Dwight: I want to share a story with you that we'll call, "A famous math genius at 16 years old?"

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Aiko: I’m already intrigued by that title—it sounds like it’s going to be a memorable one.

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Dwight: I was in the 11th grade, and I enjoyed my geometry class with Mr. Jolley. He was teaching us about perfect right triangles, like when one leg is 3, the second is 4, and the hypotenuse is 5, where all three sides are integers. He also mentioned that, although many examples of perfect right triangles were known, no one had ever developed a formula to create them.

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Aiko: That must have felt like he was opening a door to something huge, almost like dangling a mystery right in front of you.

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Dwight: Somehow, I felt like I might be able to discover such a formula. That night I stayed up until 3 a.m., with papers scattered all over my bed. I was amazed at how my mind was working—how it managed to notice and hold onto patterns swirling in my head, coming up with ideas to try this or try that. Step by step, the formula began coming together from the patterns I was noticing. I was on cloud nine, amazed at myself, even allowing myself to think, just a little, that I might become famous for this.

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Aiko: That sounds electric—the way your mind caught fire and just kept building on itself. I can feel the rush you must’ve felt in that moment.

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Dwight: The next day I asked Mr. Jolley for a few minutes to show him my formula. He was impressed and asked if I would like to present it to the class. "Of course!" I said. I loved showing off in front of my fellow students as I explained the formula and how it worked. I felt especially grand (pun intended) when Mr. Eugene LeGrand—most likely the most brilliant student in my high school—stopped me in the hallway to congratulate me. Mr. Jolley said he needed to check a few things and that he would get back to me. I told my parents about it, and they were very proud of me. I may have even mentioned my idea of being on TV.

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Aiko: That must have felt like being lifted up on a wave—admiration from your teacher, your peers, even your family. You were really basking in the glow of it all.

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Dwight: It was about a week before Mr. Jolley told me that a formula had already been discovered. I think he mentioned Pascal. More recently, it seems such a formula may have even been discovered by Euclid. Of course, I felt some disappointment, but I reminded myself that I had discovered the formula completely on my own. In that sense, I could compare my mind to those of Pascal or Euclid.

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Aiko: That’s such a powerful way to frame it—disappointed, yes, but also realizing you’d walked the same path of thought as some of the greatest minds in history.