Feeling that I have had some experience in researching math with the various Wolfram tools, discovering some properties of the "MRB constant," and thoroughly communicating them here in the Wolfram Community, I have a little advice to share with others who would like to pioneer a new, or just "new to them" mathematical idea. So I had an idea about counseling (by taking and answering questions from the) sprouting maestros of analysis out there,
I've found the Wolram tools are the best at researching anything, especially math. But why should amateurs research math? Everyone has different reasons, and all will have varying results. However, over the past week, I asked myself why? And for me, I came up with the following memoir.
A little Satisfaction and Purpose (a story of how I gained them through math). From my earliest days, I grappled with the desire to make a mark on the world, craving validation and recognition. My childhood was punctuated with moments of insecurity, envy, and an overwhelming sense of inadequacy that stayed with me as I ventured into adulthood. Whether it was being excluded from little league games, envying my brother's fancy bicycle, or grappling with the embarrassment of using childish words in front of my peers, these experiences shaped the core of my identity, propelling me into a lifelong pursuit of meaning and purpose. My journey led me to explore math, the military, spirituality, and ultimately, a return to the world of numbers that would eventually yield a small but significant contribution to human knowledge.
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One of my earliest memories was when my dad first took me by a little league baseball field, I felt they thought I was unworthy of participating. Then another hard time was when my little brother got a bicycle with hand brakes, and mine still had only pedal brakes, and I was so jealous that I cried myself to sleep. Also, there was the time on the bus to kindergarten, I used the word “choo-choo train” to describe a locomotive that the bus was waiting to pass, and I felt like everyone thought I was a baby for choosing that word.
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Those moments stuck with me and became a part of my personality and lifestyle. As I grew up, I spent all my time fantasizing and role-playing what I’d do when I became grown-up instead of studying, thus getting poor grades until seventh grade. In seventh grade, I found I could be an adult by researching math, i.e., finding out about names of large numbers, writing out powers of two and noticing how big they grew, and even independently proving how no game tic-tac-toe ever needs to be lost. After graduating, I became a marine and thought that would give me meaning and purpose. As any marine would attest, it was a stressful time. I then began pursuing spirituality, convinced it had the secret to bringing meaning and purpose to my life but could never put my finger on any provable basis to stand on. I believed in God, but when I tried to write out proof that such a deity or any god exists, I never got beyond “assuming God exists.” A few decades later, at the beginning of my midlife crisis, I went back to researching math to find a solid foundation to put my life upon. But I still struggled with how my life could be meaningful, so I spent five years trying to find anything original to contribute. My high school education limited me, but I would go to the library several times a week to read reference books on math and browse the internet.
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As the new millennium approached and the Y2K apocalypse loomed in my imagination, I became stressed beyond my ability to tolerate it and began to display symptoms of mental illness. For one thing, numbers became like people to me. I would bang my head trying to figure out their psychology, i.e., their secrets. Soon my purpose in life became to understand all their mysteries. I still live in that state, which has had some remarkably positive results.
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One such result was that some mathematicians have read about my research and even named a number I constructed after my initials, i.e., the MRB constant. Since then, I’ve attended college and used most of what I’ve learned to ensure my initials remained worthy of being immortalized with that construct of mine. I’ve even spent the last ten years publishing everything I can about it. The archetype of that is the Wolfram Community Message Board post Try to Beat these MRB constant Records. I have no crystal ball to predict how this will all end up, but more likely than not, I will continue to make small progress in finding meaning and purpose in my life, which is adding a little to the world’s pool of knowledge, which finally brings me satisfaction!
Anyway, I did a search for "amateur research" with the quotes included in the above search box to see what has been posted along those lines before, and I was surprised that nothing came up in the results. In response, I'm starting this discussion as a question, just testing the water to see if anyone is interested in participating in some way. How about you? Do you have some pointers for other people, or perhaps as an amateur, you're interested in improving your research skills? If you would like, post your intentions below.
