Austin Scholar #103: Equation-Based Writing
& announcing the Equation-Based Writing™ course
Hey, y'all!
This week from Austin Scholar...
Austin’s Anecdote: How I developed Equation-Based Writing™
Announcing the Equation-Based Writing™ course
Scholar’s Sources: What I’ve been up to…
Austin’s Anecdote: How I developed Equation-Based Writing™
“I’m a math person. I can’t write.”
As the content creator for the online writing course for high school students, Write of Passage: Liftoff, I heard this self-description often. So many ambitious “STEM kids” had mental blocks that stopped them from writing.
They had remarkable ideas but felt like the right words were beyond their grasp. As someone who loves both writing and math, I knew these subjects weren’t as far apart as they thought.
After weeks of obsessing over the connection between math and writing – and reading my now-favorite books, Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz and Once Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature – I came up with an idea called Equation-Based Writing.
Equation-Based Writing uses logic and formulas as the basis for writing. It begins with the basics: using arithmetic for structure and probability for high-yield writing choices. It continues to advanced mathematics: using derivatives for story progressions and integrals to represent the content of a piece.
I began formalizing my ideas in two core newsletter editions: Math is an art, writing is a science and Three writing equations your kid can use.
Writing these newsletters made me realize how passionate I am about this connection – and that it’s something that could help other kids.
For far too long, students have been labeled as “STEM” or “humanities” kids. Equation-Based Writing blurs this line – showing logic-minded people that they, too, are capable of creating beauty with words.
Equation-Based Writing exposes the fact that math truly is all around us – the building blocks of the world, of creativity, and of our thoughts, no matter how hidden it may be.
Announcing the Equation-Based Writing™ course
Finally, the day has come for me to launch a course!! A year in the making, Equation-Based Writing is a four session, two week online seminar that will teach STEM teenagers how to write with equations.
Why Equation-Based Writing?
In today’s remote, tech-driven world, it’s more important than ever to be able to communicate your ideas clearly and effectively.
In the STEM world specifically, it’s crucial to be able to translate complex ideas into terms others can understand, a skill many in the field don’t have.
That’s where Equation-Based Writing comes in. With this course, your kid will learn how to take their ideas and turn them into something everyone can understand and enjoy, which will set them up for success in their later life (and in their college applications).
(And, let’s be honest: they need to be able to pass English class to graduate.)
Who is this course for?
Is your kid “bad at writing?” But do they excel in math? Are they a “STEM kid?”
If you have a teenager and any of these ring true, Equation-Based Writing is perfect. This course takes the formulas in math that your kid understands and brings them to writing. Equation-Based Writing will help them prove to themselves that they are capable of writing something incredible – that they can “logic” their way to art.
What will your kid get out of this course?
In the spirit of fostering a renewed understanding of and interest in writing, the course includes four sessions: The Statistics Behind Lasting Literature, Arithmetic Equations, Systems of Equations, and Using AI with Equation-Based Writing. Each session will leave kids with a completed deliverable: including a movie script, a short story, and an essay structure (all from equations they can use in the future).
Your kid shouldn’t be intimidated by these pieces. Equation-Based Writing will show them that they are capable of writing compelling things.
The logistics:
The course will be held over the first two weeks of April (6/7 & 13/14) 1-2 EST on weekends. If this time isn’t convenient for you and your kid, please fill out the form on the Equation-Based Writing website.
The course will be virtual, so a Zoom link as well as reminders will be sent via email.
For any information regarding the course, please expect me to contact you via email.
The course costs $199.99.
If you have any questions, please simply fill out the form on the Equation-Based Writing website or read through the FAQs at the bottom of the website.
If you have a STEM kid, I’d be thrilled if you signed up for the Equation-Based Writing course waitlist using the form on the website. I will get back to you with the official sign-up and payment form within the following week.
I’m beyond excited for this course and hope you’ll support it!!
Click here for the Equation-Based Writing website.
Scholar’s Sources: What I’ve been up to…
The fact that I’m a senior is finally beginning to set in. This weekend, I got matching “senior rings” with my friends – with our initials and graduation year engraved. Honestly it’s getting pretty scary, but I’m excited about bonding even more with my friends as we go through this change.
(I’m also going skiing for President’s Day Weekend, which is quite literally my favorite thing to do.)
Fittingly for this week, I read Love & Math by Edward Frenkel and totally loved it. Not only is the novel a brilliant love letter to math, but it also tells an inspiring story about the journey of a Jewish man learning to learn math on his own in Soviet Russia. Love & Math showcases how you can literally become a mathematician by learning on your own and forming relationships and connections. (Yes, a lot of the math concepts went over my head, but finishing it made me feel really smart.)
(And Love & Math shows how beauty, imagination, math, and writing can coexist.)
It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned it, but I still read the Morning Brew every single morning to learn about what’s going on in the world. It’s short, punchy, and pretty close to objective. Highly recommend getting a subscription for your kid so y’all can have some easy conversation topics.
I don’t talk about politics in this newsletter (primarily because I know next to nothing about it), but this interview is a great opportunity to teach your kid about critical thinking and the power of dialectics in history. My dad and I have talked through both sides of the story and how this interview fits into the narrative. Great conversations and they definitely got my mind working.
Thanks for reading. Go crush the week! See y'all on Sunday.