Po-Shen Loh: Mathematics, Math Olympiad, Combinatorics & Contact Tracing | Lex Fridman Podcast #183

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:
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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:
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Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4
Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41

OUTLINE:
0:00 – Introduction
1:43 – Planes and bridges
5:21 – Writing a computer game from scratch
7:46 – Programming competitions
11:21 – Math is hard
16:52 – Contact tracing that preserves privacy
54:09 – Math Olympiad
1:09:49 – Hard math problem
1:17:06 – Is math discovered or invented?
1:22:02 – Intelligence
1:28:52 – Math education
1:33:03 – How to learn math
1:41:58 – Combinatorics
1:45:05 – Voting trees
1:55:29 – Stochastic coalescence
2:05:15 – P=NP
2:09:32 – Tolkien and WWII
2:11:52 – Advice for young people
2:13:57 – Meaning of life

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