Tell us about an intellectual experience, either directly related to

your schoolwork or not, that you found particularly meaningful. A

paragraph to a page in length is ideal.
When I first learned about Arithmetic Progression near the end of 10th grade,
I was hooked for good. I simply fell in love with it. The patterns, the numbers,
the puzzling problems of solving the series and finding the sum were just
what I wanted. It appealed to my mathematical instincts. I could almost
visualize how those numbers connected to each other and how even the
most random set of numbers, when examined closely, made perfect sense.
However, to my disappointment, my school curriculum was limited and our
textbook provided only a very brief introduction to the subject. Internet
access was costly and there were no public libraries or bookstores in my city.
I could have been disheartened. But instead I had the exact opposite
reaction. I went deeper and started exploring the topic on my own. From
here, I soon conceived an entirely new class of math series which I called
Natural Sums. Again, with no knowledge of how to proceed and solve this
series, I pushed to investigate further. Since then, I have never looked back. I
have devoted a huge chunk of my time to math research which has resulted
in a promising set of new formulas and algorithmic methods.
Math research has taught me important lessons that go beyond the problem
solutions. Due to my long infatuation with poetry and aesthetics, I used to
get romantic with science. I still do. I tend to gaze into stars in solitude and
contemplate nature in its infinite transformations. However, I had an
epiphany during my research -- Nature never gives up its secrets easily.
Staying in a state of awe involves naivet, and to make progress, I have to
delve deeper. Indeed, I have spent hours grappling with weird notations and
complex equations. Progress was, at times, slow. I spent weeks struggling
with one particular formula and ended up with nothing, but I learned that is
the nature of scientific research! Ideas do not come very often. But what was
valuable for me to realize is that the hours of struggle were never wasted.
The time spent puzzling over the problems and immersing myself in math
made me wiser, honed my math skills and, ultimately, enabled me to derive
the solution.
During my research, I was also able to appreciate how mathematicians and
scientists inspire each other. Even if they are separated by the enormity of
space and immensity of time, great thinkers can influence anyone with a
drive and flavor for that field. In my case, I was inspired by mathematician
Carl Friedrich Gauss whose work in the field of series is renowned. He
proposed certain visual and geometric methods that motivated me to extend
those methods in more complex cases whose result, I found, was equally
elegant.

Tell us about an intellectual experience, either directly related to

your schoolwork or not, that you found particularly meaningful. A
paragraph to a page in length is ideal.
I also learned that I am delighted when I am not working on a predetermined path. Searching for the problems to solve, trying to solve them,
and discovering another set of problems in the process is the most gratifying
form of research to me.

Even though I could not seek help with my research in my math class, I tried
to include as many people I could my teacher, my school friends and local
college students from IIT. I wanted my friends to appreciate the beauty of the
subject, and hoped that it would inspire them to pursue similar, meaningful
endeavors, rather than trivial activities. Through this, I realized that I derive
great satisfaction and purpose from successfully conveying my ideas to
others and sparking a discussion. This is equally, if not more important, than
advancing my own intellectual interests and work. Thus, my intellectual
experience with math, has taken me far beyond the abstract land of
numbers.