Tag: Persistence

Persistence

There are times when the going seems impossible. It’s also the time when the going is also important.
Two weeks ago, inspired by a colleague, I decided to try the 100 pushups challenge. I didn’t quite read the challenge for the entire first week, and given that I had never tried to do any pushups consistently, I only attempted the Day 1 routine through the first week. 
The second week of doing Week 1 was better. I collapsed every day in a heap, exhausted with the effort, but I survived it.
This morning was Day 1 of Week 2. The challenge was to do 9 – 11 – 8 – 8 – 11+ push-ups. I attempted it first thing in the morning, and I’m glad I did, because the rest of the day was me glued to my chair. 
I don’t know what I’ll find through this challenge, but one thing is certain. Rep 5 is when “keep on going” feels impossible. And still I persist. 




Persistence pays: Unknown Mathematician Proves Elusive Property of Prime Numbers [Article]

Yitang Zhang couldn’t find work in academia after earning his doctorate in 1991, so he’s worked for several years as an accountant and even in a Subway sandwich shop. Two weeks ago, he became a sensation across the mathematics world for his theorem on the properties of prime numbers, although it has no known applications. How / why did he become famous? Read on

“The big experts in the area tried and failed. I personally didn’t think anyone was going to be able to do it any time soon.” said Andrew Granville, a number theorist at Montreal University.  It took Zhang several months to work through all the details, but the resulting paper is a model of clear exposition. “He nailed down every detail so no one will doubt him. There’s no waffling.”