The Rest of the Story

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Hi to All,

This is one of those then and now stories that I found interesting.

I started writing a post on strange people, which eventually prompted me to start doing research on some of my old professors.

Then

One of my graduate Profs was Dr. James Ax.

He grew up in Brooklyn NY and retained a thick Brooklyn accent. Stereotypically, this accent is associated with an uneducated and, perhaps even, a not very bright person. His doctorate’s degree was from the University of California, Berkley. (At the time rated number one or two in Mathematics). In 1967 he won the prestigious Cole Prize for Number Theory.

After a short stint at Cornell, where he was the youngest full time professor of mathematics, he moved to the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1969. I had him as a professor during the 1971-72 school year.

Now

In the 1980’s he and Dr. Jim Simmons, who was the head of the math department at Stony Brook during my stay there, started the company Axcom, which used mathematical models to predict market movement. Axcom was later folded into a parent company called Renaissance Technologies and the Medallion Fund was formed using the Axcom strategies.

The Medallion Fund has yielded 35.6% annually from inception in 1988 to 2000. In 2008 the Fund yielded 80% and in 2009 about 38%.

Skip if you want.

On a personal note, (I am torn about these things as they seem very ego centric to me, but I do enjoy reading others so I will add this part) I interacted with him only minimally.

As I was failing out of his class, he asked me to his office and just started asking about my interests. I told him about a poem that I had written and he asked to see it. (The poem is posted somewhere here on ILP.)

Much to my surprise he thought that the poem had attacked him personally. I went around the desk and patted him on the back and assured him that I was not attacking him. (How someone that smart and successful could feel insecure I will never know).

He asked about my math background, probably to find out how someone like me could get into a relatively prestigious mathematics graduate program. I relayed a story of how, as an undergraduate, one of my professors, Dr. Jonathan Brezin, had given the proof of the Chinese Remainder Theorem (a very subtle and difficult theorem to prove) as a take home test and that I had constructed an independent proof. He actually appeared to turn white. After that he just passed me along.

Anyway this is a surprising “rest of the story” for me. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Cool story, Ed, I enjoyed it. I hope you were able to get in on that Medallion fund back in the 80s, those types of returns are just unheard of. [size=85][And if you did get in on it early, you’re probably living on easy street today.] [/size] :slight_smile:

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Hi Anita

No such luck! I didn’t even know about the fund until a few days ago.

Though it is off topic, I am curious about your background. I saw the post you made on Tab’s question about networks, and it is obvious that you have a talent for math.

Could you give a brief sketch of you educational background - or is this all shear talent? I hope this is not too personal for the Internet.

Thanks Ed

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Hey Ed, thanks for asking and no, not too personal. But it will, by necessity, be brief and not particularly impressive, especially to someone with your extensive math background.

I’ve always enjoyed math and skipped up a grade in high school, but Calculus wasn’t offered at my school so Advanced Math was as far as I could go. In college, my love of literature and all things liberal arts took center stage and math sort of fell by the wayside.

Yada yada, BA degree acquired, life goes on, events happen, and then, enter children.

Not sure if you’re familiar with the UMTYMP program at the U, but my boys both took a shine to that, and I got to indulge the math side of my brain again in helping them with their homework.[size=85] [It’s really a fantastic program – slight tangent here, but my high school Advanced Math teacher ended up being both of my sons’ professor when they each were in their first year of the program, small world.][/size] One son made it through Calc III by the end of 8th grade; they both far surpass me in their math abilities, but at one time they still needed my help, and that enabled me to brush up and improve my own skills, in a hodge-podge kind of way.

A big part of me wishes I’d have made more time for physics and math during my own school years; it’s too late for me to catch up now, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. :slight_smile:

So as I said, don’t be impressed, I’m sure you’ve forgotten more than I’ll ever know about mathematics.

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Hi Anita,

I am reasonably certain that other readers will not know about UMTYMP so I will add a word of explanation.

UMTYMP is an acronym for University of Minnesota Talented Young Mathematics Program.

If I recall correctly, it has been running for a relatively long time, 30 years or so. Its’ graduates have been tracked as far as the fields they enter; and metrics have been established to measure achievement in various fields. Even though a reasonably high percent of graduates do not continue in technical fields, a very high number of graduates become high achievers in their chosen fields. Harvard, MIT, and the University of Chicago are among schools that give preferences to graduates from the program.

While IQ’s are a poor indicator of high achievements, graduation from UMTYMP is a high predictor of high achievement.

My daughter, Emma, tried to get into UMTYPM, but she only tested in the top 1%. To get into UMTYMP a student needs to test in the top ¾ of 1%

Emma, who is in 8th grade, is taking advanced geometry (2 years above grade level) and tested with the top math achievement score in her grade.

Your sons are clearly higher achievers than my daughter.

Wow Wow Wow!!!

So much for the kids.

Speaking for myself, I am not so much interested in past accomplishments, but the character of other people. My guess is that while you or I may not be able to accomplish as much as we might hope, there is still enough of the right type of gas in the tank to accomplish one or two of our more demanding goals.

In other words I think you are capable of more than you think.

Thanks for your response.

Ed

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With all due respect, I would beg to differ, Ed. For all we know, Emma’s score was a mere one point different from my boys,’ and on any other given testing day, she may have been the one to get in. Sounds to me like she’s a pretty amazing student in her own right.

Great attitude, I like the way you put that. [size=85][even though sometimes I swear I’m running solely on fumes :slight_smile: ][/size]

Thank you for your generosity, Ed. :wink: