Featured Member - Karthik Venkata - Calvin Lin

We will be featuring different members of the Brilliant community, so that you can get to know them better. For the eleventh issue, we are featuring Karthik Venkata, a 14 year old who is interested in electronics and coding, and wants to use that knowledge to help others less fortunate

One problem of his that I liked due to the simple setup which encouraged different ways of thinking, is to find \( FB \) in terms of \( ED \) and \( DF \) in the image below

One recent solution of his that I enjoyed, is to solve:

\[ a>0, a - \frac{1}{a} = \frac{5}{6}, a + \frac{1}{a} = ? \]

The solution is cleanly presented, and indicates where/how the conditions are used.

Tell us more about yourself.
I'm a 10th grade student from Visakhapatnam, India. I love Electronics, Coding, Physics, Math and Brilliant. I build circuits with Arduino, listen to symphonies, try to develop my own algorithms to solve different types of Rubik's Cubes and even play DoTA 2 in my free time.

What is something that others don't know about you?
1. My personal record in solving a 3x3x3 Rubik's cube is 58 seconds.
2. I love Machine Learning Algorithms, and had even written my own one in Python.
3. I like Game Theory, although I know very little about it.
4. My favorite Mathematicians are Paul Erdös and Martin Gardner.

What inspired you to be interested in coding?
I was inspired by my grandfather, who gifted me an Arduino a couple of years ago. It was then when I got interested into coding and basic electronics. OCW-MIT 6.006 lectures and the O'Reilly books have also shaped my interests into coding and algorithms. (They are really amazing, especially for beginners).

In your own words, define an algorithm.
Well, I don't have much of a "unique" notion of what an algorithm is. I like the consensus that an algorithm is a set of well defined (logical) operations that are to be performed step-by-step, to make a transition from some given inputs to an output we require.

What is your algorithm to solve the 3x3x3 Rubik's cube?
I have tried to study the renown Fridrich method and God's Algorithm for a 3x3x3 cube. This writeup has been very useful for me to understand the mathematics involved. Although I tried developing a new way to solve a 3x3x3, my attempts were in vain. Yet, I think I do have a unique style in making moves on the cube.

What do you want to accomplish?
I wish to become a Researcher in Computer Science and Mathematics, and continue learning with the same zeal I have now. I want to develop technology that are not oriented on comfort or luxury, but on helping millions of people who don't enjoy the quality of life we all here have.
I want to make Internet and PCs to be globally accessible and cost-effective resources, without much compromise in functionality. I am inspired by Artificial Neural Networks, whose full potential is yet untapped, and would wish to study about them to make more advances that would help disabled persons.

What do you wish for Brilliant?
I wish Brilliant Community expands more, and gets global recognition for providing such a great platform for math and science loving people to interact and learn together. I am really thankful to Brilliant for connecting like-minded math lovers across the globe.

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It's good to see 10th graders taking up stuff like this... Keep it up buddy... – Jayesh Swami · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

Karthik, for a 14-year old, you are quite mature in thinking. You have a great ambition and an humanitarian one too. I'm quite sure you will achieve what you set out for. – Chew-Seong Cheong · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Chew-Seong Cheong – Thank you sir, for your wishes ! – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Nice! I also love Rubik's cubes, my best is 13 seconds! Did you find God's Algorithm? Does it really work? – Aiden Lu · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Aiden Lu – Yes, it actually works. You can check out this video here. Though it might take a while it will eventually solve itself. – Soumava Pal · 6 months, 4 weeks ago

@Aiden Lu – Aw man... I only got 17 secs – Yellow Tomato · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Aiden Lu – Guy ! 13 seconds ? My best is just 45 seconds, have to try harder . – Anish Harsha · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Aiden Lu – Wow !! By which way do you solve the cube ? – Akshat Sharda · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Akshat Sharda – Fridrich(Cross, F2L, OLL, PLL) – Aiden Lu · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Aiden Lu – And I'm here, happy with my 2 minutes work. – Marco Antonio · 10 months ago

Congrats karthik!! – Rakshit Joshi · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

Hi ! Congrats to see you featured . By the way, what are your other aims you want to achieve ? – Anish Harsha · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Anish Harsha – I am not much aim-oriented presently, and do not have a complete list of my aims. As of now, enjoying Math and Physics ! – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Congrats Karthik! Keep it up ! You have made both DPS and Vizag proud! – Manish Dash · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Manish Dash – Well @Karthik Venkata , what are your future plans ? – Manish Dash · 10 months, 2 weeks ago

@Manish Dash – Well, quite long-term one : Getting into MIT for B.Tech. – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 2 weeks ago

@Karthik Venkata – All the best for your future! I hope you become successful in achieving it. – Manish Dash · 10 months ago

@Karthik Venkata

Congrats for being featured! – Swapnil Das · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

Congratulations Karthik for being featured! – Rohit Udaiwal · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Rohit Udaiwal – Thanks ! – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

Same here. I am also interested in electronics and computer science. :) Congrats for being featured. – Sachin Vishwakarma · 10 months, 2 weeks ago

I am a 15 year old with the exact same interests. Its so good to see a person my age being featured. Congrats! – Shubham Bhargava · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

I also like Rubik's cubes. My best is 40 seconds and a salute to those who can do it within 20 seconds. Really amazing. – Swagat Panda · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Thats great karthik..... Parents are blessed. A great round of applauds to your grand pa for his vision. I am proud as I am from Vizag. Keep it up Karthik... Carry on. Extend your interest to some evolutionary computing tools also. – Sameer Vedula · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Sameer Vedula – Nice to know that you are from Vizag too ! Wish you all the same bro ! – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 2 weeks ago

Neural Networks are also an interest of mine. I spent last Summer reading a textbook on them (among other books, of course, but it did take a really long time) and it seems to me that our entire approach to artificial intelligence is coming from the wrong angle when neural nets aren't incorporated. It seems naive to try and create an artificial brain without actually coding it the way that our actual brains work. – Cole Wyeth · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Congrats for being featured! – Efren Medallo · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

My best wishes to you. Feel so good to see young teens doing so good. – Niranjan Khanderia · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Is that Chemistry on the white board ? – Akshat Sharda · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Akshat Sharda – Yeah – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Congrats for being featured Karthik Venkata – Surya Prakash · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Congrats @Karthik Venkata , its really nice to see that you love coding. I also used do a little bit of coding like HTML, JAvaScript and I also use O'Reilly books for reference. – Lakshya Sinha · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Congrats Karthik Venkata
You are awesome, hope you succeed in your goals. Btw which books are lying at your table? – Aditya Chauhan · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Aditya Chauhan – IMO Compendium, Introductory Combinatorics (Brualdi), Techniques of Problem Solving (Steve Krantz). – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Congratulations Karthik!😃 – Akshay Yadav · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

Congrats !!

My record is \(52\) seconds. – Akshat Sharda · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

Congrats Karthik.... – Lalam Venkata Narasimha Rao · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Lalam Venkata Narasimha Rao – Thanks Annayya ! – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Karthik Venkata nice to see how u look! Well, your ideas are amazing. I know that u r awesome at number theory. But whenever u talk about it I just ignore cuz I'm weak in it. BTW I'm faster than u at 333 cube! – Aditya Kumar · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Aditya Kumar – That's fine, lol don't take that incident seriously please. – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Aditya Kumar – What is your record ? My record is 54sec – Chinmay Sangawadekar · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Chinmay Sangawadekar – 48 seconds. – Aditya Kumar · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Aditya Kumar – 13 seconds – Aiden Lu · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Aiden Lu – Wow! Aim for the world record! – Aditya Kumar · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Aditya Kumar – It's too hard :p – Aiden Lu · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Aditya Kumar – 17 secs – Yellow Tomato · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Yellow Tomato – OMG ! Looks like I am a noob cuber in front of you guys XD ! – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Karthik Venkata – Not that noob better than my first solve XD it was 2 minutes – Yellow Tomato · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Yellow Tomato – So there's a competition between @Aiden Lu and @Yellow Tomato . It would be awesome if u guys break the world record! – Aditya Kumar · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

@Aditya Kumar – XD we're friends IRL – Yellow Tomato · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

May you succeed in your endeavors! All the best!! – Deepak Kumar · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

Congrats Karthik for being featured , your problems are always interesting... – Chinmay Sangawadekar · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Chinmay Sangawadekar – Well, yours are amazing ! – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

Congratulations on being featured . By the way I am from Vizag too. Nice to know more about people who too are interested in mathematics and sciences for their own beauty. – Pradyumna Datta Poduri · 10 months, 2 weeks ago

Fantastic bro!!! – Ashutosh Yadav · 10 months, 3 weeks ago

Hey Karthik, you say that you want to become a researcher in Mathematics and CS. Have you left your ambition of becoming a physicist? – Swapnil Das · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

@Swapnil Das – Well, sort of inspired by Donald Knuth ! I guess I would work in intersections of math and physics, and try to contribute something to physics in my career. – Karthik Venkata · 10 months, 4 weeks ago

Brilliant is a place whereby I can clear away my blindness and improve a lot. I am a Rubik's cubes player but not at a position of finding solutions. If you can mention key words about God's algorithm, then please tell us in short. – Lu Chee Ket · 10 months, 2 weeks ago

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Featured Member - Karthik Venkata

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