#183 – Po-Shen Loh: Mathematics, Math Olympiad, Combinatorics & Contact Tracing

Po-Shen Loh is a mathematician at CMU and coach of the USA International Math Olympiad team. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – The Jordan Harbinger Show: https://jordanharbinger.com/lex/ – Onnit: https://lexfridman.com/onnit – BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off – Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/lex and use code LEX to get special savings – LMNT: https://drinkLMNT.com/lex to get free sample pack EPISODE LINKS: Po’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/poshenloh Po’s Website: https://www.poshenloh.com/ Daily Challenges: https://daily.poshenloh.com/ NOVID: https://www.novid.org/ PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (08:51) – Planes and bridges (12:28) – Writing a computer game from scratch (14:54) – Programming competitions (18:28) – Math is hard (23:59) – Contact tracing that preserves privacy (1:01:16) – Math Olympiad (1:16:57) – Hard math problem (1:24:14) – Is math discovered or invented? (1:29:09) – Intelligence (1:35:59) – Math education (1:40:10) – How to learn math (1:49:06) – Combinatorics (1:52:13) – Voting trees (2:02:36) – Stochastic coalescence (2:12:23) – P=NP (2:16:39) – Tolkien and WWII (2:19:00) – Advice for young people (2:21:05) – Meaning of life