Keeping the Axe Sharp

"To chop a tree quickly, spend twice the time sharpening your axe." --Chinese Proverb

I first heard the above proverb in the form of a fable.  In the fable, two boys were given axes and told to each chop down a tree.  The first boy sets right off to the tree and begins to work.  The second boy, spends the extra time to sharpen the axe and make sure his tool is in fine working order.  As the first boy continues to labour, the second boy quickly brings down the tree.  The morale of the story keep your tool in good working order.

I very rarely get to chop down trees, although I love to chop wood, but my axe is my mind.  The period before my PhD qualifying exams was probably when my mind was at its sharpest.  The razor edge of my mind could easily do complex Laplace and Fourier transforms, solve chemical equilibrium problems, calculate escape velocity and find the efficiency of a jet engine.  Sadly since then my mind's razor edge has started to dull.  It was a process that accelerated once I left grad school.  Although I have been working full time and solving really hard engineering problems, I haven't had to do the same kind of rigorous mental work required during an exam.  I fear the atrophy and would like to return my mind to its former glory.

I have started to challenge my self to learn new skills: financial analysis and forecasting, programming in other languages (I am a big fan of codecademy) and tinkering with my Arduino.  I have recently found a new forum for sharpening my mind: Project Euler.  From the Project Euler website:

"Project Euler is a series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems that will require more than just mathematical insights to solve. Although mathematics will help you arrive at elegant and efficient methods, the use of a computer and programming skills will be required to solve most problems."

So far I am up to question 11 and have learned lots of new math (especially sieves like the sieve of Atkin and the sieve of Eratosthenes).  If you are looking for a math/programming challenge or a way to stay sharp I highly recommend it.