Shreya Mogulothu is of course curious. As a highschool scholar in New Jersey, she was enthusiastic about arithmetic and theoretical pc science (TCS). So, when her curiosity compelled her to study extra, she turned to MIT Open Studying’s on-line assets and accomplished the Paradox and Infinity course on MITx On-line.
“Coming from a math and TCS background, the thought of pushing in opposition to the boundaries of assumptions was actually attention-grabbing,” says Mogulothu, now a junior at MIT. “I imply, who wouldn’t wish to study extra about infinity?”
The category, taught by Agustín Rayo, professor of philosophy and the present dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and David Balcarras, a former teacher in philosophy and fellow within the Digital Studying Lab at Open Studying, explores the intersection of math and philosophy and guides learners via fascinated by paradoxes and open-ended issues, in addition to the boundaries of theorizing and the boundaries of normal mathematical instruments.
“We talked about taking common assumptions about numbers and objects and pushing them to extremes,” Mogulothu says. “For instance, what contradictions come up once you discuss an infinite set of issues, just like the infinite hats paradox?”
The infinite hats paradox, also called Bacon’s Puzzle, includes an infinite line of individuals, every carrying certainly one of two colours of hats. The puzzle posits that every particular person can see solely the hat of the particular person in entrance of them and should guess the colour of their very own hat. The puzzle challenges college students to determine if there’s a technique that may make sure the least variety of incorrect solutions and to think about how technique might change if there’s a finite variety of folks. Mogulothu was thrilled {that a} class like this was obtainable to her though she wasn’t but affiliated with MIT.
“My MITx expertise was one of many causes I got here to MIT,” she says. “I actually favored the course, and I used to be blissful it was shared with folks like me, who didn’t even go to the varsity. I believed that a spot that inspired even folks exterior of campus to study like that might be a fairly good place to review.”
Wanting again on the course, Balcarras says, “Shreya might have been essentially the most spectacular scholar in our on-line neighborhood of roughly 3,900 learners and 100 verified learners. I can’t single out one other scholar whose efficiency rivaled hers.”
Due to her glorious efficiency, Mogulothu was invited to submit her work to the 2021 MITx Philosophy Awards. She received. In truth, Balcarras remembers, each papers she wrote for the course would have received. They demonstrated, he says, “an unusually excessive diploma of precision, formal acumen, and philosophical subtlety for a highschool scholar.”
Finishing the course and successful the award was rewarding, Mogulothu says. It motivated her to maintain exploring new issues as a highschool scholar, after which as a brand new scholar enrolled at MIT.
She got here to varsity considering she would declare a significant in math or pc science. However when she appeared on the programs she was most enthusiastic about, she realized she ought to pursue a physics main.
She has loved the programs in her main, particularly class STS.042J/8.225J (Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics within the twentieth Century), taught by David Kaiser, the Germeshausen Professor of the Historical past of Science and professor of physics. She took the course on campus, however additionally it is obtainable on Open Studying’s MIT OpenCourseWare. As a scholar, she continues to make use of MIT Open Studying assets to take a look at programs and overview syllabi as she plans her coursework.
In summer season 2024, Mogulothu did analysis on gravitational wave detection at PIER, the partnership between analysis heart DESY and the College of Hamburg, in Hamburg, Germany. She needs to pursue a PhD in physics to maintain researching, increasing her thoughts, and indulging the curiosity that led her to MITx within the first place. She encourages all learners to really feel snug and assured attempting one thing solely new.
“I went into the Paradox and Infinity course considering, ‘yeah, math is cool, pc science is cool,’” she says. “However, really taking the course and studying about stuff you don’t even count on to exist is basically highly effective. It will increase your curiosity and is tremendous rewarding to stay with one thing and notice how a lot you possibly can study and develop.”
