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Articles by Nick Hartley

  • InDay: What do Mathletes and Athletes have in common?

    August 24, 2011
    What do Alex Trebek, Bob Barker, and Pat Sajak have in common? Besides being dashingly charming and sophisticated, this trio had the privilege of hosting world renowned television game shows.

    Last Friday, during our monthly InDay [1], I played host to the inaugural academic decathlon at LinkedIn with folks competing to answer questions on everything from Math to Logical Reasoning. Teams of 6-9 people participated, comprised of colleges on the west coast — USC, Stanford, and Berkeley — to the east coast, with schools such as MIT, Harvard, and Duke. This was an all out academic brawl. The tension in the air was thick.

    While everyone in the room huddled around their team’s table ready to hit the buzzer, I was standing up at the front stage, thinking about where I was just over a year ago.It was a scorching hot June day in Los Angeles when I was sitting at USC’s commencement, listening to Arnold Schwarzenegger share his knowledge with the graduating class. Between the movie references from Kindergarten Cop and Terminator, my mind wandered off into a daydream, dreading the meek prospects of entering the workforce.

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