I am certainly biased in this statement (I am a mathematician), but it isn't just mindless propaganda. Teach this kid some abstract linear algebra. I'm not just talking about basic matrix manipulation, I mean the good stuff that is more abstract. As an undergraduate I was working with a third grader, and I taught him some some group theory. This student was not a prodigy, and I didn't expect him to grasp the entirety, or significance, of what we were teaching him, but our goals were to teach him:
1) There is more that is going on than what you see on the surface. For example, why is 2+2=4? When is 2+2!=4? There is always a reason why things are the way they are, and knowing these reasons makes understanding the concepts, remembering the concepts, and applying the concepts to other situations much easier.
2) How to look at a problem/situation and realize what is significant. This is very related to number 1, but worth pointing out. When doing algebra, the whole point is to break things down to a list of traits (or properties) that are significant, and say, all other properties are a result of these 4 things. For example, a group is a set of objects and an operation (I'll write it as +) so that a) if A and B are objects, (A+B) is an object b) if A is an object, -A is an object c) there is some object, E, so that A+E=A no matter what A is and d) if A, B, and C are objects, (A+B)+C=A+(B+C). So, what this does for us is that anything that is true for all groups, is true because of these four properties, these are the key.
Anyway, I claim abstract algebra is an important thing to teach to this kid since the point of it is to break down problems into their components and look at what is really important in any given situation. This is something that is very useful anywhere you go.
This could be a dream come true! Companies will decide to send their junk mail to my USPS account (which I convieniently refuse to check), and all of a sudden my real mailbox is empty! Sounds like a deal to me!
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The Stony Brook Algorithm Repository
I am certainly biased in this statement (I am a mathematician), but it isn't just mindless propaganda. Teach this kid some abstract linear algebra. I'm not just talking about basic matrix manipulation, I mean the good stuff that is more abstract. As an undergraduate I was working with a third grader, and I taught him some some group theory. This student was not a prodigy, and I didn't expect him to grasp the entirety, or significance, of what we were teaching him, but our goals were to teach him:
1) There is more that is going on than what you see on the surface. For example, why is 2+2=4? When is 2+2!=4? There is always a reason why things are the way they are, and knowing these reasons makes understanding the concepts, remembering the concepts, and applying the concepts to other situations much easier.
2) How to look at a problem/situation and realize what is significant. This is very related to number 1, but worth pointing out. When doing algebra, the whole point is to break things down to a list of traits (or properties) that are significant, and say, all other properties are a result of these 4 things. For example, a group is a set of objects and an operation (I'll write it as +) so that a) if A and B are objects, (A+B) is an object b) if A is an object, -A is an object c) there is some object, E, so that A+E=A no matter what A is and d) if A, B, and C are objects, (A+B)+C=A+(B+C). So, what this does for us is that anything that is true for all groups, is true because of these four properties, these are the key.
Anyway, I claim abstract algebra is an important thing to teach to this kid since the point of it is to break down problems into their components and look at what is really important in any given situation. This is something that is very useful anywhere you go.
Not to mention the fact that math is beautiful!
This could be a dream come true! Companies will decide to send their junk mail to my USPS account (which I convieniently refuse to check), and all of a sudden my real mailbox is empty! Sounds like a deal to me!