It's a shame the school system doesn't put more emphasis on why you'd need to solve such difficult problems in the real world, as in, what are their theoretical or practical applications of the knowledge gained from solving such problems.<p>Most high-school students grinding for the national Olympiads are doing it to get into top universities later, but have no idea about the applications of what they're working on, they just grind away.<p>It's also one of the reason I never like complex math in school, because I never saw the point for it, so early in our education. Only later in life when I had to write SW for vehicle dynamics I understood the need but it's not something you run into while in school.