I have a unique and, quite truthfully, humbling opportunity. The parents of an exceptionally talented high school freshman have reached out to me and asked if I might be able to help.
This kid is seriously good; he came to our state high school math contest and blew away the competition. He is active in a local Math Circle and is in extremely capable hands, and his parents inform me that he is extremely active in the Art of Problem Solving and the Worldwide Online Olympiad Training program.
I think my role, insofar as I could help, would be to introduce him to advanced topics and/or research. I am thinking about suggesting to him that he read Apostol's intro book on analytic number theory, or Stillwell's Naive Lie Theory; he might also enjoy some serious combinatorics and/or learning about the partition function. (Or, … ?)
Does anyone have any suggestions for helping such a student?
Thank you! -Frank
Best Answer
Tell him about his other opportunities (although perhaps being on AoPS he is already aware of them). Summer programs like
and others come highly recommended, and several of their alumni are here on MO, even. (Full disclosure: I went to PROMYS myself.) In a few years I would also recommend that the student apply to the Research Science Institute. (Full disclosure: I also went to RSI.)
When I was in a similar position (or so I flatter myself!) I would also have appreciated being introduced to the math blogosphere earlier (which I didn't discover until freshman year of university). Tim Gowers (minus the recent Elsevier stuff which is a little less relevant), Terence Tao, and John Baez are all great places to start.