A Brilliant Young Mind Page #5

- No. No.

- Are you? No.

My passion's my work, you see.

Sorry.

- You all right?

- Yeah.

Sometimes I wonder if Nathan

will ever find anyone, you know?

Nathan's nothing like me.

If you're worried that Nathan's

gonna end up like... You shouldn't.

- I wasn't. It would be a good thing.

- You shouldn't.

- I might just pop off to the toilet.

- Okay.

I got crisps.

- Sorry.

- It's all right.

- Sorry, are you a bit stiff?

- No, what?

I mean, your back.

- Sh*t. I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you?

- It's okay. Are you all right?

No. It's okay.

- You all right?

- Sorry. Sorry about that.

- It's okay.

- I, um

I just want to say that, um...

- You don't...

- For me... No, I do.

In this sort of situation there's only

so far that I am able to, um, go.

And I don't want to

make you disappointed.

You... You couldn't.

I wouldn't... Sorry.

Yeah, I understand.

Do you mind if we get up? I

think I'm sat on a set square.

I think it's funny that your

favourite English food is Chinese.

Do you always like to have

everything the same?

Because I change my

favourite things all the time.

I don't usually like change.

- I like it here, though.

- Do you?

I mean, the Chinese

approach to maths.

Yes?

Look.

This is called The Nine

Chapters of Mathematical Art.

This took more than

1,000 years to write.

In China, mathematics

is more than numbers.

Um, It is like art.

Here.

There are... There are

eight prawn balls. I...

It needs to be a prime.

So... 20 random cards are

placed in a row all face-down.

A move consists of turning

a face-down card face-up

and turning over the card

immediately to the right.

Show that no matter what

the choice of cards to turn

this sequence of

moves must terminate.

Nathan, hiding in the

back won't help you.

Would you like to

come up and show us?

Go on, Nathan.

Okay, so we need to... We need to

look at the cards not as cards, but as...

As numbers.

We can call face-down cards...

One.

Face-up cards... Zero.

And initially it would be a sequence of

ones as the cards are all face down.

But after a while it would

look something like that.

And, as we can see,

that is a binary number.

And a move that consists of

turning a face-down card face up

and the card immediately

to the right of it

could be that a one

followed by a one,

will turn into a zero

followed by a zero.

That would be like that. Or it

could be a one followed by a zero

turning into a zero

followed by a one.

In either case, we can see that the

number in binary is strictly decreasing.

And that means?

Which means that the

sequence must terminate.

Because?

Because you can't keep taking

away from a positive integer

- without it turning negative.

- No, you can't.

You definitely

can't. Good work;.

Everyone. Good work.

Hello. My name's Martin

Humphreys and I'm an alcoholic.

No, not really. Well, a little bit.

Um, I've got MS, that's why I'm

here. I got that group tomorrow.

No, seriously, thank you for

everybody who's, shared and stuff.

Because there's definitely

things that I can identify with

and that I definitely recognise;.

So, there's this person

I like, but I know

how bad I'm gonna get

and it's very difficult to imagine

any sort of a rosy future

or anyone wanting to be a

part of that future with me.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Um...

Because you...

This is ridiculous.

Because in a few years' time I might not...

I might not even be able to hold hands

or have a little cuddle.

And...

That really, really scares me.

We should ask the others to suggest

a variety of trigonometric identities

to simplify the expressions, which

could include, say, coversine

or possibly covercosine or

versine or excosecant and so on.

Luke, we're trying to think of

fun questions for each other,

we're not trying to prove how many

trigonometric identities we know.

Well, then I really don't see the point.

We are competing with each other.

You can pretend you're everyone's

best friend all you like, Isaac,

but I'm here to

get on the team.

Sorry, when have I ever tried

to be your best friend, Luke?

Nathan, this is a democracy,

yours is the casting vote.

Yes. Democracy in the true Chinese

sense of the word. Forget it.

- We'll just do your question...

- Are you gonna sulk?

Boo-hoo-hoo, poor Luke.

Sorry.

- I've come across people like him before.

- Definitely autistic.

He seems to have picked up all the

bad traits and none of the good.

- What bad traits?

- Obsessive.

- Socially incompetent.

- That sort of thing.

It's about adaptability, Nathan.

Sometimes we have to change

our shape so that we fit in.

That was you pushing the cage.

- I did not!

- Yes, you did! Polly!

Polly Parrot, wake up!

Polly!

Now that's what I

call a dead parrot.

I love this. It's stinky tofu.

Stinky?

That's horrible.

It stinks but it tastes

really, really good.

Look.

I used to play this when I was

small, in my hometown, as a child.

A sweet.

- It's sticky.

- It's stuck in my teeth.

You have a funny face.

You don't like it? I'll eat

it. And you can have this'.

We should... We

should probably go.

Aren't you...

Aren't you worried

about the exam?

Well, it is good to have a

break. Clear your mind.

Don't worry. We will both get into the

Olympiad in Cambridge. The IMO.

And I will meet your family

when I come and stay with you.

My cultural exchange.

Look at this.

You're a bit like a

turtle, aren't you?

In your shell.

Come on.

In China, do boys

like me get bullied?

"Bullied"?

You know, like when people treat

you badly because you're clever.

Why would they do that?

I wish England was

more like China.

I wish China was

more like here.

In China we have to

succeed for the family.

Especially for Uncle Deng.

Some people say that I am

only here because of him.

That's not true. No,

you're really clever.

Thank you.

And you're very nice.

Prawn ball. Turtle boy.

Alternate team seating.

UK team member,

Chinese team member.

Alternative seating. UK team

member, Chinese team member.

IMO conditions apply.

White card if you

request some paper.

A blue for water.

Green if you need

to go to the toilet.

Yellow to ask a question but

only in the first half-hour.

And red if you've left the gas on at home

or something and you need to leave.

The six of you who score highest will

represent Team UK, no "ifs", no "buts".

You may begin.

"Each integer is coloured

either red, yellow or green."

"Show that there

always exist A, B, C,"

"such that A, B, C."

"A plus B, A plus C..."

"A plus B, A plus C, B plus

C and A plus B plus C"

"are all the same colour."

Right! No point in

dilly-dallying, I suppose.

I'll pin your scores up on

the board in a second.

The five outstanding students

guaranteed a place at the IMO

in Cambridge this year are...

Isaac.

Lee Jing.

Rebecca.

Pav. And Ben.

The last place was very tight

between Nathan and Luke.

Both scores somewhat disappointing, but

Rate this script:3.5 / 2 votes