?

Just like sport, only for people who are

really, really strong up here instead.

Mrs. Ellis, if Mr.

Humphreys is willing

I think that we can absolutely begin offering

Nathan some special advanced tuition.

Can't we?

Okay, yeah.

Why don't you walk properly?

That's very direct of you.

I've got multiple sclerosis.

What about you?

Why are you weird?

I've got special powers.

Can you fly?

Can you turn things to ice?

Are you really good at maths?

Yeah. Fair play.

Well, listen, I should tell you,

I'm not a very good teacher.

I barely encourage

myself to get out of bed,

let alone inspire some

kid with special powers

who wants to spend all his

spare time doing maths.

So as long as we're clear.

What's that for?

It's to give it a shake.

It's my hand, isn't it?

- It's what men do when they agree.

- I don't like doing that.

Yeah, well, we all have to do

things we don't like doing,

but we f***ing do them,

don't we? So give it here.

What does "f***ing" mean?

All in good time, son.

Right then.

We'll start with some

probability, shall we?

Like what's the probability of me

remembering any of this sh*t.

I can't hear you.

I said, let's do tree

diagrams, shall we?

Mr. Humphreys?

Yes, Mr. Ellis.

What was the Olympiad like?

Mind your own business, nosy.

Boom.

Do you know what this means?

Go on, Sir Nod-A-Lot, tell

me, what does it mean?

A toss.

Toss?

How dare you?

Yeah, the coin toss. Well done.

"The International

Mathematical Olympiad"

"is the most prestigious mathematical

competition for high school students.".

Round of applause

for United Kingdom!

"It represents a great opportunity

to see how they measure up"

"against students from

the rest of the world."

"China hold the record for 11 IMOs in

which they have secured gold medals"

"for all six members

of their team."

Number theory.

"The hardest problem ever at the

IMO was question five in 1996."

'Let A, B, C, D, E, F

be a convex hexagon

"such that AB is parallel to DE."

"BC is parallel to EF"

"and CD is parallel to FA."

Nathan! Breakfast!

"Let RA, RC, RE denote

the circum radii"

"of triangles FAB, BCD,

DEF respectively."

Nathan! Breakfast!

"And let P denote the

perimeter of the hexagon."

Nathan! Breakfast!

"Prove that RA plus RC plus RE"

"is greater than or

equal to P over 2."

Here.

- It doesn't matter if you don't get in.

- Of course it matters.

Got twisted. Okay? Good.

Good luck.

- Get a job.

- You get a job.

- I'm trying. I've handed CVs out.

- You've got a CV?

Yeah, obviously. I don't wanna

sit on me arse all day, you know.

- And even If I do, you're sat next to me.

- No, I'm not.

Yeah, you are. Joined

at the friggin' hip.

Are you listening to

our conversation?

- No.

- What?

- No, I wasn't.

- Are you sure about that?

- Better not be.

- No.

- You're late.

- Sorry, mate.

I had a quick look

at it first. Shh.

It's a piece of piss, really.

Well, not really, but...

You know, just do your best.

It's the biggest day of

your life, mate, innit?

Don't feel any pressure.

I'm a bit nervous.

Are you nervous?

- A little bit.

- Well, you shouldn't be.

Because you're brilliant.

Are you ready?

Yeah.

Yeah?

On your marks, get set...

Go on, my son.

I'll just be over

there, out the way.

"Question one."

"Are there infinitely many pairs

of positive integers such..."

"Question one."

"Are there infinitely many

pairs of positive integers"

"such that both m divides

n squared plus one and..."

"Are there infinitely many

pairs of positive integers"

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