Blog Entry 02.09.08


Read all about it
Yes it's Chinese New Year, but today's my day!

News stand. The New Paper, 9th February 2008. Page 12. There I am.

I made it to the press. Looking at the full-page feature, I felt a sense of delight knowing that my Gaussian Department of Mathematics has made it that far. Far enough to be recognized. Far enough to earn a full page. Far enough to say ‘Hey, this kid can actually do some math’.

My ‘secret project’ is finally in the open and has made some headway in the academic scene. For those who are just tuning in, Gaussian Math is an ‘online’ school where you can learn freshman mathematics in an entertaining yet rigorous way taught by your beloved Donny. The origins and intent of this project was to fulfill a higher purpose, one which some of you may know. For reasons I can’t disclose now, this purpose shall remain hidden until it can be revealed in due course.

Still, it was certain circumstances that made me start this project. But regardless of what the circumstances may be, I’m glad I came this far. Interestingly enough, my project initially took a different form. I was set to either write a bestseller or contribute an article to the leading science publication, ‘American Scientist’. Knowing that my ideas for my book ‘The Keys of Life’ would not have earned the favor of any publisher and I didn’t exactly have a PhD in Physics, I needed to quickly switch gears and do something else. A simple, yet novel idea popped in my head.

The idea was simple, ‘Give online video lectures on mathematics’, but it was tremendously difficult to accomplish. I was struggling balancing my coursework with my website, skipping almost half the lessons in the week. I had to learn freshman level mathematics without a tutor to guide me. Lastly, I needed all the self motivation in me to spend countless of hours by myself doing the video recording. Talking to yourself for 3 hours straight can drive you crazy.

Was I getting anywhere with this Gaussian Math? It would have seem like another kid proving that he can solve a quadratic equation. There was no one to encourage me, believe in me, pick me up because after all, no one knew about it. It was a ‘secret’. Then just one evening in my inbox, there was an email with a guy making a comment on my videos which went,


“Hey so when did you first attend to the university? You are 21 and you are a lecturer that is awesome. Good luck.”

Thank you ‘yehan44bro’ (Youtube name) for the first encouragement I had. I know it isn’t exactly an inspiring comment but hey, to have my age of 21, lecturer, and awesome in the same sentence was good enough. That comment just gave me that little bit of energy to do the next video, and the next and the next. Comments came after each one and then it suddenly clicked. There was this bunch of online people who were waiting for Donny to work his magic with mathematics in front the camera. Gaussian math finally had a class, a online class if I may say so, and I was the teacher.

Looking back, I’m glad I pulled through until the end. It was a lonely journey to say the least – I was the html programmer, cameraman, syllabus planner, student and lecturer – but the opportunity to inspire the world with mathematics was too good to pass up. This opportunity came at a cost, and that cost was to spend less time with the coursework in my school. The effects were clearly seen. I vividly recall this time when I first earned my ‘Fail’ grade in the form of an ‘Unsatisfactory’ for my Mechanics of Materials test sometime in September. Not that I am a bad student, but I was planning my videos on ‘Fourier Analysis’ instead of studying ‘Moment of Inertia’. I took the risk because only by this a small gamble, I was within the grasp of something big, something newspaper big, something like Gaussian Math.

And today is the day Gaussian Math made the headlines. It is not a gold Olympiad medal, it is not an A* but I’ll take this any day. And this is an opportune time for me to give my utmost thanks to all the loyal fans that have supported me thus far. Gaussian Math would be nothing without you because after all it is each one of you, be it math major or physics major, undergraduate or graduate student, math enthusiasts or professor, that have gave Donny a chance to teach mathematics. Every moment I look at the camera, I look at the guy who requested a lesson on Calculus of Variations, I look at the girl who wanted more Fourier Analysis videos, I look at the student who was fascinated with my video ‘Mathematical Wormhole’, I look at you, a innocent mind who has the desire, patience and curiosity to learn.

From the living, breathing, and active people watching my videos, came the energy, drive and spark to carry on writing on the white board – the math that attempts to solve the greatest mysterious in science. And through this mystical flow of equations, numbers and graphs, I could see this invisible school thriving on called Gaussian Math.