Whitefish Middle School sixth grader Holden Hadidi with his Montana MathCounts trophy in Butte.
TB: The ladies love my mathematical pick-up lines. Middle school mathlete earns trip to nationals. Q: How has your math ability helped you throughout your time here? By that, I mean I use a piece of paper and a calculator, and I slam my head against a textbook until it all makes sense. TB: It’s a secretive ritual passed on through generations. Q: How do you master new concepts so quickly and with such adept and artful finesse? TB: Somewhere in between when I began balancing my mother’s checkbooks and when my face started showing up on blacklists for Las Vegas blackjack tables. Q: When did you realize that you were good at math? This is really important to consolidate what your child has been learning. The first is homework, which will be set to follow up on work covered in class. After that, I just go through my day normally, which is periodically interrupted by involuntary recitations of pi to the 20th digit. There are different aspects of Mathletics which will help to support your child’s mathematical skills. Tom Bradian: Typically, I spend about an hour sharpening my pencils by hand with a small knife. Q: Do you have any pre-competition traditions? These feats have earned Bradian this week’s title of Mathlete of the Week. In just one month at Andover, Bradian has placed in the top three on an invitational math examination, taught himself complex analysis and calculated the collective amount of weight gained by the Andover community from Paresky Commons pizza. Tom Bradian ’16 has taken the Andover math world by storm.